User Reviews

This is a lovely sentimental love story that is refreshingly suitable for family viewing. Though not a plausible tale and despite its rather slow start, it does have an engaging plot and sympathetic characters.

The tale, begun in 1939, revolves around a test pilot, Daniel, who is in love with a pretty young woman named Helen. He discovers himself alas, too tongue tied to pop the matrimony question to her in a restaurant as planned. Unfortunately it appears to have been an opportunity forever lost, as Helen is immediately afterward run down by a truck. Unable to bear the ongoing pain of watching his beloved in a coma, he begs his scientist friend, Harry, to use him as a guinea pig in his risky cryogenic experiments and place him in a frozen state until Helen awakens. However, World War II begins, Harry is killed, and plans go awry such that Daniel is not awakened until 1992 when a young boy, Nat Cooper, and is friend inadvertently discover his metal cryogenic tube and pretend it's a submarine. Nat and his mom, Claire, become Daniel's friends in his newly awakened life.

Mel Gibson is very endearing in the role of Daniel, who must try to untangle his regenerated life, adjust to modern times, find Harry, and cope with ongoing grief over Helen... all while living with his new friends, the Coopers. Elija Wood is suitably appealing as the young Nat, and Jamie Lee Curtis gives a sympathetic portrayal of the single mom, Claire, whom Daniel gallantly rescues from an abusive former boyfriend. Daniel and Claire have some interesting scenes together, with her cast as a possible new love interest. Actually Helen, Daniel's old love from the 30's, makes only brief appearances in this film.

There are a number of cute scenes in the movie, such as Daniel gobbling down blueberry pie in a diner booth while trying to summon the nerve to propose to Helen. It's quite amusing when Nat & his pal stumble upon Daniel's cryogenic tube and believe this 'cold man' is a regenerated dead guy whose intent is to do them harm! Nat has an adorable tree house where Daniel later gives his young protégé flying lessons.

Yes, it has a sappy, sentimental ending although I personally loved it! It's so moving when Daniel is reunited with his long lost love, now elderly but still lovely, in a dramatic scene with a seaside background. He gets the chance to propose to her that he missed 50 years earlier, and they can finally live happily ever after...however long (or short) a time that may be. The movie teaches us a lesson to seize the moment and never leave words left unsaid to loved ones, especially in affairs of the heart.

This movie also shows a man who thinks he lost all that gave meaning to his life, but finds the meaning was not gone in the first place. It is a touching love story.

This movie also shows how a boy would want a man he meets as his father. The man comes into his life, and he knows nothing about his background or history, but he knows he is a friend.

This movie is quite enjoyable if you want an evening of simple entertainment that does have some meaning to it as well.

The whole idea of freezing a person to preserve him for later was new at the time. The movie shows it does work, but that it is not a solution after all.

The acting by Mel Gibson and Elijah Wood makes it a very nice movie to watch. It is too bad they put Robert Hy Gorman in it as well; his acting is absolutely terrible.

All in all, great brilliance should not be expected, but the friendship between the boy and the man gives a warm feeling. The love story between the man and the woman has a sweet-and-sour taste to it, since they do find each other again, but will not get to spend very much time together anymore.

In 1939, military pilot Daniel McCormick's fiancée is comatose following being hit by a truck, so he volunteers to be experimentally cryogenically frozen. Overlooked in error, he is accidentally woken in 1992 at which point, with the help of a nurse and her son, he tries to make some sense of what has happened to him.

Forget the science fiction element - the cryogenesis is unconvincing, and the "catch-up" ageing afterwards is, as far as I'm aware, completely without any sort of scientific or logical foundation.

What you are left with is a romantic fable, cross-matched with some fish out of water humour, a dab of suspense, and some pleasing relationships between the characters.

Curiously, the heart of the movie is not Mel Gibson (who is perfectly satisfactory as Daniel) nor Jamie Lee Curtis (whose samaritan nurse Claire is almost an incidental character), but 10-year old Elijah Wood who, even at that age, holds centre stage effortlessly for much of the film.

Don't expect it to make any sense, and you may well enjoy it.

I curl up with this movie occasionally because a) it's a ripping little yarn, b) it's got Mel Gibson in it, and c) because it's as comforting to me as a warm blanket or a cup of hot chocolate.

Gibson plays Daniel McCormick, an army test pilot in 1939 who is about to propose to his girlfriend, Helen (Isabel Glasser) when she is hit by a truck and falls into a coma. Thinking she may never awake, and totally lost without her, Daniel opts to be frozen cryogenically by his scientist best mate and be woken up in a year, or when Helen wakes up, whatever happens first. Unfortunately WWII happens and Daniel's cryo-tube is mistaken for a water heater and abandoned in a factory. Enter mini Frodo and his soon-to-be-toothless best bud stumble across Dan in the back of a warehouse and set him loose in 1992. Rest assured that after some dramas, he discovers Helen is actually still alive and is reunited with her at the end in one of the more imagination-stretching sequences in movie history.

That aside, this is a great little film, perfect "date movie", and one I revisit occasionally when I'm in the mood for a "nice" movie. Mini-Frodo is quite good as the boy Nat, who befriends Daniel, and his own little love story in the film is quite sweet "you are my sunshine, my only sunshine..." reminded me of all the silly crushes I had at that age. I also liked the fact that while he was obviously attracted to her, Daniel did not get it on with Jamie Lee Curtis' character, but that the story really was about his "true love". I also liked the whole "man with 30's morals in the 90's" thing, because often I feel that I was born in the wrong decade when it comes to that kind of thing...

When Mel Gibson starred in Forever Young in 1992, it was probably an attempt to break away from the wild man of Mad Max and Lethal Weapon. He actually proves to be quite likable as a romantic lead, and makes Forever Young a sweet, endearing romantic fable.

In 1939, Mel plays Captain Daniel McCormick, an Air Force test pilot. No stranger to danger, he is willing to brave the latest experimental aircraft, but he's unable to take the biggest risk of all, proposing to his girlfriend, Helen.

Every time Daniel tries to work up the courage to pop the question, he loses his bottle. So he decides to wait. Unfortunately, he waits too long. Helen is run down in an accident, and slips into a coma. Daniel can't live without her, and decides to volunteer for a risky experiment.

Daniel's best friend Harry Finley (George Wendt) is one of the first scientists working on cryogenics. He has yet to test his theories on a living, human subject. Daniel decides to go for it, where he will be placed into a capsule and frozen for a year. If Helen ever wakes up, Harry wakes up Daniel.

But of course, things don't go the way they're supposed to. When World War II breaks out, the cryogenics experiment falls through the cracks. Harry is killed, and as a result, Daniel is forgotten about. He stays frozen in the capsule for over 50 years.

Daniel is eventually thawed out by two boys, Nat and Felix (Nat is played by a young Elijah Wood). Daniel wakes to find the world has become a very different place. Staying with Nat and his mother Claire (the delightful Jamie Lee Curtis), Daniel tries to piece together the last 50 years.

To enjoy Forever Young, you will probably have to suspend disbelief quite a bit. The story itself is rather outrageous, but on a simple level, it's fairly enjoyable. It has more than a few shades of Back to the Future about it. In the same way Robert Zemeckis brought a Frank Capra style of storytelling to BTTF, the director Steve Miner also brings a gentle, benign touch to this story.

The greatest discovery of all is the fact that Mel Gibson manages to make this film work. He makes for a very endearing character when he is lost in the 1990's. His amazement at the new world is played in a very understated fashion. His confusion and old-fashioned naiveté are subtly incorporated into the story, e.g. discovering filtered cigarettes, seat-belts, answering machines, etc.

What's nice about his performance is also the fact that Daniel was brought up in different times. He has a completely different set of values compared to the cynical attitudes of the present day. I like the scene where Daniel saves Claire from an abusive ex-boyfriend, or when he gets to sit in the cockpit of an old-fashioned test plane.

This type of story could have become very mawkish, but Steve Miner manages to find just the right focus, and balances events just right. Jamie Lee Curtis adds sterling support as always, and she gets a lot of good scenes with Gibson.

Elijah Wood also puts in an excellent performance, showing incredible maturity for his age. He acts as Daniel's guide while he is in the 90's, and proves invaluable in putting together what happened to Daniel's past. He plays Nat as neither too precocious or too juvenile, and went on to the fame that he deserved.

In some eyes, Forever Young has an improbably happy ending, where Daniel is reunited with Helen. But I didn't mind this time round. Probably because I was enjoying myself too much. I especially like the scene where Daniel teaches Nat to fly in his tree-house. Watch the camera angles, and you sometimes feel as if they really are flying a plane.

Forever Young wouldn't win any awards for originality, but if they gave out awards for heartwarming stories, Forever Young would definitely be up for a nomination.

This is an old fashioned adventure rom com with an old heart with great acting. So this film is about a test pilot in 1939 called Daniel mccormack played by the enigmatic Mel Gibson he has the world by the tail his amazing job flying b25 bombers he also loves his soul mate and his childhood sweetheart in fact he has the world at his feet almost despite his ability to confront dangers at every turn he can't be man enough or pluck up the courage to propose and his dithering and time runs out when tragedy strikes and takes his love away breaking his heart And unwilling to comes to terms he volunteers for top secret army experiment cryogenics experience but a friend and a fatherless boy played by elijah Woods come across a machine not real zing what their playing at and reawaken Daniel in 1992.along with his mother played by Jamie Lee curtis character is in an abusive relationship and when she gives Daniel a bed to sleep she learns the truth and wants to help him Time waits for no one but true love waits forever the magic of forever young is about taking risks, sizing moments and getting one more chance.

Mel Gibson, Jamie Lee Curtis, Elijah Wood, Isabel Glasser and George Wendt star in this 1992 sci-fi drama. This begins in 1939 where we meet test pilot, Daniel (Gibson) who has a girlfriend, Helen (Glasser) and best friend, Harry (Wendt) who is a scientist. Daniel wants to marry Helen, but she gets into an accident and goes into a coma. Daniel is depressed and convinces Harry to be his cryogenic test subject allowing him to sleep for a year instead of waiting for her to wake up. Fifty years later, Daniel is unwittingly thawed out by young boy, Nat (Wood) who helps him search for the answers of what happened during the years he was asleep. Curtis (Halloween) plays Nat's mother, Claire who is a nurse and also helps Daniel. I've always enjoyed this film, Mel is great in it, he & Isabel have good chemistry and Jerry Goldsmith's score is great as usual. I recommend this good sci-fi drama.

This is another of these frozen-in-time movies. I know at least two of them that were made in 1991-1992 and they were both fun to watch: this movie and "Late For Dinner."

The good things that this particular film has going for it are: 1 - Mel Gibson plays a very likable lead character in "Captain Daniel McCormick;" 2 - there is a nice 1940s atmosphere in the beginning with a sweet-looking Isabell Glasser, who exhibits one of the sweetest faces and smiles I've seen on film; 3 - there is a good mix of humor, drama and intrigue, as well as fantasy in the story; 4 - there is a nice, almost tear-inducing ending.

The kids in the movie were a little pushy but not too bad. Jamie Lee Curtis was low-key and very pleasant. I like the fact "McCormick" stayed true to his original woman. The film got criticized for being too unrealistic but, hey, it's supposed to be a fantasy story where everything is not explained. The only thing I found stretching things when it shouldn't have been was the kid ("Nat Cooper" - Elijah Wood) helping "Capt. McCormick" land an airplane at the end.

Overall, a nice, touching movie.

"Forever Young" opens in the year 1939. Daniel McCormick, a test pilot with the US Army Air Force, sees his girlfriend Helen seriously injured in a road accident which leaves her in a coma. Helen is not expected to recover, and the grief-stricken Daniel volunteers to take part in a secret cryonic freezing experiment being carried out by his close friend, Harry Finley. Daniel hopes that he can be put in suspended animation for a year, so that he doesn't have to watch Helen die. Unfortunately, Harry dies shortly afterwards, and in the chaos following the outbreak of World War II the experiment is forgotten. Daniel remains asleep in his chamber, abandoned in a military warehouse for the next fifty-three years.

Finally, Daniel is awoken from his long sleep by two young boys who stumble on the chamber while playing inside the warehouse. Upon waking, he is horrified to discover that it is not, as he had thought, 1940, but 1992. Harry, and nearly everyone else he once knew, are long dead. The Army have never heard of him, and when he tries to convince them of the truth of his experiences, they dismiss him as a lunatic. Eventually he befriends Nat, one of the two boys who opened the chamber, and his divorced mother Claire.

There are, of course, a number of plot holes in the film. It seems highly unlikely that only Finley would have known about so major a scientific experiment and that after his death everyone else would simply have forgotten about it. It seems equally unlikely that after being forgotten and abandoned the chamber would have continued to function so perfectly that Daniel could have survived inside for over fifty years. Yet these plot holes do not really matter precisely because the film is not intended to be scientifically plausible. Any film which attributes to the scientists of the 1930s the ability to perform technological feats which would still be beyond our capabilities today is obviously not aiming at realism.

The film could have been made as a satire revolving around the differences between the world of the thirties and that of the nineties, with lots of comic misunderstandings based upon the cultural differences between the two eras. It could also have been made as a serious piece of science-fiction, but in fact it is more a fantasy. (There are some similarities with "Somewhere in Time", although in that film the hero travels back in time, not forward). There are certain parallels drawn between the world of the thirties and that of the nineties, generally to the detriment of the latter. Claire is attracted to Daniel because his old-fashioned values make him seem much more gentlemanly and chivalrous than the men of her own era. Mel Gibson is good at bringing out this side of Daniel's character.

Just when the film seems to be developing into a romantic comedy which will end with Daniel and Claire falling for one another, and then changes direction with the sudden revelation that Helen did not die in 1939 but is still alive. This sudden shift of emphasis struck me as being the film's greatest weakness; the romantic ending is well done, but is seemed like something added on from a different film. I would not rate "Forever Young" as highly as "Somewhere in Time"; it lacks that film's visual beauty and, except at the very end, its dreamlike romantic atmosphere. Also, Jamie Lee Curtis is not as engaging a heroine as Jane Seymour. Gibson, however, makes a charismatic hero, and overall the film is a watchable romantic fantasy. 6/10

A Children's Story... That is the best explanation that I can produce for this movie. It does not make sense. The plot is inconsistent. The actions of the protagonists and antagonists do not make sense. The story is mildly charming, but not particularly dramatic. And, children acting childish are major characters. OK, so it is a children's story.

I remember when children's stories had a logical progression of the story line. Maybe that is the fault of my Western linear thinking, brought up short by Mel Gibson's Australian background.

I cannot explain what bothers me with the movie without describing the plot. Capt Dan is in love with a woman. Before he can work up the nerve to ask her to marry him, she gets knocked into a coma. Doctors give her no chance of ever waking up. Capt. Dan can't face the prospect of going through life without her, so he asks his friend--who happens to be running a suspended animation experimental project so secret that not even his own bosses know what he is doing--to put him under for a year (or whenever his love awakes). While he is out, things happen, his capsule gets misplaced, and, before we know it, 53 years have gone by.

Thermos should make such a dewar as the capsule that held Capt. Dan. It kept him cold without external power for half a century. Tragically, no one recorded the date that those mischievous kids opened his capsule. Oddly, he managed to thaw out on his own and live to tell about it.

OK, so he wakes up without aging, 53 years later. He meets up with a nurse. It's a good thing she is a nurse because... actually, for no particular reason. Sure, there is an escape sequence set up in the hospital, but she could just as easily have been a janitor for it. Maybe that would have improved the drama, who knows? Love could have bloomed between Capt Dan and Nurse Cooper; that would have been logical. After all, here is a young man with no one else, and those two have hit it off just fine together. But, then comes the discovery Capt. Dan's true love actually recovered from her coma and is still alive! Now, obviously, Helen has aged 53 years, while Capt. Dan hasn't. A viewer might think that with the title of this movie, that Capt. Dan doesn't age. Wrong! It turns out that Capt. Dan's aging is irreversible... a word the author apparently mistakes for inevitable. After all, no one was attempting to reverse anyone's aging; they were simply delaying it. Never mind; Capt. Dan ages all 53 years within a few days. Mother Nature will not be cheated, even if theater-goers are. On the bright side, at least Helen can act her age, instead of traipsing around with some handsome young man.

End of story.

What, you were expecting more? Like, a point, maybe?