War tests boy’s faith, power of good deeds
Faith- based movies follow a pattern — they’re well meant, with straightforward production values and a generally sentimental tone. The latest example is “Little Boy,” about a youngster facing challenges in a small California town during World War II.
The film has a good cast, and is competently made in a plain- vanilla way, but its greatest appeal will be to those who share its endorsement of traditional religious values.
Our hero is Pepper ( Jakob Salvati), a child whose unusually small stature earns him the derisive nickname Little Boy from the town’s many bullies. His father enlists and is sent to the Philippines, where he is declared missing, possibly a prisoner of the Japanese. A local priest ( Tom Wilkinson) tells the heartbroken Pepper that faith may help bring his dad home safely.
The boy tests the notion that belief can move mountains, and the film has a bit of fun with the idea — he seems to have powers, but almost always there’s the teasing possibility of a natural explanation.
The priest gives Pepper a list of charitable tasks to perform, among them befriending an older Japanese man ( Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa), recently released from a nearby internment camp. He is viciously harassed by the town’s racists, and Pepper, who at first shares their disdain, must learn to overcome it.
“Little Boy” is less hectoring about its beliefs than some similar films, and even pays homage to the humane values of the Japanese man, who voices skepticism about the supernatural. But this remains a movie with a message — it’s a hopeful one, and leads to an easily predictable conclusion.
Salvati, Tagawa and Wilkinson are effective, and the film offers a couple of other recognizable faces: Emily Watson as Pepper’s mother, and Kevin James as the town doctor.
Mexican director Alejandro Monteverde shows a capable hand in working with schmaltzy material. He has said that, for “Little Boy,” he was greatly inspired by the paintings of Norman Rockwell, and the movie certainly bears him out.