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Radio Flyer

Play trailer 1:58 Poster for Radio Flyer PG-13 1992 1h 53m Fantasy Play Trailer Watchlist
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35% Tomatometer 40 Reviews 72% Popcornmeter 10,000+ Ratings
When their parents divorce, brothers Mike (Elijah Wood) and Bobby (Joseph Mazzello) move to a California suburb with their mother, Mary (Lorraine Bracco). Soon after, she remarries a man (Adam Baldwin) who insists on being called "the King" and who beats young Bobby when Mary isn't around. The boys try to escape their harsh home life through fantasy, most of it centered on their Radio Flyer wagon. Inspired by the legend of another neighborhood boy, they hope to make it fly.
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Radio Flyer

Radio Flyer

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Critics Consensus

Overlaying its whimsical concept onto a gritty story of domestic abuse, Radio Flyer is a family film that is too harrowing for children and too saccharine for their parents.

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Critics Reviews

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William Thomas Empire Magazine The nostalgic details are charming, there are excellent if skimpy effects (a giant buffalo, a Bigfoot cameo) and the children (Elijah Wood, Joseph Mazzello) are quite wonderful, but it's a puzzling, borderline distasteful film. Rated: 3/5 May 20, 2013 Full Review Desmond Ryan Philadelphia Inquirer Donner and Evans can't find a way to extricate themselves from the impossible structure they have erected. They remain locked into the odd combination of the dreamy and the dreadful that is entirely of their own devising. Rated: 2/4 May 20, 2013 Full Review John Hartl Seattle Times A very odd, expensive, ambitious failure that tries hard to achieve the Spielberg touch but succeeds only in reminding you of how few filmmakers can successfully lay claim to his territory. Rated: 2/4 May 20, 2013 Full Review Brian Orndorf Blu-ray.com "Radio Flyer" has managed to acquire something of a fanbase, with those sensitive to the director's earnest intent able to embrace all the shortcomings of the picture, and celebrate its unnervingly accurate read of resilient juvenile energy. Rated: B Jul 8, 2021 Full Review Malcolm Johnson Hartford Courant Too dark and upsetting for the family trade, this tale of a sadistic stepfather takes too many wrong moves to satisfy adults. Jun 7, 2018 Full Review Brian Costello Common Sense Media Child abuse, alcoholism in coming-of-age tearjerker. Rated: 2/5 Jun 20, 2017 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Candis S Great movie! Amazing cast and fantastic storyline. Really grabs you emotionally. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 10/20/24 Full Review Audience Member Sei lá, gosto muito, marcou minha infância Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/15/23 Full Review christopher c. m I know the movie needs a villain, but it doesn't need to be a one note drunk stepfather that's more cliché than the school bully. The kids are flat and also one note, too boring to be even count as Kennys. The charcters don't have an last names or in the case of the villain, a real name at all. I know "The King" is a nickname but fully flushed characters need full names. Also, the marketing has this like an "ET" or "Explorers" light hearted family romp when the real movie has very little to do with the radio flyer. The bulk of the movie is forced melodrama and the King beating the shit out of the kids. It's an ugly movie, an ugly boring movie. Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member Watching this with my mother, she thinks that the boy committed suicide in the end. I always thought he did manage to fly and escape. The ending and how you see it makes the whole movie magical or cripplingly depressing. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/26/23 Full Review steve d I'm not sure who it was made for or why. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review mccane m A touching exploration of childhood, trauma, hope, imagination, brotherhood, and family. I was pleasantly surprised. Elijah Wood and Joseph Mazzello are perfect. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Radio Flyer

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Radio Flyer

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Radio Flyer

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Movie Info

Synopsis When their parents divorce, brothers Mike (Elijah Wood) and Bobby (Joseph Mazzello) move to a California suburb with their mother, Mary (Lorraine Bracco). Soon after, she remarries a man (Adam Baldwin) who insists on being called "the King" and who beats young Bobby when Mary isn't around. The boys try to escape their harsh home life through fantasy, most of it centered on their Radio Flyer wagon. Inspired by the legend of another neighborhood boy, they hope to make it fly.
Director
Richard Donner
Production Co
Columbia Pictures Corporation
Rating
PG-13
Genre
Fantasy
Original Language
English
Release Date (Streaming)
Mar 1, 2011
Box Office (Gross USA)
$4.0M
Runtime
1h 53m
Sound Mix
Surround
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