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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 05/20/2013
3/5
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. Go to Full Review
Desmond Ryan Philadelphia Inquirer 05/20/2013
2/4
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. Go to Full Review
John Hartl Seattle Times 05/20/2013
2/4
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. Go to Full Review
Brian Orndorf Blu-ray.com 07/08/2021
B
"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. Go to Full Review
Malcolm Johnson Hartford Courant 06/07/2018
Too dark and upsetting for the family trade, this tale of a sadistic stepfather takes too many wrong moves to satisfy adults. Go to Full Review
Brian Costello Common Sense Media 06/20/2017
2/5
Child abuse, alcoholism in coming-of-age tearjerker. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Stephen C @bob25009 Nov 23 Success in 01 hour, 53 minutes, and 52 seconds!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ages 13 and older!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The USA grossed over $4,000,000.00!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! See more thiago s @Thiagostone Aug 10 Filme fraco, o roteiro é fraco, as cenas são fracas, a história é fraca, o elenco é fraco, e ninguém ajuda a melhorar o filme, os personagens são fracos, e o filme deveria ter cenas bem melhores e relevantes, para fazer o filme ser bom See more shawn b Jul 19 This movie tackles the theme of surviving child abuse using a combination childhood fantasy and unreliable narrator. It's a beautiful, heart wrenching, warm, dark, exploration of the mind and actions of children dealing with something they should never have to deal with. Very uncomfortable. The actors did great at capturing this uncomfortable emotional mix and the imperfect outcome of a terrible situation. The choice to obscure The King's face in nearly every shot helps both to generalize the character to any abuser and to visualize that he is a monster figure not a caring reasonable human. A total contrast to the other adults who seem friendly and even helpful to the boys. Judging this based on its failure to adhere to adult logic and it's failure to be comfortable misses the point. It's entirely the unreliable and fantastical memory of a survivor of child abuse. The urge to protect their mom from their troubles, the refusal to get help from the police, escaping on a home made airplane - these are obviously not logical unless viewed from the eyes, mind and traumatized imagination of the characters. This movie is great at capturing exactly that essence. Until today, I hadn't seen this movie since I was a child. It pushes all the nestalgia buttons See more Carey C May 22 If it had ended like The Life of Pi did where we find out the fantasy was to cope with trauma or would have made sense… an 8 year old kid building an aerodynamic craft and flying around the world is just ABSURD! The theories that Mike actually died and the radio flyer fantasy was a way to cope with the loss makes way more sense See more Josh G Jan 16 My brother and I used to watch this religiously. Great movie. Weird ending. Ive read that Bobby was actually killed by the king in reality.... then to cope with the trauma, the whole 'flying away in a wagon' thing was mike's only way of his mind to cope with the loss of his brother... I thank god for such a good Dad. and big brother. See more Candis S 10/20/2024 Great movie! Amazing cast and fantastic storyline. Really grabs you emotionally. See more Read all reviews
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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