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Radio Flyer

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1:58

Radio Flyer

PG-13

1992

1h 53m

Fantasy

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

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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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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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Brian Costello

Common Sense Media

Child abuse, alcoholism in coming-of-age tearjerker.

Rated: 2/5

Jun 20, 2017

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Carey C

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

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

05/22/25

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Josh G

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.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/16/25

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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

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Audience Member

Sei lá, gosto muito, marcou minha infância

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/15/23

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

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steve d

I'm not sure who it was made for or why.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

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Richard Donner

Director

Elijah Wood

Mike

Joseph Mazzello

Bobby

Adam Baldwin

The King

Lorraine Bracco

Mary

John Heard

Daugherty

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Radio Flyer: Trailer 1

1:58

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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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