There’s absolutely nothing wrong with watching a little sentimental movie from time to time. While ‘The Odd Life of Timothy Green’ isn’t the best film of this sort, it’s fortunately far from the worst.
The family-friendly flick opens with a couple (Jennifer Garner and Joel Edgerton) sitting down for an interview with an adoption agency. Although infertile, they haven’t given up hope of becoming parents. Instead of beefing up their paperwork with inflated examples of how great they are, they proceed to give a verbal account of why they should be chosen to adopt a child. The experience they relate is of their magical and now non-existent son, Timothy Green.
When the couple first received word that they wouldn’t be able to have children of their own, sadness overcame them. To symbolically lock that desire and regret away, they wrote notes listing all of the attributed their child would have, and of all of the things that their child would do. Basically, they created their ideal kid on paper. When their ideas were spent, they stuffed the notes into a small box and buried it in the garden.
Late that night, a storm rolled in and poured rain down onto the home and yard. Magically, without explanation, 11-year-old Timothy Green, the dream child as described in the notes, sprang from the location in the ground where they buried the box. Watching the parents come to the realization that Timothy is their child provides for some cute and funny moments.
Even though Timothy appears to be an average kid, he possesses a strange and unusual characteristic – leaves grow from his legs. His parents decide to hide this fact from their friends and family, and hide his origins by claiming that he was adopted.
Eventually, something happens that causes Timothy to only be with his parents for a limited amount of time. During his brief visit, they learn everything they need to know in order to become the world’s best parents. If you’re prone to feeling moved by sentimental, sappy films, don’t forget the tissues.
My only serious complaint with the film is its length. Two hours is way too long for a fluffy family flick. Luckily, most of the clichés are handled in a charming little way, but time drags during the worst clichéd moments, which seem to last for an eternity.
If not great, ‘The Odd Life of Timothy Green’ isn’t a bad family film. It’s better than most of the half-assed CG-animated movies that studios put out these days.
Rating: 
