Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys: Amazon.ca: Kieran Culkin, Jena Malone, Emile Hirsch, Vincent D'Onofrio, Jake Richardson, Tyler Long, Jodie Foster, Arthur Bridgers, Scott Simpson, Melissa Suzanne McBride, Michael Harding, Chandler McIntyre, Peter Care, Bob Stephenson, Cheryl La Sasso, Chrisanne Mitchell, David A. Jones, Chris Fuhrman, Jeff Stockwell, Michael Petroni: DVD

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Customer Reviews

37 Reviews

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

Average Customer Review

4.2 out of 5 stars (37 customer reviews)

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5.0 out of 5 stars Totally great, July 18 2004

By

Inspector Gadget "Go Go Gadget Reviews" (On the trail of Doctor Claw) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys (DVD)

The Dangerous Lives of Alter Boys is kind of like a cross between The Virgin Suicides and Stand By Me. Set in the 70's (featuring many cool 70's haircuts) in small town Georgia, the story focuses on Francis, a 14-year-old dreamer and troublemaker. He and his pals, Tim, Wade, and Joey cope with life under the oppressive rule of one-legged nun Sister Assumpta (Jodie Foster) at the Puritan Christian high school they're unfortunate enough to attend.

One of their methods of escape is the 'The Atomic Trinity' comic book. Each of them have their own character with superpowers (such as The Muscle, Captain Asskicker and Skeleton Boy), battling against the tyrannical regime of Nunzilla/Pegleg (a gross caricature of Sister Assumpta). These fantasy stories make up the terrific animated sequences of the film. The cool thing is that they are not so totally removed from the reality of Francis, Tim, Wade and Joey.

The boys soon find their way into a lot of trouble though. After stealing the school's nun statue mascot the quartet plan to steal a cougar from the zoo and put in Sister Assumpta's office. A mad plan yes, but their determination and invention behind it is very clever.

Some scenes of the film are very emotional, so if you have soft spot you'll find it tough to get through the scene where Tim finds a dying dog by the side of the road or Francis reading a poem at the funeral.

Francis' relationship with Margie (the very cute Jenna Malone) also takes many curious and unique turns. The scene with the ghost watching them sleep was pleasingly weird.

Taken from the one and only book (posthumously) by Chris Fuhrman (a book I must get as soon as I see), The Dangerous Lives of Alter Boys is attractively shot, wonderfully acted and definitely worth getting.

The DVD is in 1.85:1 widescreen (strangely non-anamorphic, though the region 2 version is) with Dolby 5.1 sound and a mild bunch of extras.

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5.0 out of 5 stars ..., May 3 2004

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Allison Driscoll (Huntsville, Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys (DVD)

I liked this movie. I'm not saying it's brilliant or life-changing or even a contender for My Favorite Movie, but I liked it.

It's worth a rental.

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3.0 out of 5 stars 'Altar'ed States, April 5 2004

By

Welt (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys (DVD)

Yeah, I'll admit this movie has potential... it just seems to blur out from time to time with stupid plot twists and one dimensional characters. Whenever the film grabs you, it takes a turn in the wrong direction. (Namely, the cougar incident. Which was ridiculous from the moment they started scheming and plotting.) I liked Kieran Culkin's character... it's just too bad we don't really learn anything about him...

All in all, it was fair, seeing as how I didn't expect much walking into it. Script was kind of interesting... direction was nothing new or impressive, but still passable... cast was capable. Characters were just abysmally under-developed and, at times, extremely hokey and unbelievable. And cheezy, hokey dialogue doesn't help matters, either. "When you look at me, I can't breathe."

One more thing... I kinda dug the marriage of animation and live-action in this film. It just seemed to work well enough here.

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Most recent customer reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Charming, but unexpected
This was an interesting flick that tells the tale of growing up in a catholic school. It uses an interesting method of storytelling, as it interweaves cartooning and live action... Read more

Published on Feb 10 2004 by Adam P Boots

5.0 out of 5 stars From charming to moving
I don't think I'll do the film justice, but here goes: