ADDITIONAL SPOILER WARNING
This summary line is to underscore the striking similarity between Hide and Seek and Sixth Sense. Change it to "I see imagined people" and it fits Hide and Seek like a glove. In both cases, the sleight of hand trick is in diverting your attention to the normal person (the kid in this case) making you believe that she/he is abnormal. Your perception is cleverly twisted around, switched between the two, the normal kid and the abnormal adult.
Prior to seeing the movie, I read two words, out of my own choice, from an IMDb comment with spoiler warning and therefore pretty well knew what's going on right from the beginning. This is good because as I do not intend to watch the movie a second time (at least not in the near future), this foreknowledge allows me to fully appreciate how fine is Dakota Fanning's performance. I don't have to think back after the movie, but recognized right away all the meanings of her expression, that of a little girl trapped in a situation with no way out. This young actress has far to go. Only she can get away with that one scene where she is all addressed up, with full makeup, to join her father and Elizabeth for dinner.
Actually, the clues are pretty painfully apparent that getting to the mid-point of the movie, one should really know what is going on. Knowing it right from the beginning, however, allow me to divert some of my attention to associating the various supporting actors with some of their other movies.
Famke Janssen, for example, not only looks exactly like Jean Grey in her X-men movies, but plays a similar role too, that of a healer. Elizabeth Shue, on the other hand, leaning a little towards voluptuousness in this movie, is very different from the no-nonsense scientist she plays in Hollow Man. Dylan Baker I saw just a few days ago as the Rockefeller Foundation man trying to help Kinsey, until the kitchen gets too hot.
Robert De Niro does not really have an exceptionally challenging role. Quite a number of actors can do just as well, and Robin Williams comes to mind immediately. It is Dakota Fanning that shines in this one.
This summary line is to underscore the striking similarity between Hide and Seek and Sixth Sense. Change it to "I see imagined people" and it fits Hide and Seek like a glove. In both cases, the sleight of hand trick is in diverting your attention to the normal person (the kid in this case) making you believe that she/he is abnormal. Your perception is cleverly twisted around, switched between the two, the normal kid and the abnormal adult.
Prior to seeing the movie, I read two words, out of my own choice, from an IMDb comment with spoiler warning and therefore pretty well knew what's going on right from the beginning. This is good because as I do not intend to watch the movie a second time (at least not in the near future), this foreknowledge allows me to fully appreciate how fine is Dakota Fanning's performance. I don't have to think back after the movie, but recognized right away all the meanings of her expression, that of a little girl trapped in a situation with no way out. This young actress has far to go. Only she can get away with that one scene where she is all addressed up, with full makeup, to join her father and Elizabeth for dinner.
Actually, the clues are pretty painfully apparent that getting to the mid-point of the movie, one should really know what is going on. Knowing it right from the beginning, however, allow me to divert some of my attention to associating the various supporting actors with some of their other movies.
Famke Janssen, for example, not only looks exactly like Jean Grey in her X-men movies, but plays a similar role too, that of a healer. Elizabeth Shue, on the other hand, leaning a little towards voluptuousness in this movie, is very different from the no-nonsense scientist she plays in Hollow Man. Dylan Baker I saw just a few days ago as the Rockefeller Foundation man trying to help Kinsey, until the kitchen gets too hot.
Robert De Niro does not really have an exceptionally challenging role. Quite a number of actors can do just as well, and Robin Williams comes to mind immediately. It is Dakota Fanning that shines in this one.