Customer Reviews

Life-Size

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(27)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Two things happened on the way to what was meant to be a typically upbeat, light-hearted, happy-ending Disney production. First, they gave it a poignant, very human story-line: the difficulties a man and his daughter have in coping with the traumatic death of his wife and her mother. Second, they cast Lindsay Lohan as the thirteen year old daughter. The ability to bring depth to a character in a lighthearted comedy is perhaps as much or greater a challenge than in a serious drama (check out Roddy McDowell's performance as the butler in "Overboard"). Miss Lohan has accomplished this twice in as many movie roles - or should I say three times, considering the two subtly different personalities she carved out of the twins in "Parent Trap". In "Life-size" she brought life to a doll, but more important she brought life to what could easily have been an adolescent stereotype. The control she has over her facial expressions is fantastic. A light roll of the eyes, a krinkle at the corner of her mouth, a guilty grin open up little windows that bring reality to the heart of her character. It's worth the price of the video to experience the sparkle of Tyra Banks, the sensitivity of Jere Burns, but most of all to witness another example of Lindsay Lohan's masterful acting talent. Buy it or rent it, but see "Life Size".

I loved Life-Size! It's one of my favorite movies! A great performance by Lindsay Lohan. There were only a couple things I don't like, like when the girl trips in the middle of the road, she just sits there and covers her face instead of getting up and running. Tyra Banks did a great job at acting like a stupid barbie doll. It was funny when she made a fool of herself like when she tells her date, "Did you know I'm anatomically correct?" I love this movie!

Casey Stewart (Lindsay Lohan, The Parent Trap) is having a tough teenage life. Her mother has recently passed away, and her father, Ben (Jere Burns) is always busy. He always tries to make it to her football games, but he always misses them. Casey feels that the answer to all her problems would be to bring her mother back to life.

Casey is given a birthday gift by Ben's co-worker, Drew (Anne Marie Loder), and the gift is an Eve doll which doesn't really interest Casey. When Casey tries to cast a spell to bring her mother back to life, she accidentaley brings back to life the Eve doll. Now, Eve (Tyra Banks, Halloween: Resurrection) is a human with the thoughts of a doll. Casey thinks this is terrible...but it gets even worse when she realizes that her dad has gotten a crush on the doll.

LIFE-SIZE is such an entertaining movie. It is a great movie for the entire family. Not only was there an excellent script, but the actors were wonderful--especially Lindsay Lohan and Tyra Banks. Each scene was full of humor, especially when Eve was a complete idiot. Despite the comedy of the movie, the end was very sad and could make anyone cry. I recommend this movie to anyone...even to people who hate dolls.

i am 17 now but i first watched the the film when i was 10. i absolutely loved it and went on amazon recently to try and find it again. it was so cheap so i bought it and although i thought that maybe as im older now i wouldnt enjoy i absolutely did STILL! me my momma and dad and sister watched it and we really liked it. buy it,it's worth it however im not too sure if my dad loved it

Life-Size is one of those rare movies that has a little bit of something for everybody. From halarious scenes (When Eve breaks a nail and sks if she'll be thrown away) to touching scenes (When Eve becomes the friend Casey needs), you will love Life-Size. Casey is a 14 year old girl who's mother recently passed away and father is often not around. Using a magic spell book, she tries to bring her mom back to life, but when her Eve doll gets brought to life, Casey has to fix it. Casey basicaly keeps to herself and tries to push everyone else away from her. When Casey is finally able to open up to Eve and her father, your sure to have a smile on your face! Lindsay Lohan (Parent Trap) and supermodel Tyra Banks give excellent performances. This is only Lindsay's second movie, but I can't wait to see what she'll do in the future. This price is great. My only gripe is that the only special features are audio options.

As a Mom of two girls, this movie has some excellent messages for little girls! It's not all about beauty and perfection! Casey is probably the best role model of the year... athletic, active, smart, given many hard life lessons young in life... and excels even through the hardest times. Looking for someone better for your children to look up to? Maybe the young girl in this movie will be the one. Perfect movie for all girls! Sure to be a Disney classic!!

My daughter saw this on the Disney channel 2 yrs ago, and instantly loved it. She has been able to pull out the main message on her own, that the doll turned human helped make everyone happy. It is a relatively tame movie, with a decent message. The young actress is now starring in a remake of Freaky Friday, she is quite talented.

Our whole family enjoyed this light film that deals with the real pain of loss in a family, while simultaneously raising - possibly for the first time for children - the question of: what does it mean to be human?

The first thing I had to tell my children when we were watching this together is "this is just silly....this isn't real, it is just a story, but let's try to find out what the story is trying to say..." The plot follows the adventures of sad and self-isolating Casey (Lindsay Lohan) a few years after her mother's death (never explained, only a "check up" and then a swift decline is alluded to)who attempts to resurrect her mother, but instead brings an unwanted doll named Eve (Tyra Banks) to life. Eve is delighted to encounter use of her skin and senses but eventually realizes through a series of painfully obvious failures that she is not the perfect role model her manufacturers have created a fantasy of. Casey despises Eve and has eliminated any chance of bringing her mother back to life. But as Eve grows from her failures, she and Casey develop a dialogue about the human condition that paradoxically helps them both to "let go and grow." Casey's father (Jere Burns) has buried his grief in ambition at his workplace, where he hopes to be made partner, neglecting Casey. But again, Eve's presence forces him to make emotional choices and he begins to reconnect with his daughter.

The most mature theme - correctly in context for children - is the paradox of the pain, stress and disappointments of life, that simultaneously helps us to grow.

Jere Burns is correctly cast as a modern, hip, ambitious Dad, and successfully carries off the mixture of trying to encourage his daughter to accept her loss of her Mother, hile also obviously suppressing his own unresolved feelings on the episode as well.

Tyra Banks gives a stunning performance as a doll come to life (and life size) who exhibits the false confidence of the Dunning-Kruger Effect while meanwhile stumbling through real human tasks like a ditzy "blonde" cubed. I was very impressed by Ms. Banks performance, for she several times executes very well, and believably, what a doll might think of an ordinary human activity with a vague sense of comprehension, and fear of the unknown.

In her pre-wild child days Lindsey Lohan's appeal was obviously limited to the freckled red head tom boy stereotype so familiar in so many Disney films. Here she does a credible job.

Let me close with a full-disclosure and a discussion about one of the more troubling aspects of the film: Casey's use of witchcraft to resurrect her mother (instead bringing Eve to life). Disney films have "magic" in them frequently, scaling from cartoonish (Fantasia) to diabolical (Snow White). On that scale of order of one to ten to me this scores a six, but it is a bit difficult to see in a live action film.

We are a pious traditionalist Catholic family, and recognize that such a plot device could cause rejection of the film by fellow Catholics and observant pious Protestants alike. Based on my limited knowledge of "occult" practices Casey's "altar" and symbols and collection of significant objects, and spell casting book are all at a level of believability higher than the obvious cartoonishness of Disneyland's "Haunted Mansion." For me, for a light comedy, this was unnecessary. Yet, my children took little interest in this dimension of the plot, and in our discussion of the film afterwards both said it was "silly" and knew that it was just a made-up device to get the doll to "real life" so the story could be told.
My conclusion: it is all-in-all harmless, it was unnecessarily "real," but parents who actively discuss with their children about what it is they see should have no problem guiding them past this plot point. For those parents who just plop their kids in front of the tube and absorb whatever...well...there has probably already been too much damage already done for this to even register.

This movie has absolute perfection on its hands. It's a clever mix of comedy and drama, and the ending is incredibly, incredibly sad. Tears well up in my eyes. The movie doesn't just have the doll come to life for some ordinary citygirl -- no. The girl who it comes to life for has a much more complicated existence. Her mother has passed away, she feels terribly about her father and him dating, and she is isolated. She uses a spellbook to bring her mom back, but the doll falls on the Magic equipment and comes to life the next morning. The movie's acting is awesome. Everyone will recognize model Tyra Banks, and Lindsay Lohan is from the Parent Trap, Freaky Friday, Mean Girls, and that stuff. The script and plot is beautiful, and well-executed. Instead of diverting you with subplots, the movie sticks to one main focus. On the downside for older people, the movie may seem far too simplistic. But it has charm, wit and drama in one oh-so-worth-it DVD case.

Don't let the Disney name fool you-this movie is great for all ages. I'm 14 years old and my parents gave me this for Christmas. It's a hilarious movie about a doll named Eve (Tyra Banks) who comes to life and into the life of Casey (Lindsay Lohan), a young tomboy who was hoping to bring her mother back to life. The movie is all about Eve exploring her world and figuring out what the real-world is like. Eve's unawareness of the world around her gets her into more than a few funny predicaments. If you'd like a good laugh at a girly movie, you'll love Life-Size.