Product Details

• Actors: Hal Scardino, Litefoot, Lindsay Crouse, Richard Jenkins, Rishi Bhat
• Directors: Frank Oz
• Writers: Lynne Reid Banks, Melissa Mathison
• Producers: Arthur F. Repola, Bernard Williams, Frank Marshall, Jane Startz, Kathleen Kennedy
• Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Dubbed, Full Screen, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround), French (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround), Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)
• Subtitles: English, Spanish, French
• Dubbed: Spanish
• Subtitles for the Hearing Impaired: English
• Region: Region 1 encoding (US and Canada only)
  PLEASE NOTE: Some Region 1 DVDs may contain Regional Coding Enhancement (RCE). Some, but not all, of our international customers have had problems playing these enhanced discs on what are called "region-free" DVD players. For more information on RCE, click .
• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
• DVD Release Date: July 3, 2001
• Run Time: 96 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (102 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00005JG6M
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,948 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• Learn more about "The Indian in the Cupboard" on IMDb

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Young Hal Scardino stars as a sensitive boy who discovers a way to bring plastic toys to life in a locked cupboard. One of those toys, a 19th-century Iroquois warrior (played by actor Litefoot), was actually a real warrior now only several inches tall. A bond eventually develops between boy and warrior, and a six-shooting toy cowboy (David Keith). As with E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, The Indian in the Cupboard (which was written by E.T. scribe Melissa Mathison) is about a magical visitor connecting with a lonely child. But director Frank Oz (In & Out) has made the film far too stiff and dramatically flat to get across the enchantment necessary to make the fantasy work. Watching this is like listening to someone who can't tell a good story to save his life, yet who is trying to captivate your attention and heart. --Tom Keogh

Product Description

An Adventure Comes to Life! The most amazing adventure is awaiting. Are you ready to unlock the secret? On his ninth birthday, Omri is presented with many gifts - the most unusual being a cupboard. But this is no ordinary wooden box. It is endowed with magical power that transforms Omri's plastic toy figurines into living creatures. The first miniature to be animated is a 19th Century Iroquois warrior named Little Bear, who is terrified at first by his alien surroundings but soon bonds with his gigantic playmate. But when Omri's friend, Patrick, gets in on the act and brings a six-shooting cowboy (David Keith, U-571) to life, their fantastic secret is in danger of being revealed. The Indian in the Cupboard is terrific family entertainment from director Frank Oz (Bowfinger) and Melissa Mathison, the writer of E.T., The Extra-Terrestrial.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Top flight entertainment for "tween" aged children February 8, 2001

By Alan R. Holyoak

Format:VHS Tape

"The Indian in the Cupboard" is an excellent movie for tween-aged children (i.e., children between their pre-school and teen years). In this movie a boy discovers that he can bring small action figures to life by using a small, old, wooden cupboard. The first figure he brings to life is a Native American. As the story progresses, the boy learns important lessons about life from his new friend, "Little Bear."

The story is exciting without being frightening, educational without being stuffy, and fun without being extreme. "The Indian in the Cupboard" presents an excellent entertainment offering for pre-teens who often see too much programming centered on overstimulation of sight, sound, and action (e.g., Pokemon...).

I also like the fact that the boy in the story doesn't look like he stepped right out of an advertising agency, or off of the cover of a magazine. He is a regular guy...his hair is a little messy, his teeth haven't gone through an orthodontic program, and he wears normal clothes.

All in all, this is top-notch entertainment for the whole family. It's one of my children's favorites (girl, 10 yrs; boy 8 yrs; boy 6 yrs).

A definite keeper for your family's collection!

Happy viewing...and watch out for the rat!

Alan Holyoak

37 of 46 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars My goodness, what an insult to the book!! January 12, 2008

By lisam5305

Format:DVD

We just got done reading this book in our homeschool so naturally I rented this movie hoping it would bring the words to life. This movie is a mere shadow of the book. Omri's family is nice and even the boy who plays him is okay. The Native American who played the "Indian" (Litefoot) did a wonderful job but the script was so pathetic. The boy who played Patrick was repugnant and not much of a real friend. One of the major things that just absolutely kills this movie for me is the excessive amount of cussing (at one point Omri even says a cuss word to his mom, and she responds with a proud, wide-mouthed grin). Not only that, but in one scene the boys even have the cowboy and Indian watching a raunchy music video, and plenty is shown to make it offensive. These were fatal mistakes in my opinion, I am sure I am not the only one who was turned off by these things. It would have been so awesome to see what a really good director could have done with this movie.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Toy Story Comes To Life.... August 3, 2000

By Quaker Annie

Format:VHS Tape

This video made it to our family library long ago. Entertaining, enjoyable for adults and children, with relatively little violence (there are some battle scenes), it opens up avenues for dinner time conversation about reality, fantasy, Native Americans, friendship and bullies. In addition, watching this movie led us to the book series, which my then 6 year old listened to intently.

What we liked - fantasy mixed with reality, much like Small Soldiers or E.T. (though not nearly as good as E.T.) With the help of a magical key and cabinet, our hero, Omri, brings a figurine, Little Bear, to life (in miniature form). He watches Little Bear build a home and finds a wife for him. Omri's best friend, Patrick, doesn't quite understand the difference between play and real lives, and brings Boone, a cowboy and his horse to life, setting off a small battle between the two people.

Boone brings a touch of comic relief to the film, which deals with some serious issues. Death is lightly touched on, when Omri's first attempt to find a friend for Little Bear pushes an elderly figurine into cardiac arrest, with serious effects on Omri's comprehension of his 'toys.' War, too, is addressed slightly when he brings a tiny World War I medic back to care for a miniscule character's real life wounds.

Parallel to this story is Omri's move into a new neighborhood, away from his best friend and into some slight confrontations with bullies (further developed in the sequel to this video).

We started with the video, which led us to the book series (by Lynne Reid Banks). The video is almost as good as the book, with convincing special effects, good acting, entertainment and more meaningful after-movie talk than most children's.... A good view, and if you get the version(s) with the figurines, they are very close to the movie miniatures!

Thumbs up from all of our family members - hope you enjoy it (and read the books!!!) Read more ›

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Good movie. July 3, 2002

By A Customer

Format:DVD

When you first see Omri, a kid who's short, has messy hair and not the greatest teeth in the world, you don't think anything interesting can happen to him. But something does. His best friend, Patrick, gives him a toy Indian for his birthday. At his party, his brother gives him an old cupboard that he found in the crawlspace of their house. Omri's mother tells Omri that if he can find a key out of her collection, he can have it. He does. It was a key that his great-grandmother gave to his mother.
When Omri carelessly puts the toy Indian into the cupboard and locks it, the toy comes to life.
At first, the Indian (Little Bear) is scared, but eventually learns to trust Omri. Omri gives Little Bear whatever he desires, tools, food, and a hatchett from a knight! However, when he was getting a bow and arrow from an old Indian, the Indian is scared to death--literally! Omri realizes that these "Toys" have real lives and that they aren't something to fool around with. When Patrick discovers Omri's secret, he brings back a Cowboy named Boone. Little Bear and Boone eventually become friends. Omri takes Boone and Little Bear to school (Patrick wanted him to) and Omri displays that he has learned that the "toys" were people by saying "You can't! They're people! You can't use people!" When Patrick was going to show them to friends. Omri's brother takes Omri's cupbaord as a cruel joke and the key gets lost! What's worse, Boone is seriously wounded, and without medical attention, he will die! Omri realizes that Little Bear and Boone's safety and hapiness meant more to him than the novelty of having them. So Omri declares that when the key was found, they were sending Boone and Little Bear home.
The key is eventually found, and Omri is forced to let Little Bear and Boone go.... Little Bear and Omri share one last moment, and then he sends them back.
This was a very good movie, at least fo me, and it's a good movie for kids to watch. Read more ›