The Odd Life of Timothy Green
User Score
6.7 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 41 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 28 out of 41
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 41
  3. Negative: 6 out of 41

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  1. NavyBean
    Aug 21, 2012
    0
    Everyone tries too hard and nothing has any resonance. Jennifer Garner's over acting is particularly poor and the husband comes across as a big old scare-dy cat. Tone deaf, badly paced and full of stereotypes it all adds up to thin soup. Leaf it alone.
  2. hoops2448
    Apr 26, 2013
    4
    Jennifer Garner's movie career has been fairly sketchy. She has had her successes (Juno) but has accompanied them with a plethora of failures (Elektra, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past). She has done well with her TV career and I view Alias as one of my all time favorite shows but she hasn't been as prolific as some would have imagined. The Odd Life of Timothy Green unfortunately carries on the trend of disappointment but not because of Garner. When wannabe parents Jim (Joel Edgerton) and Cindy Green (Jennifer Garner) discover they cannot have children they decide to write their own fantasy child's characteristics and aspirations and wish for them (and to some extent, him) The next day, as if out of nowhere Timothy crawls from the ground outside their house with leaves growing out of his ankles. Jim and Cindy must take care of him while keeping his unique secret from the rest of town. Garner tries to tap into her character from Juno with another mother desperate for a child and she is just as good in this as she was in Juno giving the film a wealth of emotion right from the get go. The supernatural elements of this story work as they are never as important as the relationships between the characters. In fact the supernatural parts allow for some of the movies strongest moments, especially the end. The story by Ahmet Zappa (Son of Frank) is clever and also a bit childish. The film should bask in its childish tendencies but isn't allowed to because the film is filled with side stories that add context to the ending but aren't all that enjoyable. In fact the film should have spent a little more time having fun with its characters instead of providing meaning, some things are better left to the imagination. The film tries to tell too many stories. The film looks at small town life in America but it does so by introducing many side characters, none of which provide much fun to this family film except for Dianne Wiest's Bernice, a sullen museum owner, town grouch and wife of the local factory owner. The look at the disillusion of a small town in modern America thanks to the economic downturn is a courageous move for Disney but it never really rings true when it is juxtaposed with the supernatural plot and the overall tone of the film. In fact the film removes all tension from the story line at the beginning of the film thanks to an opening that reveals a little too much. Ultimately its a film that casts such a wide net in terms of story that it has to handle many topics and characters throughout the film so that nothing is looked at closely enough and most of the important themes like the relationship between fathers and sons are never fully fleshed out or realized making for a not unpleasant but empty experience.… Expand
  3. My_Venom
    Apr 8, 2013
    2
    These people should never be allowed to be parents. they obviously don't know how to. The movie doesn't make any sense. Everyone in this movie were dicks. its just bad.

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
48 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 29 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 29
  2. Mixed: 19 out of 29
  3. Negative: 3 out of 29
  1. Empire
    Reviewed by: Helen O'Hara
    Apr 1, 2013
    60
    The midway point between "A.I." and "Diary Of A Wimpy Kid." It has quirky charm and a tender heart, but the treacly sentiment may become wearisome.
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  2. Total Film
    Reviewed by: Matt Maytum
    Mar 25, 2013
    40
    An outdated oddity.
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  3. The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
    Reviewed by: Liam Lacey
    Aug 16, 2012
    50
    As anodyne as it is, Timothy Green may represent the last gasp of a genre, the live-action family fable, that has been an entertainment staple for a couple of generations of moviegoers.
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