A sturdy new film version of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings's terrific rites-of-passage story of a country boy in America's Deep South. Life is hard for young Jody (Will Horneff) and his parents (Peter Strauss and Jean Smart) on their smallholding in the forest. When Jody adopts an orphaned fawn as a pet, he does not foresee the consequences that will teach him a harsh lesson. Sentimentality is kept at bay and a fight with a bear is frighteningly well done. Here in a supporting role as Buck, the distinctive Philip Seymour Hoffman has since made giant strides towards Hollywood stardom.


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