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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2424 in DVD
• Brand: Sony
• Released on: 2001-07-03
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Dubbed, DVD, Full Screen, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French
• Dubbed in: Spanish
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 96 minutes

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

From The New Yorker
The fine children's book by Lynne Reid Banks has received a faithful treatment from screenwriter Melissa Mathison. Yet about all that comes through Frank Oz's direction of the story-involving a boy whose magic cupboard brings plastic toys to life-are the lessons in responsibility to others that the tiny Indian (played by the Native American rap singer Litefoot) teaches the boy (Hal Scardino). Their sweet, gawky interplay is winning; and David Keith, as a sensitive miniature cowboy named Boo-hoo Boone, pumps a great deal of energy into the mix. But Mathison's screenplay needed a director who could provide the kind of magic that Steven Spielberg gave her script for "E.T." Oz just tells the story, with little sense of wonder, and relies on Randy Edelman's sappy score to push the audience's buttons. -Bruce Diones
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker