The quotes from movie reviews presented below have been grouped into major themes. Each quote is not intended to reflect the overall opinion of each reviewer. Links to the original reviews are here.
New York Post (Megan Turner)
Teen Charmer. A pleasant little family film. [Headline] The target demographic for "Little Secrets" is a famously persnickety bunch, but budding adolescents shouldn't find much fault with this pleasantly diverting... teen drama... It's a cute idea that functions as a support structure for the understated moralizing... as Emily meets a boy... grapples with her own secret and learns some life lessons... director Blair Treu plays it... delivering an uncommonly inoffensive... teen flick.
New York Daily News (Jack Matthews)
Take a bow, young Evan Rachel Wood [Headline] Who says filmmakers are interested only in negative images of kids? Blair Treu's "Little Secrets" is an uplifting family fairy tale of a movie about children who don't smoke cigarettes on street corners, stick out their pearl-studded tongues at TV cameras or spray-paint your rock wall with graffiti... "Little Secrets" is fairly irresistible... Wood... has genuine screen presence and holds our attention against all odds. There's a lot going on inside her precociously pretty head, and the passion that Emily feels for the violin is so evident in Wood's eyes that you never think to look at her hands to see if she's really playing that thing (she's not). Treu and screenwriter Jessica Barondes... as they did with their previous film, "Wish Upon a Star," they're allowed to dream.
Los Angeles Times [also Newsday] (Kevin Thomas)
Strong Cast Reveals Aching 'Secrets' [Headline] ...Blair Treu's "Little Secrets" offers some genuine substance for youthful audiences... "Little Secrets" has a sure sense of reality at its core... and three talented and accomplished young actors, all TV series veterans, to head the cast, which includes an outstanding Vivica A. Fox in a key adult role... What Treu and writer Jessica Barondes are doing with considerable deftness is asking youngsters--and parents too--to think about the wisdom of keeping the kinds of secrets that do harm to one's self and others... These small fry are presented as a bunch of eccentric little mini-kooks, apparently for easy, affectionate laughs... fortunately [this] does not fully undermine Treu's more serious, thought-provoking intentions. Besides conversations with Philip and, later, David, Emily has some discussions with her parents that ring true. Most authentic, however, is her relationship with her violin teacher (Fox), a most impressive role model and mentor... Wood as Emily... is a radiant talent who carries the film with quiet authority. She and Gallagher are most promising, but Angarano has a wryly quizzical, reflective personality that makes him seem already special. Its greeting card look and feel aside, "Little Secrets" is an otherwise worthy family entertainment.
Los Angeles Daily News (Evan Henerson)
Don't keep this a 'Secret' [Headline] Gentle coming-of-age film with talented young actors... The after-school special genre is alive and flourishing in "Little Secrets," a harmless and sporadically engaging coming-of-age flick... Anchored by a couple of young actors who are as believable as they are cuddly... 14-year-old Evan Rachel Wood... should find her mug on teen-zines faster than you can say heart-covered stationary. Not that there's anything wrong with that, either. ...safe and heart-warming enough that the 15-and-younger set should love it while their parents won't be bored. Keep an eye on Angarano... a young man who looks like he may have gifts beyond heart-throbbery. Wood, meanwhile, is a winning girl-next-door who accomplishes what most ladies her age -- secret-bearers or otherwise -- probably can't: She can carry a movie.
L.A. Weekly (Amy Nicholson)
Little Secrets' peculiar message... certainly sets it apart from other children's films, and could result in some interesting debates at the family dinner table... extraordinary theme
Chicago Sun-Times (Roger Ebert)
This is a very reassuring film... The theological and psychological origins of her [secret keeping] practice would be fascinating to research... I am rating this movie at three stars because it contains absolutely nothing to object to... The film is upbeat, wholesome, chirpy, positive, sunny, cheerful, optimistic and squeaky-clean... There is not a parent on earth who would believe this film requires "parental guidance."
Ebert & Roeper (Richard Roeper)
"There are a lot of movies out there made for fourteen-year-old boys, a ton of movies made for six-year-old kids, this movie is made for ten-year-old girls and for what it is, I really like it." [Thumbs Up]
Chicago Tribune (Loren King)
...Emily's young friend Philip (a likable performance by Michael Angarano... "You can't keep secrets about yourself and lead a true life," advises Emily's music teacher, (Vivica A. Fox). This wise sentiment is typical of the film's motives. One can hardly argue with the desire to make a wholesome movie for families that extols honesty and decency...
Christian Science Monitor (David Sterritt)
Pssst: a 'Little Secret' worth telling to families [Headline] ...it's nice to have more G and PG pictures also arriving than in previous years. "Little Secrets" is a genuine PG, gentle and wholesome almost all the way through... it should attract family audiences... if a touch of summertime sweetness is what you're after, you'll have an enjoyable time. Credit goes to director Blair Treu, a graduate of the Disney studio, and to the energetic cast, especially Evan Rachel Wood as Emily and Vivica A. Fox as her music teacher. This picture is a secret family-oriented viewers should spread around.
Miami Herald (Christine Dolen)
"Share 'Little Secrets' with your children" [headline]... Plenty of parents sit through animated and live-action movies with their children... but how often do Mom and Dad really enjoy those movies that they so dutifully see? "Little Secrets" is one for the kids AND their parents. It's a beguiling exploration of friendship, trust, truth, insecurity and, yes, secrets. Though it seems aimed at preteens and younger teenagers, the movie should appeal to just about anyone... Writer Barondes beautifully captures the quirks of kids, their eccentricities and vulnerability and dreaminess. The lead kids... are sensitive, solid actors... Generally speaking, as Emily stresses, if you're entrusted with a secret, you must keep it. But "Little Secrets" is one worth sharing.
Philadelphia Inquirer (Steven Rea)
A wholesome little drama aimed at the pre- and early-teen crowd... the three principals - Wood, Angarano and Gallagher - are likable...
Pittsburg Post-Gazette (Scott Mervis)
Remember "Secrets & Lies," the 1996 Oscar-nominated film about a family bursting with all the information it was suppressing? "Little Secrets" is the kid version... Far from the happy meal kid fare that's served up over the summer or the Freddie Prinze Jr. teen series, "Little Secrets" is a wholesome, thoughtful character drama that plays out like a really good "Afterschool Special." You even get Mendelssohn instead of Smash Mouth. Wood... and Angarano... are appealing young stars who work up a good chemistry... Vivica A. Fox also elevates the material as the violin teacher with a secret of her own. "Little Secrets"... is devoid of the bells, whistles and bathroom humor of the "event" movies. And therein lies its charm.
Pittsburg Tribune-Review (Ed Blank)
Director Blair Treu achieves a professional look... The absence of objectionable elements in a family film is laudable...
San Francisco Examiner (Donna Domino)
'Secrets' a keeper [headline] ...you've got to give the makers of "Little Secrets" credit... To a large degree, "Little Secrets" succeeds in a valiant effort to portray teens struggling with the inevitable pitfalls along the bumpy road to adulthood. The film's theme -- the burden and damage that come from keeping secrets -- is handled with insight and charm. It's also a thorny problem that all of us, young and old alike, have wrestled with at one time or another... Wood, only 15, displays remarkable poise for such a young actress and carries the film's central role. Portraying an aspiring violinist, she is convincing in several challenging scenes playing sophisticated pieces; it's also essential to the movie's premise and establishing Emily's bookish character... All the children are cute and appealing, but Angarano steals every scene as the smart-alecky goofball Philip... His antics and effervescent agility capture preteen boys' rambunctiousness, as well as his budding, awkward awareness of the opposite sex. He also gets some of the best lines, like when he incredulously asks an angelic 9-year-old girl, "Are you high?" Philip's older brother, David, the "babe in the 'hood" who Emily takes a fancy to, is played by the bland but pleasant David Gallagher. As often happens in life, if you've got looks, you don't need personality. Vivica Fox is effective as Emily's music teacher... And some revelations are sweetly endearing; the best comes when the erudite little boy who's digging to China unearths a dinosaur's skeleton.
San Francisco Chronicle (Jonathan Curiel)
There's no denying that director Blair Treu has made a touching film that will make audiences smile and cry at young characters who are learning about love and confession. This movie is ideal for families who want to explore the meaning of secrets and friendship, and for anyone interested in a sweet story of a violinist determined to make her youth orchestra. The plot twists in "Little Secrets" sustain the movie... cuteness and sentimentality won't be a flaw to moviegoers in the mood for it.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Eleanor Ringel Gillespie)
It's the dump days of summer, the tail-end of the season, when Hollywood throws whatever it has sitting around onto the theater screen to see what sticks. "Little Secrets" sticks pretty well, for what it is -- a squeaky-clean coming-of-age tale with a simple story, a competent cast of mostly unknowns (aside from Vivica A. Fox) and a good message. Actually, it's a wonder it made it into theaters at all given this summer's predilection for over-hyped and under-thought kid movies like "Scooby-Doo" or the "Spy Kids" sequel. And know what makes "Little Secrets" stand out even more? There's not a fast-food tie-in in sight. Not even the possibility of one. Perhaps no one could figure out how to make violin-shaped burgers... Fourteen-year-old Emily (pretty and talented Evan Rachel Wood... the movie's feelings are real -- whether they're a crush Emily's neighbor has on her, or the crush Emily has on her neighbor's older brother, or betraying a friend, or being a pain in the butt to your folks. Plus, you believe that Wood's Emily really does love music... Watching "Little Secrets" is like drinking a glass of milk after swearing off Sprite and vodka... it's refreshing in its own way, and it's certainly good for you.
Dallas Morning News (Jane Sumner)
"Little Secrets" is part familiar after-school special... and part thoughtful feature for teens, one that acts as if the age group just might have a functioning brain... ...manages to capture some teenage talk and emotional concerns... bright... witty... realistic... What keeps "Little Secrets" afloat is the attractive young cast, especially the three talented leads... Ms. Wood invests her character with depth and maturity, and Mr. Angarano, an obvious comer, snaps and crackles as the new kid on the block... it's refreshing to see a teen who cares so passionately about making music instead of passively listening to someone else's sounds.
Orlando Sentinel (Roger Moore)
...a good-hearted... children's film about ambition, friendship and the little lies kids tell to avoid being yelled at... Emily, nicely played by Evan Rachel Wood... Blair Treu... manages to give it some pleasant grace notes... The music is the best part of this film. Wood does a decent enough job faking her way through a little Brahms and Mendelssohn, which are movingly applied to the film, here and there. Vivica A. Fox is well-cast as her violin teacher.
San Diego Union-Tribune (David Elliott)
The kids are appealing, the music is fine.
Seattle Times (Moira Macdonald)
'Little Secrets' is wholesome family fare [Headline] ...preteen girls (and their parents) are likely to find much to enjoy in the story of 14-year-old Emily (Evan Rachel Wood), a self-styled keeper of other children's confidences who learns that some secrets are best shared... Unlike many made-for-kids movies, though, "Little Secrets" is no fantasy, despite its polished surface: It finds its drama firmly in the kinds of problems real kids deal with every day. Screenwriter Jessica Barondes, a veteran of numerous "Unicorn Club" and "Sweet Valley Twins" books, clearly knows her demographic; the movie is populated with numerous children in the 8-to-12 range, each of whom gets a moment to shine... But the movie's chipper charms, and its steadfast determination to present an alternative to overly merchandised multiplex fare (there's nary a pop song or product placement here), ultimately win out. The Bradys would approve -- and might even learn something.
Seattle Post-Intelligencer (William Arnold)
'Little Secrets' is no sermon but has a moral [headline]... well-meaning... family film... Treu's sweet-spirited vision of life, and the winning performances of his ensemble of kid actors, gradually broke down most of my resistance.
Arizona Republic (Richard Nilsen)
"Little Secrets" is a little film, targeted at a niche audience, and what it lacks in pizzazz and depth, it attempts to make up for in sincerity and sweetness... It all comes to a heartwarming conclusion... for those looking for uplifting, family-oriented entertainment... It is tightly scripted and competently made - it even has a few cinematic fillips in store - and well-acted. And if you are at all prone to reach for a hankie, this film is for you.
Kansas City Star (Robert W. Butler)
"Secret's out: This movie worth seeing" [Headline]... Don't let the first half-hour or so of "Little Secrets" put you off too much... stick with it and you may find some unexpected pleasures here, especially performances by two adolescent stars who elevate the film... What's interesting about all this is the way writer Jessica Barondes and director Blair Treu work their recurring theme of the destructive nature of secrets, the idea that when you hold things back from the people you care about you're building a wall that just gets higher and higher... Wood and Angarano are such solid performers... Wood has a poise and gravity way out of proportion to her youth; Angarano... is a first-class comic actor, with a great repertoire of sly expressions that speak volumes without dialogue and a sense of timing that would be the envy of many an adult thespian... lacking the exploitable rudeness of most contemporary films about kids, "Secrets" may have a tough time getting youngsters into the theater. But at a recent afternoon screening a crowd of preteens laughed, cried and stuck with Emily and her friends to the very end. So who knows?
The Journal News (Westchester, Rockland and Putnam Counties in New York) (Marshall Fine)
"Little Secrets" has heart, as well as a positive meassage: "You can't keep secrets and live a true life." ...Evan Rachel Wood captures the passion this girl has for her music. I don't know whether she actually learned to play the violin for the role or knew how beforehand. But she convinced me both of her love for the instrument and of the character's prowess. Whether she can actually play, will remain one of her "Little Secrets."
New Times L.A. (New Times Los Angeles) (Bill Gallo)
"uplifting tale"
Salt Lake Tribune (Brandon Griggs)
A gentle, heartwarming family film made in Utah... a smart, gentle and well-crafted story that should satisfy older kids -- especially girls -- while not boring their parents... there's something satisfying in its old-fashioned, "Wonderful World of Disney" style of storytelling. Director Blair Treu and writer Jessica Barondes treat their child characters with respect; instead of cutesy cherubs or leering adolescents, they feel like genuine... kids... "Little Secrets" succeeds in large part on the winning performance of young actress Wood, whose charisma makes the know-it-all Emily sympathetic. An emerging star... Wood won't be a secret much longer.
Deseret News (Jeff Vice)
It's to the credit of its young, talented cast that "Little Secrets" overcomes what could have been a terminal case of the "cutes."... sweet-natured, family-friendly drama... "Little Secrets" does feature a worthy message... and manages to look almost as good as most Hollywood productions, despite a much, much smaller budget (somewhere in the $2.5 million range).
Utah County Daily Herald (Eric D. Snider)
It is hard to fault a film with so guileless a philosophy -- the importance of honesty and familial love are also emphasized... The idea of a neighborhood "secret keeper" is an amusing one... The performances from the children are natural and charming, though, a major plus, since the movie focuses on them. The movie will appeal greatly to kids the age of the characters -- 9-14, roughly -- and it will be good for them to watch. Everyone else can bask in the brightness of the fun little world of Anytown, U.S.A.
The Charlotte Observer (Lawrence Toppman)
Angarano... and Wood show promise...
Entertaiment Weekly (Lisa Schwarzbaum)
...Wood is worth watching because she's so clearly ready to play nobody's girl but her own.
The Hollywood Reporter (Frank Scheck)
...theatrical release [of "Little Secrets"] should receive some attention... because of the performance by Evan Rachel Wood in the starring role... Wood... is a luminous screen presence... the always lively Vivica A.... the film delivers wholesome messages about the importance of friendship, family, honesty, etc...
The Village Voice (Leslie Camhi)
...family values reign in the Middle America of "Little Secrets"... Treu scores his finest points off the little kids' unfailing cuteness...
TV Guide (Maitland McDonagh)
...buoyed by Evan Rachel Wood's lovely performance as 14-year-old Emily, a gravely beautiful violin student who's unusually sympathetic to the troubles of younger children... this... little tale wears its positive message and wholesome values on its sleeve... you can't fault its intentions...
Film Journal International (David Noh)
Winsome kid comedy has some refreshing thoughtfulness to it, as well as a bang-up performance by Michael Anganaro. [Headline] ..."Little Secrets" is a winsome, welcomely earnest respite from the louder, crasser fare aimed at kids these days. High-minded juvenile heroines like Emily are indeed rare, and who knows? Just maybe her love of classical music and natural non-comformity might have a salutary effect on all those N Sync/Britney-obsessed mall rats out there. Treu has a nice storytelling technique and uses speeded-up action and quirky camera angles to create an entire universe out of Emily's neighborhood... harmlessly light family fare... Wood... makes an attractive teen princess, whose controlling antics cause her a furrowed brow or two. But it's the talented Angarano who makes this really worth watching. Hopelessly besotted by Emily, who simply can't conceive of a love for anyone two full years younger than her, he's an ardent, pint-sized Romeo, with sneaky charm to spare.
DVD Talk (Geoffrey Kleinman)
Good films for young teens are few and far between... Rarely do you find a film for young teens that is serious, emotional and at all complex. "Little Secrets" is a little film with a big heart; it makes a real attempt at being a 'quality' teen film... The most enjoyable parts of "Little Secrets" are the scenes which revolve around Emily and her music. It's great to see such a positive portrayal of a teen and her passion for music. I also liked how the characters around her are touched by her passion, as if it were contagious. "Little Secrets" also has a nice theme running through it of friendship, and I think it speaks very well to the period of time when a girl is really discovering boys and trying to sort out who is a friend and who is a possible romantic interest. The film does this quite well with a relationship between Emily and the two brothers who live next door, Phillip and David, and I really liked the scene with the two brothers as they discuss being able to see Emily's beauty. Make no mistake about it, "Little Secrets" has some really nice and genuine moments... Director Blair Treu does get some very strong performances from his actors. Evan Rachel Wood... does a very good job in the lead role of Emily. She's got a nice emotional range which will suit her well in her blooming career. Michael Angarano, who plays Phillip, the younger neighbor boy, is also quite good. Angarano seems very at ease in his role and gives a very real and genuine performance. I was especially glad to see Vivica A. Fox in a good role. Many of the film role she takes are over the top, and in "Little Secrets" she gives a wonderfully subtle performance as Emily's music teacher. ...with so few quality films out there for teens ["Little Secrets" is] a strong contender in a weak field...
Slant Magazine (Ed Gonzalez)
"...noticeably without pretenses"
The Onion A.V. Club (Keith Phipps)
...pleasant... kids may go for it. Its lessons are familiar, but it delivers them without lecturing. Better still, a heartfelt performance from Wood -- a promising young actress... -- keeps all the... wholesomeness anchored in a recognizably human world where troubles can't be waved away with a smile, a cup of tea, and a few moments of honest conversation.
Citysearch (Jackie Potts)
Teen pinups Michael Angarano and David Gallagher star in this smart family film about a gotta-tell-it secret. Acting: 8 out of 10. Plot: 8 out of 10. Soundtrack and Visuals: 8 out of 10. Entertainment Value: 8 out of 10. Those who say there are no intelligent PG movies out there ought to hightail it to "Little Secrets"--a smart, witty and thoroughly modern yarn about a group of preteens growing up in an idyllic, tree-lined borough. It perfectly captures the seemingly life-or-death urgency of should-I-or-shouldn't-I and does-he-like-me dilemmas that kids routinely face. The mostly 10-and-under thespians are a delightfully funny bunch without the staged precociousness so often found in family fare. Holds interest. Good for kids. Recommended.
Crosswalk.com (Holly McClure)
Meaningful Message Makes "Little Secrets" a Gem [Headline] Best for: This is a family film all ages can relate to and enjoy... The story is clever because it takes a universal concept that both adults and kids can relate to and mixes it in with a multi-issue plot dealing with a new baby, being good enough to get a coveted position with a symphony, honesty, the consequences of keeping or sharing a secret, adoption and dealing with the simple fears that grip all of us in life. The seasoned cast gives this story its charm and ultimately make the characters believable. Wood is impressive as the girl who can play her violin like an angel... Angarano... and Gallagher... equally lend their veteran talents to this unique ensemble. This is a family film with something for everyone. The younger teen dilemmas are filled with typical hormonal angst and will connect on a real level with that age group. The multiple scenes of neighborhood kids confessing their sins, secrets and hidden deeds to Emily are priceless and will entertain your younger ones. I also like the fact that the adults aren't made to be silly or stupid but instead are real characters dealing with real fears... It's rare to find a story that deals with a common theme people of all ages can relate to, but this movie does. The struggle of dealing with secrets in our lives and the dilemma lies can produce is effectively dealt with in a clever way, with redemption, forgiveness and honesty being the real heroes in this story. The bad: There is nothing bad about this movie. Offensive language: None. Sexual situations: None... This is a smart and sophisticated family movie that will appeal to all ages. When a story promotes family values, healthy parent/child and friend relationships, honesty, selflessness, forgiveness and even practicing the violin, how could a parent go wrong in taking your kids to see this movie?... This is a well-written, wonderful story and certainly one of the more entertaining children's movie of the summer. I'll tell you a little secret - this story will tap into the part of you that holds a secret only you know about. It will remind you that there are some secrets that need to be left alone, others that need to be forgiven (and forgotten) and still others that need to be shared with close friends. The real secret to this gem of a movie is its meaningful message, which will make it a family favorite.
Spirituality and Health (Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat)
We all have secrets -- things that we feel bad or guilty about, things we wish had never happened... This family film... zeroes in on this interesting and not often explored topic that plays such a central role in our private lives as children... there is enough here of interest for families to enjoy and ponder... Evan Rachel Wood holds this family drama together with a richly nuanced performance. Michael Angarano is good as Philip; his facial mannerisms remind us of the the talented actor Robert Forster. Vivica A. Fox is convincing as Emily's music teacher. She's the one who helps her see the light in regard to secrets.
Meridian Magazine (Jonathan Walker)
"Little Secrets" has the sweetness of a wholesome family film with none of the saccharine mush that usually compensates for writing... screenwriter Jessica Barondes does a good job of drafting children that are real. They are neither the stereotypes drawn by people who know nothing of children, nor adults in kids' skin that Hollywood usually provides as a way of grabbing an adult audience. But, "Secrets" gives us another surprise: a script that has a theme that is more fully developed than in a vast majority of the cotton candy coming out of the big studios in Hollywood. Much of the dialogue, plot, and character traits support and comment on the theme. "Secrets" is a wonderful family-friendly film. It's also wonderful for the fact that it is very well directed. Blair Treu at times keeps the film light-when he shows us the quirky kids of the neighborhood-and respect for his talented actors-when the emotions of the film take hold. He shows much more proficiency in working with good child actors than most directors.
Plugged In magazine (Focus on the Family) (Bob Smithouser)
Summer is full of loud, busy, soulless distractions. And that's just at the movies. So it's an unexpected pleasure to encounter a sweet family film like Little Secrets (PG), an adolescent morality tale about friendship, integrity and how hiding brokenness hinders healing... The film also makes solid statements about loyalty, family relationships, forgiveness and the consequences of driving drunk. Except for a mild crudity or two, there are no unpleasant surprises... Little Secrets is a little movie with a big heart. There's no A-list talent, but the performances are sincere and enjoyable (especially Angarano and the tots cast as Emily's clients)... If only the network's teen-oriented fare was this positive.
The Christian Critic Circle (Michael Elliott, Movie Parables)
This family-oriented film may be coming in under the media radar, opening in just a handful of theaters, but here's hoping that its warmth and sweet-natured heart will generate enough word-of-mouth praise that audiences will seek it out... there's something about it that brings forth memories of simpler times. Besides, it has been a while since a film has targeted the oft-neglected "tweenie" age group as its primary audience. Young girls especially will connect with this story about friendship and secrets. Evan Rachel Wood carries the film and, like the character she plays, demonstrates a confidence and maturity beyond her years. Michael Angarano does well as a 12-year-old smitten smart aleck. David Gallagher is also well cast as his older brother, a teen aged hunk with just a hint of PG "bad boy" behavior. Not all is sweetness and light in the world of "Little Secrets." It tackles, though on a superficial level, some pretty major topics of interest.
The Phantom Tollbooth (Marie Asner)
Every once in awhile a film comes along that approaches teen years with wit and intelligence. Little Secrets is such a film. Scriptwriter Jessica Barondes had her ear tuned to teens when she wrote a story about... The film has heart... Little Secrets that has already received an endorsement from the Heartland Film Festival by breaking box office records at that festival... The cast makes this film, especially the young actors. There is my favorite, the boy who is digging to China, the girl who rescues cats and the boy who loves candy but all his mother allows him to eat are the chewy rubbery ones... If you remember your childhood and had a big secret you felt you had to share, the movie will bring back those times.
The Phantom Tollbooth (Jeffrey Overstreet)
...many families who will agree that Little Secrets is fine family entertainment... For parents seeking entertainment that is "safe" for their kids, Little Secrets has moderate charms... filled with... endearing characters, played with enthusiasm by appealing actors and actresses... Kudos to Writer/Producer Jessica Barondes for having the guts to create a teenage heroine who loves classical music and who aspires to be a symphony violinist... I applaud Barondes's efforts to give teens a story about the danger of secrets. I was also impressed to see a "family movie" in which black characters are as important -- and as much a part of everyday life -- as their Caucasian counterparts. Vivica A. Fox plays the pivotal role of the violin teacher with a subtlety and a grace that can't be found in the rest of the movie. Recent genre attempts to "mix it up" have only shown how much white filmmakers tend to stereotype folks of other colors and cultures. This film has two African Americans who are not treated differently or given many "cultural cliches" to utter... Angarano... gives Philip guts... giving a third-act confession scene real energy and emotions that are earned... So, all in all, Treu and Barondes have accomplished their goals. They have made... "feel-good" entertainment that will please moviegoers seeking such things. Good morals are loudly affirmed, good kids have their frowns turned to smiles, and sexy good girls have their dreams come true. It's better made than a lot of such movies, and you'll certainly get more tears for your dollar.
SPLICEDwire (www.splicedonline.com) (Bob Blackwelder)
'SECRETS' SAFE, WILL PLEASE [headline]... adequately entertaining adolescent flick... "Little Secrets" is... harmless, wholesome and just barely winning enough to overcome its fantasy-suburban, Norman Rockwell nature... the performances of Wood and Angarano... are both such appealing kids and natural actors... does the trick anyway. Even your cynical movie critic was affected a little by the movie's climax. "Little Secrets" has been ringingly endorsed by... the Heartland Film Festival... if you're a parent desperate for a movie you can take your youngster to without worrying about sex or violence, "Little Secrets" fits the bill without being it's-just-a-kids'-movie insipid.
Haro Online (Mongoose)
...it's heart is in the right place. Director Blair Treu and writer Jessica Barondes do their best to make a 'family' movie... Wood is a talented up-and-coming actor, and can certainly fake the violin with style... actually moving along rather nicely... "Little Secrets" is probably one of the more child-friendly movies in recent memory. There is very little material that people can even possibly construe as objectionable... Vivica A. Fox makes an appearance as Emily's violin teacher. It makes one wonder why Fox keeps trolling around in stupid comedies instead of opting for better roles... She does a fantastic job here...
Film Freak Central (Walter Chaw)
Wood gives a performance earnest...
CinemaSpeak.com (Ryan Kugler)
If parents can get their kids (especially their daughters) to take a chance on a small film that doesn't feature any Hollywood stars and doesn't contain state-of-the-art special effects, they'll be in for a little (no pun intended) treat. Granted, I'm not the target audience for "Little Secrets", but I appreciated it for what it was -- an unpretentious and well-meaning film with positive messages, the likes of which have been severely lacking in family films of late. Emily... isn't your typical movie-teenager. She's smart and likable and is passionate about things...
FilmJerk.com (Edward Havens)
I know how you feel. After a summer of genetically enhanced clones, a guy bitten by a radioactive spider, the nuclear destruction of Baltimore... you want to throw up your hands and scream at the Movie Gods "Would it not be too much to ask for something small, pleasant, inoffensive and enjoyable by the entire family?" If this is where you are right now, the Gods have answered your prayers with this delightful new film from the team of director Blair Treu and writer Jessica Barondes... three delightful young leads. Freed from the histrionics that usually accompany their heavy handed television shows, Ms. Wood and Mr. Gallagher make for a charming, winsome duo. Their characters are real young teens, who handle their problems not with hamfisted agitation or explosions of anger, but with geniune thoughtfulness. And, of course, it doesn't hurt that both are cute as a couple of buttons. Mr. Angarano is also a revelation, showing his little triumph in Cameron Crowe's previous film was just a preview of things to come. As with most movies aimed at a family audience today, there are topics touched on and dealt with in this film including friendship, first love and teen drinking. It is a credit to the filmmaking team that these topics are dealt with in a respectful manner, yet never allowing the story to become overbearing. This is simply good filmmaking, and deserving of your attention. I give "Little Secrets" gets an A for effort and an A for execution.
Talking Pictures (Tony Toscano)
...the film has a wonderful sensitivity about it making it a nice film to share with the kids. ...delightful children's movie... One of the hardest things to do in moviemaking is produce a film that speaks to adults and children while not talking down to either. "Little Secrets" is such a film.
One Guy's Opinion (Frank Swietek)
...intent about offering positive messages... Some of "Little Secrets" is likable enough--Wood... is a pleasant young actress, and Angarano sparks things with his winningly goofy charm... Technically, too, it has a crisp, colorful look, and it's decently mounted... a totally inoffensive movie... family-friendly...
Shaun Sages' Movie Navigator (Shaun Sages)
...the film has elements to keep adults interested as well, it'll mainly appeal to teens... For a harmless family film, with an expected positive message, Little Secrets has its mature moments that deal with such topics as underage drinking... With its compilation of talented young actors, and a standout performance by Wood... Little Secrets does have some treats for those who've already gone through puberty. Angarano... does an amusing out-of-nowhere breakdance after learning a Mozart tune. Vivica A. Fox has a short part as Emily's violin teacher, making us wonder how such an actress goes from playing alongside Will Smith to settling for unnoticeable roles. Though there are mature themes involved... for the parent-child audience, this movie is relatively enjoyable and less painful than what kids drag their moms and dads to see; surely no more so than Pokemon... Little Secrets serves its purpose as an acceptable family outing.
Steve Rhodes' Internet Reviews (Steve Rhodes)
Little Secrets is a sweet little movie, and you don't have to keep that a secret. [Headline] ....Emily is played by Evan Rachel Wood... she is sweet... the movie has a certain irresistibleness to it... Although they have their problems, the families in LITTLE SECRETS are there to be admired rather than ridiculed. This is a refreshing change... A simple story, it never beats its messages into our heads. The most obvious of its homilies is, "Secrets hurt." LITTLE SECRETS is a sweet little movie, and you don't have to keep that a secret.
New York Post: Evan Rachel Wood (the coltish youngster from TV's "Once and Again," who also appears with Al Pacino in "Simone," in wide release today) carries the film on her slim shoulders as Emily, a 14-year-old violinist who...
New York Daily News: Take a bow, young Evan Rachel Wood [Headline]... Wood, who also can be seen starting today in the Al Pacino comedy "Simone," has genuine screen presence and holds our attention against all odds. There's a lot going on inside her precociously pretty head, and the passion that Emily feels for the violin is so evident in Wood's eyes that you never think to look at her hands to see if she's really playing that thing (she's not).
Los Angeles Times: ...three talented and accomplished young actors, all TV series veterans, to head the cast, which includes an outstanding Vivica A. Fox in a key adult role. Evan Rachel Wood stars as a beautiful, poised violinist with a bright future... Wood as Emily... is a radiant talent who carries the film with quiet authority. She and Gallagher are most promising, but Angarano has a wryly quizzical, reflective personality that makes him seem already special.
Los Angeles Daily News: Anchored by a couple of young actors who are as believable as they are cuddly... 14-year-old Evan Rachel Wood -- who also stars in the just released "Simone" -- should find her mug on teen-zines faster than you can say heart-covered stationary. Not that there's anything wrong with that, either... Keep an eye on Angarano (who plays Jack's son on the TV sitcom "Will & Grace"), a young man who looks like he may have gifts beyond heart-throbbery. Wood, meanwhile, is a winning girl-next-door who accomplishes what most ladies her age -- secret-bearers or otherwise -- probably can't: She can carry a movie.
Chicago Tribune: ...Emily's young friend Philip (a likable performance by Michael Angarano of TV's "Will and Grace")...
Philadelphia Inquirer: Sometimes the script simply clicks into sermon-mode, but the three principals - Wood, Angarano and Gallagher - are likable enough that they make it all seem sincere.
Pittsburg Post-Gazette: Wood, from "Once and Again," and Angarano, from "Will & Grace," are appealing young stars who work up a good chemistry... Vivica A. Fox also elevates the material as the violin teacher with a secret of her own.
Christian Science Monitor: Credit goes to... the energetic cast, especially Evan Rachel Wood as Emily and Vivica A. Fox as her music teacher.
Miami Herald: The lead kids, all television veterans (Wood played Jessie on Once and Again, Angarano is Jack's son on Will and Grace, Gallagher is a regular on Seventh Heaven), are sensitive, solid actors.
Dallas Morning News: What keeps "Little Secrets" afloat is the attractive young cast, especially the three talented leads, all veterans of TV series... Ms. Wood invests her character with depth and maturity, and Mr. Angarano, an obvious comer, snaps and crackles as the new kid on the block.
San Diego Union-Tribune: The kids are appealing....
San Francisco Examiner: Wood, only 15, displays remarkable poise for such a young actress and carries the film's central role. Portraying an aspiring violinist, she is convincing in several challenging scenes playing sophisticated pieces; it's also essential to the movie's premise and establishing Emily's bookish character. Often it's painfully obvious when actors can't really play, and mimicking a difficult instrument like the violin sometimes resembles frantic sawing. Michael Angarano plays Philip, a younger boy who moves in next door and instantly develops a crush on Emily. With her flaxen long, blond hair, lithe body and thoughtful blue eyes, Wood is every adolescent boy's dream girl. All the children are cute and appealing, but Angarano steals every scene as the smart-alecky goofball Philip... His antics and effervescent agility capture preteen boys' rambunctiousness, as well as his budding, awkward awareness of the opposite sex. He also gets some of the best lines, like when he incredulously asks an angelic 9-year-old girl, "Are you high?" Philip's older brother, David, the "babe in the 'hood" who Emily takes a fancy to, is played by the bland but pleasant David Gallagher. As often happens in life, if you've got looks, you don't need personality. Vivica Fox is effective as Emily's music teacher, someone with secrets of her own who tries to cultivate Emily's prodigious talent while helping her deal with teenage angst.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: ...competent cast... Fourteen-year-old Emily (pretty and talented Evan Rachel Wood, who, coincidentally, plays Al Pacino's daughter in "Simone," also opening today)
Orlando Sentinel: Emily, nicely played by Evan Rachel Wood... Wood does a decent enough job faking her way through a little Brahms and Mendelssohn, which are movingly applied to the film, here and there. Vivica A. Fox is well-cast as her violin teacher.
Seattle Times: Wood, who seems to be Hollywood's angelic-teen-of-the-minute (she plays Al Pacino's daughter in "Simone," also opening today), plays Emily as an almost surreally poised kid.
Seattle Post-Intelligencer: "...the winning performances of [Treu's] ensemble of kid actors..."
Arizona Republic: "well-acted"
Kansas City Star: ...stick with it and you may find some unexpected pleasures here, especially performances by two adolescent stars who elevate the film above some often-shaky writing... a heavy topic for a film aimed primarily at children, and "Little Secrets" sometimes lays it on too thickly. But Wood and Angarano are such solid performers that we hang on even when the material gets iffy. Wood has a poise and gravity way out of proportion to her youth; Angarano (you may recognize him as Jack's son from TV's "Will and Grace") is a first-class comic actor, with a great repertoire of sly expressions that speak volumes without dialogue and a sense of timing that would be the envy of many an adult thespian.
Salt Lake Tribune: "Little Secrets" succeeds in large part on the winning performance of young actress Wood, whose charisma makes the know-it-all Emily sympathetic. An emerging star... Wood won't be a secret much longer.
Deseret News: It's to the credit of its young, talented cast that "Little Secrets" overcomes what could have been a terminal case of the "cutes." ...able cast of young TV actors... As far as the performances go, Wood has the unfortunate tendency to smile through all her scenes, though her character's inner turmoil is still believable. Better is Angarano, whose dry line delivery indicates he has some real talent for comedy.
Utah County Daily Herald: The performances from the children are natural and charming... a major plus, since the movie focuses on them.
Charlotte Observer: Angarano (the younger version of the protagonist in "Almost Famous") and Wood show promise and deserve better things.
The Journal News (New York): ...Evan Rachel Wood captures the passion this girl has for her music. I don't know whether she actually learned to play the violin for the role or knew how beforehand. But she convinced me both of her love for the instrument and of the character's prowess. Whether she can actually play, will remain one of her "Little Secrets."
Hollywood Reporter: ...theatrical release [of "Little Secrets"] should receive some attention only because of the performance by Evan Rachel Wood in the starring role. This talented young actress also appears in the Al Pacino starrer "Simone," also opening today. Wood, so impressive in the recently canceled ABC series "Once and Again," is a luminous screen presence... the always lively Vivica A. Fox as a neighbor with troubles of her own...
The Village Voice: Treu scores his finest points off the little kids' unfailing cuteness...
TV Guide: ...buoyed by Evan Rachel Wood's lovely performance as 14-year-old Emily, a gravely beautiful violin student who's unusually sympathetic to the troubles of younger children... Angarano and Wood make Philip and Emily feel like real youngsters...
Citysearch: Teen pinups Michael Angarano and David Gallagher star... Acting: 8 out of 10... The mostly 10-and-under thespians are a delightfully funny bunch without the staged precociousness so often found in family fare.
The Onion A.V. Club: ...a heartfelt performance from Wood -- a promising young actress who's also quite good in Simone -- keeps all the unchecked wholesomeness anchored in a recognizably human world
Crosswalk.com: The seasoned cast gives this story its charm and ultimately make the characters believable. Wood is impressive as the girl who can play her violin like an angel (she also happens to be starring in another current release, SIMONE, with Al Pacino). Angarano (Almost Famous) and Gallagher (7th Heaven) equally lend their veteran talents to this unique ensemble.
Film Journal International: The juvenile actors are definitely superior to the adults here... Wood... makes an attractive teen princess, whose controlling antics cause her a furrowed brow or two. But it's the talented Angarano who makes this really worth watching. Hopelessly besotted by Emily, who simply can't conceive of a love for anyone two full years younger than her, he's an ardent, pint-sized Romeo, with sneaky charm to spare.
DVD Talk: ...Director Blair Treu does get some very strong performances from his actors. Evan Rachel Wood (who is best known for her role in Once and Again) does a very good job in the lead role of Emily. She's got a nice emotional range which will suit her well in her blooming career. Michael Angarano, who plays Phillip, the younger neighbor boy, is also quite good. Angarano seems very at ease in his role and gives a very real and genuine performance. I was especially glad to see Vivica A. Fox in a good role. Many of the film role she takes are over the top, and in Little Secrets she gives a wonderfully subtle performance as Emily's music teacher.
Spirituality and Health: Evan Rachel Wood holds this family drama together with a richly nuanced performance. Michael Angarano is good as Philip; his facial mannerisms remind us of the the talented actor Robert Forster. Vivica A. Fox is convincing as Emily's music teacher. She's the one who helps her see the light in regard to secrets.
Meridian Magazine: Treu... shows... respect for his talented actors-when the emotions of the film take hold. He shows much more proficiency in working with good child actors than most directors.
Plugged In: There's no A-list talent, but the performances are sincere and enjoyable (especially Angarano and the tots cast as Emily's clients).
Christian Critic Circle: Evan Rachel Wood carries the film and, like the character she plays, demonstrates a confidence and maturity beyond her years. Michael Angarano does well as a 12-year-old smitten smart aleck. David Gallagher is also well cast as his older brother, a teen aged hunk with just a hint of PG "bad boy" behavior.
Phantom Tollbooth (Marie Asner): The cast makes this film, especially the young actors. There is my favorite, the boy who is digging to China, the girl who rescues cats and the boy who loves candy but all his mother allows him to eat are the chewy rubbery ones.
Phantom Tollbooth (Jeffrey Overstreet): ...filled with smiling and endearing characters, played with enthusiasm by appealing actors and actresses... Vivica A. Fox plays the pivotal role of the violin teacher with a subtlety and a grace that can't be found in the rest of the movie... Angarano, who was wonderful in his role as the young William in first fifteen minutes of Almost Famous, gives Philip guts. He steals the film from Wood, giving a third-act confession scene real energy and emotions that are earned.
SPLICEDwire: ..."Little Secrets" is propped up by the performances of Wood and Angarano. They are both such appealing kids and natural actors that the picture's [weaknesses] aren't as irritating (to adults anyway) as they might be otherwise.
Haro Online: Wood is a talented up-and-coming actor, and can certainly fake the violin with style... Vivica A. Fox makes an appearance as Emily's violin teacher. It makes one wonder why Fox keeps trolling around in stupid comedies instead of opting for better roles, which she seems to do less these days. She does a fantastic job here...
Steve Rhodes: Emily is played by Evan Rachel Wood, Al Pacino's daughter in S1M0NE, and, like the rest of the young actors in the movie, she is sweet but still learning her craft.
Film Freak Central: "Wood gives a performance earnest..."
CinemaSpeak.com: The story of "Little Secrets" is strictly afterschool special material, but... the central performance by star-in-the-making Wood, elevates it into something a little better.
FilmJerk.com: What saves this movie from being little more than an overblown afterschool special are the three delightful young leads. Freed from the histrionics that usually accompany their heavy handed television shows, Ms. Wood and Mr. Gallagher make for a charming, winsome duo. Their characters are real young teens, who handle their problems not with hamfisted agitation or explosions of anger, but with geniune thoughtfulness. And, of course, it doesn't hurt that both are cute as a couple of buttons. Mr. Angarano is also a revelation, showing his little triumph is Cameron Crowe's previous film was just a preview of things to come.
Pittsburg Tribune-Review: Nothing feels natural, beginning with an ensemble of mostly child actors who are all too obviously acting and adults who are given a single face to wear.
Deseret News: As far as the performances go, Wood has the unfortunate tendency to smile through all her scenes...
Charlotte Observer: Angarano... and Wood show promise and deserve better things. In Wood's case, lunch would be one of them: She's breadstick-thin, and her anorexic look inadvertently lends weight (so to speak) to the myth of the starving artist.
The Village Voice: ...the film's broad performances... strike a note of condescension sure to be heard by the alienated teenager within us all.
Hollywood Reporter: Wood... is a luminous screen presence. Unfortunately, both she and the filmmakers here seem acutely aware of it, with lengthy and intense close-ups lavished on her at every opportunity... The cast of young performers has been directed to perform in as cutesy a fashion as possible, and the adults -- with the exception of the always lively Vivica A. Fox... aren't much better.
TV Guide: ...the rest of the kids (not to mention their parents) are all character business and no actual character...
Film Journal International: The juvenile actors are definitely superior to the adults here, as those performing as parents all work a tad too hard at their satirically clueless, matured personas.
Steve Rhodes: Emily is played by Evan Rachel Wood... and, like the rest of the young actors in the movie, she is sweet but still learning her craft.
Film Freak Central: Emily (the alarmingly thin Evan Rachel Wood)--who is quick to snottily inform that she's named after Dickinson and Bronte... Wood gives a performance earnest but impossibly self-righteous and perky--sort of a Jan Brady who looks like Marsha.
One Guy's Opinion: Wood... is a pleasant young actress, and Angarano sparks things with his winningly goofy charm...
Shaun Sages' Movie Navigator: With its compilation of talented young actors, and a standout performance by Wood (also playing Al Pacino's daughter in this week's Simone), Little Secrets does have some treats for those who've already gone through puberty. Angarano, who played young William in Almost Famous, does an amusing out-of-nowhere breakdance after learning a Mozart tune. Vivica A. Fox has a short part as Emily's violin teacher, making us wonder how such an actress goes from playing alongside Will Smith to settling for unnoticeable roles.
Los Angeles Daily News: ...it's safe and heart-warming enough that the 15-and-younger set should love it while their parents won't be bored.
Chicago Sun-Times: ...its target audience (girls 4 to 11)... That it has been rated not G but PG (for "thematic elements") is another of the arcane mysteries created by the flywheels of the MPAA. There is not a parent on earth who would believe this film requires "parental guidance."
Richard Roeper (Ebert & Roeper): "There are a lot of movies out there made for fourteen-year-old boys, a ton of movies made for six-year-old kids, this movie is made for ten-year-old girls and for what it is, I really like it."
Philadelphia Inquirer: A wholesome little drama aimed at the pre- and early-teen crowd, "Little Secrets" is set in a... suburbia of cul-de-sacs and clipped lawns, courteous neighbors, and kids, kids and more kids.s
Pittsburg Post-Gazette: Remember "Secrets & Lies," the 1996 Oscar-nominated film about a family bursting with all the information it was suppressing? "Little Secrets" is the kid version.
Miami Herald: Share 'Little Secrets' with your children... "Little Secrets" is one for the kids AND their parents... Though it seems aimed at preteens and younger teenagers, the movie should appeal to just about anyone.
Seattle Times: ...preteen girls (and their parents) are likely to find much to enjoy in the story of 14-year-old Emily... Screenwriter Jessica Barondes, a veteran of numerous "Unicorn Club" and "Sweet Valley Twins" books, clearly knows her demographic; the movie is populated with numerous children in the 8-to-12 range, each of whom gets a moment to shine.
San Francisco Examiner: Movies designated with the saccharine "family film" label often have the unfortunate effect of leaving adults yawning and adolescents barfing. They walk a tight rope of trying to entertain without vulgarity or violence -- the two main staples of most Hollywood fare. Good ones are usually cartoons, like "Shrek," and standout dramas such as "October Sky" are rarities. So you've got to give the makers of "Little Secrets" credit -- appealing to an overstimulated youth culture inundated by images of the sex and mayhem. To a large degree, "Little Secrets" succeeds in a valiant effort to portray teens struggling with the inevitable pitfalls along the bumpy road to adulthood... Although this film, destined to end up on Nickelodeon, is aimed at teens and twenty-somethings hooked on nonstop action -- my bet is it will appeal more to their parents.
Orlando Sentinel: ...a good-hearted... children's film about ambition, friendship and the little lies kids tell to avoid being yelled at. ...decent lessons to teach children... a children's movie.
Kansas City Star: ...lacking the exploitable rudeness of most contemporary films about kids, "Secrets" may have a tough time getting youngsters into the theater. But at a recent afternoon screening a crowd of preteens laughed, cried and stuck with Emily and her friends to the very end. So who knows?
Salt Lake Tribune: gentle and well-crafted story that should satisfy older kids -- especially girls -- while not boring their parents.
Utah County Daily Herald: The movie will appeal greatly to kids the age of the characters -- 9-14, roughly -- and it will be good for them to watch.
Charlotte Observer: ...most of the actors are under 18, and the presumed audience... falls into that age group.
The Journal News (New York): "A film about and for young adolescents"
Entertainment Weekly: ...a movie for young persons that teaches gentle lessons about when to keep quiet -- and when to speak up.
The Village Voice: Blair Treu's adolescent drama stars teen dream Evan Rachel Wood as Emily, a 14-year-old who...
TV Guide: "...pre-adolescents at whom it's aimed..."
Citysearch: It perfectly captures the seemingly life-or-death urgency of should-I-or-shouldn't-I and does-he-like-me dilemmas that kids routinely face. The mostly 10-and-under thespians are a delightfully funny bunch without the staged precociousness so often found in family fare. Good for kids.
The Onion A.V. Club: ...kids may go for it.
Haro Online: ...patently inoffensive... "Little Secrets" is probably one of the more child-friendly movies in recent memory. There is very little material that people can even possibly construe as objectionable...
Crosswalk.com: This is a family film with something for everyone. The younger teen dilemmas are filled with typical hormonal angst and will connect on a real level with that age group. The multiple scenes of neighborhood kids confessing their sins, secrets and hidden deeds to Emily are priceless and will entertain your younger ones.
DVD Talk: Good films for young teens are few and far between. Most films aimed at this target audience are more the over-the-top, cartoony variety or the extremely sappy and storybook kind. Rarely do you find a film for young teens that is serious, emotional and at all complex. "Little Secrets" is a little film with a big heart; it makes a real attempt at being a 'quality' teen film. ...with so few quality films out there for teens ["Little Secrets" is] a strong contender in a weak field. Unlike some of the better kids films (like "Stuart Little 2") which are fun for both kids and parents, "Little Secrets" is probably best enjoyed by teens, but that make sense - after all, they constantly contend we never 'really understand them'.
Slant Magazine: "kid's flick... Good for sedating uppity pre-pubescent girls..."
Christian Critic Circle: Besides, it has been a while since a film has targeted the oft-neglected "tweenie" age group as its primary audience. Young girls especially will connect with this story about friendship and secrets.
Phantom Tollbooth (Marie Asner): Little Secrets is much like a made-for-TV movie the family could watch but be aware of the scene where mom goes to the hospital to have her baby. It would be for children ages eight and up.
SPLICEDwire: ...adequately entertaining adolescent flick... A movie about a teenager that wouldn't have credibility with anyone over the age of 12...
Talking Pictures: ...delightful children's movie... One of the hardest things to do in moviemaking is produce a film that speaks to adults and children while not talking down to either. "Little Secrets" is such a film. ...the film has a wonderful sensitivity about it making it a nice film to share with the kids.
CinemaSpeak.com: If parents can get their kids (especially their daughters) to take a chance on a small film that doesn't feature any Hollywood stars and doesn't contain state-of-the-art special effects, they'll be in for a little (no pun intended) treat.
Shaun Sages' Movie Navigator: While the film has elements to keep adults interested as well, it'll mainly appeal to teens who'll be too busy buying tickets for XXX to care about Disney-channel suburban do-gooders that don't resemble any teenagers I've ever met.
Miami Herald: Share 'Little Secrets' with your children. Plenty of parents sit through animated and live-action movies with their children -- you love 'em, so you take 'em -- but how often do Mom and Dad really enjoy those movies that they so dutifully see? "Little Secrets" is one for the kids AND their parents. It's a beguiling exploration of friendship, trust, truth, insecurity and, yes, secrets. Though it seems aimed at preteens and younger teenagers, the movie should appeal to just about anyone.
San Francisco Examiner: Movies designated with the saccharine "family film" label often have the unfortunate effect of leaving adults yawning and adolescents barfing. They walk a tight rope of trying to entertain without vulgarity or violence -- the two main staples of most Hollywood fare. Good ones are usually cartoons, like "Shrek," and standout dramas such as "October Sky" are rarities. So you've got to give the makers of "Little Secrets" credit... Although this film, destined to end up on Nickelodeon, is aimed at teens and twenty-somethings hooked on nonstop action -- my bet is it will appeal more to their parents.
Seattle Times: ...preteen girls (and their parents) are likely to find much to enjoy in the story of 14-year-old Emily...
Salt Lake Tribune: gentle and well-crafted story that should satisfy older kids -- especially girls -- while not boring their parents.
SPLICEDwire: ...if you're a parent desperate for a movie you can take your youngster to without worrying about sex or violence, "Little Secrets" fits the bill without being it's-just-a-kids'-movie insipid.
Talking Pictures: One of the hardest things to do in moviemaking is produce a film that speaks to adults and children while not talking down to either. "Little Secrets" is such a film.
Shaun Sages' Movie Navigator: While the film has elements to keep adults interested as well, it'll mainly appeal to teens... Little Secrets does have some treats for those who've already gone through puberty.
Chicago Tribune: Even when conflict blessedly rears its head... there's always a warm and fuzzy resolution... Director Blair Treu, whose credits include 18 episodes of TV's "Chicken Soup for the Soul," tries to up the ante in the middle of the movie with a near-tragedy, but by this point the film has established itself as innocuous and its characters as noble, so there is little surprise and even less at stake. "You can't keep secrets about yourself and lead a true life," advises Emily's music teacher, (Vivica A. Fox). This wise sentiment is typical of the film's motives. One can hardly argue with the desire to make a wholesome movie for families that extols honesty and decency, but it all comes too easily, too superficially.
Philadelphia Inquirer: A wholesome little drama aimed at the pre- and early-teen crowd, "Little Secrets" is set in a frighteningly tidy suburbia of cul-de-sacs and clipped lawns, courteous neighbors, and kids, kids and more kids.
Dallas Morning News: These squeaky-clean kids in their perfect neighborhood will be a turn-off for some. One critic suggested posting a warning for diabetics. Still, it's refreshing...
Seattle Times: ...the movie's sweet-natured, squeaky clean and set in a suburban wonderland so flawlessly bland that it looks like no real person could live there...
L.A. Weekly: In a conclusion made of equal parts tears and saccharine, the wise 14-year-old manages, all in the same breath, to denounce keeping secrets, self-pity and drunk driving.
Christian Science Monitor: "Little Secrets" would be more believable if it weren't quite so trim and tidy. It has a sitcommy look, etching all its incidents and characters in well-scrubbed images as carefully manicured as the lawns in Emily's neat suburban neighborhood.
Pittsburg Tribune-Review: ...the adolescents and teenagers in "Little Secrets" aren't real. They're smartly clothed, immaculately scrubbed, privileged stick figures whose mirage-like problems are never so great they can't be erased with a hug. Wholesomeness is one thing, vapidness another.
Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Through the first half of the film, its too-cute and unbelievable premise...
San Diego Union-Tribune: Writer and director Blair Treu, with a Disney background, has everyone acting on cue like TV commercial darlings. The kids are appealing, the music is fine. It somewhat breaks the tone when Emily admits, "Mom is very anal," but then Emily is anal, and so -- nicely -- is the movie.
Los Angeles Daily News: "Little Secrets" may well be the first film in motion picture history in which a woman gives birth while wearing jeans... "Secrets" largely overcomes the gooeyness of Jessica Barondes' script.
San Francisco Chronicle: The plot twists in "Little Secrets" sustain the movie when it gets a bit too schmaltzy. This excess of cuteness and sentimentality won't be a flaw to moviegoers in the mood for it.
Kansas City Star: Don't let the first half-hour or so of "Little Secrets" put you off too much. Leaving the chute, this Salt Lake City-lensed family film tries too hard to be cute and quickly suggests we're in for a feature-length version of an uplifting "After School Special." You can practically hear the cynics in the audience wilting. But stick with it...
Salt Lake Tribune: child characters... feel like genuine (if unnaturally wholesome) kids.
Deseret News: It's to the credit of its young, talented cast that "Little Secrets" overcomes what could have been a terminal case of the "cutes."
Charlotte Observer: This simplistic, syrupy blather... such saccharine drivel...
Entertainment Weekly: The kids in this syrupy family picture are spunky tykes...
The Village Voice: Oppressive, if familiar, family values reign in the Middle America of "Little Secrets"... Many more things happen in this Disneyesque confection...
TV Guide: Simplistic, formulaic and painfully sweet, this gratingly didactic tale about...
New Times L.A.: Citizen-soldiers eager to renew hostilities in the American culture wars can shoot a couple of spitballs at each other this week over "Little Secrets", a teen-anxiety movie that leaves no doubt where it stands on "family values" and moral absolutes: It approves. The shock troops of the Cinema Without Limits army are unlikely to buy many tickets, but those who do will probably see the thing as sanctimonious pabulum -- even for its target audience of adolescents. You could make book on it... Redemption is certainly the strong suit of this Disney Channel veteran. Along with product placements for certain brands of candy and breakfast cereal, and some tourist-brochure views of downtown Salt Lake, Treu and screenwriter Jessica Barondes... serve up soul-cleansing portions of sweetness and light, salted with some minor friction... Emily... spars with her squeaky-clean parents.
E! Online: ...Blair Treu's impossibly sun-kissed ode to middle-class virtues is the sort of movie that's bound to provoke fidgeting. Evan Rachel Wood is the perfect daughter... She's pretty, precocious and talented...
The Onion A.V. Club: a heartfelt performance from Wood... keeps all the unchecked wholesomeness anchored in a recognizably human world
SPLICEDwire: "...the picture's overly idyllic setting, its annoyingly plinky-jolly score... warm-fuzzy camaraderies..."
Christian Critic Circle: ...Emily doles out advice, keeps secrets, and stashes evidence for the precocious children that populate her "Leave It To Beaver-like" community... a movie which is... a bit heavy on the schmaltz...
Film Freak Central: I fear that Blair Treu's "Little Secrets" is the latest picture to fall victim to my predisposition against insipid and trite films. The problem with my bias in this instance is that there is a considerable segment of the middle-class population at large that seems particularly enamoured with such fare, particularly as it manifests under the aegis of "family entertainment" or Meg Ryan movies. It's only a problem, I hasten to add, because I hate arguing with the upper-reaching bourgeoisie--there is no good way, after all, to explain to the fuzzily intractable why a self-pitying adopted girl who makes money like Lucy from the "Peanuts" strip while staying home to practice violin in anticipation of an orchestra tryout is more suited for the dinosaur prose of big-print Beverly Clearys than for the voluntary consumption of any self-respecting human being... Cutesy and piping, "Little Secrets" is deeply irritating and vaguely disturbing. An Internet affair gone awry between a teen pop star and a nine-year-old threatens at every moment to explode into tragedy... prefab edutainment wrapped up all pretty in a sappy wrapper.
One Guy's Opinion: Blair Treu's "Little Secrets" is one of those family films that's so intent about offering positive messages that sitting through it is a chore instead of a pleasure. Sugary sweet, heavily didactic and relentlessly uplifting, it should probably come with a warning that diabetics could be endangered by watching it... But overall the picture wears its heart all too obviously on its sleeve... it would be more at home on some family-friendly cable channel than the big screen. Commercial interruptions might even help dilute the oppressive niceness of it all.
New York Post: A pleasant little family film... an uncommonly inoffensive, after-school-special-style teen flick.
New York Daily News: Who says filmmakers are interested only in negative images of kids? Blair Treu's "Little Secrets" is an uplifting family fairy tale of a movie about children who don't smoke cigarettes on street corners, stick out their pearl-studded tongues at TV cameras or spray-paint your rock wall with graffiti. These kids are so wholesome, their neighborhood so safe and the moral of their story so clear-cut, that...
Los Angles Times: Its greeting card look and feel aside, "Little Secrets" is an otherwise worthy family entertainment.
Los Angeles Daily News: Gentle coming-of-age film... harmless... That "Little Secrets" landed a PG rating instead of a G is kind of astounding. Director Blair Treu wears his "family film" mantra like a Legion of Honor cross, boasting via his script notes that his film won an award of excellence at the Heartland Film Festival. Objectionable content? Thematic thorniness? Pshaw! The edgiest moment is the utterance of the phrase "drunk driver."... Not that there's anything wrong with gentleness. Anchored by a couple of young actors who are as believable as they are cuddly... No, this isn't profound stuff, but it's safe and heart-warming enough...
Chicago Sun-Times: The film is upbeat, wholesome, chirpy, positive, sunny, cheerful, optimistic and squeaky-clean... That it has been rated not G but PG (for "thematic elements") is another of the arcane mysteries created by the flywheels of the MPAA. There is not a parent on earth who would believe this film requires "parental guidance."
Chicago Tribune: There's nothing wrong with uplifting movies about decent folks behaving decently. They just don't make for interesting drama. Most of the secrets in "Little Secrets," a fluffy family film, wouldn't be out of place in a Bible study group, and even those with dark potential are given a gooey center... "You can't keep secrets about yourself and lead a true life," advises Emily's music teacher, (Vivica A. Fox). This wise sentiment is typical of the film's motives. One can hardly argue with the desire to make a wholesome movie for families that extols honesty and decency...
Pittsburg Tribune-Review: The absence of objectionable elements in a family film is laudable...
Christian Science Monitor: Pssst: a 'Little Secret' worth telling to families [Headline] This summer is stuffed with PG-13 movies. That would be a relief from the usual glut of R-rated films if so many of the PG-13 items wouldn't have gotten an R themselves not long ago -- and might today, if they weren't released by powerful Hollywood studios good at cozying up to the ratings board. In this atmosphere, it's nice to have more G and PG pictures also arriving than in previous years. "Little Secrets" is a genuine PG, gentle and wholesome almost all the way through... it should attract family audiences... This picture is a secret family-oriented viewers should spread around.
Philadelphia Inquirer: A wholesome little drama... "Little Secrets" is set in a... suburbia of cul-de-sacs and clipped lawns, courteous neighbors, and kids, kids and more kids.
Pittsburg Post-Gazette: Far from the happy meal kid fare that's served up over the summer or the Freddie Prinze Jr. teen series, "Little Secrets" is a wholesome, thoughtful character drama...
San Francisco Chronicle: This movie is ideal for families who want to explore the meaning of secrets and friendship...
Dallas Morning News: The family flick... squeaky-clean kids...
Seattle Times: 'Little Secrets' is wholesome family fare [Headline] ...the movie's sweet-natured, squeaky clean...
Seattle Post-Intelligencer: ...well-meaning... family film... Treu's sweet-spirited vision of life... gradually broke down most of my resistance.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: ...a squeaky-clean coming-of-age tale with a simple story... Watching "Little Secrets" is like drinking a glass of milk after swearing off Sprite and vodka. It doesn't have much bite, but it's refreshing in its own way, and it's certainly good for you.
Arizona Republic: Its niche audience is families, your Ward-and-June, "Touched by an Angel" kind of family. This isn't necessarily a bad thing; fantasy is a big part of what makes Hollywood go... for those looking for uplifting, family-oriented entertainment, you could do worse than this film.
Kansas City Star: ...family film... lacking the exploitable rudeness of most contemporary films about kids, "Secrets" may have a tough time getting youngsters into the theater. But at a recent afternoon screening a crowd of preteens laughed, cried and stuck with Emily and her friends to the very end. So who knows?
Deseret News: sweet-natured, family-friendly drama
Utah County Daily Herald: ...it is every bit as harmlessly chipper as you'd expect a family-oriented movie by a BYU alumnus shot in Salt Lake City to be.
St. George Spectrum: Few parents [the kind likely to have made "Little Secrets" and to whom it seems primarily aimed] will find anything objectionable in this sanitized after-school special-esque of a film, lately that's progress.
New Times L.A.: "Little Secrets", a teen-anxiety movie that leaves no doubt where it stands on "family values" and moral absolutes: It approves.
Entertainment Weekly: "family picture"
Hollywood Reporter: While family films of any sort are to be encouraged in this day and age, it's unfortunate that the current crop seems to veer between vulgarized big-screen versions of television cartoons and low-budget efforts that seem far better suited to the Hallmark Channel. "Little Secrets," a sweet, innocuous and utterly bland family drama, is a prime example of the latter...
The Village Voice: ...family values reign in the Middle America of "Little Secrets"...
TV Guide: "positive message and wholesome values"
Film Journal International: "...harmlessly light family fare."
Citysearch: ...smart family film... Those who say there are no intelligent PG movies out there ought to hightail it to "Little Secrets"... The mostly 10-and-under thespians are a delightfully funny bunch without the staged precociousness so often found in family fare.
The Onion A.V. Club: In the family film "Little Secrets"... pleasant...
Crosswalk.com: Best for: This is a family film all ages can relate to and enjoy... This is a family film with something for everyone... It's rare to find a story that deals with a common theme people of all ages can relate to, but this movie does. The bad: There is nothing bad about this movie. Offensive language: None. Sexual situations: None... Parental advisory: This is a smart and sophisticated family movie that will appeal to all ages. When a story promotes family values, healthy parent/child and friend relationships, honesty, selflessness, forgiveness and even practicing the violin, how could a parent go wrong in taking your kids to see this movie? ...The real secret to this gem of a movie is its meaningful message, which will make it a family favorite.
Spirituality and Health: This family film directed by Blair Treu and written by Jessica Barondes zeroes in on this interesting and not often explored topic that plays such a central role in our private lives as children... there is enough here of interest for families to enjoy and ponder... this family drama...
Haro Online: ...it's heart is in the right place. Director Blair Treu and writer Jessica Barondes do their best to make a 'family' movie... patently inoffensive...
Meridian Magazine: "Little Secrets" has the sweetness of a wholesome family film with none of the saccharine mush that usually compensates for writing... "Secrets" is a wonderful family-friendly film.
Plugged In: Summer is full of loud, busy, soulless distractions. And that's just at the movies. So it's an unexpected pleasure to encounter a sweet family film like Little Secrets, an adolescent morality tale about friendship, integrity and how hiding brokenness hinders healing... The film also makes solid statements about loyalty, family relationships, forgiveness and the consequences of driving drunk. Except for a mild crudity or two, there are no unpleasant surprises.
Christian Critic Circle: This family-oriented film may be coming in under the media radar... but here's hoping that its warmth and sweet-natured heart will generate enough word-of-mouth praise that audiences will seek it out.
Phantom Tollbooth (Marie Asner): Little Secrets is much like a made-for-TV movie the family could watch...
Phantom Tollbooth (Jeffrey Overstreet): ...many families who will agree that Little Secrets is fine family entertainment... This is a film that clearly announces itself as simple sanitized family entertainment... For parents seeking entertainment that is "safe" for their kids, Little Secrets has moderate charms. Like an episode of "Touched By an Angel" or an "after-school special," it is filled with smiling and endearing characters, played with enthusiasm by appealing actors and actresses... This is a family movie about a teen... Treu and Barondes have accomplished their goals. They have made... "feel-good" entertainment that will please moviegoers seeking such things. Good morals are loudly affirmed, good kids have their frowns turned to smiles... It's better made than a lot of such movies, and you'll certainly get more tears for your dollar.
SPLICEDwire: ...innocuous... harmless, wholesome... "Little Secrets" has been ringingly endorsed by... the Heartland Film Festival... an organization that places content over quality in an attempt to promote "family values." But if you're a parent desperate for a movie you can take your youngster to without worrying about sex or violence, "Little Secrets" fits the bill without being it's-just-a-kids'-movie insipid.
Talking Pictures: ...the film has a wonderful sensitivity about it making it a nice film to share with the kids.
CinemaSpeak.com: If parents can get their kids (especially their daughters) to take a chance on a small film that doesn't feature any Hollywood stars and doesn't contain state-of-the-art special effects, they'll be in for a little (no pun intended) treat. Granted, I'm not the target audience for "Little Secrets", but I appreciated it for what it was -- an unpretentious and well-meaning film with positive messages, the likes of which have been severely lacking in family films of late... this is a family film...
FilmJerk.com: I know how you feel. After a summer of genetically enhanced clones, a guy bitten by a radioactive spider, the nuclear destruction of Baltimore... you want to throw up your hands and scream at the Movie Gods "Would it not be too much to ask for something small, pleasant, inoffensive and enjoyable by the entire family?" If this is where you are right now, the Gods have answered your prayers with this delightful new film from the team of director Blair Treu and writer Jessica Barondes... As with most movies aimed at a family audience today, there are topics touched on and dealt with in this film including friendship, first love and teen drinking. It is a credit to the filmmaking team that these topics are dealt with in a respectful manner, yet never allowing the story to become overbearing.
One Guy's Opinion: Blair Treu's "Little Secrets" is one of those family films... Parents searching for a totally inoffensive movie may embrace "Little Secrets." In reality, though, it would be more at home on some family-friendly cable channel than the big screen.
Steve Rhodes: Little Secrets is a sweet little movie, and you don't have to keep that a secret. Dresses. In Blair Treu's slice-of-young-life story, LITTLE SECRETS, Emily is one of the most wholesome 14-year-olds you're ever likely to see on the screen or in real life. Even around her neighborhood, she likes to wear smart looking dresses almost exclusively... Emily manages to be a shining example of how we wish teens would cope with their problems... Although they have their problems, the families in LITTLE SECRETS are there to be admired rather than ridiculed. This is a refreshing change... LITTLE SECRETS is a sweet little movie, and you don't have to keep that a secret.
Shaun Sages' Movie Navigator: For a harmless family film, with an expected positive message, Little Secrets has its mature moments that deal with such topics as underage drinking (uncommon for a PG flick)... this is a movie specifically designated for parent-child viewing... Though there are mature themes involved... for the parent-child audience, this movie is relatively enjoyable and less painful than what kids drag their moms and dads to see; surely no more so than Pokemon... Little Secrets serves its purpose as an acceptable family outing.
Los Angeles Times: What Treu and writer Jessica Barondes are doing with considerable deftness is asking youngsters--and parents too--to think about the wisdom of keeping the kinds of secrets that do harm to one's self and others. As Emily's spirits darken, we come to see her secret-keeper role in a new light. The children who trust her are innocents, but much of the advice Emily gives them involves how to cover up minor transgressions and thereby evade trouble. Emily can hardly be said to be corrupting kids, but she is encouraging falsehoods and the avoidance of responsibility.
Los Angeles Daily News: The movie's point... is that the keeping of secrets -- big or little -- can tear people apart, just as spilling your guts can bring about unity. No, this isn't profound stuff, but it's safe and heart-warming enough that the 15-and-younger set should love it while their parents won't be bored.
Philadelphia Inquirer: "Little Secrets" has life lessons to impart and wastes no time doing so: Drunken driving is bad, keeping things from people you love is bad, feeling jealous and angry over the arrival of an impending sibling is bad.
Pittsburg Tribune-Review: Around the time the flawless Pauline tells her, "You can't keep secrets about yourself and lead a true life, Emily,"... The truth is preferable to secrets, the film emphasizes.
Miami Herald: Little Secrets... [is] a beguiling exploration of friendship, trust, truth, insecurity and, yes, secrets.
San Francisco Examiner: The film's theme -- the burden and damage that come from keeping secrets -- is handled with insight and charm. It's also a thorny problem that all of us, young and old alike, have wrestled with at one time or another... The moral... it that the sooner we all own up to our secrets, the better. But, like most life lessons, as most adults have learned, it's easier said than done.
San Francisco Chronicle: There's no denying that director Blair Treu has made a touching film that will make audiences smile and cry at young characters who are learning about love and confession. This movie is ideal for families who want to explore the meaning of secrets and friendship...
Seattle Times: ...Emily (Evan Rachel Wood), a self-styled keeper of other children's confidences who learns that some secrets are best shared.
Seattle Post-Intelligencer: 'Little Secrets' is no sermon but has a moral. [Headline] The movie... is a parable in which [the main character] learns the moral that keeping seemingly innocent, self-protective secrets is not such a good thing; that, invariably, people suffer from them.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: ...coming-of-age tale with a simple story... and a good message... ..."Little Secrets" wants us to know that keeping a secret can sometimes be a good thing, but it can be a bad thing, too... "Little Secrets" tosses around several public service announcement-style messages: don't drink and drive, especially if you're 15; don't decide a baby is necessarily a threat; don't break things or adopt things without telling your parents.
Orlando Sentinel: ...a good-hearted... children's film about ambition, friendship and the little lies kids tell to avoid being yelled at. ...the little homilies about how secrets are a burden on young and old, how lies and drunken driving have consequences that can last a lifetime, are decent lessons to teach children.
Arizona Republic: It all comes to a heartwarming conclusion... as her violin teacher (Vivica A. Fox) tells her, "You can't keep secrets about yourself and still lead a true life."... uplifting, family-oriented entertainment
Kansas City Star: What's interesting about all this is the way writer Jessica Barondes and director Blair Treu work their recurring theme of the destructive nature of secrets, the idea that when you hold things back from the people you care about you're building a wall that just gets higher and higher. That's a heavy topic for a film aimed primarily at children, and "Little Secrets" sometimes lays it on too thickly. But Wood and Angarano are such solid performers that we hang on even when the material gets iffy.
Deseret News: "Little Secrets" does feature a worthy message...
Utah County Daily Herald: Two lines of dialogue sum up what the movie is about. Someone observes, "If you want to be close to someone, you can't keep secrets from them." Or, put more simply by another character at another juncture, "Secrets hurt." It is hard to fault a film with so guileless a philosophy -- the importance of honesty and familial love are also emphasized -- no matter how unimaginative it may be.
The Journal News (New York): "Little Secrets" has heart, as well as a positive meassage: "You can't keep secrets and live a true life." Eventually, the secrets become a weight on Emily's conscience; she must balance her promises of confidentiality against the potential harm of not telling what she knows. The film also delivers a brief lecture on drunk driving, just to give it a jolt of reality.
New Times L.A.: "Secrets" tells the uplifting tale... the filmmakers... eventually instruct all present on the necessity of honesty, the treasures of family love and, while they're at it, the evils of drunk driving.
Entertainment Weekly: ...a movie for young persons that teaches gentle lessons about when to keep quiet -- and when to speak up. (Crib-sheet summary: Don't blab other people's confidences, but do open up to others, because trust and intimacy are more important than perfect hair.)
Hollywood Reporter: ...the film delivers wholesome messages about the importance of friendship, family, honesty, etc.
TV Guide: Apparently harmless secrets cause hurt feelings, damage friendships and divide siblings, and Emily reluctantly concludes that in the long run, it's better to tell the truth... this... little tale wears its positive message and wholesome values on its sleeve, and while you can't fault its intentions...
E! Online: ...parents hoping to impart the "honesty is the best policy" message will be this film's target audience.
Haro Online: ...has a good moral lesson... a very straightforward approach to tell the message that it is not good to keep secrets from friends... only a moron can miss the lesson that Treu and Barondes are trying to tell.
The Onion A.V. Club: Its lessons are familiar, but it delivers them without lecturing.
DVD Talk: "Little Secrets" also has a nice theme running through it of friendship...
Crosswalk.com: Meaningful Message Makes "Little Secrets" a Gem [Headline] ...The story is clever because it takes a universal concept that both adults and kids can relate to and mixes it in with a multi-issue plot dealing with a new baby, being good enough to get a coveted position with a symphony, honesty, the consequences of keeping or sharing a secret, adoption and dealing with the simple fears that grip all of us in life... The struggle of dealing with secrets in our lives and the dilemma lies can produce is effectively dealt with in a clever way, with redemption, forgiveness and honesty being the real heroes in this story... When a story promotes family values, healthy parent/child and friend relationships, honesty, selflessness, forgiveness and even practicing the violin, how could a parent go wrong in taking your kids to see this movie? ...this story will tap into the part of you that holds a secret only you know about. It will remind you that there are some secrets that need to be left alone, others that need to be forgiven (and forgotten) and still others that need to be shared with close friends. The real secret to this gem of a movie is its meaningful message, which will make it a family favorite.
Slant Magazine: It's only a matter of time then before the cat's out of the bag... and Emily learns that some secrets are best left in the open.
Spirituality and Health: We all have secrets -- things that we feel bad or guilty about, things we wish had never happened. Some of these have harmed others; most have also injured our souls and psyches. There are secrets we only share with those who are closest to us. And there are those we keep hidden away from everyone. This family film directed by Blair Treu and written by Jessica Barondes zeroes in on this interesting and not often explored topic that plays such a central role in our private lives as children... there is enough here of interest for families to enjoy and ponder.
Meridian Magazine: Treu and Barondes aren't advocating hanging our dirty laundry out for all to see, or exposing ourselves to the world. They are talking about personal integrity and the trust one must have in each other in order to get close to people. Emily's violin teacher (Vivica A. Fox) said it well, "You can't keep secrets about yourself and lead a true life."
Plugged In: Summer is full of loud, busy, soulless distractions. And that's just at the movies. So it's an unexpected pleasure to encounter a sweet family film like Little Secrets, an adolescent morality tale about friendship, integrity and how hiding brokenness hinders healing... "You can't keep secrets about yourself and lead a true life," a trusted music teacher tells Emily, "and you shouldn't encourage others to do the same." So she takes bold steps to set kids straight. And confession proves to be good for the soul. The film also makes solid statements about loyalty, family relationships, forgiveness and the consequences of driving drunk... If only the network's teen-oriented fare was this positive.
Christian Critic Circle: When a new family moves in next door, Emily will learn that not all secrets are healthy and some can be downright detrimental... Not all is sweetness and light in the world of "Little Secrets." It tackles, though on a superficial level, some pretty major topics of interest. Drunk driving, lying, taking responsibility for one's actions, and sibling rivalry are all covered in this school age morality tale. The major lesson learned, however, deals with secrets kept and secrets told. The moral being delivered is this: if we really want to be close to someone else, having secrets isn't going to accomplish it... Telling the truth can sometimes be difficult. But if we want a relationship to grow in strength and closeness, there is no substitute for truth delivered and received in love.
Phantom Tollbooth (Marie Asner): ...a story about Emily who keeps her life happy by keeping other people's secrets and dispensing advice---for a fee. But this girl's advice keeps the perpetrator from facing the truth, something Emily avoids in her own life as well. The film has heart and how long this facade can continue is the heart of Little Secrets...
Phantom Tollbooth (Jeffrey Overstreet): I applaud Barondes's efforts to give teens a story about the danger of secrets. While most of the secrets in this movie are fairly tame, a lot of teens carry around huge, heavy, burdensome secrets that they would do well to learn to share... Good morals are loudly affirmed...
CinemaSpeak.com: Granted, I'm not the target audience for "Little Secrets", but I appreciated it for what it was -- an unpretentious and well-meaning film with positive messages, the likes of which have been severely lacking in family films of late.
FilmJerk.com: As with most movies aimed at a family audience today, there are topics touched on and dealt with in this film including friendship, first love and teen drinking. It is a credit to the filmmaking team that these topics are dealt with in a respectful manner, yet never allowing the story to become overbearing.
One Guy's Opinion: ...intent about offering positive messages... Ultimately everybody learns that secrets are bad--big or little--and that honesty and friendship always pay.
Shaun Sages' Movie Navigator: But when the secrets get too unruly, can she remain confidential or squeal to the dozens of unsuspecting parents? That's Emily's dilemma in Little Secrets, a 7th Heaven-like parable aimed towards the WB generation... Though there are mature themes involved, such as Emily dealing with her pregnant parents and the effects a younger sibling will have, for the parent-child audience, this movie is relatively enjoyable...
Steve Rhodes: A simple story, it never beats its messages into our heads. The most obvious of its homilies is, "Secrets hurt."
TV Guide: "...this gratingly didactic tale about the price of keeping confidences... Emily reluctantly concludes that in the long run, it's better to tell the truth. Make a note. ...this preachy little tale wears its positive message and wholesome values on its sleeve, and while you can't fault its intentions, it's crafted rather than imagined. ...the rest of the kids (not to mention their parents) are all character business and no actual character, which makes the fact that their problems are object lessons all the more apparent.
Los Angeles Daily News: The movie's point, as one character rather heavy-handedly points out, is that...
L.A. Weekly: In a conclusion made of equal parts tears and saccharine, the wise 14-year-old manages, all in the same breath, to denounce keeping secrets, self-pity and drunk driving.
San Francisco Examiner: The moral, delivered in a slightly heavy-handed way, it that...
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "Little Secrets" tosses around several public service announcement-style messages: don't drink and drive, especially if you're 15; don't decide a baby is necessarily a threat; don't break things or adopt things without telling your parents.
Pittsburg Post-Gazette: "Little Secrets," which does come on a bit strong with its message of honesty and openness...
The Village Voice: ...the film's broad performances and heavy-handed moralizing strike a note of condescension sure to be heard by the alienated teenager within us all.
DVD Talk: The entire sub-plot with Emily being the neighborhood secret keeper never really works. On the front end its strange to see a teen advise other kids to lie and cheat and then on the back it feels really preachy when the effects of the lying and cheating come back to roost. In this category a Director has to walk a careful balance between a feature film and an afterschool special and this sub-plot really pushes the scales towards afterschool special.
New Times L.A.: Citizen-soldiers eager to renew hostilities in the American culture wars can shoot a couple of spitballs at each other this week over Little Secrets, a teen-anxiety movie that leaves no doubt where it stands on "family values" and moral absolutes: It approves. The shock troops of the Cinema Without Limits army are unlikely to buy many tickets, but those who do will probably see the thing as sanctimonious pabulum -- even for its target audience of adolescents. You could make book on it.
Film Freak Central: ...Emily's own big mystery threatens to turn her golden-hued life into an after-school special. Aesop for dummies... The whole of the thing plays entirely too much like a sermon carefully calculated to establish false opportunities for cozy epiphanies and foster deadening speeches on topics as desultory as they are aggressively unsurprising. The argument may arise that "Little Secrets" has valuable lessons to teach youngsters regarding the dangerous oxymoron of its titular thing, but it occurs to me that a better lesson would be to educate your youngsters about thrift and discretion as it pertains to shelling out a few bucks to get drilled with prefab edutainment wrapped up all pretty in a sappy wrapper.
Haro Online: It is probably a little too preachy for children, and a little to simplistic for adults.
One Guy's Opinion: Blair Treu's "Little Secrets" is one of those family films that's so intent about offering positive messages that sitting through it is a chore instead of a pleasure. Sugary sweet, heavily didactic and relentlessly uplifting... But overall the picture wears its heart all too obviously on its sleeve... feeling of heavy earnestness...
Shaun Sages' Movie Navigator: A love triangle between Emily and the two brothers would be interesting, but director Blair Treau opts to tell a moralistic tale.
The Onion A.V. Club: Its lessons are familiar, but it delivers them without lecturing.
FilmJerk.com: As with most movies aimed at a family audience today, there are topics touched on and dealt with in this film including friendship, first love and teen drinking. It is a credit to the filmmaking team that these topics are dealt with in a respectful manner, yet never allowing the story to become overbearing.
Steve Rhodes: A simple story, it never beats its messages into our heads.
New York Post: Emily, who lives in a Disneyfied California suburb bristling with gables, picket fences and perfect lawns... Blair Treu plays it... straight, delivering an uncommonly inoffensive, after-school-special-style teen flick.
Los Angeles Daily News: The after-school special genre is alive and flourishing in "Little Secrets"...
Philadelphia Inquirer: Directed by Blair Treu in a crisp, cute Disney Channel-esque fashion, "Little Secrets" has life lessons to impart and wastes no time doing so...
Christian Science Monitor: Credit goes to director Blair Treu, a graduate of the Disney studio...
Pittsburg Post-Gazette: ..."Little Secrets" is a wholesome, thoughtful character drama that plays out like a really good "Afterschool Special." You even get Mendelssohn instead of Smash Mouth.
Dallas Morning News: "Little Secrets" is part familiar after-school special (the director used to work for The Mouse) and part thoughtful feature for teens... The family flick again teams director Blair Treu... Jessica Barondes as scripter. Their "Wish Upon a Star" enjoyed unprecedented ratings on the Disney Channel.
San Diego Union-Tribune: Writer and director Blair Treu, with a Disney background, has everyone acting on cue like TV commercial darlings.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: It also has that old-fashioned Disney-glaze that used to be on live-action family films starring Kurt Russell or the Olsen twins.
Seattle Times: Indeed, the film might have been better suited to an afterschool special -- there's no compelling reason why this story needs the big screen.
Seattle Post-Intelligencer: The movie... was put together by Disney television alumnus Blair Treu...
Orlando Sentinel: Here's an After School Special that the networks missed. Actually, since the networks no longer televise those, maybe Nickelodeon will be picking up "Little Secrets"
Salt Lake Tribune: ...there's something satisfying in its old-fashioned, "Wonderful World of Disney" style of storytelling.
Deseret News: ...there are times when this sweet-natured, family-friendly drama feels like a movie that was made for Disney's cable network (not a complete surprise, considering its maker, Utahn Blair Treu, has directed films for that channel in the past). Not that such a thing is always to a film's detriment.
Utah County Daily Herald: We watched "Little Secrets" on a screener tape provided by the distributor. I thought, "This looks like a Disney Channel movie." A friend watching it with me said, "This looks like a Disney Channel movie." Halfway through, another friend walked in, took one look at it, and said, "Is this a Disney Channel movie?" I hate to start a movie review with an anecdote about watching it, but these events describe "Little Secrets" perfectly. The cinematography is bright and sunny, the music is unobtrusively wacky, the tone is light and the budget is cheerfully low. Directed by... Blair Treu, who has, yes, worked on Disney Channel films, "Little Secrets" was shot in Salt Lake City.
The Journal News (New York): Given the pedigree of its writer and director (whose resumes both sport credits for the Disney Channel), it's no wonder "Little Secrets" feels like an after-school special. A film about and for young adolescents, "Little Secrets" has made-for-cable written all over it. It may seem odd to see it in a theater, instead of on PAX or ABC Family.
The Village Voice: Many more things happen in this Disneyesque confection...
E! Online: More ABC Afterschool Special than feature film...
Film Journal International: How Disney "After School Special" can you get? Here, very, as director Blair Treu takes Jessica Barondes' perky script and makes an updated "Pollyanna" of it.
Slant Magazine: It's okay if "Little Secrets" resembles a Disney Afterschool Special; director Blair Treu worked for Walt Disney Pictures before teaming up with writer/producer Jessica Bardones on their first feature "Wish Upon a Star."
New Times L.A.: "Redemption is certainly the strong suit of this Disney Channel veteran..."
SPLICEDwire: "Little Secrets" is something akin to a Wonderful World of Disney special -- harmless, wholesome and just barely winning enough to overcome its fantasy-suburban, Norman Rockwell nature... screenwriter Jessica Barondes and director Blair Treu (who made the Disney Channel's "Wish Upon A Star" together)...
Phantom Tollbooth (Jeffrey Overstreet): ...most moviegoers I know would prefer to see something they haven't seen before, something more complicated than your average Disney Sunday Night Movie where life's problems are simple and are solved with simple answers... Like an episode of "Touched By an Angel" or an "after-school special," it is filled with smiling and endearing characters, played with enthusiasm by appealing actors and actresses... Little Secrets is like ten Disney Sunday Night Movies in one, with all ten tear-jerking, sentimental climaxes happening at once.
Kansas City Star: first half-hour or so... tries too hard to be cute and quickly suggests we're in for a feature-length version of an uplifting "After School Special."
Plugged In: Technically, it has the feel of a WB after-school special. If only the network's teen-oriented fare was this positive.
Steve Rhodes: The picture, which plays like a television movie for a kids' cable network, is getting a theatrical release.
Film Freak Central: ...Emily's own big mystery threatens to turn her golden-hued life into an after-school special.
CinemaSpeak.com: The story of "Little Secrets" is strictly afterschool special material, but the nice direction by Blair Treu (especially in the Slacker-like opening introduction to the neighborhood) and the central performance by star-in-the-making Wood, elevates it into something a little better.
FilmJerk.com: What saves this movie from being little more than an overblown afterschool special are the three delightful young leads.
Shaun Sages' Movie Navigator: ...the film... [will] mainly appeal to teens who'll be too busy buying tickets for XXX to care about Disney-channel suburban do-gooders that don't resemble any teenagers I've ever met.
TV Guide: Simplistic, formulaic and painfully sweet...
L.A. Weekly: ...despite its extraordinary theme, the film wades again and again into the kind of ordinary territory befitting its muted if glossy made-for-TV...
Orlando Sentinel: "...but nothing big or unexpected..."
The Village Voice: Many more things happen... most are as predictable as the romance that blossoms with the cute boy who moves in next door.
Spirituality and Health: Although the material is very melodramatic and predictable...
Christian Critic Circle: ...they have deliberately crafted a movie which is a bit predictable...
New York Times: ..."Little Secrets" is a sunny, pleasant, squeaky-clean family film in which nothing surprising happens, and that is the point.
E! Online: But--and don't tell us you saw this coming--Emily has a secret of her own. And it's a whopper. Anyone over 12 knows there's a moral at the end of this tale, so parents hoping to impart the "honesty is the best policy" message will be this film's target audience. For the rest of us, Treu's effort holds few secrets.
Film Freak Central: ...deadening speeches on topics as desultory as they are aggressively unsurprising.
Citysearch: ...smart family film about a gotta-tell-it secret... Those who say there are no intelligent PG movies out there ought to hightail it to "Little Secrets"--a smart, witty and thoroughly modern yarn about a group of preteens growing up...
Dallas Morning News: "Little Secrets" is part familiar after-school special... and part thoughtful feature for teens, one that acts as if the age group just might have a functioning brain... their collaboration [the movie] is... bright... witty... realistic...
Pittsburg Post-Gazette: ..."Little Secrets" is a wholesome, thoughtful character drama...
Los Angeles Times: ...Blair Treu's "Little Secrets" offers some genuine substance for youthful audiences... serious, thought-provoking intentions.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "Little Secrets" sticks pretty well... Actually, it's a wonder it made it into theaters at all given this summer's predilection for over-hyped and under-thought kid movies like "Scooby-Doo" or the "Spy Kids" sequel.
Crosswalk.com: The story is clever because it takes a universal concept that both adults and kids can relate to and mixes it in with a multi-issue plot dealing... The struggle of dealing with secrets in our lives and the dilemma lies can produce is effectively dealt with in a clever way... Parental advisory: This is a smart and sophisticated family movie that will appeal to all ages.
Phantom Tollbooth (Marie Asner): Every once in awhile a film comes along that approaches teen years with wit and intelligence. Little Secrets is such a film. Scriptwriter Jessica Barondes had her ear tuned to teens when she wrote a story about...
Los Angeles Times: These small fry are presented as a bunch of eccentric little mini-kooks, apparently for easy, affectionate laughs. It's artificial in effect yet fortunately does not fully undermine Treu's more serious, thought-provoking intentions... Its greeting card look and feel aside...
Chicago Tribune: The film's nondescript suburb, which features too-green lawns and a spotless public-transportation system, is populated by wholesome kids (nearly all white and all well-off) getting into "Leave it to Beaver"-style debacles -- an online ruse, a broken teacup, stealing cash from Dad's wallet in order to buy him a present -- and adults who preside over their families with bemused grins, as if unaware of the fantasy world they're living in. At the heart of the action is the film's "secret keeper," impossibly precocious adolescent Emily... Even when conflict blessedly rears its head... there's always a warm and fuzzy resolution.
Dallas Morning News: ...their collaboration is both... realistic and preposterous... The secret-keeper business is a bit silly and precious, but Ms. Wood invests her character with depth and maturity...
Seattle Times: ...set in a suburban wonderland so flawlessly bland that it looks like no real person could live there.
Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Through the first half of the film, its too-cute and unbelievable premise...
Christian Science Monitor: "Little Secrets" would be more believable if it weren't quite so trim and tidy. It has a sitcommy look, etching all its incidents and characters in well-scrubbed images as carefully manicured as the lawns in Emily's neat suburban neighborhood.
San Diego Union-Tribune: ...it's hard to accept that preteen Philip (cute Michael Angarano) warms up to her by learning the piano, beginning with -- a Mozart sonata!
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: It also has that old-fashioned Disney-glaze that used to be on live-action family films starring Kurt Russell or the Olsen twins. There's nothing very real going on, from Emily's dubbed violin playing to her mother's close-your-eyes-and-count-to-10 birthing scene in which she pops out a baby in about a minute and a half.
Kansas City Star: In the manner of many movies made for kids by adults who don't quite remember what childhood is really like, [Emily is] precocious in other ways.
Salt Lake Tribune: ...a 14-year-old girl, practicing the violin in her room, gazes dreamily up at her poster of that popular teenybopper crush . . . Kurt Bestor. OK, so maybe this homegrown family film isn't entirely realistic... Emily seems almost impossibly poised and well-adjusted... child characters... they feel like genuine (if unnaturally wholesome) kids.
Charlotte Observer: I suspect the makers of "Little Secrets" never met a child before the shoot, though most of the actors are under 18... It's a fable that descends rapidly into nonsense, a long lie in which the moral theme can be reduced to "lying is bad."... "Little Secrets" takes place in the kind of world where a child can have multiple cats in her bedroom without parents noticing, another can dig an immense hole in his yard without arousing attention, and a third can dress up like a 9-year-old hooker without drawing a stare from anybody. Emily plays flawlessly, handling Mendelssohn's concerto solos without missing a note. Yet her parents don't find her a first-class teacher, and she leaves her expensive violin on the roof of the house when she's not using it. Picking holes in this lump of cheese is a waste of energy, though more fun than actually watching it.
Pittsburg Tribune-Review: ...a picture set in an unspecified suburban community that somehow has its own symphony orchestra, one that is so competitive that Emily's tutor, Pauline (Vivica A. Fox), lost her job as third-chair violinist after five seasons. ...the adolescents and teenagers in "Little Secrets" aren't real. They're smartly clothed, immaculately scrubbed, privileged stick figures whose mirage-like problems are never so great they can't be erased with a hug. Wholesomeness is one thing, vapidness another. Director Blair Treu achieves a professional look without finding a moment of truth. Nothing feels natural, beginning with an ensemble of mostly child actors who are all too obviously acting and adults who are given a single face to wear.
L.A. Weekly: Emily... a preternaturally old child who... delights in self-discipline...
Variety: "Little Secrets" is one of those movies, like last year's "Kids World" and "Radio Flyer," that impose a hackneyed grownup psychoanalytical point of view on their youthful protagonists. What you end up with are a bunch of kids acting not like kids, but how adults who've lost all sense of what it was like to be a kid think kids behave.
E! Online: ...Blair Treu's impossibly sun-kissed ode to middle-class virtues is the sort of movie that's bound to provoke fidgeting.
Film Journal International: The film occasionally veers into overt precociousness, but, withal, is harmlessly light family fare.
The Onion A.V. Club: Operating from a whimsy-rich Utah suburb... "Little Secrets" takes place in a world so far removed from the typical cinematic suburban dystopia that it would qualify as refreshing if it didn't seem so much like science fiction.
Slant Magazine: "naive"
Christian Critic Circle: ...a movie which is a bit predictable... and a bit anachronistic in its depiction of suburban family life.
Phantom Tollbooth (Jeffrey Overstreet): ...attractive people, living in unblemished neighborhood.... these neighborhood kids don't have serious problems. They have bite-sized crises... These traumas can be solved with a few shed tears, a confession or two, and then... smiles all around... My patience wears thin during movie-length doses of this stuff, when there is so much available... that is... more complex, more believable... might have been more compelling if Emily had been given some rough edges. She remains too angelic, too much every mother's dream daughter to be very compelling, at least to this viewer. There is no smudge in her makeup, not a hair out of place. (No, that annoyingly constant dangling strand of blonde is obviously quite deliberate.) As serious as she is about her violin, Emily keeps one foot firmly planted in Barbie-land. She's as immaculately kept as her neighborhood, which must be surrounded by constant cop patrols because there is never a moment of tension, nary a drifter or a lowrider or a loud stereo or a beer bottle by the side of the road. No one in this town ever smokes. None of them have scars. And they're all fairly wealthy... Emily... has a full makeover, shiny and unsmudged even when she's in a damaged and weepy state... Will teenagers be able to relate to the picture-perfect world she lives in, or the neighborhood full of cute nice friendly children?
Mr. Cranky Rates the Movies: Evan Rachel Wood stars as Emily, a girl so precocious she makes Mary Kate and Ashley look like poster children for fetal alcohol syndrome.
SPLICEDwire: A movie about a teenager that wouldn't have credibility with anyone over the age of 12, "Little Secrets" is... harmless, wholesome and just barely winning enough to overcome its fantasy-suburban, Norman Rockwell nature... The pat-on-the-head plot... its unrealistic, everything-can-be-fixed-with-a-pep-talk take on teenage life...
One Guy's Opinion: ...the central conceit--about Emily acting as a sort of neighborhood conscience by storing all the children's secrets--seems contrived and clumsy from the moment it appears...
Steve Rhodes: Even if the dialog sounds less like kids' conversations than how adults wish they would talk, the movie has a certain irresistibleness to it.
TV Guide: "Simplistic, formulaic and painfully sweet..."
SPLICEDwire: ...simplistic, innocuous but adequately entertaining adolescent... Simplistic and under-ambitious...
Shaun Sages' Movie Navigator: ...Disney-channel suburban do-gooders that don't resemble any teenagers I've ever met.
Haro Online: ...a little to simplistic for adults.
Salt Lake Tribune: Director Blair Treu and writer Jessica Barondes treat their child characters with respect; instead of cutesy cherubs or leering adolescents, they feel like genuine... kids.
Philadelphia Inquirer: ...the three principals - Wood, Angarano and Gallagher - are likable enough that they make it all seem sincere.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: ...the movie's feelings are real -- whether they're a crush Emily's neighbor has on her, or the crush Emily has on her neighbor's older brother, or betraying a friend, or being a pain in the butt to your folks. Plus, you believe that Wood's Emily really does love music...
Dallas Morning News: ...the small film... manages to capture some teenage talk and emotional concerns... both feature film and TV movie, bright and corny, witty and sticky, realistic and preposterous.
Seattle Times: Unlike many made-for-kids movies, though, "Little Secrets" is no fantasy, despite its polished surface: It finds its drama firmly in the kinds of problems real kids deal with every day. What do you do when you're afraid to tell your friends something about yourself? What if someone tells you something that you don't want to know? And if your parents have another baby, will they still love you as much?
Miami Herald: Writer Barondes beautifully captures the quirks of kids, their eccentricities and vulnerability and dreaminess.
Deseret News: Wood... her character's inner turmoil is... believable.
Utah County Daily Herald: The performances from the children are natural... a major plus, since the movie focuses on them.
TV Guide: Angarano and Wood make Philip and Emily feel like real youngsters...
Citysearch: It perfectly captures the seemingly life-or-death urgency of should-I-or-shouldn't-I and does-he-like-me dilemmas that kids routinely face. The mostly 10-and-under thespians are a delightfully funny bunch without the staged precociousness so often found in family fare.
The Onion A.V. Club: a heartfelt performance from Wood... keeps all the... wholesomeness anchored in a recognizably human world where troubles can't be waved away with a smile, a cup of tea, and a few moments of honest conversation.
Crosswalk.com: I also like the fact that the adults aren't made to be silly or stupid but instead are real characters dealing with real fears (having a baby late in life, being prepared for parenthood, being an older father, communication problems with a teen).
Phantom Tollbooth (Marie Asner): Scriptwriter Jessica Barondes had her ear tuned to teens when she wrote a story about...
DVD Talk: "Little Secrets" has some really nice and genuine moments... Angarano seems very at ease in his role and gives a very real and genuine performance.
Meridian Magazine: ...screenwriter Jessica Barondes does a good job of drafting children that are real. They are neither the stereotypes drawn by people who know nothing of children, nor adults in kids' skin that Hollywood usually provides as a way of grabbing an adult audience.
Phantom Tollbooth (Jeffrey Overstreet): Angarano... steals the film from Wood, giving a third-act confession scene real energy and emotions that are earned.
L.A. Weekly: In a conclusion made of equal parts tears and saccharine, the wise 14-year-old manages, all in the same breath, to denounce keeping secrets, self-pity and drunk driving.
Salt Lake Tribune: All the secrets, past and present, tie up a little too neatly in a tear-jerking hospital finale.
Philadelphia Inquirer: All's well that ends well, as "Little Secrets" wraps everything up in a neat little bow.
Pittsburg Tribune-Review: A beautiful 14-year-old violin prodigy named Emily falls off a roof in "Little Secrets." Her mishap occurs so out of nowhere that it betrays the desperation by screenwriter Jessica Bardones to make something -- anything -- happen that might motivate sympathy and disclosures. Her fall is the biggest problem in a picture set...
SPLICEDwire: Grasping for a catalyst to bring the story to a conclusion in the last act, screenwriter Jessica Barondes and director Blair Treu... invent a minor catastrophe to force characters at odds to come together and resume warm-fuzzy camaraderies. The contrived nature of this plot device is so transparent that an ambulance-worthy injury results in little more than a Band-Aid on somebody's forehead. But the artifice does the trick anyway. Even your cynical movie critic was affected a little by the movie's climax.
Phantom Tollbooth (Jeffrey Overstreet): ...excessively weepy finale... Unfortunately, the restraint [Treu] shows in style is not carried over into storytelling. Little Secrets is like ten Disney Sunday Night Movies in one, with all ten tear-jerking, sentimental climaxes happening at once. The last half-hour is a marathon of culminating crises, and, in the spirit of TV movies, all of these one-dimensional characters walk away with their loose ends tied up and their Happily Ever After fate sealed. Will the badly-injured character pull through? Will Emily be able to pursue her dream? Will the little boy who lied finally tell the truth? Do you suppose the pregnant lady might have her baby before it's all over?... As the film enters its final 30 minutes, you should either get the box of Kleenex, if you're the sentimental type, or run. There are an impressive number of emotional dilemmas to be resolved. And they are all resolved, in the traditionally teary fashion, full of confessions and reconciliation and embraces. I anticipated all but one, a rather audacious third act emergency that raised the stakes significantly.
Film Freak Central: ...the pivotal revelation about Emily's pensive violin teacher (Vivica A. Fox) is as much an anti-climax as Eddie Murphy's last fifteen years of work.
CinemaSpeak.com: ...the last ten minutes are pretty contrived, but this is a family film dammit, and happy endings and tidy wrap-ups are to be expected.
Haro Online: The worst thing that Treu does is what most directors rely on in movies like this. He uses a certain deus ex machina that ruins a tempo that is beginning to build. This is the catalyst that drives everything together in the end, but "Little Secrets" really didn't need to use it, since it was actually moving along rather nicely.
One Guy's Opinion: ...sluggish pace merely accentuates the feeling of heavy earnestness, and by the time we reach the final act, the picture is nearly dead in the water.
New York Daily News: Blair Treu's "Little Secrets" is an uplifting family fairy tale of a movie about children who don't smoke cigarettes on street corners, stick out their pearl-studded tongues at TV cameras or spray-paint your rock wall with graffiti. These kids are so wholesome, their neighborhood so safe and the moral of their story so clear-cut, that... Treu and screenwriter Jessica Barondes may not have their ears to the ground that's trod by real kids, but as they did with their previous film, "Wish Upon a Star," they're allowed to dream.
Chicago Tribune: The film's nondescript suburb, which features too-green lawns and a spotless public-transportation system, is populated by wholesome kids... getting into "Leave it to Beaver"-style debacles -- an online ruse, a broken teacup, stealing cash from Dad's wallet in order to buy him a present -- and adults who preside over their families with bemused grins, as if unaware of the fantasy world they're living in.
SPLICEDwire: ..."Little Secrets" is something akin to a Wonderful World of Disney special... fantasy-suburban, Norman Rockwell nature...
New York Post: Emily, who lives in a Disneyfied California suburb bristling with gables, picket fences and perfect lawns - where every bike rider wears a safety helmet...
Chicago Sun-Times: The biggest surprise in "Little Secrets" is that Ozzie and Harriet don't live next door. The movie takes place in an improbably perfect suburban neighborhood where all the kids wear cute sportswear and have the kinds of harmless problems that seem to exist only so that they can be harmless problems. Then of course there are some Big Problems which are rendered harmless, too... But what kinds of kids are they, exactly? Consider Philip and David. Philip tells David, "Her name is Emily. Like Emily ..." "... Dickinson?" says David. "And Emily Bronte," says Philip. Heartened as I am to know that the grade school kids in this movie are on first-name terms with these authors, I am nevertheless doubtful that Dickinson and Bronte will ring many bells in the audience... It bears so little resemblance to the more complicated worlds of many members of its target audience (girls 4 to 11) that it may work as pure escapism.
Christian Science Monitor: ...this isn't the kind of movie you go to for hard-edged realism, and if a touch of summertime sweetness is what you're after, you'll have an enjoyable time.
Seattle Times: "Little Secrets"... bears many similarities to "The Brady Bunch"... the movie's sweet-natured, squeaky clean and set in a suburban wonderland so flawlessly bland that it looks like no real person could live there... Unlike many made-for-kids movies, though, "Little Secrets" is no fantasy, despite its polished surface: It finds its drama firmly in the kinds of problems real kids deal with every day.
San Diego Union-Tribune: "Little Secrets" opens with a father and daughter merrily singing lyrics from "The Sound of Music," moves on to speedup camera shots (ha-ha) and is set in the cheeriest of perfect suburbs.
Arizona Republic: Its niche audience is families, your Ward-and-June, "Touched by an Angel" kind of family. This isn't necessarily a bad thing; fantasy is a big part of what makes Hollywood go. Think: On one side, you have Roseanne, the Bundys, the Simpsons and Malcolm in the Middle. On the other you have the families of "Little Secrets", all well-scrubbed, obedient kids and attentive, understanding parents.
Charlotte Observer: ...a fable... "Little Secrets" takes place in the kind of world where a child can have multiple cats in her bedroom without parents noticing, another can dig an immense hole in his yard without arousing attention...
The Onion A.V. Club: Operating from a whimsy-rich Utah suburb... None of these revelations rival a severed ear or a neighbor with a taste for Nazi dinnerware, but then, "Little Secrets" takes place in a world so far removed from the typical cinematic suburban dystopia that it would qualify as refreshing if it didn't seem so much like science fiction.
Citysearch: ..."Little Secrets"--a smart, witty and thoroughly modern yarn about a group of preteens growing up in an idyllic, tree-lined borough.
Phantom Tollbooth (Marie Asner): Little Secrets takes place in a clean town where the houses are brand-new, the window frames are alike, no cracks in the sidewalks and everyone wears a safety helmet when on a bicycle.
Steve Rhodes: Living in a utopian suburbia with broad streets, wide lawns, tall trees and huge houses, Emily manages to be a shining example of how we wish teens would cope with their problems.
Seattle Times: Screenwriter Jessica Barondes, a veteran of numerous "Unicorn Club" and "Sweet Valley Twins" books, clearly knows her demographic; the movie is populated with numerous children in the 8-to-12 range, each of whom gets a moment to shine.
Kansas City Star: What's interesting about all this is the way writer Jessica Barondes and director Blair Treu work their recurring theme of the destructive nature of secrets...
Arizona Republic: "tightly scripted"
Salt Lake Tribune: ...a smart, gentle and well-crafted story
Film Journal International: "Jessica Barondes' perky script"
Crosswalk.com: The good: Blair Treu directs this award-winning movie... from a screenplay by Jessica Barondes. The story is clever because it takes a universal concept that both adults and kids can relate to and mixes it in with a multi-issue plot dealing with a new baby, being good enough to get a coveted position with a symphony, honesty, the consequences of keeping or sharing a secret, adoption and dealing with the simple fears that grip all of us in life... This is a well-written, wonderful story and certainly one of the more entertaining children's movie of the summer.
Meridian Magazine: screenwriter Jessica Barondes does a good job of drafting children that are real. They are neither the stereotypes drawn by people who know nothing of children, nor adults in kids' skin that Hollywood usually provides as a way of grabbing an adult audience. But, "Secrets" gives us another surprise: a script that has a theme that is more fully developed than in a vast majority of the cotton candy coming out of the big studios in Hollywood. Much of the dialogue, plot, and character traits support and comment on the theme. "Secrets" is a wonderful family-friendly film.
Los Angeles Daily News: ..."Secrets" largely overcomes the gooeyness of Jessica Barondes' script.
Pittsburg Tribune-Review: A beautiful 14-year-old... falls off a roof in "Little Secrets." Her mishap occurs so out of nowhere that it betrays the desperation by screenwriter Jessica Bardones to make something -- anything -- happen that might motivate sympathy and disclosures. Her fall is the biggest problem in a picture set...
Orlando Sentinel: Blair Treu, working from a Jessica Barnondes script, underwhelms this featherweight story...
Kansas City Star: "...performances by two adolescent stars who elevate the film above some often-shaky writing."
Deseret News: Treu and screenwriter Jessica Barondes struggle at times to maintain the right balance between comedy and drama...
Utah County Daily Herald: The idea of a neighborhood "secret keeper" is an amusing one, but Treu and screenwriter Jessica Barondes do not focus on it enough, and what they do manage to do with it is nothing special.
DVD Talk: The entire sub-plot with Emily being the neighborhood secret keeper never really works... Despite some really big problems with the script...
Slant Magazine: As written by Bantam Books refugee Bardones, "Little Secrets: could easily be called Amelia Bedelia Has Something Up Her Sleeves.
Meridian Magazine: ...some of the children's dialogue is a bit over-written...
Christian Critic Circle: Director Blair Treu and screenwriter Jessica Barondes... have deliberately crafted a movie which is a bit predictable, a bit heavy on the schmaltz, and a bit anachronistic in its depiction of suburban family life.
Phantom Tollbooth (Jeffrey Overstreet): Treu shows a remarkable stylistic restraint here... Unfortunately, the restraint he shows in style is not carried over into storytelling. Little Secrets is like ten Disney Sunday Night Movies in one, with all ten tear-jerking, sentimental climaxes happening at once.
CinemaSpeak.com: The story of "Little Secrets" is strictly afterschool special material...
Haro Online: Wood is a talented up-and-coming actor, and can certainly fake the violin with style, but it is her character that needs work. In order to redeem herself at the end, Emily comes off as somewhat of a jerk. The script even has her telling children how to hide their mistakes. It is to help them, but doesn't come off too well since she is telling them to lie... Treu and Barondes... opt for whatever is safest, which means they do what everybody else did before them. This makes for a movie that plays like connect the dots, so it becomes duller than it otherwise should be.
New York Post: ...director Blair Treu plays it... straight, delivering an uncommonly inoffensive, after-school-special-style teen flick.
Los Angeles Times: What Treu and writer Jessica Barondes are doing with considerable deftness is asking youngsters--and parents too--to think about the wisdom of keeping the kinds of secrets that do harm to one's self and others.
Christian Science Monitor: Credit goes to director Blair Treu... This picture is a secret family-oriented viewers should spread around.
San Francisco Chronicle: There's no denying that director Blair Treu has made a touching film that will make audiences smile and cry at young characters who are learning about love and confession.
Pittsburg Tribune-Review: Director Blair Treu achieves a professional look...
Orlando Sentinel: Blair Treu, working from a Jessica Barnondes script, underwhelms this featherweight story but still manages to give it some pleasant grace notes.
Arizona Republic: It is tightly scripted and competently made - it even has a few cinematic fillips in store...
Kansas City Star: What's interesting about all this is the way writer Jessica Barondes and director Blair Treu work their recurring theme of the destructive nature of secrets...
Film Journal International: Treu has a nice storytelling technique and uses speeded-up action and quirky camera angles to create an entire universe out of Emily's neighborhood.
DVD Talk: Despite some really big problems with the script, director Blair Treu does get some very strong performances from his actors.
Meridian Magazine: It's also wonderful for the fact that it is very well directed. Blair Treu at times keeps the film light-when he shows us the quirky kids of the neighborhood-and respect for his talented actors-when the emotions of the film take hold. He shows much more proficiency in working with good child actors than most directors.
Phantom Tollbooth (Jeffrey Overstreet): Treu shows a remarkable stylistic restraint here, resolutely refusing to borrow rapid-cut editing or any of the other trendy effects to make her movie "cool". He keeps it old-fashioned...
CinemaSpeak.com: The story of "Little Secrets" is strictly afterschool special material, but the nice direction by Blair Treu (especially in the Slacker-like opening introduction to the neighborhood)... elevates it into something a little better.
San Diego Union-Tribune: Writer and director Blair Treu, with a Disney background, has everyone acting on cue like TV commercial darlings.
Pittsburg Tribune-Review: Director Blair Treu achieves a professional look without finding a moment of truth. Nothing feels natural...
Orlando Sentinel: Blair Treu, working from a Jessica Barnondes script, underwhelms this featherweight story...
Deseret News: Treu and screenwriter Jessica Barondes struggle at times to maintain the right balance between comedy and drama (a couple of scenes probably could and should have been played differently), though it is paced well and looks very good.
Utah County Daily Herald: The idea of a neighborhood "secret keeper" is an amusing one, but Treu and screenwriter Jessica Barondes do not focus on it enough, and what they do manage to do with it is nothing special.
Christian Critic Circle: Director Blair Treu and screenwriter Jessica Barondes... have deliberately crafted a movie which is a bit predictable, a bit heavy on the schmaltz, and a bit anachronistic in its depiction of suburban family life.
Hollywood Reporter: Wood... is a luminous screen presence. Unfortunately, both she and the filmmakers here seem acutely aware of it, with lengthy and intense close-ups lavished on her at every opportunity... The cast of young performers has been directed to perform in as cutesy a fashion as possible...
Phantom Tollbooth (Jeffrey Overstreet): Treu is wrong on one point: "That's why people go to the movies in the first place." Perhaps some do. But most moviegoers I know would prefer to see something they haven't seen before... Treu shows a remarkable stylistic restraint here... Unfortunately, the restraint he shows in style is not carried over into storytelling. Little Secrets is like ten Disney Sunday Night Movies in one, with all ten tear-jerking, sentimental climaxes happening at once.
Haro Online: The worst thing that Treu does is what most directors rely on in movies like this. He uses a certain deus ex machina that ruins a tempo that is beginning to build. This is the catalyst that drives everything together in the end, but "Little Secrets" really didn't need to use it, since it was actually moving along rather nicely... Treu and Barondes... opt for whatever is safest, which means they do what everybody else did before them. This makes for a movie that plays like connect the dots, so it becomes duller than it otherwise should be.
One Guy's Opinion: Treu... moves things along much too slowly; the sluggish pace merely accentuates the feeling of heavy earnestness, and by the time we reach the final act, the picture is nearly dead in the water. A brisker approach would have been advisable.
Utah County Daily Herald: "...the budget is cheerfully low."
Talking Pictures: "Shot on a conspicuously low budget..."
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Set in a well-groomed upper-middle-class neighborhood that looks like it was imported from Atlanta (actually, it's Salt Lake City)...
Dallas Morning News: Director Blair Treu, a film graduate of Brigham Young University...
Kansas City Star: "...this Salt Lake City-lensed family film..."
Salt Lake Tribune: The first clue that "Little Secrets" is a Utah movie comes when a 14-year-old girl, practicing the violin in her room, gazes dreamily up at her poster of that popular teenybopper crush: Kurt Bestor. OK, so maybe this homegrown family film isn't entirely realistic... an unnamed suburb (though Utahns will recognize shots of downtown Salt Lake City)...
Deseret News: "...[the movie's] maker, Utahn Blair Treu..."
Utah County Daily Herald: Directed by BYU alumnus Blair Treu... "Little Secrets" was shot in Salt Lake City. And it is every bit as harmlessly chipper as you'd expect a family-oriented movie by a BYU alumnus shot in Salt Lake City to be.
Charlotte Observer: "It was shot in Salt Lake City."
New Times L.A.: Shot in a well-scrubbed, tree-shaded, happily prosperous suburb of Salt Lake City... some tourist-brochure views of downtown Salt Lake
The Onion A.V. Club: Operating from a whimsy-rich Utah suburb, 15-year-old aspiring violinist...
The Onion A.V. Club: Director Blair Treu hails from Brigham Young University, and while there's nothing explicitly religious about "Little Secrets", his primary influence seems to be those LDS public-service announcements in which nice people learn to become even nicer.
Dallas Morning News: Director Blair Treu, a film graduate of Brigham Young University...
New York Post: ...director Blair Treu plays it white-bread straight, delivering an uncommonly inoffensive, after-school-special-style teen flick.
Chicago Tribune: The film's nondescript suburb... is populated by wholesome kids (nearly all white and all well-off)...
New York Post: ...director Blair Treu plays it white-bread straight, delivering an uncommonly inoffensive, after-school-special-style teen flick.
Phantom Tollbooth (Jeffrey Overstreet): I was also impressed to see a "family movie" in which black characters are as important -- and as much a part of everyday life -- as their Caucasian counterparts. Vivica A. Fox plays the pivotal role of the violin teacher with a subtlety and a grace that can't be found in the rest of the movie. Recent genre attempts to "mix it up" have only shown how much white filmmakers tend to stereotype folks of other colors and cultures. This film has two African Americans who are not treated differently or given many "cultural cliches" to utter.