Watch Phoebe in Wonderland For Free

Thanks for the memories!

Let's be realistic.

Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Watched 21 minutes of this 71 minute flick. All I could handle. Really wanted to like it but here's the problems: a) So far the mom has just cried or been on verge of tears in every scene. Really? In front of dinner guests at a "party"? Man that'd be fun! Oh and way to take out your failed writing career on your 8 year old daughter.b) Didn't take Hollywood long to ruin the entire movie by adding sexual deviancy to the mix. Really? An 8 year old boy playing the Queen of hearts. Director is clearly a pedophile. Let's just groom them young. Congrats pervert.Do not let your children watch this movie for any reason, unless of course you want them to be homosexual.

Acting, directing, costumes, cinematography all splendid. Elle Fanning is a brilliant actress - such a delight to watch. Everyone was marvelous.The film is artistic, passionate, compassionate, REAL, heartfelt, intelligent, insightful... it skillfully brings the viewer into the life of a family struggling with a difficult and baffling problem. Why does a person in a loving family behave in ways that cause problems? Just STOP DOING IT. That's how it feels - the family members, school, and the person with the problem ALL want to know what the heck is going on. The film does a beautiful job showing this.I'm baffled to see all this talk about - and in the filmmaker's description apparently, Tourette's syndrome but not OCD. Absolutely baffled. Did the screenwriter not know he was creating a character with a pretty bad case of OCD? I'm completely flummoxed by this.In fact, the most obviously evident symptoms, very early in the film, were those of obsessive-compulsive disorder. I think the film did a SPLENDID job of showing the torments of OCD. It's an anxiety disorder that can be crippling. So many of her behaviors were textbook OCD. The things she had to do to be sure she got into the play - or to protect herself from bad things happening, the excessive hand washing. I don't know what was up with her knees - I must have missed that.The Tourette's was less prevalent in the film. It caused problems, that's for sure. But OCD is more prevalent in the film - it's the symptom we see the most of. Spitting is uncommon with Tourette's - thank goodness. And swearing is uncommon, as well, although people often thing that's the only symptom. Tics are small motor movements and sounds such as throat clearing, sniffing, coughing etc. are quite common. It's common to see blinking, shrugging, grimacing or mouth opening, kicking...I've been asked if I thought she was psychotic. If she literally was seeing and hearing those characters, then yes, there was a psychotic disorder. But psychosis is so rare in young children. She's so young - and I don't know if the filmmaker was depicting her fertile imagination, so it's impossible to say. Psychosis is not a symptom of Tourette's syndrome or obsessive-compulsive disorder. I love to see films that depict these sorts of problems and show the full complexity of the PERSON. I loved how the mother was angry at the doctor and refused to accept it. I loved how she accused him of not really caring, of wanting to just shove her daughter into a diagnostic box and medicate her instead of really being helpful. I loved that because I've sat in a room with that very same mom a number of times. A mom with ENORMOUS love and concern for her child - Felicity Huffman was brilliant. Bill Pullman was brilliant, as usual. Bailee Madison gave us a perfect little sister - a tough spot for a child to be in.Love the film. Is shows a REAL family with REAL struggles. It shows REAL parents trying to weave their way through the difficult and confusing waters of a troubled child. It shows a REAL child who doesn't understand what the hell is going on and is frustrated because she doesn't know how to articulate what she's experiencing.I don't hate the shrink; I often do in films. He's okay. Not great, but not horrible. I'm accustomed to shrinks in films being idiots. Or lechers. Ugh. I wasn't all that crazy about him, but he wasn't horrible. The way he handled his pad and pen... c'mon! You don't do that! It's a splendid way to SHUT IT DOWN. If that was the filmmaker's goal, it was spot-on. A sort of averageish… or maybe a bit less than average - shrink. Good job with that.The high school principal was an idiot. I hope there isn't ONE like that in the world. Probably is. Sigh...This film is wonderful. I strongly recommend it to anyone... it should be shown in schools. It should be shown in homes. It should be shown in churches. It shows REAL people - parents with their own personal struggles and disappointments dealing with a difficult child and staying together, loving each other, accepting all their flaws and CHOOSING LOVE - choosing to stay together and live each day together - through struggles and through happy times. It is REAL.

Once again we have another movie that uses imagery from the classic Alice in Wonderland tale. Do not be confused and think that this is a retelling of the story because it most definitely is not. It is a movie that tells its own story but it uses the elements of the dreamy Lewis Carroll land and the characters he created to explain the world of a troubled little girl, Phoebe.From the beginning of the movie it is clear that Phoebe has some sort of psychological disorder. Aside from the OCD (which the mother was willing to accept because it was virtually indisputable), she obviously exhibited signs of Tourette's Syndrome (and although it went unstated in the movie, it seems she exhibited signs of schizophrenia as well). Her OCD is exhibited by her compulsion to count her paces and steps in repetition sometimes even to the point of physically hurting herself. Her Tourette's is shown through her inability to control her spitting and inappropriate comments when faced with stressful situations. The schizophrenia (although never stated in the movie) is highlighted by the visions and voices that she hears (characters from the Lewis Carroll tale) throughout the movie. She connects people in her real life to these characters.Of course, to add an obvious connection to Alice in Wonderland to the viewers, Phoebe happens to be cast as Alice in a play at her school. This is the girl's only retreat because she can feel free to to let her "imagination" run wild and express herself through acting. She even has an eccentric teacher who accepts and encourages her. The problem really is that even this teacher doesn't see that Phoebe actually has a condition. Even as happy as Phoebe is in the theater, she still jumps off the catwalk (the rabbit hole) and falls causing the teacher to be fired.The worst part is that the real problem isn't even with Phoebe who is merely attempting to cope with her mental disorders in any way that she possibly can, the problem lies with her mother who obviously has problems of her own and spends most of the movie in denial. She puts her child's health at risk and also alienates her husband and other daughter so that she can actually live in her own "Wonderland". The mother, in fact, is writing a book inspired by Alice in Wonderland. In the mother's world, everything is fine with her daughter, Phoebe, and she martyrs herself by taking the blame for Phoebe's disruptive behavior and the mother repents for her guilt my mentally flogging herself. She does this by telling herself that she has been neglectful and too preoccupied with her book and that Phoebe's behavior is a cry for attention. The mother seems more concerned with her own inadequacies than with actually trying to help her daughter. Not only does she lash out at the teacher who actually helps Phoebe more than she does but she goes so far as to withhold information that Phoebe's psychiatrist informed her of about Phoebe's mental disorder from her own husband. Some may view this as a parent who cares so much that they don't want their child labeled so early without a second opinion. This would be an acceptable assumption if the mother actually attempted to get a second opinion. Her pride would not allow her to admit that her daughter was suffering and needed actual help.Overall, Phoebe in Wonderland is an interesting story in and of itself but be prepared to view a movie in which Phoebe floats along demonstrating obvious signs of OCD, Tourette's Syndrome, and schizophrenia while all authoritative figures take a backseat and watch as a little girl unravels so that they can serve a purpose all their own. In the final scene, Phoebe makes this ridiculous speech to her class about having Tourette's in an attempt to explain her previous inappropriate behavior. The speech, and scene itself, seems forced and too easily wraps up the complexity of the issues that the film portrayed throughout its entirety.

When it's good, it's terrific, including an amazing performance by a very young Elle Fanning as a mentally troubled 8 year old, and good work by Felicity Huffman, and the always wonderful Patricia Clarkson. On the other hand, the very talented Campbell Scott is reduced to playing a one note joke, and the tone of the film is all over the place; odd quirky comedy one moment, a child contemplating suicide the next. But the real problems are when the film's Lifetime network roots show through, and suddenly there's that warm, fuzzy, phony feeling that being a kid with severe emotional problems isn't all that bad, and everything will be just fine. It undermines the film's interesting attempts to really get inside a struggling kid's head.None-the-less, the film gets real points for trying, and about 80% of the time, this is a very good, and very original film.