The storyline is about differences. It follows David (uncredited), the brother of a disabled sister, whose main wish is to celebrate his birthday with a big party. He learns quickly the importance of friendship and acceptance through encounters with real and imaginary friends.
This storyline is very creative. David has a big imagination. He constantly visualizes himself having a huge birthday party with cartoon paper airplanes that would send him happy experiences. The scene transitions into his imagination are sometimes difficult to follow. I would wonder why he is wearing a cowboy hat all of a sudden. I finally realized that the paper airplanes are a clue to when the scene is no longer real life. The cinematography is well executed and creates a nice contrast between David's real and imaginary lives. His real life is dull and normal. In these scenes, he is all alone or being bullied. His imaginary life feels like a color bomb exploded on the screen. In these scenes, the camera follows the paper airplanes to an exciting party full of friends. The costumes also emphasize the differences between David's multiple lives. In his everyday life he wears a school uniform. When he transitions into his imagination, his uniform stays the same, but everyone else is colorful. He sometimes gets fun accessories like a party hat or glasses. The location is set in England, which is a perfect background for David's story. The city where he lives is quaint and paints the picture of a small town life where everyone knows everybody. The background sounds are natural noises with instrumental music playing during some transitions. There are jazzy sounds for his daydreaming that make those scenes come alive. I love when Ethan plays the harmonica and his music blends in with the background music. There is a lot of fun sound play. There are a few special effects, such as cartoon paper airplanes and the animation over real life characters. It helps to show how David imagines his perfect birthday. It also points out their differences and celebrates them. For example, Ethan's eyelashes flash at the end of the story.
The protagonist, David, struggles with feeling needed. He wishes that his mother and father would spend more time with him. David shows the roller coaster of feelings that he goes through throughout the film. His sister, Leanne (uncredited), has a disability, and David is an outcast because of it. Ethan (uncredited) becomes David's friend almost immediately in the film. He also has a hard time being accepted, but he is more outspoken about it. Ethan expresses how different he is perfectly - he wears painted nails and is expelled from school for wearing mascara. However, he doesn't seem to let it bother him. Instead, he stands up for his and David's differences. Both actors playing these roles compliment their similarities and differences.
Keeley Gainey is the writer, director and producer of this film and also plays the role of the mother. The script is inspiring and shows the importance of accepting others, even when they are different. I enjoyed the excerpts at the beginning and the end explaining why the story was created. The film also starts with a meaningful quote printed on a store balloon, "The strongest hearts have the most scars," which sets an emotional tone for the story. The imaginary birthday scenes are my favorite. For example, in one of the scenes David finds a party horn lying on the street. He picks it up, blows into it, and the scene is immediately filled with happiness.
The film's message is to accept others' differences. Each character here has something unusual about them, whether it is noticeable or not, which reminds us that everyone is different and that is something to be celebrated.
I give Avocado Heart Girl 4 out of 5 stars and recommend it for ages 8 to 18. By Kinsley H., KIDS FIRST!
The storyline is about differences. It follows David (uncredited), the brother of a disabled sister, whose main wish is to celebrate his birthday with a big party. He learns quickly the importance of friendship and acceptance through encounters with real and imaginary friends.
This storyline is very creative. David has a big imagination. He constantly visualizes himself having a huge birthday party with cartoon paper airplanes that would send him happy experiences. The scene transitions into his imagination are sometimes difficult to follow. I would wonder why he is wearing a cowboy hat all of a sudden. I finally realized that the paper airplanes are a clue to when the scene is no longer real life. The cinematography is well executed and creates a nice contrast between David's real and imaginary lives. His real life is dull and normal. In these scenes, he is all alone or being bullied. His imaginary life feels like a color bomb exploded on the screen. In these scenes, the camera follows the paper airplanes to an exciting party full of friends. The costumes also emphasize the differences between David's multiple lives. In his everyday life he wears a school uniform. When he transitions into his imagination, his uniform stays the same, but everyone else is colorful. He sometimes gets fun accessories like a party hat or glasses. The location is set in England, which is a perfect background for David's story. The city where he lives is quaint and paints the picture of a small town life where everyone knows everybody. The background sounds are natural noises with instrumental music playing during some transitions. There are jazzy sounds for his daydreaming that make those scenes come alive. I love when Ethan plays the harmonica and his music blends in with the background music. There is a lot of fun sound play. There are a few special effects, such as cartoon paper airplanes and the animation over real life characters. It helps to show how David imagines his perfect birthday. It also points out their differences and celebrates them. For example, Ethan's eyelashes flash at the end of the story.
The protagonist, David, struggles with feeling needed. He wishes that his mother and father would spend more time with him. David shows the roller coaster of feelings that he goes through throughout the film. His sister, Leanne (uncredited), has a disability, and David is an outcast because of it. Ethan (uncredited) becomes David's friend almost immediately in the film. He also has a hard time being accepted, but he is more outspoken about it. Ethan expresses how different he is perfectly - he wears painted nails and is expelled from school for wearing mascara. However, he doesn't seem to let it bother him. Instead, he stands up for his and David's differences. Both actors playing these roles compliment their similarities and differences.
Keeley Gainey is the writer, director and producer of this film and also plays the role of the mother. The script is inspiring and shows the importance of accepting others, even when they are different. I enjoyed the excerpts at the beginning and the end explaining why the story was created. The film also starts with a meaningful quote printed on a store balloon, "The strongest hearts have the most scars," which sets an emotional tone for the story. The imaginary birthday scenes are my favorite. For example, in one of the scenes David finds a party horn lying on the street. He picks it up, blows into it, and the scene is immediately filled with happiness.
The film's message is to accept others' differences. Each character here has something unusual about them, whether it is noticeable or not, which reminds us that everyone is different and that is something to be celebrated.
I give Avocado Heart Girl 4 out of 5 stars and recommend it for ages 8 to 18. By Kinsley H., KIDS FIRST!
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