Excellent but underrated film

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Britain is switching from Pounds to Euros. A gang of thieves rob a train loaded with the old money to be incinerated. One of the bags of money falls into Damian (Alex Etel)'s playhouse. He's obsessed with religious saints and has fantasies. He's moved into a new house with his older brother Anthony and father after the death of his mother. Then a creepy man (Christopher Fulford) comes looking for the money.I love the fantastical style that Danny Boyle puts into this. It's backed up by a heart warming story and a very cute Alex Etel. The boy's innocence is adorable and heartbreaking. The saints are such a wonderful and unusual touch. It's a family movie that doesn't play down to the kids. It is funny and packed with interesting ideas.

What would you do if you suddenly found yourself with an untraceable fortune? No doubt, many among us would simply waste the entire amount on luxury items while a select few would plan on for retirement. What about the more evolved choice?The story begins on moving day for the recently widowed Ronald Cunningham (played by James Nesbitt) and his two sons Damian (played by Alex Etel) and Anthony (played by Lewis McGibbon). By way of voice-over, Damian (Etel) informs us that countries such as France, Germany, and Portugal have abandoned their respective currencies in favor of the Euro and that England will soon do the same. Damian is still distraught over his mother's death while Anthony (McGibbon) has seen that the mere mention of it will inspire strangers to bestow gifts upon them. During a neighborhood watch meeting for new residents of their housing development, the Cunninghams and their neighbors, some of whom include Latter-day Saint missionaries, are told by a police officer that some houses will be burgled. The meeting concludes and everyone goes home. On his first day of school, the teacher asks the students to name personal heroes. His was Nelson Mandela, Damian's classmates named soccer players on their favorite teams, and Damian himself named Catholic saints, at least until the teacher deemed one story was not age-appropriate. When they met up between classes, Anthony told Damian that continuing to reference his vast knowledge of saints would cause him to be ostracized. After school, Damian takes the many boxes his family used to move into their home and constructs a fort near the railroad tracks that lie behind it. The fort is destroyed, however, with Damian inside after the passing of one such train. Damian emerges, shaken but otherwise uninjured, and finds a duffel bag was the cause of his fort's destruction and that the bag itself is full of money.This is a wonderful film. Danny Boyle has become a well-known director in recent years thanks to films like Slumdog Millionaire and 127 Hours, but, to date, this is the only film he's directed that wasn't given an R rating. Etel makes the character of Damian one of the most endearing characters I've ever seen on film, despite his eccentricities. His response when he discovers the money's true origins, after initially believing it was a gift from God, is near- heartbreaking. And the imaginary friends who appear throughout the film, all taking the form of Catholic saints that Damian knows as a result of research, bring unexpected surprises and twists to the film. I wish I had seen this film in theaters, but that opportunity was not available to me. I would, however, encourage everyone to watch it at home as soon as they can.

Yes, it's a children's film, so I'm probably not the best one to judge, but does it have to be this sentimental? 'Millions' is nauseatingly absurd; a Christian tale that had me on the verge of tears by the closing sequence,and not the kind soppy mothers would have. Damian is a precocious little brat who absorbs himself in history books, one day being presented with a large bag of cash that has fallen from a passing train. It is at this moment that the Christian nonsense starts, the virtuous little git giving it away to whom he labels 'poor people'. This is all complicated when the dubious owner of the money is revealed, Damian stating that it's 'wrong' to utilise money that's 'not theirs'. It is Damian's good but annoyingly ignorant will that serves as one of my main vexations of the film. There are many sequences that are shot in signature Boyle style; vibrant, fast and technical. I've never much cared for this however, in Boyle's work and in others', it is often excessive and out to impress, and ultimately is often compensating for the film's weaknesses in narrative. This certainly applies to 'Millions'. The film is slushy nonsense, but the aforementioned finale reaches heights I rarely experience; it is so predictable and reprehensibly maudlin. Ultimately, the unoriginal, implausible premise and the horrifying melodrama that follows ultimately make this film a prolonged bore. I cannot understand why a grown adult would want to make a film like this, especially one of Danny Boyle's calibre; then again, he did direct Slumdog Millionaire...

I found myself rather moved by this movie, although I felt I'd been half bullied into it. It's a remarkable film about the value of things. The grand concept is rather like Brewster's Millions for a saintly child: the character of the film is one in which Danny Boyle has run with this literally. Frenetic and flashy, the story is told largely from a child's perspective, complete with overlapping memory, magic real- and sur-realism, lots of colour and a generally breezy way of relating even the most frightening or upsetting episodes. I like it, although it does feel like one is watching a cyclical commercial.The acting's OK - may favourite is Lewis McGibbon who plays Anthony, the brother of the principal, Damian. It's tough to be hard of the cast given the aesthetic that Boyle has created for them to work in which can often be like supercharged Hollyoaks. Yet, as I say, I was touched by the sentimental, worthily naive message at the end of it all. This is because for all Boyle's light touch he's not neglecting the story at all. A super Christmas flick for the family to gather round. 6/10