TodaySentinel Lunchtime Blog (TV & Movie Edition): Child stars act too grown up
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Between Abigail Breslin’s newest flick “Definitely, Maybe” and me wondering whether or not this girl is breaking some sort of child labor law to get all these movies out, I can’t help but think how good child actors do not resemble children at all.
Breslin has starred in four movies since her 2006 performance in “Little Miss Sunshine” with another one on the way in April and yet another one in May. I did enjoy “Little Miss Sunshine,” though I’m not sure she deserved an Academy Award nod for her role, and it happens to be the only role where she actually acts as though she were a little girl.
Dakota Fanning and the “Sixth Sense” era Haley Joel Osment acted in similar adult-fashion. They knew things adults didn’t know, but instead of just telling people, they’d drop hints as if it was all part of a creepy game.
While that type of behavior works for a suspense or horror movie, it doesn’t really work for a romantic comedy. Fanning in “Uptown Girls” is as out of place as Breslin’s grown-up character in “No Reservations.”
On the downside, when children start pretending to act like children, you get Jake Lloyd’s Anakin in “Star Wars,” and we could definitely do without that. There’s a big difference between a kid just acting like himself/herself and acting like what the director thinks how a kid acts.
What actually ends up working is when the child actor has virtually no experience — at least in roles that don’t require a lot of dramatic acting.
I think that’s why the “Harry Potter” movies have worked out so well. At least one of the characters is someone children can relate to because they act exactly like that. Emma Watson’s “insufferable know-it-all” attitude is still far more like a child than Breslins’ relationship knowledge.
The lead actors in “Harry Potter” aren’t necessarily gifted when it comes to acting. Just take a look at the scene where Alan Rickman, Gary Oldman and David Thewlis take on a rather complicated conversation in “The Prisoner of Azkaban,” and you can see what the real actors are doing vs. what the children are not doing.
But the children aren’t that bad at it either, at least not enough to warrant any laughter from the audience at inopportune moments.
There’s a fine line between good and bad acting for kids, and unfortunately, directors will most likely keep the adult-minded children on screen as a safe way to ensure some modicum of good acting, even if they lose some of the normal emotions.
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I’m sure one of these days I’m going to be placed with a limit on how many times I can mention “Harry Potter” in these blogs. Until then, take some time out to re-watch them and look for those very teenage scenes you missed before.
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Lunchtime Blog
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