Once upon a time... The Odd Life of Timothy Green doesn't start with those four familiar words, but it might as well have. This is a very much a modern fairy tale. It's a magical, moving journey that explores the importance of being a parent, that celebrates the love one finds in family, and reminds us to make the most of the time we have while we're here. It's a beautiful, touching, sincere, heartfelt movie that's also one of those true rarities in Hollywood today, it's a "nice" movie. No gritty, edgy darkness here, just a straight-forward story that's truly a movie for the whole family. The Odd Life of Timothy Green is a movie that may surprise you but will also delight you and will definitely move you. It's a movie that would be easy to miss, but now that you've read this, you know not to do that. Still, if you'd like some more reasons why not to miss it, by all means read on.

The success of a movie like this rest squarely on the shoulders of the cast. If we don't buy in to their characters, then we won't buy in to what the movie is about. Fortunately, the cast carries this film with aplomb. Jennifer Garner as Cindy Green is beautiful in every sense of the word in this movie. She deftly portrays the complex emotions of a want-to-be-mom who's denied that opportunity, only to have her desire fulfilled in other, far more unexpected ways. Plus, her relationship with Joel Edgerton as Jim Green is sweet and heartwarming; a portrayal of marriage where a mature love is alive and thriving. I know some cynics will think this portrayal of such an idyllic and happy marriage is far too saccharine and frankly outdated in our "forward-thinking", modern world. However, I think it's an accurate portrayal of what marriage can and should be, and in some cases (I'm fortunate enough to be among those) actually is. Yes marriage can be a joy and a delight; warm and close and filled with a lasting love. There are hard moments, there are heart-breaking moments, but marriage can withstand those and still be full of fun, joy, and love, come what may, and it's nice to see a movie portray just that. Then there's CJ Adams who plays the title character. He reminds me a bit of a young Haley Joel Osment. He plays Timothy Green pitch perfect with just the right amount of mystery, curiosity, wonder, kindness, and sincerity. Again, this movie just wouldn't have worked without the right kid, but fortunately that wasn't a problem for this movie.

Throughout the movie, Timothy Green touches the lives of everyone around him in unique and special ways. Part of this is due to the fact that he's very acutely aware of one important thing; we all have only so much time, therefore we must make the most of the time given us. We all have gifts to share; gifts of kindness, of encouragement, of friendship, of comfort, of generosity, of laughter, of truth, and on and on. We also have many unique opportunities to share those gifts, but we need to seize the moments we're given because we can't be sure they'll ever come again. Unlike Timothy Green, most of us don't know exactly how much time we have, we don't know if we'll get another chance or another tomorrow, which makes it all more important for us to share the gifts we have every moment we get.

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