This page was created on September 8, 2003
This page was last updated on February 3, 2004

—Review
—Trailers, Photos
—About this Film
—Spiritual Connections
—Forum

New Line Cinema has done a fantastic job of putting together the DVD release of Secondhand Lions. There's no impression that the studio was just trying to make a quick, cheap buck on this release. For someone, this was a labor of love -- and it shows. How, and why?

Let's tackle the "how" first. In addition to the usual vanilla "special features" like the commentary track from director Tim McCanlies and featurettes on the making of the film (which are particularly good, by the way), there's also an extended collection of deleted scenes that give us a glimpse into the process of whittling down a film to its final released form -- and also a fuller realization of Walter's (Haley Joel Osment) imagination. Why did he become a cartoonist? Well, we find that out in these "lost" scenes. And the extra DVD-ROM features are also very excellent -- including clips of the fabulous cartoon artwork that the adult Walt produces.

In short, this DVD will keep special-features aficianados busy for several hours after they movie has ended. But that's not the best thing about the DVD.

And this gets us to the "why". The best thing about the DVD is that it's easier to get a handle on the spiritual point of the movie, which was the real passion of the folks behind Secondhand Lions. And the real help to getting a handle on this is digital technology: subtitles, and the pause button.

Toward the climax of Secondhand Lions, two of the principal characters have a talk. Now, that's a little unusual in films. Tension is usually built through action, not through dialog -- and when dialog is the last resort, it still tends to revolve around plot details, or character revelation.

In this case, though, tension is built through Walt's and Hub's (Robert Duvall) philosophical banter. Walt follows the sleepwalking Hub down to the pond, and wakes him because he wants to know if the stories Garth (Michael Caine) has been telling him are true. Hub tells him that "It doesn't matter."

"It does too," replies Walt. "Around my mom all I hear is lies. I don't know what to believe in."

Walt speaks for the way most of us feel when we start "growing up."

Then Hub delivers the central spiritual message of Secondhand Lions.

"If you want to believe in something then believe in it. Just because something isn't true, no reason you can't believe in it."

This is the bit you may have seen in the trailer for the movie. And like Walt, it just might not sit right with you. No worries -- on the DVD, you can turn on the subtitles so you can get the wording of Hub's explanation exactly right (even write it down, like I did).

"All right. There's a long speech I give to young men. Sounds like you need to hear a piece of it. Just a piece. Sometimes the things that may or may not be true are the things that a man needs to believe in the most. That people are basically good; that honor, courage and virtue mean everything; that power and money, money and power mean nothing; that good always triumphs over evil. And I want you to remember this, that love, true love never dies. Remember that."

And if you've got McCanlies' commentary track turned on, he'll stop talking just long enough to let you hear the following bit without any distractions. Why? Because it's the heart of the movie -- it's what McCanlies wants us all to hear.

"Doesn't matter if it's true or not. You see, a man should believe in those things, because those are the things worth believing in. Got that?"

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