I don't suppose it's very often that anyone would have to compare Charlton Heston with Scottish actor Duncan Macrae but this remake of the 1953 story gives us the chance - and to be honest, I preferred the original. The tale finds two young orphans traveling to Nova Scotia to be with their grandfather. He's a stern man who wants no truck with his Boer neighbours. The youngsters initially fall in with his attitudes, but boys will be boys and gradually they make their own choices. Things come to an head when they discover a baby on the dunes by the sea and secretly try to rear him whilst all hell breaks loose in their community terrified about the whereabouts of the missing child. This is a gentle story that deals with bigotry and hatred pointing out the futility and negativity of such behaviour, and also of how optimism is bourne by future generations who refuse to be bogged down in the failings of past generations. It's nicely shot, the cast do a decent job and the film is perfectly watchable, if really only notable for the attendance of this Hollywood legend.
11 Reviews
The little thieves too. They steal the film from Moses.
mark.waltz26 March 2022
Warning: Spoilers
While the voices of young Leo Wheatley and Charles Miller are a bit shrill in spots, they are absolutely adorable as the grandchildren of Charlton Heston who they go to live with in Nova Scotia. He's Ben Hur Krankenstein here, his Scottish accent over the top and his mannerisms as grand as he was in all those historical epics in the fifties and sixties. Grandmother Patricia Gage is as giving as he is strict, and she's equally as adorable to watch as the kids. The scene where they arrive at grandfather's home is filled with wonder as they look on and excitement as the beauty of nature which certainly is quite grand.
The main story doesn't really occur until an hour into the 90-minute film, and that's when the boys discover a lost baby that they think is a miracle child which they are supposed to raise. This brings up charges of kidnapping against the two kids, a ridiculous accusation, but understandable considering the time in which this takes place. Most of the film deals with their adventures in their new playground, including one horrifying sequence where Heston accidentally shoots one of the grandkids. Beautiful music and wonderful photography with those terrific landscapes makes this a cinematic treat, although Heston should have been directed to tone it down a bit.
The main story doesn't really occur until an hour into the 90-minute film, and that's when the boys discover a lost baby that they think is a miracle child which they are supposed to raise. This brings up charges of kidnapping against the two kids, a ridiculous accusation, but understandable considering the time in which this takes place. Most of the film deals with their adventures in their new playground, including one horrifying sequence where Heston accidentally shoots one of the grandkids. Beautiful music and wonderful photography with those terrific landscapes makes this a cinematic treat, although Heston should have been directed to tone it down a bit.
McKenzie Family Values
bkoganbing20 January 2015
The Little Kidnappers has to be one of the best family viewing films I've seen in a very long time. What makes it so good is the performances of the two young boys Leo Wheatley and Charles Miller as the grandsons of family patriarch Charlton Heston who've come to turn of the last century Nova Scotia to live with him and their grandmother Patricia Gage and aunt Leah Pinsent after their parents died. Heston's son was killed in the Boer War and he has a vigorous dislike for those people.
Heston's a tough hard man who had tough hard life. We learn he wasn't good as a parent in many ways and looks like he hasn't learned anything.
The title comes from the fact that one of the boys finds a baby abandoned on the beach and they hide it in a cave and try to care for it in the best way children can. They don't want the infant to grow up as they just might under a stern parent as Heston has become.
Leah Pinsent has some issues as well. She's keeping company with Bruce Greenwood a recent Boer immigrant to Canada who's a doctor and she dare not let Heston find out.
The two boys really make this film. The adult players including Charlton Heston have a lot of trouble keeping up with them. They acted so natural like real kids instead of Hollywood kids that you see in so many films. The hardest heart in the world will melt with these two and Heston has just that in the film.
Topping it all off is some beautiful photography of Nova Scotia. The Little Kidnappers which is a remake of a Fifties British film is one of the best family films I've seen in a long time.
Heston's a tough hard man who had tough hard life. We learn he wasn't good as a parent in many ways and looks like he hasn't learned anything.
The title comes from the fact that one of the boys finds a baby abandoned on the beach and they hide it in a cave and try to care for it in the best way children can. They don't want the infant to grow up as they just might under a stern parent as Heston has become.
Leah Pinsent has some issues as well. She's keeping company with Bruce Greenwood a recent Boer immigrant to Canada who's a doctor and she dare not let Heston find out.
The two boys really make this film. The adult players including Charlton Heston have a lot of trouble keeping up with them. They acted so natural like real kids instead of Hollywood kids that you see in so many films. The hardest heart in the world will melt with these two and Heston has just that in the film.
Topping it all off is some beautiful photography of Nova Scotia. The Little Kidnappers which is a remake of a Fifties British film is one of the best family films I've seen in a long time.
Good family film
vchimpanzee24 May 2004
After spending time in a London orphanage, Harry and Davy arrive in 1903 Nova Scotia on a boat and are soon met by their grandfather James MacKenzie. He takes the boys to live with him, their grandmother and their Aunt Kirsten. James hates Boers because his son, the boys' father, died in the Boer Wars. He will not let Boers farm the land he and his son cleared. And his prejudices lead to Harry getting in trouble at school. Another possible complication: Kirsten is attracted to Willem, the doctor, who is a Boer.
James was not educated because he had to help out on the family farm. He is very religious--he won't allow pictures in the house and he opposes dancing. Though he thinks nothing of pulling a gun on his enemies.
The movie's title comes from the fact that the boys find a baby abandoned on the beach and decide to take care of it themselves, afraid of what would happen if they tell anyone, because they know what it is like to live in an orphanage.
This is a good family film but nothing spectacular. It focuses on traditional values and has a 'Little House on the Prairie' quality to it. James is stern but loving, though not as easygoing as Pa Ingalls. He expects much from his grandchildren and believes in corporal punishment. The boys' grandmother provides an appropriate balance, showing sympathy for the boys when it is needed but still faithful. Kirsten is quite appealing and somewhat attractive though not beautiful. And the boys are the center of the film.
All the acting performances were just fine, right down to the child playing the baby. I was surprised to see that Charlton Heston played James, because while he was good, he wasn't THAT good.
We need more family films like this.
James was not educated because he had to help out on the family farm. He is very religious--he won't allow pictures in the house and he opposes dancing. Though he thinks nothing of pulling a gun on his enemies.
The movie's title comes from the fact that the boys find a baby abandoned on the beach and decide to take care of it themselves, afraid of what would happen if they tell anyone, because they know what it is like to live in an orphanage.
This is a good family film but nothing spectacular. It focuses on traditional values and has a 'Little House on the Prairie' quality to it. James is stern but loving, though not as easygoing as Pa Ingalls. He expects much from his grandchildren and believes in corporal punishment. The boys' grandmother provides an appropriate balance, showing sympathy for the boys when it is needed but still faithful. Kirsten is quite appealing and somewhat attractive though not beautiful. And the boys are the center of the film.
All the acting performances were just fine, right down to the child playing the baby. I was surprised to see that Charlton Heston played James, because while he was good, he wasn't THAT good.
We need more family films like this.
Terrible WASTE of time!!!!
chrismcreynolds16 April 2006
Warning: Spoilers
The plot is so manipulative, counting completely on the most uncredible and unthinkable decisions of the adults in each and every parenting decision. The children are super as far as charm and delivery of the lines but as I say, the whole plot depends on each and every adult being complete idiots, and therefore in THAT case, making more sense out of their actions (and at the same time being the only way to explain the boys actions of total mistrust). Why would sweey charming little boys take a baby from the shore? How did the baby get to the shore and at the same time account for it being the LAST place to be searched? Why would the 2 boys NEVER be informed an instead at the same time a baby is missing nobody gives a fig about them running around with food and diapers with all that commotion going on and literally every other place it searched? There is just no possible justification to ask the audience to believe this. Asking to believe it would then do to trial (even the informal setting) is too insulting to bare.
Superb family film. Very highly recommended
admin-348 August 2010
Warning: Spoilers
I must take exception to chrismcreynolds scathing review of this utterly charming family film. Here we have two elderly people so wrapped in their private grief and dogmatic Calvinistic beliefs that they are unable to welcome their grandchildren into their hearts. People who are blinded by their own dogmatism often make ill advised, even stupid decisions - "uncredible" (sic) was, I believe, the reviewer's choice of words - and it is exactly this rigidity of thought and action that is the central thread of the story.
I don't recall being the slightest bit confused over plot elements, nor have my children expressed any difficulty in understanding the story - it's one of their favorite movies, as it is mine. The neighbor's baby was taken to the beach by his brother who was supposed to be babysitting and who had been forbidden by his parents to go to the beach alone. The little boys decided to look after the baby without telling anybody because they thought it must be orphaned, like they themselves, and they were convinced the baby had been abandoned. They also absolutely believed their grandfather, whom they greatly feared, might hurt it so they decided to hide it.
To account for such a complete divergence in opinions about this charming film I think that the reviewer clearly prefers movies of an entirely different genre and setting. Certainly it is, in almost every way imaginable, the pole reverse of "The Bernie Mac Show"! Set in rural Nova Scotia at the beginning of the last century "The Little Kidnappers" is a beautiful story that touches on aspects of community inter-reliance, familial love, romance, religion and redemption that are timeless in their power and simplicity.
I don't recall being the slightest bit confused over plot elements, nor have my children expressed any difficulty in understanding the story - it's one of their favorite movies, as it is mine. The neighbor's baby was taken to the beach by his brother who was supposed to be babysitting and who had been forbidden by his parents to go to the beach alone. The little boys decided to look after the baby without telling anybody because they thought it must be orphaned, like they themselves, and they were convinced the baby had been abandoned. They also absolutely believed their grandfather, whom they greatly feared, might hurt it so they decided to hide it.
To account for such a complete divergence in opinions about this charming film I think that the reviewer clearly prefers movies of an entirely different genre and setting. Certainly it is, in almost every way imaginable, the pole reverse of "The Bernie Mac Show"! Set in rural Nova Scotia at the beginning of the last century "The Little Kidnappers" is a beautiful story that touches on aspects of community inter-reliance, familial love, romance, religion and redemption that are timeless in their power and simplicity.
A really wonderful film
lampton-16 April 2007
Gosh, we must have been watching a different movie.
My family and I absolutely love this story. A nudge to an earlier poster - the plot seemed perfectly clear to me, the baby was on the shore because his brother, who was supposed to be baby-sitting him at home, took him there. Then when the child thought something awful must have happened to the baby, he didn't dare tell his mum and dad. It wasn't until the searchers had looked everywhere that he finally confessed he'd taken the baby to the seashore.
We really liked the performances, especially the kids and Bruce Greenwood. Incredibly charming and completely believable, I thought.
The Canadian setting was very beautiful, too.
It's a Disney movie, I thought, although IMDb says some other company made it.
My family and I absolutely love this story. A nudge to an earlier poster - the plot seemed perfectly clear to me, the baby was on the shore because his brother, who was supposed to be baby-sitting him at home, took him there. Then when the child thought something awful must have happened to the baby, he didn't dare tell his mum and dad. It wasn't until the searchers had looked everywhere that he finally confessed he'd taken the baby to the seashore.
We really liked the performances, especially the kids and Bruce Greenwood. Incredibly charming and completely believable, I thought.
The Canadian setting was very beautiful, too.
It's a Disney movie, I thought, although IMDb says some other company made it.
Sweet and Charming
suessis30 August 1999
Charlton Heston may have won an Oscar, but after seeing Heston's performance in this film I wonder for what. Best Ham Performance by an actor perhaps?
Otherwise, aside from a slightly uneven script and some odd camera shots, this a sweet and charming film ideal for family viewing. The scenery is wonderful and the musical score is perfect. Leah Pinsent as the MacKenzie daughter Kirsten is very appealing, and Bruce Greenwood, as her Dutch suitor Dr. Wilhem Hooft,is quietly sexy and sincere. He also has affected the best accent of the bunch, having reportedly researched it so that it is convincing if not necessarily authentic. The best reason to see this film are the two sweet young ones playing the little MacKenzie brothers. They are wonderful actors and carry the film well. Everyone should watch and see for themselves.
Otherwise, aside from a slightly uneven script and some odd camera shots, this a sweet and charming film ideal for family viewing. The scenery is wonderful and the musical score is perfect. Leah Pinsent as the MacKenzie daughter Kirsten is very appealing, and Bruce Greenwood, as her Dutch suitor Dr. Wilhem Hooft,is quietly sexy and sincere. He also has affected the best accent of the bunch, having reportedly researched it so that it is convincing if not necessarily authentic. The best reason to see this film are the two sweet young ones playing the little MacKenzie brothers. They are wonderful actors and carry the film well. Everyone should watch and see for themselves.
I love this movie
maureen-979-3331175 September 2020
An Interesting Family Film
dahlswede3 June 2014
Warning: Spoilers
The Little Kidnappers (1990) is a charming film which provides an engaging story suitable for all ages. Although a bit saccharine at times, the story recounts the introduction of two young brothers from Scotland into an ethnically divided Canadian coastal village near the beginning of the Twentieth Century. Although the Boer War had recently ended in South Africa, tensions evidently remained in communities with significant British and Dutch ties.
On one level, the movie offers distracting entertainment. From a sociological perspective, it brilliantly depicts several important features of Scottish cultural life in the post-Victorian era. Pre- eminent paternalistic values, the importance of religious, and educational structures, sentimentality, clan traditions, frugality and a persisting element of bellicosity all enter into the complex relationship between an elderly grandfather (played by Charleton Heston) and his two young grandsons.
Anyone with an interest in Scottish culture will probably enjoy watching The Little Kidnappers. Although in the early 1900s the members of the household would most likely have spoken Scottish Gaelic with one another, not English, the movie appeared pretty accurate in its depictions of many aspects of traditional Scottish family life. Even the clan tartan worn by the children when they arrived in Canada was correct.
The film might also appeal strongly to viewers with an interest in Canadian history and nationalism. The story presents a powerful argument that community cooperation and understanding contributed to the development of a vibrant civic life in modern Canada.
On one level, the movie offers distracting entertainment. From a sociological perspective, it brilliantly depicts several important features of Scottish cultural life in the post-Victorian era. Pre- eminent paternalistic values, the importance of religious, and educational structures, sentimentality, clan traditions, frugality and a persisting element of bellicosity all enter into the complex relationship between an elderly grandfather (played by Charleton Heston) and his two young grandsons.
Anyone with an interest in Scottish culture will probably enjoy watching The Little Kidnappers. Although in the early 1900s the members of the household would most likely have spoken Scottish Gaelic with one another, not English, the movie appeared pretty accurate in its depictions of many aspects of traditional Scottish family life. Even the clan tartan worn by the children when they arrived in Canada was correct.
The film might also appeal strongly to viewers with an interest in Canadian history and nationalism. The story presents a powerful argument that community cooperation and understanding contributed to the development of a vibrant civic life in modern Canada.
Full of culture, not action
agent_js0315 August 2004
Warning: Spoilers
I turned my TV onto channel 20 and saw this movie on the "UPN Saturday Cinema." The only reason I didn't change the channel was because it had Charlton Heston in it. As I watched, I found that the movie was composed mostly of the antics of two chubby Scottish kids and the romantic struggle of Mackenzie's daughter and the doctor guy, who wanted to be accepted by Mackenzie (Heston) so's they can get married. Mackenzie softened up at the end after the kids were tried for secretly keeping a baby they found on the shore. I noticed a lot of culture, as the movie took place in the Scottish-Dutch settlements of Canada in the early 20th century. As far as action, there was none, and as the movie ended, I was only confused. I only stayed 'till the end 'cause Indiana Jones came on next anyways.
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
