This reminded me of the films produced in the UK by the Children's Film Foundation. It all centres around the adventures of three paintball-armed kids who meticulously plan a raid on a warehouse that holds games consoles. They manage to pinch one and get it home, but there they find that the television needs a password! That requires their mother - poorly with flu in bed upstairs. They manage to get her to agree to release the code if they go get her a blueberry pie. Snag? Well the baker's don't have any and the baker is on holiday. Then they decide to try to make one themselves, so coax the recipe out of "Miss Celia" (Colleen Baum) and head to the supermarket to "borrow" the ingredients. The last, most vital, speckled eggs is stolen from under their nose by "Redrye" (Charles Halford). They're not having any of this so follow him home so they can pinch them back, only to find he is part of a gang led by "Anna-Freya" (Lio Tipton), a witch of sorts, who is determined to kill the 'Prince of the Forest" (a grand and majestic old stag). Luckily for our intrepid trio, her daughter "Petal" (Lorelei Olivia Mote) had snuck out on the hunting trip and soon the four children are using all of their guile to thwart the plans of her mother whilst still getting that elusive egg for the pie! The four children deliver engagingly here with "Alice" (Phoebe Ferro - or maybe a young Dame Anna Wintour) taking charge, Mote enjoying her spell as the mischievous mini-witch and the scene stealing "Jodie" (Skyler Peters). He's the youngest of the group and the most entertaining. The writing quirkily mixes some modern day language with some fun use of Arthurian style ye, thee and whences and when did you last hear a kid (or anyone) use the word scurries? The story is a bit of a mess at times, and the ending a bit rushed and covenient, but I did quite enjoy this enthusiastic romp with a touch of magic and a gently impressed ecological message too.

Is this movie something special? I think some viewers will feel that it is. I think two reasons include: 1) It follows some free-range kids on an "adventure," and 2) The film quality gives it a retro look. These two elements add a sense of nostalgia for filmgoers of a certain age. The fact that the kids just roam the county with no parents checking in on them sets this movie apart from anything else made in a long, long time. There is also a slightly surreal quality to a lot of the scenes; the filmmakers did NOT go for a sense of realism. Instead, the children are able to do and say things that kids would like to be able to do, but never really could in real life. So it's kind of like a stylized way of telling the story from a kid's perspective--kind of like how Night of the Hunter has it's own logic at times. I happened to enjoy it, even when not everything worked 100%. For example, the fabled dance sequence: this should have been a highlight, but I didn't feel like it had the intended effect for me. Still, I very much appreciate that someone was able to get this made, and I would be interested to see what the writer/director does in the future. It's the kind of story I wouldn't mind telling if I were ever to write.