Boyle pleases 'Millions'

Danny Boyle is the last director I expected to make a children's movie. With a track record of films involving heroin addicts ("Trainspotting"), island paradise lunatics ("The Beach") and murderous "zombie" masses ("28 Days Later"), no one suspected Boyle to suddenly make a movie that didn't have an R-rating. Surprisingly enough, Boyle's entry into family entertainment in the form of "Millions" is a successful one.\nBrothers Damian (Alex Etel) and Anthony (Lewis Owen McGibbon) have recently lost their mum and their father Ronnie (James Nesbitt) decides it is time to move into a new home and begin a new life. In the midst of all the unpacking, Damian decides to begin building a cardboard-box fort outside the railroad tracks in his backyard. Unfortunately, this fort is soon no more, as a giant black Nike bag comes crashing into it carrying well more than 200,000 British pounds. The worst part? It's a week before the United Kingdom permanently switches over to the Euro currency so there is very little time to use the money. While Anthony prefers to buy friends and objects, young Damian is more concerned with helping out the needy. Constantly encouraged by holy visions from the saints Damian so strongly admires, it's only a matter of time until a certain someone comes looking for the bag they "lost."\nBoth Etel and McGibbon made their acting debuts in "Millions" and the results are incredibly convincing. Etel proves to be innocent and incorruptible while McGibbon comes off as the typical annoying older brother who claims to know everything. They make for a great pairing. Hell, they look like they're actually brothers, and I enjoyed their interaction.\nDanny Boyle seems to be pulling tricks out of Tim Burton's directorial hat as the film is wildly imaginative and surreal at times. From the boys racing their bikes through myriads of sunflowers to watching their house be built from the ground up in a matter of seconds, "Millions" is visually appealing in every aspect and at times magical. Even the musical score, arranged by John Murphy, is hauntingly reminiscent of the usual Burton/Danny Elfman collaboration. \nThe only thing that really hurts "Millions" is its running time. While it would seem that a movie around 100 minutes would fly by in no time, I think that if chopped down to 80 minutes then it would've been much tighter and flowed even quicker. This comes as no surprise though, considering it seems to happen in every Danny Boyle movie I've seen before. \nSmall nitpicks aside, "Millions" is still great entertainment that the whole family can enjoy. In a movie world where the family is constantly drawn to the newest "Harry Potter" sequel or latest Pixar concoction, it's good to finally see some variation on the big screen.