Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, August 26: PROJECT WILD THING
David Bond’s crusade to reconnect kids with nature had its world premiere at Sheffield last year. The film has gone on to screen at SF Green, One World, Cork, and Cambridge.
Taking on the role of both filmmaker and on-screen guide a la Morgan Spurlock, Bond, discouraged by the realization of how much time children now spend in front of screens, cheekily appoints himself the marketing director for Nature and sets out on a public campaign to get Britain’s kids back outdoors. Consulting with marketers, brand strategists, and publicity firms, he concocts several schemes aimed to combat childhood obesity and instill imagination. Ultimately, in a hokey, manufactured manner, he “realizes” that he can’t boil down Nature into a sellable brand, and, even worse, that he’s been neglecting his own kids in the zeal of his campaign, so he sets out to expose them to the pleasures of playing outside one-on-one. While a likeable enough film, the preciousness of its approach crosses the line into annoying territory more than once, undercutting its ultimate message.
what (not) to doc 