A Little Love, a Little Magic (2008)
Director: Kunal Kohli
Movie review
From Time Out New York
Bollywood filmmaker Kunal Kohli’s spin on Mary Poppins finds hotshot businessman Ranbeer (Khan) in a fine predicament: Responsible for a car accident that killed the upstanding Mr. and Mrs. Wallia, he’s ordered by an unconventional judge to raise their four grieving and resentful children. Ranbeer’s beauty-queen girlfriend (Amisha Patel) can’t cope, and the kids are a handful until God sends nanny Geeta (Mukherjee) to make things right. It’s not too cloying for a movie about orphans, angels and cute pets; pray that Hollywood doesn’t buy the remake rights.Author: Maitland McDonagh
Time Out New York Issue 666: July 2 - 9, 2008
User reviews of this film
-
- KALANI ZAK said...
-
Posted on Aug 24 2008 05:05
I just attended a screening of A LITTLE LOVE, A LITTLE MAGIC at the Doris Duke Theatre in Honolulu, Hawaii. The film was screened through the HAWAII INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL. The mixed-age audience enjoyed it thoroughly. Basically, the film is a Bollywood mixture of MARY POPPINS with a little BEWITCHED thrown in for good measure. But, what makes this film stand out is that Geeta, the Nanny, demonstrates a talent for good natured mischief that Mary never exhibited, except, perhaps, when dancing and singing "Supercalafragilisticexpialidocious" with Dick Van Dyke.
India has become known as a Mecca for CGI (Computer Grenerated Imagery) and this film shows the artists' skills off to great advantage. A surprise birthday trip to a museum turns into a charming, pride-building musical romp, complete with a dancing dinosaur whose moves could put Michael Jackson's choreography to shame.
It is impossible to take one's eyes off of Rani Muhkherjee whose performance as the Nanny is completely enchanting. The music is an added bonus and there are even a couple Bollywood-style songs to spice up the mix, including a sensuous, yet playful, underwater sequence in a swimming pool.
This is a very entertaining family motion picture, though one had better hope that one's own children don't learn too many naughty tricks from the kids in the film! - Report as inappropriate
Cast & crew
Director: Kunal Kohli
Cast: Saif Ali Khan, Rani Mukherjee
Rated: NR
Duration: 145 mins
US Release: Jul 4 2008
Most popular on this site
Features
To the letter
Forty years later, Costa-Gavras's Z still brims with fury.
Mind over matter
David Cronenberg reflects on a most bizarre body: his own corpus of work.
Fool's gold
Can an Oscar win lead to a cursed career? Here are five stories of postaward professional meltdowns.
We are the championed
Terrorists and teens abound in this year's "Film Comment Selects."
A history of violence
Matteo Garrone's kaleidoscopic Gomorrah wallops you with Italy's crime crisis.
True romantic
James Gray exchanges urban amorality for amour in Two Lovers.
Playing in the dark
MoMA salutes pianist Stuart Oderman's 50 years as the one-man sound of silents.
Junk bonds
Cast and crew recall the making of the classic NYC drug drama The Panic in Needle Park.



What do you think?
Post your review now