Brainsbell The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

Joanna Mccarty Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

Arianna Moses Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Lucia Ayala It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

Mart Sander This film has proved to be a terrible disappointment. It lacks any kind of magic or atmosphere one has come to expect from recent children's films. The main characters are unsympathetic and uncharismatic, both as characters and as actors. It's beating around the bush for the first hour, and doesn't deliver much during the second. The storyline is vague and non-captivating. There is no camera-work to mention, the score seems to be copy/pasted from different public domain musical clips, and if you are expecting to see a good deal of 3D effects, forget it. Overall it gives the viewer an impression of being a mediocre TV movie from the 80s. I was looking forward to seeing this film, but completely lost interest after only a few initial shots. There's just no electricity whatsoever, and the topic of terminally ill children seems to be employed as the last resource to give this film a "social message" and depth it lacks. I suggest you don't waste your time on that film - there are so much better around.

xfile1971 This movie has already been covered by quite a few reviews. However, the best part of the movie has yet to be mentioned. A couple of our teenage protagonists have just come back into town and are talking to their friend Owen. They relate to him a charming story regarding an acquaintance of theirs named Percy. Well, it seems the mischievous Percy tied the rear legs of a dog together and then threw it into the middle of the lake to see if it could swim back to shore. Guess what? It couldn't! After a good chuckle by the group of kids, they decided to play a nice game of street hockey. Those crazy kids! "Mr. Rice's Secret" is truly one of the most touching and inspirational films of our time.

Melm But it wasn't. As an ex brit Canadian, I am continually appalled by the standard of Canadian films. There is just something sooo distinctive about them - you can spot them a mile off - haven't quite figured out what it is - certainly the filming and direction is part of it. David Bowie was great in his too limited role - could have done with more of him and less of the kid's parents - as the parent of 2 canadian teenagers myself I could see no resemblance to real teenagers. The language was stilted, the scene was sort of leave it to beaver with attitude - as if the movie was set 20 years ago. Still, it made me cry - which isn't hard to do and I have seen worse, thus a 6 out of 10

Smish Death is not an easy topic to deal with in movies. But Mr Rice's secret manages to pull it off, with no problems. The film is centered around a boy, who while coming to terms with the death of his friend (the 400 year old Mr Rice) is led on a kind of treasure hunt. When he reaches the end he finds a potion of life, and learns an important lesson. The boy (played brilliantly by Billy Switzer) is the star of the film (despite it being pushed as a David Bowie film). The character of his mother (played by Teryl Rothery) could have been explored a little more and been more involved with the plot, but apart from that, it felt well cast and acted. A must see for when you want to ponder things like the meaning of life.