Hide and Seek (2005)

Hey everyone,
These are my thoughts on Hide and Seek, a psychological thriller that was released in 2005. I've always liked this film and think that it's very well done for what it is for the most part.

Plot: After his wife's suicide, Dr. David Callaway (Robert De Niro) decides to take his daughter, Emily (Dakota Fanning) to upstate New York to help her recover from the trauma of her mother's death. There, Emily makes an imaginary friend named Charlie, who might not be as imaginary as David suspects.

Review: I'm going to start off with the plot. I actually really liked the plot. It's not like we haven't seen this before, where a kid has an imaginary friend that's not entirely imaginary. But what I liked it's that the protagonist is in the field of psychology and his daughter is traumatized after her mother's death, which makes you wonder if the trauma is causing this or it's supernatural. I will say that the last third act of the movie was a little bit predictable, even though who Charlie is did surprise me when I first saw it, but there are hints that watchers will catch.

The acting in the film is pretty good. Robert De Niro is fantastic as a concerned father and especially towards the ending. Dakota Fanning is also great in this. This has a different feel compared to her earlier films. The supporting cast was also pretty good. There aren't that many characters, so it's not difficult to really follow.

Overall, I think that this is a very entertaining movie. The first hour or so is very creepy and scary and it does loose a bit of it's edge to the ending, but I still enjoyed it. I especially enjoyed the four alternate endings on the DVD.

Rating: 3.5/5