PiraBit if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Darin One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Staci Frederick Blistering performances.

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.

kfkdb It shows how a person unbalanced and insecure by illness learns how to trust in himself again and gains a big portion of happiness and stability. Once again David Bowie pictures an obscure character but now for the good: acting as the sick boy's `god father` more or less.

austinchimp ***SPOILERS*** ***SPOILERS*** This is one of the worst films ever. The dialogue, acting, and direction are all appalling, but the real problems lie in the story and logic. First of all, no kid in the world would beat up a friend because they had cancer, or shout "Hey Cancer!" at them. Not unless the attackers were seriously disturbed, although after living through the event in this film they probably would be. Think about it. Why would Bowie's character live in a small canadian suburb if he really was a super being? Why would the boy develop a suspiciously close and secretive relationship with a strange reclusive man? Why would bowie's supply of magic potion ("I cannot tell you where or how I got this" why? because the writers couldn't be bothered to think it out) suddenly begin to run out at the moment the boy turns up? What boy in their right mind would secretly film the funeral, and then actually dig up the grave of a weird stranger purely on a hint of a hunch. And what kind of kids would be so easily and casually persuaded to go along with grave digging and corpse tampering? The "clues" which lead to the by discovering the potion are oblique and ambiguous to say the least. And the whole treasure hunt which involves gravedigging, breaking and entering and a whole load of other stuff leads the boys to the house where they started! With no appreciable purpose for the whole thing! Why didn't Mr rice just POST them the letter? And what the hell was with the Undertaker? He really DID want the boy to die so he could get his body?!? Why?? It doesn't make sense. I feel dizzy now thinking about it. Why David, Why? Watch this film, if only because you have to see it to belive that this is a mainstream kids film.

David McDaid Death is always a difficult subject to cover in the movies. Even more so when dealing with terminally ill children. Mr Rice's Secret succeeds in covering the issues in a sensitive but not mawkish way. Bowie gives a measured performance as the ancient mystic who befriends a young boy with Hodgkin's disease. The real star though is Bill Switzer, who excels as the boy fearing death who must learn to love life.