Pleasantville Reviews

I already saw this movie but since it was ages ago, I was really eager to check it out again, especially since it has somewhat reached a cult status. Well, I'm glad I gave it second chance. Indeed, the first time around, I actually ended up with some mixed feelings about the whole thing. I mean, sure, I thought it was pretty good and quite clever but, back then, I can’t say I was really blown away by this tale. However, after rewatching it after all these years, I finally understood what was so good about this movie. Basically, it is the answer to all this people thinking that everything used to so much better in the past. Well, as displayed in this movie, things were maybe different but it was certainly not better. Furthermore, it shows that even though we should look for happiness  and harmony, life is also about chaos and diversity. Concerning Reese Witherspoon who was just 22 years old at the time, this movie is a fine example of how interesting her career was right from the start (see also 'The Man in the Moon', ‘Freeway’, ‘Election’, ‘American Psycho’). To be honest, even though the whole thing had a nice edge, it was still too simplistic for my taste, especially how Jennifer would completely change after reading one book. In fact, it was probably the main problem with this movie, the way they struggled to show how Jennifer and David would be affected by their adventure and the choices they made (David becomes a hero and Jennifer becomes a bookworm) were rather disappointing. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, I still already enjoyed the damned thing and it is definitely worth a look.

Pleasantville is an interesting look into the cultural advancement of society with the introduction of modern life. The storyline (especially the ending) may be a bit trite, but the imagery and creativeness of the film's transition from black and white to color is pretty remarkable.