neumu [ cinematronic ]




	Little Secrets
	Blair Treu Evan Rachel Wood, Michael Angarano, David Gallagher, Vivica A. Fox 2001		In a world with bright, inventive family entertainment such as "Lilo & Stitch" and the "Spy Kids" movies, it's hard to get pumped up about "Little Secrets," a feature that plays like an overgrown afterschool-TV special, only not so special. Emily is a teenage violin prodigy. She's preparing for an important end-of-summer audition, so she's stuck in her suburban neighborhood while her two best friends are away at camp. Much of her time is spent listening to the problems of local children and offering discreet advice. But the pressure of knowing everybody's guilty secrets begins to cause trouble with family and friends. It's well-meaning kids' stuff, with poised young actors Evan Rachel Wood, as Emily, and Michael Angarano, as her new neighbor, rising above some of the amateurish performances around them. Despite sporadic, delicate moments that ring true, the plot elements that bring things to a head in the last reel seem mechanical and phony. Still, it might please pre-teens. With Vivica A. Fox as Emily's mentor.