Overall: B
Directed by:
Christian
Alvart
Starring:
Renee Zellweger
Jodelle Ferland
Case 39 is about a social worker named Emily
Jenkins (Renee Zellweger) who is beyond overworked, but takes on the case of a
girl named Lilith Sullivan (Jodelle Ferland.) There seems to be a severe case
of abuse towards the girl, seemingly confirmed when Lilith’s parents try to
murder her. The parents are found not guilty by reason of insanity as they
claim that Lilith is a demon and they had no choice but to kill her. Emily ends
up taking Lilith in until a better foster home can be found, but then as people
in Emily’s life begin to die under mysterious circumstances, she realizes that
Lilith’s parents may have been right.
I’m a fan of
evil child movies, so I liked Case 39. It does a pretty good job of setting Lilith up as the
innocent victim (though somewhat unfortunately because of the expectations of
it being a horror movie, and especially after reading a summary of it, the
audience will still realize that she’s evil, so there’s not much opportunity
for surprise.) It’s well-acted (and I really like Jodelle Ferland, as far as
child actresses go) and the characters are pretty good as well. Emily’s
conflict over proper professional behavior vs. legitimate worry for Lilith is
believably handled. In a few ways it felt like the ending and resolution were a
little bit rushed, and I can’t suspend my disbelief enough to not realize that
Emily is probably going to wind up spending a good chunk of her life in prison
after the credits roll. The film isn’t the most groundbreaking or original
offering, and it felt to me like there was just something kind of missing, but
it’s a well put together film that is largely successful in telling its story.
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