Film Review: "The Hundred-Foot Journey"

I had no great expectations going into “The Hundred-Foot Journey” when my good friend (Oliver Carnay) and I went to the Arclight in Hollywood last Monday upon the invitation of Disney to watch a sneak peek. I had two reasons why I wasn’t so keen about it: first, the trailer was not really catchy and, second, I am not aware there was a book of that title and, of course, I never got to read it.

You can forget all that because the movie turned out to be such a heartwarming little gem that made me feel really, really good about the world and about myself. You would want to live in that small Parisian town where the story is set. You would want to live in their part of the world and experience the inherent kindness and, well, competitiveness in people, and feel secure about your surrounding.

There's a certain charm in the kind of movies that Lasse Hallstrom has been making lately and “The Hundred-Foot Journey” is a worthy addition to his already impressive filmography. The material itself is not really groundbreaking – it’s rather a simple story of a young boy's rise to fulfill his destiny despite the typical odds but that uncomplicated premise and the simple elements in the movie are the very reason that lends the movie its charm. 

We long for a world where we can root for our hero to succeed and to have a triumphant homecoming. We long for a world where there's simplicity and sophistication but the genuine shared respect and understanding among neighbors permeate the air. We long for a world where a small town can have the sophistication and worldliness of a big city but retains its genial charm and innocence.  We get all that in this movie. Oprah Winfrey and Steven Spielberg are two of the producers that take us to that world and for that we owe them our thanks.

Finally, this movie makes us long for a fusion not just of a particular cuisine but of culture and people so that the world will just be a much better place to live in. It may take a hundred-foot journey or a thousand hike (which is what the family actually did when they were forced out of India) to get there but it's the promise of peace that makes us take that initial step and continue on with the journey.

Rating: 4 ½ Stars

XXX
Raymond Lo