Rating: 
Summary: Nothing is as simple as black and white
Review: This movie was definately a unique one, very original! I thought the special effects in this movie were outstanding. It's harder to mix black and white people with coloured ones than you'd think. Especially when they are constantly moving around.I thought the cast was an amazing one, I mean Tobey Maguire, Reese Witherspoon, William H.Macy, Joan Allen, J.T Walsh, Don Knotts and Paul Walker. Wow! They all performed well in their roles. This movie had an original concept and it played well onscreen and was mostly helped due to the performance. The only gripe I would have about this otherwise terrific movie was the way in which Jennifer was handled. She seemed to be a plot device, because although she was prominent in the 1st half of the movie, she all but disappeared after that. Reese actually provided the comedy aspect in this rather serious take on our society, so when she disappeared the movie lost it's comic edge and thus was poorer because of it. I could just be biased though, but she was terrific as Jennifer.
Rating: 
Summary: Try a closer reading (response to lindlas and "A viewer")
Review: For those people who found this movie "morally repugnant," I suggest watching the movie once more, and pay attention this time. It's true that it is clearly made from a liberal perspective and this point of view is pervasive throughout the movie, but never are anarchy and amorality presented as options for living in the perfect world. Indeed, the opening of the movie--which takes place in the present--is about how our "liberal" world has failed us in many ways: economic downturns, AIDS, global warming, broken families, etc. The TV show "Pleasantville" stands in stark contrast to the present, with its 1950s wholesome values and bygone charm. But when the main characters go into the world of Pleasantville, they see that the grass is always greener on the other side (this time literally): the small town life of the 1950s is too small in many ways. They bring modern day values to the small town, and everyone lives happily ever after.... But they also learn that what was valued in the simpler past still holds much promise for us, especially in the "bleak" present. Granted, it's preachy at points and sometimes trite in its message; but one thing it's not is one-sided. The point of the movie is that both time periods have their pros and cons: strong morals vs. amorality, closed-mindedness vs. acceptance, etc. Neither is perfect, and both can be improved by borrowing the best of the other. There is no perfect time and no ideal life; it's all what we make of it. It's understandable how some can view the movie as only promoting our more modern values of acceptance and freedom of lifestyles, but an active watcher will understand the balance the movie strikes, and it does so quite well. (And now some direct rebuttals for lindlas:
The last scene on the bench is not a weird three-some; don't take it so literally. And in regards to the statement "All the same if you are a human, and love being a human, and all the beauty that comes with being one, than don't watch this movie": your ignorance to the entire point of the movie (and to grammar) is laid bare in that single statement. Congratulations.)
Rating:
Summary: Makes you ask questions
Review: This is a fascinating movie that does make you ask questions about issues such as the media, family life, tolerance, repression of society, and progressivism. The obvious conflict is the battle between the repression of the so-called traditional life and the modern sensibility played out in this film. The idealized "Leave it Beaver" America of the past is depicted as a stale, unrealistic, and repressive society. Couples slept in separate beds, and the realities of human biology (not just sex, but lack of toilets) do not exist. However, when 2 teens from the present are transported into a 1950s sitcom, they force the people of Pleasantville to open up. The people don't just open up themselves from the self repression that they previously suffered from, but they open themselves up to the possibility of social change in the face of not knowing what is to come. That is society is dynamic and change was bound to happen after the 1950s, and that doesn't mean that there is a specific right way to live. I think this was a good little commentary on the changes within American culture and worth a watch. It's also interesting because of cast includes: Tobey Maguire, Reese Witherspoon, Jeff Daniels, and Jane Kaczmarek.
Rating: 
Summary: Bleh....
Review: Okaydokay, this movie was just about exactly the worst movie I have ever seen, period. I hate it, I hate it, I hate it! and I would have given it a -10 stars if the blasted review thingy had let me.
Now on to my review. This movie started with a lot of potential, Tobey's performance was stupendous as usual, which may or may not have been a good thing. It's excellently scripted and wonderfully directed, but the story line! Okay, if we could all run around naked, with no rules, following our emotions on impulse and having sex with whoever we feel like this world would be a better place-lets all be animals. This is never specifically stated (at least not in those terms), there is hardly anything, if anything graphic about this movie. It's all so well crafted your thought process is something like this "O, that looks like fun".
Now I don't mean to imply that the director was trying to radically convert the world over to totally liberal ideas. He may just have had a bright idea for a clever story, one fine day, sat down and made it into this film. All the same if you are a human, and love being a human, and all the beauty that comes with being one, than don't watch this movie.
In the very last scene the "mother" can't make up her mind who she'd rather be with, her husband or her lover, so they all sit on a bench and decide (now I don't remember the exact lines), but something is implied to the effect of "let's take it one day at a time, and we'll all pass her around and have fun". Yuck! Have they no respect for girls? It almost makes me ashamed to be one. O yah, and at some point (I don't remember which) the lover paints the nude picture of his lady love on the front window of his shop (from life?). Anyhow this is done much to the consternation of other more "narrow minded" citizens. But our protagonist and his faithful follower "bravely" stand, grim faced, arms crossed on chest, the heroes of the age defending their master piece. Please, anyone? How can you like this movie? Just because now there are rainbows and bits of sunshine dancing on waterfalls with bright cheerful oranges doesn't mean this is the perfect way to live. I know from the unhappiness of our family what leading this kind of life can mean. Fortunatly that's all in the past, and this is just the honest opinion of a modern day teen who loves living her life
Rating:
Summary: Color = Free Will?
Review: I'm going to disagree in part with many of the culture war polemicists and suggest that this movie is not primarily intended to push a particular set of socially liberal values, although it's fairly evident to me that the director identifies with that camp. Instead, I saw the film as issuing twin condemnations of the knee-jerk responses humans often exhibit upon encountering life's complexities: the urge either to forcibly recreate the world as a tightly controlled utopia aligned with our own ideals, or to withdraw in detached cynicism and employ gallows humor and escapism to ward off issues we prefer not to face. The former pitfall is reflected in the deliberate heavy-handed inflexibility of the 1950s stereotyping, while the latter is exemplified by the initial mindset of the Tobey Maguire character. I believe Pleasantville urges us instead to confront the complexities of existence and interpersonal relationships head-on--not mindlessly, as in a 1950s sitcom, but armed with an informed value system born of personal experience as well as social traditions. Sexuality gets a lot of play here because it is the quintessential primal urge, but the film also suggests that there are worthy goals beyond "scoring", and other barriers to enlightenment besides excess clothing. After the symbolic transition from b/w to color is complete, some of the characters do end up realigning themselves with "conservative" traditionalist values. The key is that they do so intelligently and autonomously from a perspective of personal experience. The message I heard was not that one morality is superior to another, but that the unpredictability and instability that inevitably accompany the gift of free will are no excuse for failing to exercise it.
Rating:
Summary: morally repugnant
Review: This film, while masking itself as cute and harmless, attempts in its own subtle way to completely trash and impune traditional moral values. Unfortunately this film does not show the consequences of Pleasantville's new found freedom. Broken homes, shattered lives and a society doomed to disaster. Dont be fooled. This isnt a harmless fun flick. Watch the film then ask yourself, "Are these people really better off?"
Rating:
Summary: Good for more than special effects
Review: This movie got it's biggest publicity for the special effects dealing with two teenagers getting sent through a television to become characters in a popular 1950's sitcom that names the movie. For this part, it is deserved. We see the teens in color getting sucked into the TV (this is not giving away anything), where they are transformed into an entirely black and white 1950's world, ala "Leave it to Beaver" with older kids. As the movie progresses, color gets gradually introduced to certain elements, which must have taken a lot of painstaking work, even with computers. But it's how they use the colors that makes the story special. For there is a method to how things in the TV world start turning to color. Moralists may dismiss it as just [excited] teens who start getting colorized upon exploring sexual adventures. However, it's not that at all. If so, the wonderful Reese Witherspoon would have been colorized right away, and wonders why she isn't. It's her discovery of what actually sets off the color that makes the movie great, which I will not reveal here. Extra special kudos to veteran sitcom star Don Knotts as the instigator of the whole thing. He is perfect as the person responsible for sending them there, and at first wanting them to stay awhile. It's when the teens don't really want to come back at a certain point in the movie that you see the old Barney Fife nervousness unleashed. This was an added gem.
Rating:
Summary: awsome!
Review: This was such a great movie! I have seen it so many times, and can't wait to see it on DVD! It's such a great and cute idea, and they did a wonder full job makin it!
Rating:
Summary: Amazing movie with many allegorical themes
Review: The story at first seems to be a satire on the TV sanitation of the 1950's but this film is much richer and runs much deeper than that. In a comedic and satirical manner it addresses such issues as love, marriage, personal identity and the importance of knowledge. It also tackles serious subjects as well such as racism, book burnings, and even Fascism. Our two characters: David (Toby Macguire), an intelligent geek with no self-confidence and his sister Jennifer (Reese Whitherspoon), an unintelligent and sexually active teenager get zapped by Don Knotts, of all people, into this 1950's sitcom called "Pleasantville". Everything in the town of Pleasantville is perfect. It's a beautiful suburb set in the 1950's with the perfectly straight picket fences, with the perfectly dressed men wearing suit and ties, with the perfectly dressed women wearing flowered dresses while making meatloaf. David is euphoric about his insertion into "Pleasantville" for he gets to interact with his favorite TV show. Jennifer, on the other hand, feels trapped in a black-and-white prison and decides to shake things up. There lies the comedy and the subsequent contrast. Guess what happens when you place a sexually active teenager from the late 1990's into a culture where the parents sleep in twin beds? Though her brother does his best to interact with the locals and keep his sister out of trouble, he too begins to contaminate this world with knowledge and his newly found self-confidence. With the strategic use of color entering into this world, allegorical concepts are introduced with amazing clarity. I don't want to spoil anything; you just have to see it happen.
The production design was amazing. The digital effects were graphically stunning. The range of all of the actors here was also top notch: William Macy crying at the apex of a sentence during an emotional revelation, the body language of Jeff Daniels, The emotional tones of Joan Allen's voice, and you all ready know about how good mega-stars Toby Macguire and Resse Whitherspoon have become. Best movie of the 1990's
Rating:
Summary: ONE OF MY TOP 3 MOVIES!
Review: I love this movie! This is where I just fell in love with Reese Witherspoons acting. She's now my favorite actress. I'd never noticed her before this. She is superb! The movie makes you think about what is important and what we take for granted. It's not so deep it ruins everything. It is a real feel good movie! I LOVE IT!
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