Rating: 
Summary: Not too bad if you didn't read the book.
Review: For some reason, when they translated this book into film, they felt the need to down play the "mystical" side of the story. (The same was done to "The Shining"). Unfortunately, they took what is arguably Stephen King's finest novel to date, and ripped the heart out of it. Sir Anthony Hopkins gave a fairly good performance of Ted Brautigan, but was dragged down by a weak screenplay. The choice of Anton Yelchin as young Bobby Garfield could not have been further off the mark. It was difficult to stand his whining for an hour and a half. Hope Davis as Liz Garfield turned in a fairly good performance, but in the original story line, she was much meaner and a whole lot easier to hate. The only real standout performance came from Mika Boorem as Carol Gerber. If this movie left you feeling like you were hanging out to dry, it's because there was a whole other half to it. Due to time constraints it would have been impossible to put the whole story onto film without making it a two parter. This is the only slack I will cut the director and screenwriter. Unfortunately, the best part of the novel was left out. If you saw this movie and weren't thrilled, I highly recommend reading the novel which was truly uplifting.
Rating:
Summary: Hearts In Atlantis: Almost...but no cigar.
Review: I read this Stephen King novel with a great deal of interest. It's characters and story line so full of depth, I rushed to the movie theatre when this film was released, full of expectations. The novel, was written in three sections. Three seperate stories that all entwine. My main disappointment with the movie was that only the first section of the book was covered. When the film was over, I was left thirsting for the rest of the story. From what the film covers, Ted Brautigan (Anthony Hopkins), moves to a new town and finds residence in a two suite home. The occupants of the other suite are young Bobby Garfield (Anton Yelchin), and his bitter, domineering mother (Hope Davis). A friendship is formed between Bobby and Ted, when Ted offers to pay Bobby to read the newspaper to him, due to his failing eyesight. The real point of this "job" is for Bobby to keep on the lookout for "the lowmen" who are after Ted, due to his strange, yet facinating extra sensory powers. As wonderful an actor as Hopkins is, he failed to portray Ted for what he really is. Ted is extremely intelligent and well read, and Hopkins portrays this side of him beautifully. However, Ted is also what could be described as "white trash." I'm sorry, but you can put a cigarette in Hopkins mouth, and have him wear a wife beater undershirt, but he will still come across as far too classy for a character with Ted's background. Ted has brains, and he knows how to use them. He is also capable of exercising tact. However, classy is not a word that would or should be used to describe Ted. Bobby's mother (Hope Davis) in the book is so cruel and hot tempered, she can make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. However, in the movie, although she is somewhat cruel and domineering, she never reaches the state she obtains in the book. While watching the film, I would see her temper flare, and I would patiently wait for her to get that certain flash in her eye and spit out the words that would make me cower in my seat...but it never happened. Bobby and his friend/love interest Carol (Mika Booren), are the only two characters who were able to achieve everything their characters were meant to be. Their friendship and affection for one another comes across as genuine, and for a moment you can forget that it is only a film. Overall, Hearts In Atlantis is a good movie, with a decent story and some heart clenching scenes, but it does seem to be desperately reaching for the quality held by the Green Mile. It strives for that quality, but falls a bit short. To all who are unfamiliar with the book, I would recommend this film. To all who have read the book, you will enjoy some aspects, but your expectations will not be met.
Rating: 
Summary: One of the best films this year...
Review: As others before me have said, if you like Shawshank Redemtion and The Green Mile, you should love this film as well. This film has much of the same personal drama and moralistic teachings found in The Green Mile while also featuring some of that childhood nostalgia found in Stand By Me. If you haven't seen any of these movies I apologize. This film is a heartfelt story that teaches some of life's lessons by the story's end. The acting is superb (but surprisingly I found Anthony Hopkins to be the least impressive of the cast), and I definately see this being one of the year's big Oscar contenders. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this film and I'd without hesitation say this one of my top favorites of a Stephen King adaptation.
Rating: 
Summary: Absorbing and Definitely Worth Your Time
Review: From beginning to end, you get the sense that this movie is much more than just a "period movie". It touches on many issues that we all deal with every day. Hopkins is brilliant. The young boy-Anton Yelchin is exceptional. And the story...well, it could easily be Oscar-material. Scott Hicks brings this great story to life and tells it in a way that even if you didn't live in the early sixties, you feel like you can relate to most of what happens to the people young or old. Hopkins character brimgs a special feeling to the viewer, and immediately makes you feel comfortable and at ease. This movie will take you places and bring back memories you thought you never had. One of the few good movies out there right now.
Rating:
Summary: One of the year's best! Emotionally captivating!
Review: "Sometimes when you're young, you have moments of such happiness, you think you're living in someplace magical, like Atlantis must have been..." Anthony Hopkins speaks these words so beautifully, evoking the entire underlying message of the movie "Hearts in Atlantis," in which the vision of one of Hollywood's most acclaimed directors meets the extraordinary storytelling of the world's most renowned author. Scott Hicks directs the Stephen King story with the utmost perception and attention to detail, and the result is absolutely spellbinding, striking such an emotional chord that the film becomes one of the year's finest cinematic achievements. But Hicks' vision is not the only thing in the film's favor: along with the visual beauty of the movie comes a glorious coming-of-age story in which a small boy's life is forever changed by a mysterious stranger. That boy is Bobby Garfield (Anton Yelchin), who lives with his widowed mother in a small Connecticut town. His mother, who works as a secretary for a realtor, makes excuses for not having enough money to buy Bobby nice things. His life seems glum and uneventful, until the new tenant for the upstairs apartment arrives. Ted Brautigan (Anthony Hopkins) senses right from the start the inner turmoil in young Bobby's life, and offers him his friendship and a chance to earn his keep by reading him the newspaper each day. Bobby jumps at the chance, and soon becomes fascinated by Ted's stories from his life. However, Ted also reveals to Bobby that there are men in search of him, referring to them as the "low men," who drive shiny cars and post signs all over town. The story progresses quite nicely. Hicks' pacing gives the audience a chance to get into the story, as well as allowing the narrative to develop its characters, something many modern films ignore. In effect, we feel more for these characters, and can share their pain in their struggles. The attention to the friendship between Bobby and Carol (Mika Boorem) is intricate and detailed, and just as their friendship is given a chance to flourish, so is that of Bobby and Ted, whose careful examinations of the world provide some of the most moving dialogue of this or any movie. Like his previous novel, "The Green Mile," Stephen King dabbles a little in the supernatural with "Atlantis," though the presence of such elements in this film is kept at a minimum. Ted's ability to read people's thoughts is a plot device that will come back to take him away before the movie's finale, and aside from a few singled-out observations by Ted and a sequence involving Bobby playing cards at the fair, there is little supernatural goings-on present. But in the interest of the story's greater good, it matters little. This is not a story about otherworldly ability as much as it is one about coming-of-age, and the people who affect this passage of time. Anthony Hopkins is in his finest form yet, in perhaps the best performance of his life. He plays Ted with intellect and passion for the simple things in life, embodying in him a soul and spirit that becomes the heartbeat of the film. His child costars, Yelchin and Boorem, are two of the most talented child actors I've seen to date; even Haley Joel Osment pales in comparison to the emotions these two young actors are able to evoke and portray. The interaction among these three stars is compelling and full of heartwarming tenderness, moving me many times to tears of sadness and joy. It is rare that a movie has such a great emotional effect on me, but "Hearts in Atlantis" is one of them. A stellar combination of superb acting, brilliant direction, lucid storytelling and excellent pacing, the film is one of the most visionary and exuberant coming-of-age stories committed to film, a portrait of the time in each of our lives that we are too quick to forget. It bleeds of innocence gone by, of human spirit and emotion, and earns itself a place among the best movies of this or any year.
Rating:
Summary: Pleasant Afterthoughts
Review: This is a typical SK storyline. Suprising, Unexpected and Odd with great...FANTASTIC cinimatography. Very moody!. Anthony Hopkins is GREAT in EVERYTHING he does and has ever done including this. Even the scenes that seemed pointless, underdone and overdone went by with the blink of an eye due to this mans presence. Even his trance like states that he went into on occasion made up for any lack of dialouge. I have always been a King fan and am constantly amazed at his versatility. It may not have been a GREAT movie, but it was good and very entertaining. The storyline involving the young adults was utterly charming and lifelike. There is nothing better than seeing a movie that leaves you with pleasant afterthoughts. My biggest dissapointment in the film was I missed seeing Mr. King's cameo appearence as a bartender, priest, geek or truckdriver or other incognito extra.
Rating: 
Summary: The 60s in a strait jacket
Review: Reverie. I visually dreamed Stephen King's novella "Low Men in Yellow Coats" from "Hearts in Atlantis" and guess what? No S&J "Sleep Walk" misinterpreted or Scott Hicks pretension! Fabtabulous.
Was Scott Hicks forcibly dropped as a child on his head? Is he being dropped currently? Who knows--I'll read his biography. John Baxter, get doodling; Kubrick has ceased to live.
Set Design: Was it just me, or did that "down there" sequence set look like something we all did in shoe boxes in the fourth grade. Trivial quibble: Why did Brautigan know Doolin was a homosexual if he (Brautigan) was only a commie? Are we dealing with SupraCommies or Goldman ambiguity? Either way, it gets my goat.
Hey gang, did anyone REALLY like this fatuous movie? Didn't it seem that Anthony Hopkins had one too many cappucino's while shooting "Hannibal" in Italy? Hell, maybe Hicks plastered him with root beer. Who knows. Let's go to the Malt Shoppe.
Does Scott Hicks assume he's Rob Reiner? Could "Hearts in Atlantis" ever be "Stand By Me?" Slap a Scooby-spooky trailer on junk and call it Scooby-Doo. I don't care--just don't overcharge me for popcorn and wine gums when I'm hung-over, Heysen and associates.
Earnestly, though, let's consider the talent. Scott Hicks: how could he not mess up the Guterson screenplay-cum-novel/exploitation "Snow Falling on Cedars?" Anthony Hopkins: He's a cannibal on screen who complains with overt petulance off-screen--let's trust him. William Goldman: The man to see when your adapatation is great and you want instant anathema.
This who-cares-why-it's-flawed picture is our snooze bar as videophiles. Next time, say with Goldman's adapatation of "Dreamcatcher" (2002), let's slap each other and wake up. Why make garbage movies when then entertain as books? Heed my counsel and gape at this waste of source; just don't see me when your air-sick bag is heavy.
"What do you think you're doing?" (Carol reacting to Bobby's coming-of-age kiss, on a hokey ferris wheel). Goldman, you were robbed, feller.
Rating:
Summary: "Hearts in Atlantis" - one of the year's better films
Review: "Hearts in Atlantis" is a touching and nicely done film. It has a good story to it and it is greatly enjoyable. It is about a young boy who lives in a small town in Connecticut with his mother and his the events that take place when a man(Anthiny Hopkins) comes to stay in their house with them. There is much more to the story, but you have to go see it to find out what else. I greatly enjoyed this film. There have been so many awful films this year that it was nice to see a really good one for a change that I did not walk out of feeling any bit of disappointment for. I think Anthony Hopkins did a great job in this film and should definitely be recognized for it when oscar nominations are decided. Also, the young boy in the film is good too. It was really nice to see good acting by a young actor for a change, most child actors couldn't act to save their lives. I also really liked director Scott Hicks directing style. He makes some of the best looking films out there and he really uses his gift with this film. So if you read this review, take my advice and go see this film because it really is one of the better ones out there today.
Rating:
Summary: WHAT MOVIE WERE YOU WATCHING?
Review: this is a wonderful film. hopkins is brilliant and compelling, as always, and the story is strong, interesting, unique. it keeps you interested because you aren't sure who this man is or what he's really up to. it's a clasic literary technique that carries you deeper and deeper into the story. this is a poignant story about a boy coming of age, a boy who is getting to know himself, a boy who is becoming a man. he has the help of a very compassionate friend. ....
Rating:
Summary: Why don't they follow the book?
Review: Being an avid Stephen King reader, I was excited to find out about the movie version of Heart in Atlantis. I was even more excited to find Anthony Hopkins as Ted Brautigan. So I took my girlfriend to see it the second day it was out. What a dissapointment. If you have not read the book, then this might interest you. But the book was so much better. I think if Frank Darabont(Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile) would have directed this movie he would have put more super natural elements in it. In the book the story was called "Low Men in Yellow Coats". The reason they wore the yellow coats was a mystery(maybe I didn't catch it), but the "Low Men" were from another world involving the Gunslinger from the Dark Tower Series. The director totally ignored the yellow coats, turning them into gray suits. He ignored the "other worldly" aspect and turned the low men into FBI agents(poor excuse). He turned Ted Brautigan(a "breaker" which involves "The Beam" from the Dark Tower series) into a psychic(who cares). He TOTALLY ignored the whole baseball glove element from the 5 different books. Yes, the baseball glove was in the movie, but it was Bobby's glove, not Sully's. The director also had ... killed, which in the book ... was still alive. In the book, Bobby is acarpenter, not a photographer.
Enough of my soapbox, I tink I just wanted an element, ANY element, of the Dark Tower series to come to the theater. Maybe if I hadn't read the book first, I wouldn't have been as dissapointed. But still I think the movie wasn't that good. Methinks that director's should pick and choose what they want in the movie. Yes, many moviegoers might have been lost with "yellow coats", "The Beam", "The gunslinger", and "Breaker", but so what. I was lost in this movie, but such is Hollywood. Always going after the almighty buck. To sum it up, I feel a person would be better served watching Shawshank and The Green Mile and READING earts in Atlantis and The Dark Tower Series. And if you haven't seen those movies or read those books, you probably should.
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