I'll Remember April (1999) User Reviews (11)

Great childhood adventure

[HogarthHughes · 7/10 · 26 September 2006]

This is a well-crafted and pleasant film - telling the growing up of four American childhood friends just after the attack on Pearl Harbour. While the four friends are consumed by playing being soldiers, a Japanese submariner washes ashore their beach. Initially thinking to become heroes, the boys detain the seriously wounded soldier. But is he truly an enemy of everything they hold dear?

Really fulfilling my admittedly optimistic expectation, April did not only turn out to be a wonderful tale of youth friendship, but also a pretty nice drama as well. The film - during many moments - brought back memories of Richard Donner's (and as far as I'm concerned Spielberg's) The Goonies. Growing up with friends, participating in a grand and exciting adventure, trying to do good. This is what April is about as well. While not ignoring to include sentimental scenes, the film skillfully prevents presenting huge clichés. The moments that were supposed to be powerful in the film work well. And besides being enjoyable and powerful, the film also manages to supply an important and true message as well.

The casting could not have been more wonderful. We are given a cast of four great kids, including a very impressive Trevor Morgan and star-becoming Haley Joel Osment. Morgan absolutely shines as the kid who's dealing with some scars of war, and he is fantastic in more than just a couple of scenes. He makes one very moving sequence in the film work truly well. Osment is giving a solid yet relatively small show as well - his character is of less importance in this story, but he's indeed rather memorable as Morgan's buddy.

While the story basically centers around the four boys and their Japanese 'prisoner', there are powerful other characters around as well. One of the boys' relatives, played by the late and wonderful Pat Morita, and Morgan's character's father have good screen presence.

As mentioned, April is a coming of age story packed with some dramatic elements, yet it remains light and easily viewable. Backed by a decent enough score, the film manages to touch the heart without any doubt. Probably Morgan's best role as a child actor, and one of Osment's cool early appearances on the silver screen, I'll Remember April is a must-see for fans of the genre. Growing up couldn't have been more fun.

Highly recommended.

interesting

[vita-24 · 7/10 · 8 July 2002]

This movie was very interesting.It is very appropriate for younger kids.Very good performences by all 4 kids.this movie taught me alot about racism and what happened during that time period. Congradulations to all the actors for a job well done but a special congrads to haley joel osment.

War is hell

[Ed-Shullivan · 6/10 · 3 July 2019]

This film may be a bit unrealistic with the gist of the film being about four (4) pre-teen boys who spend their summer vacation riding on their bicycles around their Califormia suburb neighborhood pretending to be soldiers capturing and killing each other, until they run smack dab into a real life Japanese soldier who is injured and rather than reporting the enemy to the authorities they develop sympathy for him and choose to bring him food and water and hide him in their abandoned factory make believe fortress.

The film does remind us of the air raids that were underway during world war 2 and how every citizen with even a fraction of Japanese heritage needed to be rounded up, their property sold, and placed in internment camps. The acting was above par, the vintage scenery and automobiles of the era were fun reminiscing, and the story does have a happy ending for three (3) of the four (4) boys. The fourth boy was Japanese and he had to say goodbye to his neighborhood buddies as his family was rounded up and placed in a camp. As for the wounded Japanese soldier, there is a (sort of) happy ending for him which I won't divulge but I will say the film is worth a watch to remind us all how war is hell.

Beautiful film, these other comments don't do it justice

[tabi_maya · 11 August 2004]

Being a Japanese-American myself, I must say that PRACTICALLY every comment on here is pointless or doesn't do this film justice. Especially, the one from the perv talking about having sex with and under-aged boy!!! ERASE THAT COMMENT! I cannot believe IMDb even posted such a comment! And who cares about the details, like the military truck driving around. This is not meant to be a historically accurate movie... it's the story and message that's important.

The movie was so touching and showed how, inspite of what was going on, not all people are bad because they're associated with a certain people. This is a message we can especially take into consideration now. It also showed the beautiful innocence of children and how they might be just as quick to judge, which is only because it's a trait learned from adults, but they let doing the right thing matter more. Something we as adults can learn a lesson from. There was a particularly sad portion of the story dealing with the internment camps. It brought the situation into a whole new light and showed how, I'm sure, it really was for some... People you grew up with your whole life, who were born and raised in America forced to leave their homes, friends, and jobs. What the Japanese did was wrong, yes. But the Americans bombed whole cities full of innocents with aftermath that killed for years. Plus, they stole the freedom of their own, in their own country, just because they were of Japanese descent. It's a heart-wrenching piece of history told in a story that anyone can relate to, not just those who were in the military. Highly recommended. 9 out of 10 only because the flow or editing of events was a little choppy.

A cracked curio...

[martylee13045burlsink342 · 5/10 · 31 August 2015]

Interesting indie that barely got released anywhere (and probably was slapped crudely onto disc to capitalize on the sudden fame of one of it's juvenile players...despite being the focus of cover art and billing Haley Joel Osment has a supporting role...and looks to be a bit younger and a LOT blonder than he was in "The Sixth Sense" and he is NOT prominently featured here.).

Well meaning and at times moving depiction of broken lives of about to be interred American born Japanese descended citizens is rather uncomfortably with far fetched fantasy of 4 boys becoming best buddies with a wounded and stranded Japanese sailor. Some very good work from a surprisingly strong cast hints that this could have been a quite interesting film with a better detailed script and a much bigger budget...(the film as it stands seems about four fifths finished with a temp track score and a very strangely shot ending).

If you do pick it up on disc as a curio (thank you for offering it DAEDELUS BOOKS!) I would strongly advise NOT watching the trailer before seeing the film...It gives away about ninety per cent of the plot!

Humanizes a bad situation

[satterwh · 9/10 · 1 May 2001]

Film brings to life a very bad point in our history, the internment of Americans of Japanese descent. Excellent performances by all 4 kids also showed that not all soldiers on the enemy side were monsters. It could have used a *LITTLE* balance (e.g. references to the atrocities being committed that caused the sentiment that the film shows), but the point made in the film was quite valid regardless. Recommended.

Better than any textbook

[shneur · 10/10 · 16 July 2005]

This movie, set in a Pacific coast town in the early days of WWII, is about war and stereotypes and racism. It's also about kindness and loyalty and small heroic acts performed by ordinary people. The main character is a boy, played beautifully by Trevor Morgan, who is dealing simultaneously with fears about his brother's fate as a soldier in battle, the impending loss of his best friend to the shameful internment of Japanese-American citizens, and his involvement with a marooned Japanese sailor who saves him from drowning. Morgan handles the complicated role with aplomb, and even manages not to be upstaged by Haley Joel Osment, which is no mean feat in itself! If I were introducing this period of history to students, from junior high to undergraduate school, I can think of no better kickoff than showing "I'll Remember April" along with "Snow Falling on Cedars" as companion pieces to stimulate serious thought and discussion.

I laughed and cried with the actors. Great family movie! Good for discussion of the evils of racism.

[pkbca · 10/10 · 25 January 2001]

I really enjoyed the film. I thought the actors were very believable and I laughed and cried with them as the story unfolded. I found it a good vehicle to begin a discussion with my grandchildren of the history of one of the most shameful things our country had done in our treatment of the Japanese during this time period. I wish the film had been longer. There were times that the continuity was missing and I had to wonder how we got to the current point. Since I have the video, I replayed some scenes.

Great Family Movie!

[little_sexy_katie · 10/10 · 18 November 2001]

I bought I'll Remember April on DVD off Amazon without ever seeing it or talking to anyone who had! It was a big risk but I was very pleasently surprised by this movie! The acting was wonderful, Trevor Morgan really did a wonderful job and was very believable! A really good movie to watch as a family, it has funny moments, sad moments and a very good moral lesson! It can be enjoyed by kids as young as 5 and adults as old as 100!

The cover bothers me a lot

[TheVintageArchive · 1 May 2002]

The cover of the movie bothers me a lot because Haley Joel Osment is NOT the leading role in this movie, and they just had to stick his face on it. The real star is TREVOR MORGAN!!!!!!

Who has been in The Patriot, JP3, The Sixth Sense (as the bully), and The Glass House, and currently he is in the Rookie.

SO give this kid credit! He is brilliant!

Overall, I'll Remember April was sweet and a really great movie! It is wonderful for the family...You'll love it!

This was a great based upon true events

[Strikeguy · 8/10 · 16 February 2021]

The actors in this film were all perfect for this roll. I came across the movie from Pat Morita (watching his last Karate Kid film). When I saw his name on "I'll Remember April", I checked out of who all was on it. WOW,what a cast and the story I saw today. Those Four kids were outstanding plus of all they did to that wounded Japanese solider. I saw this movie earlier this morning. I was blown away! So 1-10 I couldn't go for a perfect 10 but 8 is very good. If you have not seen this movie you should, if you have the tubi movie sight, it is free but just a few ads during the movie....but there is no cut outs for the movie