If anyone remember "Summer of '42", "December Boys" is close to it. In this movie, you got 4 orphans: Maps (Daniel Radcliffe, "Harry Potter"), Misty (Lee Cormie),Spark (Christian Byers),& Spit (James Fraser). When they have a birthday on the same month, they get the chance to leave the orphanage and head out to the beach. Out there, they stay with a couple, whose wife is stricken with cancer. They later meet a couple who does stunts at a carnival. The younger three associated themselves with the couple, while Maps associated with Lucy(Teresa Palmer). Maps and Lucy spends so much time together, they share a kiss, and gets deflowered in the process. Earlier, Misty learns one of the four will be adopted. When Maps went to speak to Fearless(Sullivan Stapleton), he learns that he's not the motorcycle rider, he is only cleaning up after the animals. He would later learn that Fearless was a rider. An stunt accident caused his wife not to bear children. After a near drowning experience, the four orphans are re-bonded and learn to know that Misty is the one who gets adopted. He declined the offer and chooses the other three. Of course, years later, the surviving three come to the place where they had their holiday. And reminisce the good times. This movie is close to "Summer of '42". And it suited me just fine! 5 stars!

Most of the movie takes place on small beach of vacation cabins on the South Australia coast, but it begins in the vast, featureless spaces of the Australian Outback, the location of this boys town run by nuns. One feature of the way the orphanage operates, boys are recognized as a group during the month of their birthday, so these 4 boys are known as the "December Boys." This December they get a special treat because a donation has been made, and the 4 of them are being sent "on holiday" to stay with a family during the Christmas break on this tidy little beach community. (Remember Christmas in Australia is summertime.) Having mostly experienced life in the Outback ("when it rains a lot and floods we can go fishing.") these 4 boys are confronted with all kinds of surprises in the small coastal community. There is the childless married lady who comes out of the water, topless, to greet the boys. (One of them faints.) There is the precocious teenage girl who has a secret hideaway among the rocks that she calls her Stonehenge, and hints that aliens may have constructed it, although it looks like centuries of Ocean sculpting. And there is the old fisherman fishing for Henry ("Is that a person, or a type of fish?"), the old, large fish that visits the bay.The movie is narrated in modern time by the adult character we come to know as Misty. Jusdging from Misty's current age, the story must have been set in the late 1950s or the 1960s. Daniel Radcliffe of Harry Potter fame is Maps, because he has birthmarks on his chest that looks like maps. Lee Cormie is Misty who appears to be about 12 in the movie. Christian Byers is Sparks, and James Fraser is Spit because his dad flew a Spitfire. The teenage girl is cute Teresa Palmer as Lucy. Sullivan Stapleton is Fearless, married to Victoria Hill as Teresa. They can't have children so begin talking about adopting one of the 4 boys. Misty overhears this and much of the last half of the movie has the boys in silent competition to see who might be chosen. This is a very big deal because it was very hard for any of these boys to be adopted.A very nice, little movie, it has a realistic feel and is a coming of age experience for the 4 boys.SPOILERS: Maps is the oldest of the boys, and often takes a "big brother" role. He is very naive in the ways of the world, and especially with girls. Lucy recognizes that and becomes his "teacher", since she has affection for him. She becomes his "first" in her hideaway. Towards the end of the movie, the childless couple announce they have chosen Misty to adopt, and the three of them watch as the other 3 boys wander away. Misty realizes that his family really is the group of 4 December Boys, and he affectionately tells the young couple thanks for choosing him, but he really belongs with the family he already has.The movie ends in modern time, and we see Max Cullen as the Narrator and the Adult Misty. We learn that Maps, after his experience with Lucy, and having a vision underwater while saving Misty, actually became a Priest. All 3 surviving December Boys met at the seaside getaway with Maps' ashes, so they could be scattered on that hillside where the 4 of them had the bonding experience years earlier. (Note: It is not consistent with Roman Catholic practice to scatter ashes, especially for a Priest.)

Set in the early sixties in an outback Christian orphanage four orphans are seen uncharacteristically "mooning" from a window. It quickly moves from the sublime to the ridiculous when the orphans are smoking after lights out. The head nun tells four orphans they are going on beach holiday due to a donation and you wonder why the rest of the orphans miss out. On the way to the beach holiday the children are heard to say "Let's cross swords" as they cross their urinating streams by a roadside break and I realize the scriptwriter has little conception of how Australian boys talk and behave. We then see the boys at a circus where they see 1980's BMX motor bikes in "daredevil" stunts but it's the sixties and you would have to conclude the director is an idiot. The film becomes a narrative of one of the boys wearing glasses and they arrive at the beach begin an unsupervised frolicking escapade. He the sees a black horse and it leads them to the beach where a topless girl emerges from the water and introduces herself in a Mexican accent. You then realize she is what appears to be a French family running the supposed to a beach resort. Daniel Radcliffe plays Maps and appears much taller and older than the other boys and is withdrawn .A Man appears on a Triumph motorcycle looking like his from the eighties. He the take the bespectacled boy for a dangerous stunt ride on his shoulders whilst riding his motor bike on sand. During this symbolised coming of age film we hear Australian rock hits from the seventies. Its further evidence that Australians can't make films and doesn't make any sense the dialogue is ridiculous. The other boys are drinking by now we see the horse with a fish in its Radcliffe's character is already smoking and probably already having sex with the blond Lucy. We see a horse with a fish in its mouth and see a silly adoption story. It only get worse from that point and is a waste of Australian taxpayers money. Acting woeful , Minus five stars.

The buzz for December Boys surely points to how Daniel Radcliffe will fare sans cloak, glasses and lightning bolt scar on his forehead, to star in a movie that's totally out of the Harry Potter franchise. Gone are the fantastical elements and scores of ready, adoring fans, and in comes a serious dramatic piece about the coming of age, growing up, and raging hormones. Wait, Harry Potter is about that too doesn't it, although it stretches over 7 movies? But Radcliffe comes through unscathed, and it's not before long that you'd forget that here's Harry Potter. While possibly the biggest recognizable name on the cast list, it wasn't a walkover performance as everyone else had raised their act and not allow a young starlet usurp the strength of the movie. Based on a novel by Michael Noonan, December Boys tells the story of 4 orphans, all being born in the month of December, who were sent packing to a seaside village for a vacation, by virtue that it's a reward sent to the orphanage, and what better (lazier?) way to select the lucky few, than the ones celebrating their birthdays the same month.So we have Maps (Radcliffe), Misty (Lee Cormie), Sparks (Christian Byers) and Spit (James Fraser) sent on a journey that will test their close friendship, and as usual, each will come face to face with their individual challenge that will forever change their lives. Gee, I sound like a generic trailer, but trust me, although the premise might sound cliché, December Boys hinges very heavily on the delivery of the child actors for its success. While the spotlight might be on Radcliffe and Cormie, Byers and Fraser each have their own charm, but are restrained by the frequency of their characters' on-screen appearance. The landscape of Kangaroo Island adds vast scale to this relatively small movie, opening our eyes to natural geographical wonders, becoming a character in itself, with its inhabitants mere players on its grounds.While it's not Stand By Me, there's the usual basis that lurks around begging for comparisons. And worse, the story here allows for each of them to try and go one leg up on the other, as they learn that one of the purposes they are there at the village, was to allow for one of them to be selected for adoption. Hence the competition amongst the boys as they vie for attention, putting on their best behaviour, most contrary to what their actual characters are like. Each child however, have an episode directed around him, to similarly allow the audience to pick their preferred sub plots, involving a giant fish, a misunderstood motorcycle stuntman, dealing with mortality issues when their surrogate guardian has to battle disease, and of course, saving the best for last and for Radcliffe, first love, in the form of a young lolita Lucy (Teresa Palmer).Soon, their hot blooded young boy antics and rebellious streaks give way to a tone of seriousness, and there's where the movie adds its poignant gravitas. December Boys might not seem much from the get go, but with each passing minute, it adds layers upon layers to build its repertoire and stand up against the scrutiny of mediocrity. By the time the final scene rolls by, even though it doesn't show much and does so mostly through narration, I thought the ending was perfect, with a tinge of regret, happiness, sorrow, and a show of solidarity all rolled into one.