A nice take on the coming-of-age theme. Fantasy and grave-digging might appeal to many kids sense of adventure. It has secret messages, a code ring, and a mystery--great fun! There were a lot of places I could see where you could initiate a discussion with your kids--about dying, how to treat other people, the true meaning of friendship, etc. I found the lead character Owen to be a likable kid, his friend Mr. Rice was cool--I really like David Bowie. The ending was not a surprise, but expected--maybe not by a kid, a really good movie for parents and kids to watch together. I'll keep it around for my grandkids to watch when they come over.

I'm giving this film a awful score. It's entertaining to watch just because it is that bad. There is a scene in the movie where the main character is being made fun of at baseball try outs. He rushes as the kid making fun of him. The one kid sidesteps him and than everyone on the baseball team throws baseballs at him. It's honestly funny only because it would never happen in real life. The coaches would have stepped in a long time ago. If you choose to watch this movie that scene is why you should do it. Other than that is a simply bad movie half fantasy and half real life with unrealistic scenes mixed in. Making it totally unbelievable. But totally worth watching for it's suckyness

This movie has already been covered by quite a few reviews. However, the best part of the movie has yet to be mentioned. A couple of our teenage protagonists have just come back into town and are talking to their friend Owen. They relate to him a charming story regarding an acquaintance of theirs named Percy. Well, it seems the mischievous Percy tied the rear legs of a dog together and then threw it into the middle of the lake to see if it could swim back to shore. Guess what? It couldn't! After a good chuckle by the group of kids, they decided to play a nice game of street hockey. Those crazy kids! "Mr. Rice's Secret" is truly one of the most touching and inspirational films of our time.

I rented it for Bowie. He had about 5 minutes of screen time, tops. It was like an after school tv special with cussing, vomit, boogers, grave digging, and violence against children with cancer thrown in for added viewing pleasure.One moment you're looking at cute middle class kids playing street hockey and the next scene, you're watching them kick a chemotherapy patient repeatedly in the kidneys.Perhaps I missed the point.