David and Jennifer Wagner are fairly ordinary '90s teens growing up in an ordinary Californian suburb. He is a little bit square; watching reruns of 'Pleasantville', a '50s sitcom, while she is more interested in having a good time with her date. Then something strange happens; one evening they fight over the TV remote and it gets broken and without the remote the set won't work; moments later the repairman appears at the door and gives them a new 'more powerful' remote. Once again they argue and when the TV is switched on they find themselves in Pleasantville.Pleasantville is one of those perfect towns that only exist in TV shows of a certain vintage; everything is just swell, the dinner is always on the table when father gets home, the weather is always sunny and the home team always wins… also it is in black and white, there may be children but there is no knowledge of sex, all the books are blank and there is no 'outside of town'. It turns out the TV repairman thought this would be a real treat for David… he is a little upset when David and Jennifer demand to return home and storms off telling them he might be back in a week. David things they should just play along but Jennifer isn't so keen to change her ways. It isn't long before their actions are changing Pleasantville. Before their arrival boys and girls would date for quite a while before holding hands; Jennifer takes the captain of the basketball team on a date and shows him that there is more they can do than just hold hands. Soon after strange things start to happen; there are splashes of colour here and there, the team starts to lose and it even rains. Some of the inhabitants welcome the changes and the awakening of feelings and desires they never knew existed; these people become coloured. Others are determined that Pleasantville must remain pleasant and they remain monochrome. It isn't just the town that is changing; David becomes a little less square and Jennifer discovers the she might just enjoy a good book as much as going out on a date.This is a delightful film; for the most part it is subtle with gradual changes to the characters as things progress. There are funny moments as well as some touching ones. I liked how Pleasantville was an almost sickly sweet cliché of a '50s sitcom… there aren't even toilets as nobody would be seen needing to go to the lavatory in such programmes! The ending where those who want things to stay as they are fight back and there are 'No Coloreds' signs and book burnings is a little heavy handed but not enough to spoil ones enjoyment of the film. The characters developed nicely throughout the film leading to an ending that would have seemed unlikely early on but was just right by the time we got to the end. Tobey Maguire and Reese Witherspoon do fine jobs as David and Jenifer and are ably supported by a fine cast; notably Joan Allen and William H. Macy as their 'parents', Jeff Daniels as David's art-loving boss and J. T. Walsh as the town's rather reactionary mayor. The special effects as colour gradually seeps into Pleasantville are really good; with shades that look more like early colour photographs than real colours. Overall I'd certainly recommend this; it is a lot of fun and for the most part subtle and reminds us that the 'good old days', even as depicted on television, were far from perfect.

I guess that traditional values were horrible?People just 'thought' they were happy?That self-gratification, pleasure, infidelity, sex, sleeping around with multiple people and kids losing their virginity, and not waiting, is what makes people happy?Only neat thing was addressing the 'colored' people problem of the past. Neat how they did that. Although they couldn't resist making the white kids seem real horrible.All in all, I think this whole thing was just a bash on traditional values. Values my grandparents, by the way, respected and look back on fondly.Guess the smutty world we live in now is so much better. Thanks for teaching me this Hollywood.I'll let my wife know she's not really happy being a stay-at-home mom and that really she should be looking to branch out and have an affair to really feel alive.

I have to say this is an exceptional film. Every time I watch it I am amazed by the genius of its simplicity and the superb acting. J.T Walsh and Jeff Daniels, as well as the ever glorious William H Macy. This is a story that highlights the cruelty of bigotry and narrow-mindedness in a very unique way. The burning of the books because they tell the wrong stories and restricting songs and paintings because they are promiscuous.Gary Ross is an incredible writer that can spin a story so exquisitely. All I can say is that the time to watch this movie, you will not be disappointed.

This movie has a definite charm about it. In the show, blending the withdrawn fantasies of the main character created by a harsh true life with the nostalgic yearning for a flawless existence seen only at a distance in a television program, supernatural consequences occur beginning with the unintended urges of the brother played by Tobey McGuire, when he and his sister start an unexpected argument. At odds with each other from the beginning, their escape into the TV sitcom Pleasantville reflects to the audience like a symbolic moral issue about the need to change for progress to happen and how a few brave souls can really make a difference. I am impressed to see actor Don Knotts in here since I was always amused at his comedies and his role on the Andy Griffith show. This movie has a great story line to build these ideas into it and Pleasantville ends up pleasant after all in a very opposite sort of way. Entertaining young people, and some old, as well as quenching viewers' curiosities about an earlier time, the film follows through logically and with nice acting too. Pleasantville represents an extraordinary displacement of events which will provoke viewers' wonder. Or it may be that it is contrasting an ordinary '50's life-style against an idealistic, yet inhibiting, make-believe world intending to argue the point of 'which is better'? Whichever perspective you want to approach it from, it stimulates a lasting impression on the movie-goer. This show is well worth trying for lighthearted fantasy entertainment intended to be seen by a wide spectrum of audiences.