Captain Fantastic, dir. Matt Ross

Captain Fantastic, the film that gave Viggo Mortensen his second Best Actor nomination, is a thoughtful film about how even the most loving of parents can make errors that are detrimental to their kids. And for 100 minutes, it's an effective drama that romanticizes the main characters' beliefs in raising his family and his kids to be self-sufficient and away from modern society. Then, as the film moves forward, it shows the cracks and how Ben may have actually caused some unfortunate harm in the very kids he was trying to protect. The film develops well enough to make this leaps feel credible and the emotion behind what happens is palpable. The road trip/fish out of water story is pretty entertaining with some funny and heartfelt moments sprinkled throughout. But then, without spoiling, the last twenty minutes seems to chicken out into a very safe ending that felt like it cheapens the overall story. It's not an ending that makes the film bad, but it's one that took what was a great story with some real emotional bite and turned it into an ending that would rather pacify the audience into a happy ending where it may not have been deserved.