This film follows Oskar Schell, an incredibly annoying but seemingly complex child who is full of questions and in search of many answers. His world is his father and more importantly his father understands him. Oskar suffers with a mild form of Asperger's Syndrome and everything has to be just so. Despite only being young (his age from what I remember is never actually offered, but I would place him at about 11) his relationship with his mother seems troubled and strained. From the beginning of the film, we know that his father has passed away, yet it keeps flashing back to scenes with his father. We are given clues as to how he lost his life, which are obvious if you are looking for them. The film subsequently follows Oskar's search for the lock to fit a key that he has found in his father's belongings.

I found this film enjoyable to some extent but really annoying to another! The concept of the film was brilliant, a real adventure as Oskar takes his one and only clue, the word 'Black', and hunts down where the key fits. Along the way he meets lots of interesting people, all with their own story to share. This I found really interesting, and without realising it, he begins his own story along the way. What I disliked about the film (and I feel particularly harsh saying this), was the actor who played the part of Oskar. Unfortunately I could not warm to him, and I just found him plain annoying all the way through. I have to say that this is down to the character as opposed to the actor as I'm sure he's a cracking little actor to take the lead role in a film with such an amazing cast, but as I said I just could not warm to him one bit.

The cast is surprisingly low key given that it has Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock and John Goodman in it. Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock play Oskar's parents. Hanks cast as Thomas Schell is an amazing man, full of knowledge which he shares with his son through riddles and adventures. He has a significant but small role in the film, as does Sandra Bullock who plays Linda Schell. A weary mother who loves her son but finds him distant, she plays a much smaller part than Hanks and this seems a shame. I would have quite liked her character to have been explored a little further.

Although the main story of the film centres on Oskar's search for the lock to which he has the key, another story about his relationships soon starts to be explored and this is what I favoured more in the film. Oskar's understanding of the world around him is blurred by the loss of his father and the emotions that have overtaken him, however these new relationships (and one in particular), slowly start to make him happy again and this made the film for me. There are some emotional scenes in the film and you definitely need to have a brave face on when watching the film.

The film is based on the novel of the same name by Jonathan Safran Foer, however I cannot comment on the differences as I haven't read the book. I would imagine that in the book, some of the characters such as Linda Schell, were explored more and were more in depth, therefore I will be giving the novel a go and hoping I favour it more than I did the film adaptation.

I would certainly recommend this film.