an excellent family movie (The Astronaut Farmer (DVD))

Member Name: brsesw

Product:	The Astronaut Farmer (DVD)
Date:	09/09/09 (6 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: great story, great cast and good for the entire family

Disadvantages: none

The Astronaut Farmer (2006)

Genre: drama/action

Writer: Mark Polish & Michael Polish
Director: Michael Polish

Cast:
Billy Bob Thornton - Charles Farmer
Virginia Madsen - Audrey 'Audie' Farmer
Max Thieriot - Shepperd Farmer
Jasper Polish - Stanley Farmer
Logan Polish - Sunshine Farmer
Bruce Dern - Hal
Bruce Willis - Col. Doug Masterson
J.K. Simmons - Jacobson

Plot:
Charles Farmer, a former astronaut, lives are range with his wife Audie, his son Max, and his two young daughters, Stanley and Sunshine.
Ever since been dismissed from NASA, Charles has dreamed of going into space.
Charles builds a rocket in his barn that he plans on launching into outer space.
With the rocket finished, Charles only needs the rocket fuel to launch. He finds a man through the Internet willing to sell him the fuel.
However, when he attempts to buy 10,000 pounds of rocket fuel the FBI becomes suspicious and pay him a visit. They search his ranch and question his family, but find nothing illegal.
The FAA gets involved and refuses to let Charles buy the fuel or launch his rocket.
Charles and his lawyer appeal to the media and dozens of media outlets ascend on his ranch. Before long, Charles is all over the television, newspapers and magazines and has become somewhat of a folk hero.
Charles and his lawyer appear at a hearing before the FAA and FBI. Charles answers their questions, states his case and awaits their ruling.
The next day Charles' lawyer informs him that the FAA is using usual stall tactics.
Not willing to wait, Charles mixes his own fuel and prepares to launch.
He launches, but the fuel does not burn steady enough and the rocket tips over and is sent skidding along the ground several miles before tumbling off a cliff and crashing.
Charles is alive, but is very badly injured and spends a significant amount of time in the hospital.
After returning home from the hospital, already deep in debt and about to lose his ranch, Charles gives up his astronaut dream.
After her father dies, Audie inherits enough money to keep the bank from foreclosing on the ranch, but seeing how distraught her husband, and even her children are, she gives the money to Charles to build another rocket.
The entire family gets involved, and within a month's time they have built a new rocket and are ready to launch.
With the FBI still watching them, they create a diversion while they fuel the rocket and prepare to launch.
This time, the launch goes off without a hitch, and Charles is shot into orbit.
At one point, his electronics go down and he loses touch with Shepard in their homemade control room. But after a quick fix he reestablishes contact.
Charles orbits the Earth and reenters cleanly.
He safely landed in the desert and is met by his cheering family.

My thoughts:
This is an excellent movie! It's much better than I anticipated. The entire cast was excellent. Billy Bob Thornton and Virginia Madsen were perfectly cast. There's a great appearance by Bruce Willis, and the two little girls in the movie are absolutely adorable. Plus, the addition of Bruce Dern gets a thumbs-up from me, as I am a big fan.
This movie has an excellent message, no matter what anyone else tells you, it is perfectly okay to dream as big as you want to. And, it also teaches us to never give up on our dreams no matter what.
This is a very entertaining family movie, and I definitely recommend it to all.

Summary: a man fulfills his dream of traveling into space in a homemade rocket