For those who enjoyed the camping experience as a youth, the movie, with its marshmallow roasts, canoe rides and talent shows, offers a bit of nostalgia. Others may find the whole thing a little pointless.
Comment
09/14/07
Summercamp! (2007)
77 %
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted: 22
Fresh: 17
Rotten:5
Average Rating: 6.5/10
Runtime: 90 mins
Genre: Education/General Interest
Synopsis: Featuring original music from the Flaming Lips, this entertaining documentary follows the antics and adventures of the campers and counselors at Swift Nature Camp in Wisconsin.
Director: Bradley Beesley, Sarah Price
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Reviews for Summercamp!
Summercamp! maintains a gentle, lackadaisical tone that eloquently captures the triumphs and traumas of this ageless ritual.
09/14/07
Brief bits of real charm, personality and camp-life detail squeeze through, suggesting why some thrive in an oasis of animal worship, outdoor revelry and zero-to-hero popularity that forgives a nerdy rep back home.
08/31/07
Top CriticSummercamp is so haphazard it might as well be someone's digitally enhanced home movie.
08/30/07
Unlike the intense cadets for Christ and creationism in the recent documentary Jesus Camp, the kids in the sweet Summercamp! have fun!
08/24/07
Top CriticSweet and alive with homesickness and high-fives, sing-a-longs and armpit farts.
08/23/07
For all the conventional, nostalgic images in Summercamp!, there are more you may not have seen before.
08/16/07
I guess as a film concept it's more engaging than MVD Visit! or Grocery Shopping! but not by much.
08/15/07
It observes the specific until the specific turns universal, and the universal until you find yourself moved beyond words.
08/10/07
Top CriticPoignant and perceptive.
08/02/07
A film only a mother could love.
07/27/07
Top CriticThe film is great fun, and the perfectly summer-sun baked soundtrack comes largely courtesy of Beesley's good pals, the Flaming Lips.
07/20/07
A sweeter, more unassuming movie isn't likely to come our way anytime soon.
07/20/07
Top CriticOf all the films, fictional or non-, that set out to capture the terrors and wonders of childhood and adolescence, and the treacherous borderline between them, I've hardly seen any that affected me this deeply.
07/19/07
Top CriticWith tenderness and joy, Bradley Beesley and Sarah Price capture the precious moments of preteen freedom -- not from parents and school, but from self-awareness and doubt.
07/19/07
Nostalgic as only a project steered by two former campers can be, Summercamp! is a riot of talent shows and campfires, canoeing and holistic clowning.
07/18/07
Top CriticAlthough it's hard to be too churlish about such a good-hearted film, Summercamp! manages to make watching kids have fun surprisingly tedious.
07/17/07
Top CriticFor better or worse, this relaxed docu successfully captures the experience of summer camp,
07/16/07
Top CriticAt times it feels like a feature-length Flaming Lips video, which is not at all a bad thing, except I kept wondering if Wayne Coyne would pop out from behind a tree and start somersaulting or building sandcastles.
04/08/07
Summercamp! is a peek at what summer camp is really like for these kids, but it's honesty and its heart are ultimately what take it beyond mere documentation and into intimate and well-done documentary storytelling.
09/23/06
Latest News for Summercamp!
September 10, 2006:
TORONTO: Blog Day 2 -- "Fiction," "Babel," and the Flaming Lips Live!!
On Day Two of the Toronto International Film Festival, your humble Tomato correspondents finally got into the swing of things. We saw some particularly strong films... More...
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