''Tuck Everlasting'' is a 2002 American

romantic fantasy Romantic fantasy, or "romantasy", is a Genre, subgenre of fantasy fiction that combines fantasy and Romance novel, romance, describing a fantasy story using many of the elements and conventions of the chivalric romance genre. One of the key featur ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by Jay Russell and written by Jeffrey Lieber and James V. Hart, based on Natalie Babbitt's 1975 book of the same name. Narrated by

Elisabeth Shue Elisabeth Shue (born October 6, 1963) is an American actress. She has starred in films such as '' The Karate Kid'' (1984), '' Adventures in Babysitting'' (1987), ''Cocktail'' (1988), ''Back to the Future Part II'' (1989), '' Back to the Future P ...

, the film stars

Alexis Bledel Kimberly Alexis Bledel ( ; born September 16, 1981) is an American Actor, actress and Model (person), model. She is best known for her roles as Rory Gilmore on the television series ''Gilmore Girls'' (2000–2007) and Emily Malek in ''The Handm ...

Ben Kingsley Sir Ben Kingsley (born Krishna Pandit Bhanji; 31 December 1943) is an English actor. He has received List of awards and nominations received by Ben Kingsley, various accolades throughout Ben Kingsley on screen and stage, his career spanning fi ...

Sissy Spacek Mary Elizabeth "Sissy" Spacek (; born December 25, 1949) is an American actress and singer. She has received List of awards and nominations received by Sissy Spacek, numerous accolades throughout her career spanning over five decades, including ...

Amy Irving Amy Irving (born September 10, 1953) is an American actress and singer, who has worked in film, stage, and television. Her accolades include an Obie Award, and nominations for two Golden Globe Awards and an Academy Award. Born in Palo Alto, Cali ...

Victor Garber Victor Garber, (born March 16, 1949) is a Canadian stage and film actor and singer. Known for his work on stage and screen, he has been nominated for three Gemini Awards, four Tony Awards, and six Primetime Emmy Awards. In 2022, he was made an ...

, Jonathan Jackson, Scott Bairstow, and

William Hurt William McChord Hurt (March 20, 1950 – March 13, 2022) was an American actor. For his performances on stage and screen, he received various awards including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, and a Cannes Film Festival Award for B ...

. The film was released in the United States on October 11, 2002.

Plot

In 1914, fifteen-year-old Winnie Foster, who is from an upper-class family in the American town of Treegap, wants to make her own choices in life. After being told that she will go to a

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. They have existed for many centuries, and now extend acr ...

, she runs off into the forest, where she meets Jesse Tuck, who is drinking from a spring at the foot of a great tree. She is kidnapped by his older brother Miles and brought back to the Tucks' home where they tell her they will return her as soon as they can trust her. She becomes enamored with their slow and simple way of life and falls in love with Jesse. She learns that, by drinking water from a magic spring around a hundred years ago, the Tucks cannot age or be injured, and that they kidnapped her to hide the secret. They tell her that living forever is more painful than it sounds, and that they believe giving away the secret of the spring will lead everyone to want to drink from it and worry it might fall into the wrong hands. A man in a yellow suit befriends the Fosters while Winnie is gone. He spies on the Tucks and desires the spring to sell the water. He makes a deal to return Winnie in exchange for the forest. He goes to the Tucks and orders them to reveal where the spring is; when they deny any knowledge of it, he threatens Winnie with a pistol. He calls their bluff by shooting Jesse and exposing his immortality; but in return Jesse's mother, Mae, kills him with the butt end of a rifle. A constable arrives and arrests Mae and Angus, her husband and Jesse and Miles' father. Mae is sentenced to be hanged for murdering the man. After being returned home, Winnie is woken by Jesse, who begs her to help him free his parents. The family fears that if Mae is hanged the next day, she won't die and their immortality will be exposed to the public. Winnie helps Jesse and Miles to break the Tucks out of jail and says goodbye to them. Jesse, who has fallen in love with Winnie, asks her to join them, but Angus warns her that it is dangerous to go with them as they will be hunted. Jesse tells Winnie to drink from the spring so that she will live forever and never age, and that he will come back for her when all is safe, then leaves, promising to love her until the day he dies. After the Tucks depart, Winnie chooses not to drink the water, as Angus warned her that being immortal is far worse than living a typical life and that she should not fear death. More than 85 years later, in the present day, Jesse returns to Treegap on a motorcycle. He goes into the woods and at the base of the great tree finds Winnie's headstone marking the site where the spring once stood. The stone reads that Winnie became a wife and mother before dying at 100 years of age. Jesse sits at her grave, smiling through his tears and remembering her.

Cast

as Winnie Foster * Jonathan Jackson as Jesse Tuck *

as The Man in the Yellow Suit *

as Angus Tuck, Jesse and Miles's father *

as Mae Tuck, Jesse and Miles's mother * Scott Bairstow as Miles Tuck, Jesse's older brother *

as Betsy Foster, Winnie's mother *

as Robert Foster, Winnie's father * Julia Hart as Sally Hannaway * Naomi Kline as Beatrice Ruston * Robert Luis as Night Deputy *

as Narrator

Production

Filming took place from April 23, 2001, to June 11, 2001. The film was shot in

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

, specifically in

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

, Bel Air, and

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. The film was filmed in 2.40:1 widescreen. The film was narrated by

Charlie Day Charles Peckham Day (born February 9, 1976) is an American actor, writer, and producer. He is best known for playing Charlie Kelly (It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia), Charlie Kelly on the FX Networks, FX dark comedy ''It's Always Sunny in Phila ...

, Glenn Howerton, and

Rob McElhenney Robert McElhenney III ( ; born April 14, 1977) is an American actor, screenwriter and producer. He is best known for his role as Mac on the FX/ FXX comedy series '' It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia'' (2005–present), a show he created and co ...

—the future creators of the longest-running live-action sitcom in the history of U.S. television, ''

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia ''It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia'', also known colloquially simply as ''Always Sunny'', is an American sitcom created by Rob McElhenney and co-developed by Glenn Howerton for FX (TV channel), FX. It premiered on August 4, 2005, and stars Charl ...

''—met during tryouts for the film. None of them were cast in the movie.

Reception

Box office

On a $10 million budget, ''Tuck Everlasting'' grossed $19,161,999 in the US and $182,616 in other territories for a worldwide total of $19,344,615. The film was released on VHS and DVD on February 25, 2003. The movie was filmed in

Panavision Panavision Inc. is an American motion picture equipment company (law), company founded in 1954 specializing in cameras and photographic lens, lenses, based in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, Woodland Hills, California. Formed by Robert Gottschalk a ...

(

anamorphic Anamorphic format is a cinematography technique that captures widescreen images using recording media with narrower native Aspect ratio (image), aspect ratios. Originally developed for 35 mm movie film, 35 mm film to create widescreen pres ...

) 2.40:1 widescreen. All DVD copies present the film in its original 2.40:1 widescreen format.

Critical response

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, the film received a 60% rating based on 120 reviews, with an average rating of 6.30/10. The critical consensus reads, "Though slow-moving, ''Tuck Everlasting'' raises big issues and explores them with sensitivity." On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, the film has a 66 out of 100, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...

of the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...

'' gave the film two stars out of four, writing that the film "is too impressed with its own solemn insights to work up much entertainment value". He further wrote that the film's message was questionable, opining "the injunction to live life fully need not come with a time limit. That's why the outcome of the romance is so unsatisfactory."

References

External links

* * * *
Alexis Bledel interview for Tuck Everlasting
{{Jay Russell 2002 films 2002 fantasy films 2002 romantic drama films 2000s American films 2000s English-language films 2000s fantasy drama films 2000s romantic fantasy films 2000s teen drama films 2000s teen fantasy films 2000s teen romance films American fantasy drama films American romantic drama films American romantic fantasy films American teen drama films American teen romance films Beacon Pictures films Films about immortality Films based on American novels Films based on children's books Films directed by Jay Russell Films produced by Marc Abraham Films scored by William Ross Films set in 1914 Films set in 2002 Films set in forests Films shot in Baltimore Films shot in Maryland Walt Disney Pictures films English-language romantic drama films English-language romantic fantasy films English-language fantasy drama films