...but what was it that he needed to do for his young self to have disappeared?! It wasn't fighting for 'Tripod'...was it discovering that his Dad was just a big scared softie who tried to hide it by being a tough guy..?
shareHe learned he had to grow up. His father needed him to grow up. He couldn't be a kid anymore. Although he was a kid. He grew up to soon. Does that make any sense?
Yeah it makes sense, thanks! although isn't the reason why he grew up too fast was because of his father? Did his father sort of blame him for 'causing' his mother's death or something?
shareHis father blamed him for making her go to the principal's office when she was in such poor health. His father told him to grow up so he won't cause something like that again.
Cheers
Here's my recap: Willis plays Russell, an unhappy, lonely jerk who won't seek professional help. Through Disney magic, his 8-year-old self Rusty (Breslin) is introduced into his life. Russell becomes convinced that "their" lives were ruined after loosing a playgound fight. As they both re-live the fight (this time winning) Russell sees for the first time that it wasn't the fight that changed their lives, but Dad's wrath afterwards where he "taught" his son that: he was killing his Mom; it's not O.K. to act as a kid; and it's not O.K. to cry. Because Russell was able to witness Dad's verbal attack with his adult knowledge and perspective, he was also able to circumvent these false-beliefs from poisoning Rusty's life by explaining the truth: that he wasn't killing Mom, that Dad was simply scared and unable to deal-with/communicate as much, and it was O.K. to be a kid and to cry (by modeling).
Interestingly, Russell didn't have the insight to help Rusty (or himself) until the moment he witnessed the event as an adult. It was only as he stood watching from the curb that he saw the truth that set Rusty (and him) "free".
Yeah, and Rusty "disappears" (goes back to his own time in 1968 and leaves the Russ of 2000) because Russ has now found his way, remembered that he actually does have feelings he's no longer ashamed of or indifferent too - and also, they learn that because Russ is no longer just an impatient cynical image consultant, his future will be just what his boy self wished for: a pilot with a family and dog. Now that Rusty's (and now Russ') dream of his future self not being a "loser" will come true, Russ no longer needs him to show the way and they both can relax about his future. Russ is left alone to complete that dream by patching up things with those around him.
shareOK that's a really good explanation. Thank you so much. I watched the movie at least 50 times last summer and I seriously had no clue just what they did to resolve everything. Now everything is so clear. Thank you.
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