Tuck Everlasting
Review by: Natalie

Based on Natalie Babbit’s award-winning novel of the same title, Tuck Everlasting tells the story of the Tucks, a family who accidentally drank from a magic spring from The Foster’s little forest and became immortal. Into their lives burst Winifred ‘Winnie’ Foster (played by Gilmore Girls’ Alexis Bledel), a 17-year old girl who feels smothered by her well-bred, strait-laced family and decides to run into the woods which her family owns. Along the way she meets Jesse Tuck (Jonathan Jackson) whom she sees drinking from the spring. He prevents her from drinking from it but Miles, his elder brother, ‘kidnaps’ her and takes her back to the Tuck house. There, she meets Mae Tuck (Academy Award winner Sissy Spacek) and Angus Tuck (Academy Award winner William Hurt), the parents of Jesse and Miles. The two of them treat her with kindness, but they do not reveal their secret to her yet as they do not know whether to trust her. Jesse and Winnie have the time of their lives and soon fall in love. That is when Miles reveals the Tuck’s secret- They all drank from the spring 84 years ago. It is here where we learn why Miles is so bitter. Miles has seen the horror of life but he can never escape from it. And neither can all of the Tucks.

Meanwhile, Winnie’s parents are searching for her and a mysterious stranger in a yellow suit (Academy Award winning Ben Kingsley) offers help and claims he knows where she is. Actually, the stranger wants the spring and to become immortal. When he finds the Tucks, he tries to manipulate them into letting him get to the spring by taking Winnie hostage, but Mae strikes him on the head with a rod just as the police arrive. Mae and Angus are put into prison with Mae facing the impending doom of the gallows. But Mae can’t die and their secret will thus be revealed, so Winnie decides to help them.

During Winnie’s final moments with the Tucks, Jesse persuades her to drink from the spring and ‘when it is safe, he’ll come back for her’.

(spoiler warning) Towards the end, Winnie contemplates whether she should drink from the spring but ultimately decides against it. The movie ends on a bittersweet note, showing Jesse returning to Treegap in 1999 where he finds Winnie’s grave. He is sad that he can never be with her but is happy that she is not trapped in time like him and his family.

The novel and movie raise the timeless question of immortality. Many people want to live forever, but as shown by the Tucks, it is not all cracked up to be. As said by Angus Tuck, ‘nobody wants to die, but without dying, there is no living, it’s all part of the wheel of life’. The movie ends on a bittersweet note, and leaves you to ponder whether Winnie made the right decision. For me, when I first watched it, I didn’t think she made the right decision, but after a while, I realised that she did the right thing by not drinking from the fountain.

I think the cast was superb as well. Alexis Bledel showed real depth and emotion of her character and the older cast of Sissy Spacek, William Hurt and Ben Kingsley were great as well.

A hauntingly enchanting tale, this movie is wonderful, and I’ll be sure to pick up the novel as well!