"Son of Rambow" is filled with small surprises and treasures, a veritable bounty of delight. It perfectly captures the innocent, whimsical joys of boyhood, and it does this in the simplest possible way: by being innocent and whimsical itself. When the characters in the movie grow up, I bet they'll make a film just like this one.

The boys, both about 12 and living in England circa 1983, are as different as can be. Will Proudfoot (Bill Milner) is skinny and timid, obedient to his widowed mother (Jessica Stevenson) and restricted from watching TV or movies by the family's membership in the no-frills Plymouth Brethren sect. The other lad, Lee Carter (Will Poulter), is a broad-faced bully and mischief-maker. The first time we see him, he's sitting with his feet up at the local cinema, the only audience member in the non-smoking section, brazenly using a video camera to pirate the film ... oh, and smoking, too.

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Grade: A

Rated PG-13, a little vulgarity and reckless behavior

1 hr., 35 min.