Hide and Seek MPAA Rating: R Entertainment: +2 1/2 Content: -3

Hide and Seek is a chilling psychological thriller about David Callaway (Robert De Niro), a man who is trying to help his daughter, Emily (Dakota Fanning), recover from the tragic suicide of her mother. When David observes that Emily is not handling the loss well, his solution is to move to a new town and begin forming new memories. But it doesnt take him long to realize that Emily prefers another coping mechanism. Instead of talking to her father, Emily begins talking to an imaginary friend named Charlie. And she appears to be acting out in increasingly severe and sadistic ways and then blaming Charlie. As David attempts to unravel the mystery of his daughters mind, he grows more frightened and confused by what he discovers: Charlie is very dangerous and may not be imaginary after all.

Hide and Seek brings nothing new to the movie scene. Several recent films have used the same plot twists and psychological themes at least as well, and the plot is less compelling than other films in this genre. Young Dakota Fanning certainly does a great job of looking emotionally worn-out, but in the end her work just adds another chapter to Hollywoods obsession with violence. Violent or scary films can be entertaining, but films like Hide and Seek disregard the limits of acceptability by blurring the lines between reality and fiction while casually including graphic, sadistic violence and turning tragic human conditions into entertainment. Before sitting down to watch this film, audiences must accept the lie that what we watch does not affect us. The truth is that everything we watch affects us, and Preview can imagine no good effects from a film like this.

Preview Reviewer: Shaun Daugherty
Distributor: 20th Century Fox