Search - The Cure on DVD

Sharon F. (Shar) from AVON PARK, FL
Reviewed on 2/16/2025...

I loved this movie. The storyline was very good and the acting was superb considering it was two young boys playing the lead roles. A wonderful family movie.

0 of 1 member(s) found this review helpful.

Blows All Other Movies In The Dust

Screendoor | The Prairie | 05/02/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Joseph Mazzello is 11-year-old Dexter. Dexter received the HIV virus when he was very young from a blood transfusion. He now has AIDS. And his only friend is his single mother, Linda, played by Annabella Sciorra.Brad Renfro is Erik. Erik is a kid that is sort of a loner at school. All the other kids at the school call him bad names relating to homosexuals. They also walk on the other side of the hall when he's walking by because Dexter moved in behind his house. He has a drunk for a mother and his father lives in New Orleans with his 23-year-old girlfriend.When summer vacation starts Dexter and Erik start up a friendship and they soon become best friends. They do fun things together and Dexter starts living his childhood as it should be lived. In their playing around they come up with unique ways for how to cure Dexter, but of course none of them work. One day they were at the supermarket and find a tabloid that says the cure for AIDS was found by a backwoods doctor in New Orleans. They tell Dexter's mom about this but she doesn't believe it.Erik's mom Gail finds out that they two kids are playing with each other. She is misinformed about AIDS so she tells Erik that he is not to play with Dexter and that she is sending him to summer camp. So Erik got to thinking that he and Dexter could go and find the cure in New Orleans so he could be aloud to play with Dexter. They run away from their home of Stillwater, Minnesota and sail down the St. Croix and Mississippi rivers to find the cure.This is a wonderful tale of true friendship. Erik and Dexter have a friendship more powerful than most people will ever experience in their lifetime. "The Cure" touches you deep inside and just makes you want to do something for the real children who are suffering like Dexter.Joseph Mazzello is great in this movie. This actor is one in a million. Never once in this movie do you think of him as a child actor, you think of him as a real person. I have to say the same for Brad Renfro. Mazzello is the greatest actor of all time and Renfro is up there also.I recommend that everyone see this movie at least once. It will appeal to everybody. It is a movie for the family despite it's PG-13 rating; that's just for some bad words. I would give this movie 100 stars if I could, but I can only give it five, and it sure earns them."

Inspiring tale of profound friendship.

R. Christenson | Pine, CO USA | 10/20/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Joseph Mazzello (Jurassic Park, Simon Birch, The River Wild, Radio Flyer, Three Wishes, Star Kid) stars as 11-year-old Dexter in this wonderful but sad story of a boy who caught AIDS from a blood transfusion. Dexter is shunned by all the children in school and the neighborhood until troubled neighbor Erik, played by Brad Renfro (The Client, Sleepers, Tom and Huck, Apt Pupil, Bully) befriends him - initially as an act of rebellion! But Erik soon becomes devoted to Dexter, leading him down the Mississippi river in search of a cure. What I found most interesting and original about this movie is the notion that Erik was a rebellious kid (in the opening scene he's vandalizing his desk in school), who initially befriends Dexter because that's exactly what everyone - peers and parents - oppose. But the result is one of the most touching friendships in the movies."

The film is good, but...

Jarle L. Nyvoll | RANDABERG Norway | 12/07/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This was a film I discovered by accident - and fell in love with. Strong performances all around, and a captivating, yet not too sentimental story line.

But... Why has Universal not bothered to remaster this gem for DVD release? The sound is MONO, and the aspect ratio of the film is 1,33:1. (Full frame, not widescreen.)I know this was not a great commercial success, but I think Universal should have taken more care with this release."