It is a very depressing movie - especially if you are over 70. Didn't deal with any of the good things that can result from aging. From the reviews, I thought it would have a happy ending. Not so.

When an actor as good as Michael Cain takes on a project as intimate and spirited as the subject matter in IS THERE ANBODY THERE? is, you know you are in for a rare and wonderful treat to watch a veteran take stage and deliver a heart-felt performance. He has a terrific ensemble working around him here in this ode to one's golden years, notably Bill Milner as the young, precocious youth who is fascinated with death and all its paranormal trappings. The young boy is forced to live in a home where his mother (wonderfully played by Anne-Marie Duff) has set a convelescent setting for senior citizens to come and live out their remaining days. At first, the cantankerous old codger played by Caine - who once was a semi-popular magician - is at odds with the boy, but soon learns to love him as his own. Sweet and quirky scenes pop up effortlessly in this script that acknowledges death in very mirthful ways. A real little gem of a film!

We loved this movie-once the magic scene takes place, the movie absolutely takes off. Before that it's very good-but it closes with immense power. LOVED IT!!!!

I liked this film and I liked the story such as it was. It isn't so much a coming of age movie as a mutual growth experience in which growth is not always positve. After all the film reminds us, we will all die sooner or later. The difficulty seems to be, as portayed by the story, that some of us have a devil of a time enjoying what life we manage to live. The boy in the film [Milnor] does an exemplary job in a very odd role. Likewise Michael Caine. After I shook off all the stereotypes that Caine represented, I found him emminently believable and subtly humorous as only he can be. Much attention to detail makes the film interesting even when the story necessarily lags during story continuity segments. [Which were mercifully infrequent]. I liked this film better after I saw it in its entirity than I did as it unfolded. As unusual as the characters appear to be in the film, we have all known people like them, in fact sometimes they turn to be ourselves; even if only in secret moments.

Well written, well-performed movie, emotionally moving, but off-beat. It probably will not appeal to many people. It offers a sympathetic view of old-age and dying, the struggles people have to get through life, and a child's curiosity, obsession with the after life.