The Indian in the Cupboard (1995)
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A young boy discovers that a special cupboard can bring his toy figures to life.
The story
On his ninth birthday, New York City boy Omri receives an old cupboard from his 14-year-old brother Gillon and a toy Native American from his best friend Patrick. Using a special key from his mother, Omri locks the toy in the cupboard. The next morning, he discovers the toy has magically come to life. Frightened by the tiny man's size and his defensive reaction, Omri decides to keep the magical occurrence a secret. The living toy eventually reveals himself as an 18th-century Iroquois man named Little Bear, and the two begin to develop a friendship.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
On his ninth birthday, New York City boy Omri receives an old cupboard from his 14-year-old brother Gillon and a toy Native American from his best friend Patrick. Using a special key from his mother, Omri locks the toy in the cupboard. The next morning, he discovers the toy has magically come to life. Frightened by the tiny man's size and his defensive reaction, Omri decides to keep the magical occurrence a secret. The living toy eventually reveals himself as an 18th-century Iroquois man named Little Bear, who was fighting in the French and Indian War on the side of the British. During Little Bear's stay with Omri, Omri learns a lot about the Iroquois, and the two develop a friendship. When Omri brings to life another Native American figure, the chieftain suffers a heart attack out of fear after looking at Omri, causing Little Bear to realize Omri is a child and not a spirit. Omri eventually reveals his secret to Patrick, who brings to life a cowboy from 1879 called 'Boohoo' Boone. The two tiny men are initially hostile but are forced to behave when brought to school. After a tense night watching a TV program that shows a slaughter of Native Americans, Little Bear shoots an arrow into Boone's chest. After retrieving the lost key and treating Boone's wounds with a World War I medic toy, Omri decides it is time to return them to their respective time periods. Omri refuses to bring a female Native American toy to life to keep her with her own people. Before saying goodbye, Omri has a vision of a life-sized Little Bear taking him on as a nephew. At school, Omri concludes his report by saying he is glad to have sent Little Bear back to his own people.
- First release year
- 1995
- Runtime (minutes)
- 96
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Frank Oz
- Writers
- Melissa Mathison · screenplay
- Cast and characters
- Hal Scardino · Omri; Litefoot · Little Bear; Lindsay Crouse · Omri's mother; Richard Jenkins · Omri's father; Rishi Bhat · Omri's friend Patrick; David Keith · Boone the Cowboy
- Genres
- family; fantasy; drama
- Themes
- friendship; trust; cooperation; cultural education
- Tone and mood
- heartwarming; fantasy
- Premise and plot tags
- magic; miniature people; sentient toys; Native Americans; friendship
- Source material / true-story basis
- 1980 children's book by Lynne Reid Banks
- Reception
- The film received positive reviews from critics but was a box office bomb, though it achieved success on home video and earned a cult following.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 70% · review count: 24 critics; Metacritic · score: 58 · scale: 100 · review count: 25 critics
- Production trivia
- Litefoot was discovered after performing a rap concert in Rome.; Litefoot convinced the filmmakers to hire an Onondaga adviser.; Bill Murray reportedly auditioned for an unspecified role in the film.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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