After exhibiting signs of autism at age 3, Owen Suskind could hardly produce a coherent sentence for years. But then he made an insightful point about his older brother and had a real conversation with his father — each moment inspired by Disney animated movies.
“Life, Animated” is a deeply felt documentary about Owen’s often painful progress — he is now a mostly independent young adult with adequate speech skills who lives in his own apartment, but needs to be prompted on basics such as how to cross a busy street. The film marvels at the way Owen got a purchase on life via Disney, using lessons from “Peter Pan” and “The Jungle Book” to analyze his brother’s moods. His father, Ron, a Washington, DC, journalist, managed to break through to him using a puppet while pretending to be the parrot in “Aladdin.”
But special-needs children are heartbreaking enough, so the goopy music ladled out by director Roger Ross Williams is superfluous and cloying. Moreover, in its determination to be a warmly endearing story, “Life, Animated” oversimplifies the situation, contriving to use endless clips from Disney movies to make a case that movie magic really can better people’s lives. Unfortunately, by the end of the movie, it’s clear that Disney can’t help Owen negotiate sex, breakups or many other challenges he faces as an adult.