Little Red Wagon is a small little indie film that you probably haven't heard of unless you happened to have stumbled upon it at your local Walmart (it's apparently a "Walmart exclusive" even though it's not advertised as such in the store) or at a digital movie rental of some sort, such as Amazon. Indeed, I had read a little bit about it during production but was surprised to find out earlier this year that it had quietly released with little fanfare. The movie is a wholesome and lighthearted option for families everywhere with a young protagonist demonstrating that even somebody from a humble background can make a difference in the lives of others.

Based on a true story, Little Red Wagon tells the story of young Zach Bonner, who began delivering essential goods to people left homeless by Hurricane Charlie. Not content to end his helpful endeavors here, Zach sets out to do more and winds up starting his own nonprofit charity foundation. Zach collects money to fill backpacks with food, toys, and basic hygienic supplies for homeless youth. Homeless youth become a personal cause for him, and he eventually gets the idea to start walking the nearly 300 mile trek from his home to the state capital for them to raise public awareness about the problem of child homelessness. (The movie also mentions how the real-life Zach did this and moved on to walking to Atlanta, to DC, and eventually across the county.)

The movie also follows the story of the recently widowed Margaret Craig and her son who quickly find themselves among the homeless. The movie interspaces their story with Zach's and it sort of gives evidence to everything Zach is fighting to help. From having their belongings taken at a homeless shelter, to rummaging through garbage, to being forced to stealing food to survive, the audience gets a good look at the trials facing the homeless families. And due to the nature of the movie, it's no surprise when one of Zach's backpacks eventually reaches Margaret and her son and their fortunes soon begin to turn around. (Not necessarily due to the backpack, but receiving the backpack marks the point in which their luck begins to turn around.)

The movie keeps things fairly grounded throughout. There's plenty of drama in both storylines, but the scales are much more balanced towards the positive. Zach is faced with some obstacles along the way such as the paperwork needed to start a charity and the challenges of meeting his financial goals for his projects, but these are resolved quickly and without too much drama. There's more drama surrounding Zach's mother and sister clashes at various points due to the impact of Zach's cause on their lives. This sometimes feels like it gets a bit too much focus, but isn't too much a presence to serve as a real foil to the movie.

Zach is played by Chandler Canterbury (Knowing, The Host) in what is a solid performance start to finish. The script is low-key enough that all of the performances are grounded and solid and rarely veer into melodrama. Canterbury is convincing as the philanthropic Zach Bonner and captures both the innocence and drive of a boy who wants to go above and beyond to make a difference to homeless children. While the sentimentality of the script might make it a bit hard to stomach for some, there's always a realistic veneer to the occurrences that keeps the movie at a roughly appropriate balance of saccharine and compelling. The script isn't aiming to be a 'Best Picture' contender and so the film never feels a disappointment.

While Christ or faith has little to no mention in the movie at all, Zach's selfless service to others (especially during his walk, which the movie shows the difficulty of completing) is a picture of Christian charity. It's a great message to kids that even a kid without much money can still make a difference by serving others. It's a great message and one that helps elevate the film to above-average.

It might not rank among the greatest film on any list and may be little more than a watchable lesson in charity, but Little Red Wagon seems to achieve everything it aspires to be. With solid acting all around and strong moral lessons on helping the poor, this is one family movie that has a little something for everybody.

Content Information: 
From start to finish, the film is about as unobjectionable as you could really hope for. Sexual content is essentially nonexistent. There is only some brief minor language (d-word, and maybe a few more minor words. Nothing I heard was particularly alarming at all.). There are some upsetting depictions of homeless life. A boy is shown with a minor bloody scrape on his arm after taking a fall. Zach is shown throwing up after a tough stretch of his walk to the state capital. But all in all, this is about as family friendly as you can get.

Bonus Features:
There were several short featurettes given background info on the movie and real-life foundation it's based on. Most revolved around meeting the real-life Zach Bonner. There was a featurette about him visiting the set of the movie and others detailing his homeschooling, how the "Zach Packs" are put together, and his walk across America. The bonus features weren't mind-blowing but they did succeed in offering a nice supplement to the movie's story by showing how everything that Zach did was real and that helping people isn't just something for people in the movies.

Closing Thoughts:
If you happen upon this movie, I highly recommend it. It might not be the most riveting thing you've seen this year, but it's a good reminder for any of us that we're called to service of our brothers and sisters and Christ. If a lower middle class boy like Zach could do all that he did, imagine how much the rest of us could do.

Watch the Trailer here.
See Crowd Reviews at Heartland Film Festival here.
Check out the Little Red Wagon Foundation here.