Secondhand Lions

Set in 1960s Texas, this innocuous and occasionally heart-warming tale uses an obviously metaphorical parallel to examine the fates of wild things imprisoned by the limits of old age and social mores, and only the heroic efforts of stars Robert Duvall and Michael Caine keep it from drowning in a swamp of saccharine. Flighty gold-digger Mae (Kyra Sedgwick) needs the summer off from single-motherhood, so she unceremoniously dumps her shy 14-year-old, Walter (Haley Joel Osment), at the secluded Texas ranch belonging to her long-lost uncles, who are rumored to have millions hidden somewhere on the property. Hub (Duvall) and Garth (Caine) don't need a "sissy" boy messing ...