Stephan Hammond It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Patience Watson One of those movie experiences that is so good it makes you realize you've been grading everything else on a curve.

Benas Mcloughlin Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

Winifred The movie is made so realistic it has a lot of that WoW feeling at the right moments and never tooo over the top. the suspense is done so well and the emotion is felt. Very well put together with the music and all.

SnoopyStyle Alan (Sean Astin) is a city boy from NYC. His parents send him off to camping and wilderness survival with Vic (Kevin Bacon). Alan has reservations but is too scared to object. They are ed by three other boys. Alan is not a happy camper clashing with the strictness of Vic. The reward is a mountain climb.Alan is whiny which keeps me from fully liking this movie in general. Vic is the kind who throws a baby into deep water. Neither is worth the rooting interest. There is a way to play both of these characters to create some sympathy for them. This fails to find the sweet spot and the emotional conflict comes off clunky.

Tom This mess is drivel from start to finish. The movie makers couldn't seem to decide whether they wanted a drama, documentary, music video, comedy, travel adventure, nature hike or anything else. As a result they failed miserably on all counts.The cast of young actors did the best they could with what they had to work with, but unfortunately they didn't have much at all. And what's with the idiotic narration from one of them when he's obviously a year or two older than when the rest of the film was shot? Was that another attempt at being artistic?I'll agree the premise was decent; a nature buff takes a bunch of city kids on the vacation of a lifetime. But the result is nothing but a waste of time and nature. Thumbs way down.

bdunc295 This is a response to the reviewers questioning Vick's motives. As a city boy who loves the outdoors, I totally understood where Kevin Bacon's character was coming from, though, he was clearly a nut-job for the most part. In my experience, city boys (i.e. Sean Astin's character) cannot find value in the wilderness for the life of them, and obtaining a cellphone signal is their top priority at all times. This movie is about taking a break from our technology-infused world and getting back to the basics. The wilderness is a wonderful, rugged place that can really broaden anyone's perspective on life. It's about facing fears head-on and living to tell about it -- those are the experiences that you in life. I wish everyone would share these sentiments, as Vick probably does in this movie. But Vick's major fault is failing to realize that people cannot be forced to enjoy something that's unfamiliar and frightening to them. He feels he can get through to them but uses some extreme means and acts like a huge ass in the process.

lost-in-limbo Before Kevin Bacon tackled the wilderness' harsh rivers in "The River Wild (1994)', he played Vic a spiritually in touch hiking guide who takes some city boys in to the mountainous wilds to learn more about themselves and to push the best out them. But his methods come under the eyes of the boys, with his constant testing of the young, inexperienced lad Alan. But soon enough we find the tables are eventually turned around on just who relies on each other.'White Water Summer' is a respectably bold and hearty, if unspectacular presentation that Ernest Kinoy and Manya Starr's actively mediative and theme-grown material feels unsure to what it truly wants to be, as it treads between feel-good adventure, psycho-territory and being morally hounded in finding the mental toughness to go beyond your limitations and fears. Jeff Bleckner's direction is well-measured and slickly handled, as the standouts range from the excellent white water rafting scenes and rock climbing views. The harrowing tension within these ages seem to bubble, but Bleckner also gets a great bunch of performances, especially from his young confident cast (Sean Astin, Jonathan Ward, K.C. Martel and Matt Adler) who show binding chemistry. That when a change in Bacon's character begins to show, the suspense and dangerous air kicks in the adrenaline as the boys begin to feel the circumstances change. Astin is impressive as Alan, as he goes head on with stupendously hard-pressed Kevin Bacon. His way is the right ways… don't question it. As he goes on to test them out individually and as a team to become dependant on one and each other. But does it become beyond breaking point to get these results.What I could have done without was the flash-forward smart-mouth laced narration pockets of an older Sean Astin talking to the screen, while cutting between the central story. They somewhat lessen the impact and became off-putting. Even the soundtrack with its squealing rock tunes became a little overbearing, as it regularly pumped it out. Michael Boddicker's soothing original score does a better job in camouflaging with its surroundings and activities. John Alcott's striking cinematography naturally hovers over the beautiful backdrop getting amongst organic growth and swirling waters to isolate the viewers along with the small party.