Purely Joyful Movie!

Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Years back, when I was quite young and the biggest stars in the movie were Chris Isaak and Bridget Fonda, we went with my sister to see it twice in the movie theatre and later rented it from time to time to see it again at home too.A lovely story to watch with your young children, to teach them valuable life lessons. No sex, violence, bad language... a lovely story for normal people who want to spend a lazy afternoon hugging and cuddling with their young kids.One of my favourite movies. Beautiful, natural, non artificial acting by both - children and adults.

My older brother brought this movie for me for a present when i was young and it taught me a lot about self sacrifice and following your heart to what ever end. Many lessons to be seen in the film if you choose to see them. A must watch.

Little Buddha is in fact a fairly accurate story telling of the belief of reincarnation and the origins of the Buddha. This film is perfect for those who want a place to start learning Buddhism. The clever use of the reincarnation story in an American society rather than a Buddhist one shows how radical reincarnation actually seems to the Western demographic. The notion of reincarnation is further elaborated by the concept of "split rebirths," where one body embodies the mind, other embodies the body, and the last embodies speech. The origin story of the Buddha, Gautama Siddhartha, is told through a storybook towards characters that had close to no knowledge on Buddhism. This method allows audiences, who themselves have might have no knowledge of Buddhism, obtain an understanding of the concepts stated in the film. The characters do a great job of asking questions that audiences might want to know, the concept of reincarnation for example.This film allowed me to gain a better understanding of the concept of reincarnation and the many different forms that it can take (singular or multiple). I highly recommend that people watch this if you want to begin learning Buddhism; it's a good resource of beginning learners.

Surprisingly terrible film given these same people (Bertolluci for director, Sakamoto for music) made the The Last Emperor.Keanu Reeves is painful to listen to here. He only speaks with an irritating, phoney, attempted Indian accent.Sakamoto made such great music for The Last Emperor that it's one of the few soundtracks I've ever bought. But here, the music didn't move me, and I certainly wasn't rewinding scenes to hear the music again and again.The best aspect of the film is the visual appeal, but even here it's ghoolishly grotesque half the time. Bertolucci uses a cold blue lens for the shots in America, which is depressing, and had me wondering why he's adding this salt to the painful wound he already inflicts on me through the thoughts of two pointless Americans with no appeal or charisma.If I want to feel I'm back in ancient India, where your imagination leads you to see its colours and taste its spice and old world charm, I find reading any children's book of Buddha's life far more enriching and entertaining than this film. If you want an interesting intertwining of modern life and the thoughts of Siddharta Gautama, you might find listen to any talk by Ajahn Brahm on Youtube and it'll be far more enriching.