Imagination and play are often thought of as activities restricted to a young generation, something to be replaced with responsibilities and discipline as one grows up. But, in writer/director Gary Fierro’s Mightyclaw, the former becomes necessary to the latter when imagination is no longer a childish activity, but a means for survival.
Mightyclaw follows a young boy named Jake (Jackson Goral), who loves one thing more than anything else: His Harlow Mightyclaw toy – created by reclusive inventor Austin (Doug Moore) – which is outfitted with extensive radio and video technology. One morning, Jake takes Harlow and ventures into the New Hampshire wilderness, hoping for an adventure of a lifetime. But when Jake’s parents, Anna (Marina Kerekes) and Pete (Michael Emery), realize he’s missing, Harlow doesn’t just become a source of imagination, but the parents’ last hope in finding their son.
Fierro – whose previous work, The Firefly Jar, similarly explored childhood imagination – inserts the audience into Jake’s sense of wonder, allowing us to see and feel the wilderness through the eyes of an imaginative young boy. Fierro does a strong job of letting us indulge in this imagination while also creating a lived-in world around the toy. We, too, come to believe – through clever use of advertisements, mini-television shows, and practical props – that this is not just a real toy, but one that warrants an intense sense of adventure in Jake.
The score contributes to this same sensibility, giving Jake’s journey a vast and operatic quality. Fierro’s cinematography utilizes this sentiment further, as the camera approaches the wilderness from a wider perspective – shooting in a vast, open landscape – which adds to the wondrous possibilities of Jake’s adventure. Meanwhile, the adults are framed with a tighter, often handheld approach. This, combined with the restricted confines of the set design around them, lends to a feeling of claustrophobia and anxiety amongst the adults, juxtaposed with the freedom and wonder of Jake’s journey.
Expanding on this clever dichotomy, Goral’s performance as Jake is innocent and wide-eyed, while the performances of Kerekes and Emery as his parents lean into a more dramatic tonality. However, this dramatic tone can at times feel somewhat one-noted. The performances could have benefited from further restraint and variation so as not to overplay the dramatic cards until the film’s key moments. In this vein, Moore’s performance as Austin does a strong job blending humor with more grounded emotions.
Additionally, despite admirable efforts to bring Harlow to life as a walking and talking creature, the animations used throughout at times distract our attention, pulling us out of the film rather than causing us to lean in. Although a bold swing to take, the animations don’t feel quite in line enough with the rest of the visual language to lend to a heightened state of imagination, and can instead distract us from the point at hand. The score, performance, and practical animatronics already inspire our sense of wonder, and the film may have been stronger if it stuck to these practical tools.
Ultimately, Mightyclaw strives to show the disconnect between a child’s sense of imagination and the real-world concerns that pull adults away from their wonder within. There’s enough adventurous spirit ingrained in Mightyclaw to keep our imaginations alive, and in that spirit, we’re glad to have joined Harlow and Jake on their journey.
