Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

Unlimitedia Sick Product of a Sick System

Protraph Lack of good storyline.

Contentar Best movie of this year hands down!

bensonmum2 Several years ago, when $1 DVD bins were in the front of every discount store in America, you could find hundreds of copies of The Boy in the Plastic Bubble – many with different artwork. It was one of those movies that budget DVD companies just loved – a (I'm assuming) public domain movie you could slap John Travolta's face on. I'm sure they sold thousands of those things. The Boy in the Plastic Bubble tells the story of Tod Lubitch – a boy born without an immune system. The slightest hint of a germ could kill him. He spends the first few years of his life in a hospital until his parent decide to bring him home. Tod lives in an enclosed, sterile environment inside the Lubitch house. Jump forward about 12 years and we see Tod as a fairly normal teenager – well, as normal as you can be living inside a plastic tent. He's smart, gets along with his parents, and enjoys spying on the neighbor girl, Gina. Tod takes classes via closed circuit TV and eventually attends real classes in a special enclosed suit. He's doing all this to be closer to Gina, not necessarily to learn. But in the end, will this be good enough and will he ever get out of his bubble?I sat down to watch The Boy in the Plastic Bubble the other night. I don't think I'd seen it since it originally aired back in '76. I had two distinct memories of the film – 1. It was incredibly sad. 2. Glynis O'Connor's bikini (the stuff of 13 year-old dreams). How did it hold up 40 years later? Not as well as I had hoped. It's still a decent enough story, but now I see problems I didn't necessarily notice (or care about) before. There are way too many moments that make me cringe as I watch them now. Travolta overacts in a lot scenes to the point that I felt embarrassed for his character. I know he was meant to show innocence and all that, but he just looks stupid. Another thing that bothered me after this view was the ending. I don't care for it. (SPOILER) What are we supposed to think? Are we supposed to think that Tod just walked out of his bubble and he and Gina lived happily ever after? Are we supposed to think she threw away her dream of going to New York for some guy she's had minimal feelings for? And are we supposed to assume that Tod didn't just keel over a few weeks after stepping out of his bubble? If he did die, what a guilt trip to lay on Gina. (END SPOILER)I've watched several movies and TV shows from my childhood recently. Many of them are still as good as I remember. But not this one. The Boy in the Plastic Bubble didn't hold up for me. I'll rate it a 4/10.

MartinHafer "The Boy in the Plastic Bubble" was a made for TV movie which gave John Travolta a chance to do something beyond his lunk-head character on "Welcome Back Kotter"...and just before he shot to super-stardom with "Saturday Night Fever". He plays a young man who was born without an immune system and the show details his difficulties dealing with having a plastic wall always between himself and the outside world. The problem becomes MUCH worse when he falls in love with the girl next door and he realizes he probably will never be able to touch her.The story is based very broadly on a real case. Travolta is decent in the role and the film is a decent family movie, though the ending is a bit bizarre as it leaves you on such a cliffhanger. I liked it as lot as a kid--seen now, it just seems okay. Generally enjoyable and well written but the ending is a letdown...at least for me.

marqymarqy I last saw this film on TV around 1980 - I think it was shown to cash in on Travolta's success in Saturday Night Fever and Grease - to the best of my knowledge it hasn't been shown since. I was surprised and pleased to find it readily available to buy on DVD (and VHS),and although the picture quality is poor compared to modern standards it's worth every penny of the 1.77 GBP I paid for my copy. It looks like a video tape that's been copied three or four times - or could it be the film maker's use of humour ? - Robert Reed (the Brady Bunch; Rich Man Poor Man; Scruples) as Travolta's dad begins the film looking as though suffering from a severe case of sunburn; two thirds in John tells him he's looking pale and needs to get some sun. Reed returns from his holiday looking as if he's done a shift in a flour factory. Travolta plays a lad with no inbuilt immunities and has to live in the plastic bubble of the title. He is soon attracted to the pretty girl next door (Glynis O'Connor)and it is she who literally and figuratively brings him out of his shell. Travolta claims he doesn't smell even though he can't wash, and how lavatory hygiene is managed is not dealt with satisfactorily. This is an old fashioned feel good movie suitable for anyone who likes John Travolta or doesn't mind a large dose of sentimentality. Travolta covered Paul Williams' end theme song What Would They Say on his 1977 album - subsequently re-issued including two of his songs from Grease to cash in on his success. Recommended - but don't pay more than a few quid.

sddavis63 When this movie was made, John Travolta was at the height of his popularity as the tough guy sex symbol "sweathog" Vinnie Barbarino from the TV series "Welcome Back, Kotter." Obviously, he had plans to become a major star and to do that he would have to demonstrate some range of ability; he would have to show that he had the capacity to take on a very different role and make it work. Certainly he managed to do that as "Tod Lubitch - "The Boy In The Plastic Bubble." This is an obviously made for TV movie in both budget and quality. In fact, I think I remember watching it when it first aired. Still, it's a pretty good movie with an interesting subject. In spite of what it claims, I don't believe it's really "based on a true story" except in the sense that there are people who live with this problem. There was no Tod Lubitch, though. The character is (at best) a composite of people who live with the condition and an imagining of what their life must be like. According to the movie, Tod is born with an immune deficiency - in fact, with no active immune system - so that he has to be constantly kept in a sterile environment, able to interact with people only through the plastic walls that constantly surround him. Travolta, who takes over the role after brief accounts of Tod's life as an infant and as a 4 year old, does a good job of showing Tod's growing frustration with the limitation he has to live with and of his desire to be free of it, as well as of his growing feelings for his neighbour Gina, with whom he falls in love. Tod experiences a growing independence, up to and including attending high school in a sort of space suit and graduating. When Gina makes her decision to go to art school in New York City, Tod is left with a decision - to stay in his safe but sterile (in every way) environment, or to take the risk of walking out into the world. In the end, he enters the world, and the last scene is of Tod and Gina riding off on a horse together (a bit too romantic a scene, perhaps) so that Tod's ultimate fate is left unknown to the viewer. Instead, we're left with a strange combination of hopefulness but also anxiety - a somewhat unsatisfying ending, I thought.The supporting cast was good, but this was Travolta's movie. There were some plot problems created by the scene in which Tod runs out of air in his suit and has to run back to his "bubble" in the classroom before he suffocates. He just runs right into the bubble. Wouldn't his suit have been contaminated? And after he goes in, a classmate - who lost a $10 bet to him - slips the $10 bill right into the bubble. Again, wouldn't it be contaminated? Plot oversights aside, it's a pretty well done and interesting story. 7/10