Customer Rating: 
Summary: Roundness wins!
Comment: The concept of an innocent boy in a bubble for his entire life to be free of germs is ingenious. The Travolta version is not the same and not symbolic in the way that this one is. Gyllenhaal had a fun role, and his "daringness" and luckiness to be able to accept roles like this early on have helped boost his name and career to his current well respected place in the biz.
The bubble itself was hard to make as it had to be customized by special companies who make masks and such, and they had never even encountered such a request before. The bubble was changed about 4-5 times at least throughout the movie. The bubble started off as about 65 pounds and was lowered to around 30 pounds after all the modifications. Gyllenhaal started acting with the 65 pounds on his back initially. He, as the Bubble Boy, Jimmy, wore a back pack which would help stimulate the size of the bubble. The bubble was deflated a bit to help him squeeze through small space.
Gyllenhaal is the star of the movie in acting and because he is the main character. His pure innocence, expressions, tone of voice like a child, and movement in the bubble is natural and on cue.
Jimmy's mom plays a seemingly flawless overly uptight Catholic mother, and Jimmy's dad is good as an overly laid back father. Their values mesh well to make their bubble boy's personality.
The humor is witty, but not over-the-top. Some implicit and more explicit sexual references around the bubble play a huge role. The idea of freaks versus normal people, and roundness symbolizing good and square shaped items representing not so good things play roles throughout the movie such as a round bubble and round room. I cannot think of comparisons, but this was listed as a main theme in one of the extras.
The timing of how Jimmy gets to Niagara Falls from Las Vegas does not seem to match up. With all the obstructions Jimmy encounters, there is probably no way he'd make it in 3 days, but he does end up flying later on, so that would cut on time a lot. Never the less, an underrated indie movie by a now well known actor.
