How would an adventure starring kids turn out? Would it be obnoxious and chaotic? Would it be nice and heartwarming? Or maybe both? Well, Stand by Me does just that, if not, better in my opinion. It's a chaotic adventure with its fair share of kind moments. Stand by Me is a great film for people who want to turn into a story where they can expect the unexpected and fits perfectly in the Coming of Age genre. The film is about kids going on an adventure with many obstacles in their path. The adventure was to look at a dead body hidden somewhere in the forest. At first some people may think that this plot is similar to other movies like Boyz n the Hood where the main characters see a dead body in the beginning of the film. Stand by Me takes a different approach at this, instead of making it a small segment, it's the film’s main priority, to find the dead body. The film does a really great job at this and after seeing it, it’s one of my favorite Coming of age films at the moment.

Stand by Me starts off with the main character Gordie reading the news, devastated to find out a person who we don't know yet was fatally stabbed and killed. We are introduced to many characters in Gordie’s life like Chris, Teddy, and Vern. and the antagonist Ace. Chris was the person that Gordie was the most close with and they were just like brothers, they always spent the most time together and often spoke about their thoughts to each other and gave each other advice and helped them. I really like this type of friendship, Chris was a real friend to Gordie and they could tell each other anything without being judged. Teddy on the other hand is seen as a bit more rude and selfish but is still a friend to Gordie and the others. I think of Teddy as someone who acts like a man and a child at the same time. I like this energy but it can be a bit annoying at times. He tends to make dumb decisions but that's what makes his character so interesting and unique. Vern is the one who is the least liked in the group and is more scared. He's the monkey in the middle is what I would call him, and is sometimes picked on the most. And the antagonist, Ace. I really like this name as it depicts a really good person, in this case stronger and tougher than anyone else. He is very menacing. These are well written characters that are both interesting and unforgettable.

Stand by Me begins with Gordie reading the news, shocked to find out that someone was fatally stabbed and killed. Gordie gets a flashback of a great adventure he had with them and proceeds to share it. This film depicts nostalgia a lot. Nostalgia is one of the strongest feelings that anyone can face. The sense of a joyful memory that one experienced and can never experience it for the first time again. With more characters being shown and the great adventure that was shown. One of Ace’s friends, who is Vern's brother, talks about a dead body in a forest and during a conversation, Vern hears about it and tells Gordie, Chris, and Teddy about all of it. Curious kids as they are, they decide to go look for it in the forest. But there are many obstacles along the way and these obstacles are trains, swamps, some drama and more but in the end they find the dead body of a kid named Ray Brower who had gone missing for a while. The film can get serious at times where some kids think negatively about themselves. Or times when Gordie remembers his brother and that he passed away. This can depict that life isn't always happy and can be full of surprises. We learn in the end of the film that the person fatally stabbed in the beginning was none other than Chris. I was shocked at finding this out since I didn't expect Chris to be the one that got killed.

Gordie is a great character as he can be seen as both a scaredy cat but also a bit though at times. Gordie feels like he is hated because of how his family neglects him but his friends are there for him and truly care for him. Someone else that really cared for him is his brother who passed away, he was Gordie’s role model and was there for him. But Gordie is a really good person and good friend to his friends, he tries to help if he can and helps out Chris by giving him advice and talking things out when Chris is down. We learn a lot from Gordie later on where he is a Dad with kids of his own and types his story on a computer.

There are things that I can connect with the film is the nostalgia being shown in the film. For someone like me this hits really hard as I remember a ton when I was younger and want to go back to the older times as life seemed to be much more simple than how it is now. I can see a similar connection to the characters, the time where there wasn't as many technology as there is now was the best time, Back in the day when I wasn't exposed to all kinds of technology like phones and game consoles, I always spent my time playing outside with my neighbors, but now nobody likes to be outside anymore, just inside on their devices. Another thing I can connect with are the characters like Gordie and Ace. Ace is pretty scary to me and I would not want to start problems with him if I met him. I personally thought that Vern reminded me of one of my younger cousins, no hate towards him. After seeing this movie I saw the world a bit differently for a while, but realized that this world is so much different than how it was back then.

Although the film is rated R, I know that anyone at any age can enjoy this film. It tells a great story about friendship, connection and nostalgia. And the message of the film is “You never know how much you really cared for something until you lose it.” Gordie showed how much he really cared for Chris when he lost him and this really hits hard, losing someone close is just tough and has happened to me many times. This film has received many awards and for good reason. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and for two Golden Globe Awards: one for Best Drama Motion Picture, and one for Best Director. It is also considered to be one of the most influential films of the 1980s, and more importantly, one of the greatest films of all time. These are awards I can heavily agree with.