Though no masterpiece, director Daniel Persitz’ short family film entitled “Alex’s Halloween” is a touching and sweet slice of life about a boy with an over active imagination and his quest to get as much candy as possible on Halloween. Starring the hilarious Jane Lynch of “Glee,” she plays an over protective health obsessed mother who reduces her two sons to eating health food for dinner every night and even saves pumpkin guts for soups. Alex’s older brother Matt who openly expresses annoyance toward his little brother who is prone to dressing in costumes and concocting his very own fantastic fantasies, makes a deal with Alex. He’ll go trick or treating with him only if he can get enough candy to last them through the year to avoid eating their mother’s food.
Alex agrees to the deal and makes a grand plan involving a blue print of the neighborhood and wild fantasies. Judging by the family content of this short film, it’s clear director Persitz was openly influenced by Ralph Phillips, the cartoon character of the Looney Tunes cartoons who invented his own worlds to stray from the doldrums of everyday activities. Alex is very much in the same vein imagining himself as a native American, a commando, and a Supermanesque character, all of whom play a fundamental role in confronting this task of grabbing as much candy as humanly possible.
Alex is a very human and realistic character, one who reveals in the finale that he’s not trick or treating for the candy, and Persitz develops a very down to Earth and charming short film with a great moral and a sweet ending matched with top notch performances and a wicked sense of innocence and imagination that reaches in to the spirit of Halloween and true purpose of the day for some children. A bit hokey but nonetheless endearing and cute, “Alex’s Halloween” is a short film well worth your time with sharp performances from its cast (including Jane Lynch), a sweet sense of imagination to it, and a new look at the holiday from a child who likes the holiday for much more than the candy.