In “Little Big Kid,” an old man comes across an abandoned lemonade stand. Having a bit of nostalgia for his youth, the old man sets to tending the stand when the owner, a young boy, rounds the corner to lay claim to his stand. The boy is embroiled in a sort of pretend battle, using his hands as imaginary guns to fight off the attacking enemies, and he recruits the old man to his cause. The two of them then wage their pretend war on invisible assailants throughout the neighborhood.
This film is straight-up cute. Watching an old guy just fall right back into his youth to run around a neighborhood shooting lasers or bullets from his fingertips is just fun to see, and it’s also a pleasant way to make a statement about how you’re only as old as you feel you are. Until the old man’s physical age does catch up to him, that is. Still, this stays fun, cute and entertaining, which is nice to see every once and a while. I mean, the framework is there that the old man could’ve had a World War II flashback or something, and end as some sort of mediation on post-traumatic stress disorder (in the world of independent short films, that would not be a surprising way for a cute story about two new friends making pretend to end up). Thankfully, things stay authentic to life without resorting to twists, shock value or cynicism.
