A fittingly warm-hearted yet sweetly melancholic tribute to one of the most important figures in television broadcasting and children's entertainment.
- (P) Positives
- (N) Negatives
- (?) Other points/Neither positive or negative
- (P) Heart-felt and genuinely moving; a compelling character study regardless of whether or not you're completely familiar with or haven't even heard of Fred Rogers, providing an innate and
sharp-witted understanding of the kind of person he was.
- (P) Well-paced as well as being at just the perfect length; neither too long or too short.
- (P) Great use of archival footage in combination with the clever editing; the editing tells much of the story here. Many scenes are very much "Show, don't tell".
- (P) In general, the documentary is of a high technical level (in voice
recordings, restored footage etc.).
- (N) A scene involving some child actors pretending to watch Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood (?) felt a bit awkward; could have been done better.
- (N) Some of the arguments presented were a bit one-sided i.e. that many other forms of television (at least, at the time) that involved violence and/or comedy were bad (or rather didn't have anything useful, poignant or important to say); it seemed a bit manipulative.
Overall: Even though it sometimes feels one-sided, Won't You Be My Neighbor? deftly tells the story of Fred Rogers through a careful balancing of good pacing, engaging editing and heart-felt testimony from those who knew him best. Although I never watched him during my childhood, this documentary does a superb job in explaining just how influential he was - both on TV broadcasting and on the millions of children and adults, across America and around the world.
8/10
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