The Cure (Retro VHS Packaging)

One summer, two boys went in search of a dream...and found the friendship of a lifetime. Joseph Mazzello and Brad Renfro star in this heartwarming adventure story filled with laughter, compassion, and the enduring power of hope. New to a quaint, riverside community, eleven-year-old Dexter (Mazzello) and his single mom are quickly shunned when it's learned the boy has AIDS. Next door lives Erik (Renfro), a lonely latch-key bully who surprisingly initiates a friendship. But trouble soon finds the twosome after they read a tabloid that suggests a New Orleans doctor has a cure. Determined to find him, the boys build a raft and set sail down the mighty Mississippi, Tom Sawyer" style, in a magical, often hilarious journey that gives Dexter a chance to experience life as it should be lived and will change both boys' lives forever. Starring: Joseph Mazzello, Brad Renfro, Annabella Sciorra, John Carroll LynchReviews: Young actors Joseph Mazzello ("Jurassic Park") and Brad Renfro ("The Client") are superb in a loving, funny and wistful film that plays a slightly torn Norman Rockwell illustration. Their performances are so warm and richly layered they resound with humanity. Peter Stack San Francisco Chronicle Director Peter Horton, here making his feature film debut, has drawn nicely honed performances from the leading actors, especially Sciorra, whose heartbreaking scenes are deftly understated. The two boys Mazzello a veteran of "Jurassic Park" and Renfro of "The Client" convey a genuine bond, and the redemptive power of friendship is clear. Megan Rosenfeld The Washington Post.