When tasked with a painting a picture of a lion with the rest of the class, Rick does his best and is gutted to be mocked by his teacher for painting his lion green. Rick can't see what the matter is and worries that he is not normal. Further painting classing force him to cheat to get the right colour but will it make him happy? A rather nice little film that looks at colour blindness but is really more about the idea of "normal" and whether it really matters so much. The essence of the film is that Rick's paintings stand out from the others and he feels bad but, when he cheats to get the fire engine the right colour he feels wrong because they all look the same and lack the uniqueness of his green lion. The point is simply made and it is a bit annoying that the writer felt he had to get the teacher to spell it out for us by making the "just like all the others" remark, but it is still quite nice. Heron is natural and convincing, going a long way to making this film better than it could have been, easily engaging the audience whilst also being a real boy. Overall, despite having a simple message delivered rather heavily at the end, this is a pleasant little film that is unassuming and quite enjoyable.
