Apparently this is a new-ish movie, but I'd never heard of The Magic of Belle Isle until I found it on Netflix. Once again, it was the description that caught my attention.

A burned-out author finds his creative passion renewed when he moves to quaint Belle Isle and befriends a single mother and her three daughters.

They had me at “author.” 😉 And Morgan Freeman is the main character and on the movie poster. And Rob Reiner directed it. So basically, there was no chance I was not watching this movie. 🙂

It was even more wonderful than I could have hoped. Morgan's character was just the right combination of angry/depressed and charming. His nephew was both perturbed with him and loving. The single mom and her three daughters were adorable. A mentally challenged character added another nuance to the relationships, and a bit of humor.

I really enjoyed The Magic of Belle Isle. It has that quality you want to feel in a feel-good movie that you can't really define. It's more than enjoying the movie or feeling good about yourself. It makes you feel better about humanity in general.

4 stars, Really Liked It (per the Netflix ratings system)