The Indian In The
Cupboard is a story about a boy named Omri and the magic
cupboard he receives for his birthday from his brother. The
cupboard has a key hole and Omri's mother, who is a collector
of keys, finds a key to unlock the cupboard. Omri is a
collector of small plastic toys, such as army men, animals,
Ninja Turtles, etc. His friend, Patrick, gives Omri an Indian
figurine from a school display as a present . Omri places the
Indian inside the cupboard for the night and turns the key to
lock it. During the night Omri hears a commotion coming from
the cupboard. He gets up, unlocks and opens the door. The
Indian, Little Bear, has changed from a plastic figurine into
a living, breathing , six inch human. It seems that the
cupboard along with the key is the magic which transforms
figurines into life and life to figurines. At first the Indian
is afraid of Omri, but after talking to each other, Little
Bear and Omri become friends.
Omri takes Little
Bear outside so he can explore his new surroundings. Little
Bear sees many familiar things on his outing such as a deer
and a butterfly. He even performs a sacred ceremony with a
deer. Little Bear prays over the animal and when he is
finished praying he supposedly slits the dear's neck, although
this is never shown. While outside, Little Bear is pecked by a
pigeon so Omri takes a medic from his army collection and puts
it into the cupboard to bring it to life so it can tend to
Little Bear's wound. In reality you never see the pigeon peck
at Little Dear. After the medic tends to Little Bear's wound,
Omri puts him back into the cupboard and turns the key, once
again changing him back to a figurine. Omri takes complete
responsibility for his little friend's needs and safety both
inside his room and when they venture outside. He also
provides food and materials Little Bear needs to build a
house. He takes tools from his collection of toys and places
them in the cupboard and changes them into real objects such
as a tomahawk, etc.
Omri doesn't like
his brother's pet rat and is always watching to make sure it
doesn't get into his room. Little Bear has built a small house
on the floor next to Omri's bed, and he is afraid if the rat
gets into his room the rodent will find Little Bear and harm
him. Omri comes home from school one day to find the rat
outside his bedroom door in his plastic ball. He gets so upset
that he kicks the ball, and the ball and rat roll down the
hall, bounce down the stairs and land in the foyer.
Patrick finds out
about the cupboard, and he wants to try it out himself by
putting a cowboy and horse in the cupboard, thus providing
Little Bear with a friend. Before Omri can stop him, Patrick
puts the cowboy and horse in the cupboard and turns the key.
When they open the cupboard, a cowboy and horse come charging
out of the cupboard. The horse comes to an abrupt halt and the
cowboy goes sailing over the horses head towards the floor.
Omri catches him with one of his dad's handkerchiefs. When
asked, the cowboy tells them his name is Boone.
This becomes a great
adventure for the boys, but they eventually realize they must
do the right thing and send their friends back to their own
life and time. While sleeping over at Omri's one night,
Patrick and Omri decide it is time they send their friends
back---Boone to Texas and the wild range, and Little Bear to
his people and the Indian way of life. The only problem is
that the key is missing and the boys haven't been able to
locate it. Without it they are unable to send them back.
Patrick and Omri
finally give up and decide to go to bed when they hear the rat
crawling around under the bedroom floor. When they look
through the cracks in the floor they see the key but they
can't reach it, so Little Bear goes through the crack to get
it. The boys and Boone are frightened for their friend because
the rat is under there, but Little Bear dodges the rodent and
successfully retrieves the key. After he climbs back out of
the crack, the rat comes leaping out of a hole left open in
the floor. Omri catches the rat and puts it out of his room.
The experience has truly touched everyone involved, and they
all see each other and life in a much different light. Little
Bear and Boone leave with a feeling of mutual respect for each
other and their way of life. Before this experience Little
Bear and Boone had only hatred and distrust for each other
because of the prejudices between their races. Omri and
Patrick have a new outlook on the value of life, love, and
friendship. They have learned that every person is different
and that you must look at each situation with an open mind and
heart.
ANIMAL ACTION
The scene where Omri
kicks the ball with the rat in it and the ball bounces down
the stairs was filmed in cuts. A real rat was used when the
rat was just running in the ball. A fake rat was used when the
ball was kicked and it bounces down the stairs. Six rats were
used in the film. All of the rats were conditioned to run in
the ball. Therefore none of them were overworked for any one
stunt and were not used for more than five minutes at a time.
A real rat and a rat puppet where used, along with special
effects, in the scene where Little Bear and the rat are under
the floor. When the rat leaps through a hole in Omri's floor
the rubber puppet was used.
When Little Bear
goes outside, a deer walks in front of him. To accomplish
this, trainer A placed the deer on her mark and trainer B
called the deer with a buzzer. For safe footing for the deer,
celotex was applied to the floor. A fake deer was used for the
scene where Little Bear is first praying over the animal and
then cuts the deer's neck. In his outing Little Bear also sees
a butterfly sitting on a twig before it flies off.
The scene where
Boone and the horse appear out of the magic box was shot on a
platform before a blue screen. This was superimposed in
post-production with the background of Omri's cupboard. To
accomplish this, wranglers stood at the end of the platform
and cued the horse with hand signals to stop on his mark.
Safety rails at the end of the platform were used, also
celotex was used on the floor for safe footing. In the last
scene, Boone's horse rears. This was a trained rearing horse.
Again, the horse was filmed before a blue screen and later was
superimposed in post-production with the background of the
cupboard.
