The Peanut Butter Falcon is an inspirational story illustrating the adventures of Zak, an adult with Down Syndrome, and Tyler, a small-time outlaw. Zak longs to be free from the cage that is the retirement home in which he resides. He is constantly trying to escape in order to live his dream as a wrestler and be trained by his idol, the Salt Water Redneck. After various attempts he finally escapes and experiences the freedom he has longed for all his life. Meanwhile, Tyler, who makes his living off of stealing crabs from local crab trappers, gets into trouble and is pursued. In a rush to escape he runs into Zak who is hiding in his boat, and thus begins their adventure to leave behind their lives in North Carolina and find a pro wrestling academy to fulfill Zak’s dreams. This story is full of ups and downs, but never ceases to show us that our only limitation is not believing in ourselves, that we are all far more capable then we are given credit for.
Zack Gottsagen and Shia LeBeouf are impeccable actors and their spirit and passion is threaded throughout every moment of this movie. There is not a second of this movie that doesn’t add something to the story, and the incredible plot uncovers a multitude of themes and lessons that all of us could value from learning.
The movie constantly illustrates how having a disorder or disability doesn’t make you less capable of achieving your dreams. Zak develops his character and starts appreciating what he can do more and believing in himself, embodying his persona as The Peanut Butter Falcon, a fierce wrestler. One of the main points in the movie is that you can’t do everything, but nobody can do everything, we only have to set our minds to what we most desire and we can achieve it.
The movie was created around Zack Gottsagen who plays Zak in the movie. The directors, Tyler Neilson and Michael Schwartz, saw Zack and wanted to create the character and story around him. The Peanut Butter Falcon also includes a plethora of award-winning actors such as Shia LeBeouf and Dakota Johnson. The movie constantly shows the lessons that they learn through their journey and from each other in comical and heartwarming ways. I definitely would call this a top movie of the year.
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