Andrew Garfield wants audiences to look up from their phones and remember that there is still plenty of magic in the world around them. That idea drew the two-time Oscar nominee to ‘The Magic Faraway Tree’, a family adventure about Tim, a stay-at-home father whose family is forced to reconsider life after his wife, Polly, quits her job.

A Story of Family and Wonder

They move to the countryside, where their children discover the magical Faraway Tree and its ever-changing worlds, sending the family into a series of fantastical adventures. The film, based on Enid Blyton’s children’s books, arrives in U.S. theaters on Friday.

For Garfield, the story’s themes of nature, imagination, and community feel especially timely as technology increasingly shapes everyday life. ‘I think people are craving connection and community and a kind of reconnection to the earth and to each other,’ he said.

Garfield said he became passionate about the project after reading Simon Farnaby’s screenplay. ‘I really just adore his sense of whimsy and heartfeltness and magic and joy,’ he said. ‘I felt very, very passionate about it.’ Tim’s journey reflects the film’s larger ideas about finding wonder outside the routine and distractions of modern life.

For Garfield, that sense of wonder extends beyond fantasy. ‘I think it’s all around us,’ he said. ‘There are so many things to be in awe of on this planet.’ The film, he said, is ultimately about recognizing that ‘there’s magic in the ordinary’ as well as in the extraordinary.

Original reporting: Alexandria, VA News – WTOP News — read the source article.