Believe it or not, but the director of one of the decade's most provocative drug junkie films and zombie flicks has now crafted a heartwarming family film destined to stand alongside A Christmas Story, The Wizard of Oz, and Peter Pan. At least Danny Boyle's Millions compares favorably with these family classics in terms of theme, tone, and technique. It's not likely to be as commercially popular since its English styled humor remains drier and darker, but film aficionados can hold this up as an original new film for the holiday season.

Essentially a modern fable set in England's industrial west, a pair of boys happen upon a stolen fortune in English pounds that must be exchanged for Euros within a week. Younger brother Damien (Alexander Nathan Etel) is obsessed with the lives and deaths of saints and wants to donate the money to the poor while materialistic older brother Anthony (Lewis Owen McGibbon) thinks they should avoid taxes and spend it without drawing suspicion—tough to do in the short time period, especially when you're pre-pubescent. When young Damien tosses in a thousand quid for a charitable school contribution to an African cause for Water Aid, the well intentioned younger brother thinks his exorbitant donation only "unusual," but Anthony realizes that this will call for a supremely creative variation on their "My mother's dead" trick.

To Anthony's dismay, this incident serves to introduce their father Ronnie (James Nesbitt) to a potential love interest (Daisy Donovan). Damien's is more open and trusting, continually fantasizing goodness in humorously surreal encounters with saints that range from a chain smoking St. Claire, to a dove releasing St. Francis, to St. Joseph (who helpfully intervenes at a school Christmas pageant). He believes that the money is a gift from God, thinking that the Mormon missionaries at a neighborhood watch meeting are real current day saints and deserving of some of the bounty, that a bright star leads him to the proper money hiding location at his former home attic, or wondering if his father's new girlfriend is connected to his saintly departed mother.

Damien isn't all saccharine goodness, however, as he vacillates on exactly what is the right thing to do with the loot and willingly joins his brother's manipulative use of their dead mother for material gain. He even creates a clever new variation in the bank to ensure their pounds turn into Euros, and he “can” sense malice. He instinctively senses that a hooligan (Christopher Fulford) sent to retrieve the stolen money can't be trusted and takes steps to thwart his intensions.

The most striking element of the film is Boyle's point of view storytelling techniques, as the camera continually sees through Damien's eyes—the camera angles and Buñuel influenced mixing of reality and fantasy return the viewer to younger days of innocence with a minimal amount of voiceover. Besides the parade of saints that may appear anywhere at any time, Boyle brings back memories of childhood with cardboard box creativity—a magical place that can transform into a rumbling rocket with each passing train.

Evil exists in Damien's world, but Boyle holds back from violence and bloodshed—the bad guy here remains menacing at a distance only. He can be seen and can harm property, but no one is physically threatened. Thus, the film remains suitable for the entire family and may well spark discussions between children and their parents about the right thing to do in such a situation. Additionally, a sweet (but not overly saccharine) scene between Damien and his deceased mother could be a balm for others are dealing with such a loss.

Penned by 24 Hour Party People screenwriter Frank Cottrell Boyce, Boyle's imaginative project is one of the hipper family dramas in recent memory—combining Amelie's good heartedness with Trainspotting's visual style and humor. Millions sill retains a measure of ambiguity since viewers still must decide what scenes are real and which are fantasy, and exactly what does happen at the end. It's pretty evident that the father and sons have adjusted to their loss and move on, but whether they continue with Anthony's hedonistic fantasies or Damien's idealistic ones is left for interpretation.

In time this film may sit alongside more traditional Holiday favorites, but that's a tough road for a non-American production from such an unlikely source. With numerous free preview screenings, it appears that Fox Searchlight Pictures is relying on a word of mouth campaign to bring more attention to this worthy film—one heart at a time. And that's a theme prominently displayed in promotional materials: "You can change the world."