By Robert Yaniz Jr.

The Storyteller tells a tale that is equal parts frustrating and delightful.

Family films nowadays tend too often toward the spastic, mile-a-minute lowest common denominator of potty humor and pop culture references.  Sure, Paddington (and its sequel) exemplify that old-fashioned family entertainment can still be expertly crafted and successfully marketed to the social media generation, but quieter family releases that rely on story and character rather than gags remain in short supply, a status quo that The Storyteller aims to challenge.

The film — directed and co-written by Joe Crump (alongside Rachel Noll James) — centers on a family fractured by loss whose life takes a surprising turn when a mysterious girl named Abby (Brooklyn Rae Silzer) enters their lives. After discovering Abby at her ill grandmother’s (Constance Towers) bedside, Maggie (Samantha Colburn) takes the girl home, where her presence has a surprising effect on her relationships with her adopted daughter Jen (Cassidy Mack) and music teacher John (James Snyder). Yet, Abby’s secret looms, threatening to shatter this fresh foundation.

As a family drama, The Storyteller is effective and fairly compelling. The backstory of how Maggie’s family fell apart and the specific emotional baggage she, Jen and John are each carrying unfolds at a steady, believable pace that keeps viewers invested in their lives and craving to learn more. Where the film falters, however, is in its fantasy elements. From the outset, The Storyteller makes no secret of the role magic plays in the narrative, but this aspect remains surprisingly undercooked and largely detached from the main action.

Had the film been built around a more grounded secret regarding Abby, it could have functioned as a pleasant character-based family film independent from its fantastical trappings. Instead, the fantasy side of it feels like a distraction shoehorned in to make The Storyteller more marketable and, even worse, periodically deflates the surrounding drama.

While the story’s focus is off, the performances are easily its saving grace. Silzer captures the ethereal nature of her character, bringing vulnerability and a kind of quiet strength to Abby, and Towers — who, like Silzer, has been a mainstay on ABC soap opera General Hospital for years — brings a generous helping of gravitas to every scene she appears in. In addition, Snyder and Mack lend capable support throughout but especially come to life during a few lovely musical numbers. Colburn perhaps stands out the most, however, as she manages to transcend cliché as the weary, buttoned-up mother at the center of it all.

The Storyteller marks Crump’s second feature after he co-wrote and co-directed 2013 World War II documentary Children of Internment with his sister, Kristina Wagner (another General Hospital alum, who actually makes a cameo here as well).  Although the direction serves the story well, its the editing in The Storyteller that makes it feel like a bit of a missed opportunity narratively. Besides the disconnect between the fantasy and grounded drama, the story tees up big reveals and twists only to drop them and cut to the next scene with little to no resolution. A superfluous voice-over and a liberal splash of Peter Pan-style pixie dust are employed to patch up these seams but never really do the trick.

Overall, The Storyteller isn’t a bad film by any means. It’s certainly clear that Crump and his team have their hearts in the right place. But the film features a mishmash of tones that undermines the film’s ambition to be a heart-warming, inspirational tale in the Hallmark vein (it is, appropriately enough, currently available on Hallmark Movies Now). Nevertheless, The Storyteller is a perfectly enjoyable way to spend 90 minutes and, if nothing else, shines the spotlight on some talented performers who rarely get to take center stage.

RATING: 2.5/5

The Storyteller stars Brooklyn Rae Silzer, Samantha Colburn, James Snyder, Cassidy Mack and Constance Towers. It is directed by Joe Crump and written by Crump and Rachel Noll James.