I thoroughly enjoyed this film, shown at a benefit for The Wild Bird Fund Wildlife Rehabilitation & Education Center in NYC. There's a lot to like--the characters are well drawn, particularly the teens who passionately embark on a quest to sight and document a supposedly extinct duck. There's lots of delightfully nerdy tomfoolery amongst them. On the serious side, this movie's also about loss of a loved one and finding your way forward from that. It's moving, while still remaining humorous and full of bird lore. Birders and non-birders alike will adore the nature photography. Ben Kingsly, as a revered bird expert, radiates his usual star quality. Don't miss it.

"A Birder's Guide to Everything" is an unassuming little charmer about a quartet of teenaged ornithologists who go in pursuit of a duck long believed to be extinct by experts in such matters. But, as the title itself suggests, "birding" is about a whole lot more than just seeking out and categorizing rare birds; it's about friendship, camaraderie, first love, learning to let go and growing up.

Kodi Smit-McPhee plays David Portnoy, a high school boy who's having trouble coming to terms with the death of his beloved mother a year-and- a-half ago, a renowned ornithologist herself who instilled an intense love for birds in her son that he carries with him to this very day. His grieving process is not being helped by the fact that his father (James Le Gros) is slated to marry the nurse (Daniela Lavender) who took care of his mother in her dying days. David rebels in the only way a non-troublemaking, bird-obsessed boy really can - by piling into a "borrowed" car with his equally bird-obsessed buddies and going off through the woods of Upstate New York to prove the world wrong about that aforementioned duck.

Written by Luke Matheny and Rob Meyer and directed by Meyer, "A Birder's Guide to Everything" is filled with humor, warmth, and winning performances by Alex Wolff and Michael Chen as David's lifelong pals, as well as Katie Chang as the initially skeptical but sufficiently open- minded fellow student who joins the boys in their quest. Ben Kingley also gets in on the fun as a professional ornithologist who worked with David's mother and has a few words of wisdom to impart to the mourning lad on the eve of his dad's nuptials.

Along with some dazzling scenery, "A Birder's Guide to Everything" manages to drive home a few basic truths - like it really is okay to march to the beat of your own drum - with its deceptively simple tale of a boy and his birds.

David Portnoy (Kodi Smit-McPhee) is a big birder and is even in the Young Bird Society in his school. His mother is dead. His father Donald Portnoy (James Le Gros) is getting married to Juliana Santos (Daniela Lavender). His best friend girl-obsessed talkative Timmy Barsky (Alex Wolff) is also in the YBS. Then David thinks that he saw an extinct duck. Also Ben Kingsley plays expert birder Lawrence Konrad. The group goes in search of the duck with the help of student photographer Ellen Reeves (Katie Chang).

This is sorta like 'Stand by Me' with bird watching for awhile. It worked better as such. It pains me to say this but the movie is better off without Ben Kingsley in the second half. There is a reasonable coming of age movie. It's nothing special or original but it's somewhat cute. I was hoping it could keep going on that trail. The arrival of Kingsley broke up the group's chemistry. It's still a cute little movie. Kodi does a great job as the geeky lead. The kids are very natural. I wish the movie kept with just the four kids in the woods.