If Daniel Radcliffe wants to lay the groundwork for a big screen career post-Harry Potter, he should avoid projects like December Boys. Playing one of four orphans (what a stretch, huh?) on seaside holiday, Radcliffe gives a stiff and recessive performance under Rod Hardy's lackadaisical direction in this listlessly-paced and soppy Australian period piece, based on Michael Noonan's beloved young adult novel.

　　 December Boys begins promisingly, with the introduction of the title characters—four orphans growing up in a Catholic convent in the Australian outback, purportedly in the 1960s (although the filmmakers play fast and loose with the time period). Since they share December birthdays (hence the title), "Maps" (Radcliffe), "Misty" (Lee Cormie), "Spark" (Christian Byers), and "Spit" (James Fraser) get to spend the holidays in a picturesque seaside cove with Bandy McAnsh (Jack Thompson), a retired naval officer, and his no-nonsense wife, "Skipper" (Kris McQuade). （）

　　 Although long resigned to the fact that they may never be adopted, the four boys nonetheless dream of being part of a family. So when Misty learns that a neighboring young couple (Sullivan Stapleton and Victoria Hill) wants to adopt one of them, the boys' inseparable bond will be broken, as they compete to be the couple's son. Except for "Maps," the oldest and most emotionally guarded of the orphans. Fearful of getting hurt, he keeps heart under tight lock and key—until he falls in love for the first time with Lucy (Teresa Palmer, a real find), a beautiful and spirited girl visiting the cove.

　　 There's insufficient narrative momentum to December Boys, which settles into a dramatic rut, once Misty learns about the young couple's adoption plans. What probably worked just fine in the pages of Noonan's novel comes across as disjointed and overly episodic onscreen. If the characters had more than a sliver of depth, you could almost overlook the meandering narrative structure, but they're all such stock figures (and broadly drawn at that), that there's little emotional resonance to their story. Worse still is the film's hazy grasp of chronology. Glaring anachronisms and inconsistencies litter December Boys, which includes a brief scene of the orphans reuniting as adults—prematurely old and wizened adults, given that they're introduced as adolescents sometime in the 1960s (there must have been a progeria outbreak at that orphanage).

　　 Except for the breathtaking Australian landscape, there's little to recommend about December Boys.