As an ever-increasing number of cultures start popping up into the limelight, their traditions, food and stories find a way into the cultural hodgepodge that is American society, and almost nowhere is this so evident as in the movie scene.

Anybody with a camera, some buddies and access to a computer can make a movie these days, and unfortunately that’s what Milarepa looks like – a low-budget fairy tale.

The story itself is magical. A young man whose family is cast into slavery by a cruel uncle rides off to become a magician in order to learn what he must to rescue his mother from servitude and, hopefully, get the girl. It’s a familiar tale, one that will appeal to a cross-cultural audience.

The drawback isn’t the concept, but rather that there are so many of these kinds of stories on the movie market, that this one, lacking in quality acting, missing explosive effects and subtitled in English probably can’t grab an audience like the most recent version of Peter Pan.

The film has major strengths in its presentation of traditional Tibetan traditions and customs, but its anthropologic weight is not enough to grab a wide audience.

Grade: C

Milarepa releases in select theaters Sept. 14.