Fan's Rant

It is hard for any of us to get to know Barret for who he really was and is for that matter. He seemed to be a really kind youth with many "nerdy" interests, at least according to articles written about him. He was also smart enough to realize that the film industry uses the younger actors just to make money, and ultimately he decided not to have any more part of it. Unfortunately he was so turned off from the film industry that he felt he had to quit, because he could have been really great, but that is his decision.

Because of all of this, we are simply left to admire his talent that he made in all the roles he played, and his good looks. We first noticed Barret in whatever movie we were watching because we first saw his qualities, and that is what we first saw when we saw Barret. He caught our eye with his absolutely adorable form before we fell in love with his glowing personality.

He said himself that his best quality was his eyes, and he certainly was correct. But what a hard category to choose, "his best quality," others will tell you it's his whole face, his arms, his legs, his voice, or his... something else entirely. And they wouldn't be wrong either. The only way to really appreciate Barret, it seems, is to do it from head to toe.

The more we saw of Barret, the more we began to appreciate him as an actor and a youth all together. Regardless of whether he is in Frankenweenie, where he is just a cute kid... the kid of kid you'd want to be friends with, the All-American lad, to Cocoon: The Return, where he is actually quite a handsome young man, albeit "ladykiller." Either way, Barret always makes an impression. He's someone you'd really like to get to know, and that is why he was so good at everything he did in that part of his early career

He had a very soothing boyish voice, almost a whisper at times. His eyes always glowed and his freckles on his face never went away. His eyebrows were thick and dark, meaning he could cock them up very noticeably when he got older. He did that a lot. He had a great smile that always livened up his face, and is probably a major reason why he pulls on our heartstrings so much just seeing him. He had the type of smile where he flashed his upper teeth, a little spaced they were so you could see in between them, but they were always nice and white. He had this sweet button nose dotted with freckles, dark lips that stood out against his more pale looking skin, and blushing cheeks set in his pinkish hews.

A lot of people also say his best quality was his slicked hair. He had chestnut hair, donning that "bowl" cut typical of boys in the early 80s, but as he got older, he opted to go shorter, and often styled it with a part. The fact that he always parted his hair in that particular way, unless he was not doing so for a role, with the two sides of his hair, one side hanging down on his forehead, and the other hanging down near the other side with the part in the middle. In his later roles his hair became darker, and his face became more straight but still remained smooth as he kept a lot of his boyish good looks. Whenever he greased his hair, it grew darker, almost black, which he did when he was older. He may have gotten bigger, but he didn't decline with age.

Moving away from his face, he was a very thin boy all the way down, with strong hands, skimpy arms with very soft and pale looking skin, with some peach fuzz! His arms were considered by some to be one of his best features. He had very delicate hands and thin fingers. His was not very muscular, was always lean and light, so he could wear just about anything and still look good in it. 

Some comments from fans in the IMDb stated how slender his legs were, and it's no secret that he had a cute butt too, sitting there atop those legs (a feature some magazine publicity shots seemed to emphasize). His lower half really gives the impression he'd be a good runner. 

For all these reasons, it makes naming his best quality very difficult. Polls on fansites indicated consistently that fan's favorite Barret feature was his face. Thanks to Barret for giving us so much to appreciate in one young man all around. What's not to like?