Showing posts with label adoption. Show all posts
Showing posts with label adoption. Show all posts

The Lost Child (2000) Review

The Lost Child (2000)
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Adopted by a middle aged Jewish couple and doted on by her mother young Rebecca Hoffman leads a conventional life. Then her mother dies and her father remarries. In his new marriage there is no room for Rebecca. She is one to be tolerated. She no longer has a home. Years later Rebecca searches for her birth parents and comes to the realization that she is not white nor Jewish. Rebecca is Navajo.
Lost Child is a film based on the the autobiography, Looking For Lost Bird, by Yvette Melanson. In this picture we see the life of a child stolen from her birth parents and made to assume a new identity. Her adoptive father's reluctance to have her, her feeling of isolation and her quest to find her identity is both moving and tragic as we see a young woman so far from her home.
Mercedes Ruehl plays a sensitive and savy Rebecca who tries so hard to be accepted by her adoptive father. Her discovery of her Navajo roots gives her comfort and a sense of completion. Yet, she too and her family undergo some heartaches and challenges as she returns home. This movie shows the hope of a mother seeking a reunion of her children. We witness the reintergration of a woman back to her heritage. We also see the ugly side of cultural prejudice as her daughters attempt to fit in with their new family and culture.
This is an enjoyable film that is a sanitized version of the book. Everyone in the picture is so good, so noble to the point of being unbelievable. Of course everything works itself out and the family lives happily ever after. If only life could be that simple. Inspite of that Lost Child is well worth your seeing as you get a glimpse into another culture.

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Item Name: The Lost Child; Studio:Lions Gate

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Ordinary Miracles (2005) Review

Ordinary Miracles (2005)
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This is an extraordinary movie. It deals with realistic situations and realistic people without being oppressive. When people stop associating with other people who are wrong for them and manage to fall in with the sort of people who are right for them, their lives improve dramatically, as happens in this movie.
Other reviewers have picked up on how the judge helped this teenage girl, but they didn't see how the girl helped the grown woman also. By being brazen enough, and smart enough to ask some searching questions, she helped. Also, the parallel in situations between the girl and the grown woman with regard to their respective fathers made for a rich story.
This movie should also be commended for having been brave enough to deal with a bright kid, and for understanding how bright kids are different and how even their emotional problems are different.
Quibbles: the transition for the girl was a bit too fast. It was not unrealistic, but it needed more development. This of course would have slowed down the pace of the movie, however, and most viewers would have liked it less. The movie is only 80 minutes long. It would have been better at the usual TV-movie length of 100 minutes.
Also, the father's reaction at the end was not credible to me. Maybe he did feel guilty, but he was also feeling a lot of other things. His avoidance reaction was just not credible.
In defense of the movie, however, against another commenter: there are ends left open at the movie's end. One cannot assume the exact nature of those resolutions and condemn the movie for making these resolutions which it in fact leaves open. Also, it is not at all unrealistic that the judge found the father: after all, she was looking through the records to do just that.
Bottom line: Don't miss this movie. There aren't many this good that deal with human problems and decent human beings.


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Ballet Shoes (2008) Review

Ballet Shoes (2008)
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BALLET SHOES (starring Emma Watson... celebrated for her lead roles in the Harry Potter films...along with an all-star acclaimed ensemble cast) is absolutely wonderful. I personally am in love it. Targeting a very large and underserved audience which is best defined as "moms and their daughters", Ballet Shoes is a film about realizing ambitions; a film where its tag line `dreams do come true' is really the `spot on' underlying message of the film... and the storyline. I believe it is destined to be a huge success for it is a tale of inspiration indeed.
A big-budget Granada film production, originally for the BBC, Ballet Shoes is based on the literary classic penned by Noel Streatfeild that women especially are very familiar with as key reading material from their childhood. A costume drama with absolutely stunning cinematography, the film portrays 1930's London with a sense of dreamy realism. For those who recall the box office smash "You've Got Mail", the book is the one being sought after that Meg Ryan launches into a verbal expose about. Ms. Ryan was right on the money, as is this adaptation of the tale.
Ballet Shoes is the story of three orphan girls; Petrova, Posie and Pauline (Emma Watson) who are raised as sisters after being brought together by a rich, world traveler as babies. As they grow up, each girl develops a dream of their own. Pauline wants to be an actress; Petrova longs to be an aviator; Posie wishes to dance. Circumstances bring them together, and together they vow to go down in the history books. "We three Fossils vow...". This vow launches the three Fossil sisters on their voyage, a journey that they travel individually as well as together, one that can only serve to inspire any young girl who watches the film.
On a personal note, I watched this film with my 8 year old daughter and 6 year old son. While my son fought to pay attention (not surprising), my daughter was riveted throughout the film. The appearance of `Hermoine' as a teen brought her into focus early on, and then the tale itself kept her eyes and ears wide open. She's asked repeatedly to watch Ballet Shoes again, which of course she has. My son, of course, is back to watching `his thing', Spiderman, Superman and The Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers...
Ballet Shoes, in a certain sense, is a long form faerie tale, and I recommend it with no reservations whatsoever as superb family viewing.


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Dreams do come true… Emma Watson (Hermione from Harry Potter) stars in Ballet Shoes, a heartwarming and uplifting film based on the beloved, best-selling novel by Noel Streatfeild and featuring an award-winning cast that includes Emilia Fox, Victoria Wood, Richard Griffiths and Eileen Atkins. "We three Fossils vow to put our name in the history book, because it is ours, and ours alone…" With these words, three orphans, raised as sisters, leave their sheltered lives and embark on an exhilarating journey that takes them to the heights of the stage, screen and sky! DVD EXTRAS: Exclusive 20-Minute Interview with Emma Watson Deleted Scenes, Ballet Shoes Audiobook Excerpt

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Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird (2009) Review

Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird (2009)
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I would like to recommend this movie to anyone who knows what it is to sit through 20 sequential showings of the same film because of a 5-year-old's obsession. This movie is the only one that none of us mind seeing over and over again. The story is genuinely funny and moving (Big Bird is taken away from Sesame Street and adopted by Dodos) and wants to go home. Meanwhile, the folks on Sesame Street are trying to find him to bring him home. And finally, a very funny couple of "Sleaze Brothers" have kidnapped him to turn him into the Blue Bird of Happiness for their 10-rate carnival. This is very well done and performed with genuine love by a very talented set of actors. See it -- enjoy!


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Follow that bird Big Bird, of course for an imaginative, magical treat starring the cast of TVs Sesame Street in their first movie. Jim Hensons beloved characters Kermit, Oscar, Bert, Ernie and Cookie Monster plus other Sesame Street regulars join Big Bird in a big-hearted, cross-country adventure. A meddling social worker sends poor Big Bird off to live with a feathered foster family in Illinois. But try as he might, he doesnt fit in and runs away to return to Sesame Street. Can his old friends find him before he runs "afowl" of trouble en route? Be on the lookout and be there for big entertainment from guest stars Chevy Chase, John Candy, Sandra Bernhard, Waylon Jennings and more.

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