Cathardincu Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Ella-May O'Brien Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Marva It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Fleur Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

webehamfam1 Well acted movie with some great names starring. The story line is a little clichél - guy gets estate if he can prove himself - but done is such a way that you don't care. If we all were this sacrificial, the work would indeed be a better place. Great movie to show kids to teach what matters most in life.Subject matters include death - so be careful with who you encourage to watch this. If you are with someone who recently lost a loved one, this may be a difficult movie to watch - especially and adult who has lost a child. But the value of friendship is the important moral of this story and worth working through a few of those tears.

SnoopyStyle Jason Stevens (Drew Fuller) is a spoiled rich kid. When his industrialist grandfather Red Stevens (James Garner) dies, the various family member are disappointed by their inheritance dispersed by Mr. Hamilton (Bill Cobbs) and Miss Hastings (Lee Meriwether). Jason and his grandfather did not get along especially with the lost of his beloved father. Red gives him the Ultimate Gift if he follows Red's instructions. First is the Gift of Work as he's forced to dig fence posts for Gus (Brian Dennehy). Second is the Gift of Friendship and they take away everything from him. He is tasked to find a friend. His girlfriend Caitlin (Mircea Monroe) abandons him. His mother (Donna Cherry) is told not to help him. Only Emily (Abigail Breslin) is willing to befriend him sleeping on a park bench. She has leukemia and her mother Alexia (Ali Hillis) is in dire straits. Jason is finally given money but it's only pay from the work with Gus. Third is the Gift of Money and he has to give away his paycheque. He decides to pay Alexia's rent. Fourth is the Gift of Family and he has to spend Thanksgiving with his family. Then he's sent to Ecuador where his father was killed by drug criminals. He continues the family's charity library for the locals. When he tries to see where his father was killed, he is kidnapped himself.This is one of those faith-based movie that is overwhelmed by its overwrought message. It is sincere to the point of being clunky. Drew Fuller or his character is not the most appealing lead. The best part is the adorable Abigail Breslin. At least, she adds some heart into this rather mechanical movie lesson.

jdonalds-5 This movie is sweet, if a bit slow. I got the overall message but I don't think the director pulled as much out of the story as could have been. I liked it but it was a on the dull side.An example of how the movie missed on depth and emotion was the early scene with Jason Stevens setting fence posts. The scene simply showed him doing the job. No close up shots of him sweating. No anger, no sense of accomplishment both in the fence post work but also in the lesson he was learning. Just dull.The part that I had the most difficult time with was the death of Emily Rose. It just killed the movie for me. Her death drew my attention away from the movie. I know it's real life that kids will die but she was such an important character that I felt as if she was the lead story, and the director killed the lead. Not good.Many reviewers suggested this was a Christian movie. I am a Christian and while the movie had "nice" themes, "nice" people, "nice" scenes, there were only the thinnest mentions of church within, and I don't think the name Jesus was spoken once. So if you're a non-believer this might seem Christian but it totally misses the mark as an evangelistic movie. Without reading that this was a Fox Faith (didn't know that existed) creation I wouldn't have thought of this as a Christian movie. But having seen quite a few "Christian" movies I guess my review isn't much of a surprise to me. I don't know why but directors simply seem to make dull faith based movies. They're all this way. Oh it's certainly nice to watch a movie that isn't full of swearing, drinking alcohol, taking drugs, or having sex without knowing the partners name. But I want a movie with some passion and depth and these just don't cut it. Fireproof, Courageous, Facing the Giants, and others like them are all nice movies to watch but the all fail in the same way. They are sweet, slow, and superficial. I long for a good solid movie of this genre that is a 10.

nikki-vancoller I really enjoyed this film and while I didn't shed actual tears, there were moments that were extremely heartfelt. It is well worth a viewing, especially for those who enjoy a good tearjerker/drama. I had two problems with the film: The first was that the relationship between the lead character and the little girl's mom was not developed fully. There was no chemistry between them, yet they somehow end up together. There should have been more tension built there, so that you are cheering them on to get together - perhaps they could have only been pretending to like one another for the kids' sake and then they eventually fall in love. But the film doesn't show us how and why and when they fall in love. So that plot-line was very thin. The second issue I had was that the "12 Gifts" were not really clear. At the end with the titles, we are shown what the 12 gifts were (the gift of laughter, the gift of gratitude etc..) but not all of these were gifts that RED could have anticipated, nor that he necessarily even had a hand in creating. To my mind, it should have been crystal clear what the gifts were and how RED was making them happen.Other than that, it was a great Sunday afternoon film!