Molly: An American Girl on the Home Front

Molly was the hit of our Christmas week viewing. We had a mixed household - two girls, ages 8 and 10; their dad; me (50+); and great grandma. I'm giving the movie its excellent rating not simply because it's so highly enjoyable (and thought-provoking), but also because it held the interest of viewers with an age range spanning eight decades. How often can you say that? I didn't know what to expect (the two young viewers are American Girl fans) but found myself drawn to the story, and moved by it. The screenwriter and director have done a wonderful job of capturing both time (World War II) and place (middle America). There is a lovely mix of poignant moments and lighter scenes. Molly Ringwald surprised me with the depth of her portrayal, and the young actors are a pleasure to watch. The movie is never preachy, nor is it sugar-coated. I won't give away the final scene, but will say that during it our audience's two youngsters and their dad gave each other a spontaneous hug.

I've enjoyed the Samantha and Felicity movies but the Molly movie rocked. Maybe it's just that I am a sucker for WWII movies, but it is also that I thought this was just a perfect movie for 21st century American children to get an idea of what it is like to live during wartime. Maya Ritter did a credible job in the title role; I also enjoyed David AaronBa ker as Molly's dad, and Sarah Manninen as Molly's teacher. But truly, Tory Green did steal the show as Emily, an English girl who stays with the McIntires to keep her safe from the London bombings. Disney should scoop this child up for one of their tweener shows. Very enjoyable, with some cute moments, and some poignancy. I would think most parents will enjoy watching this with their American girls!

This movie was pretty good overall. The story was poignant, the messages on friendship and doing your best were really good, and the acting was...well...it wasn't awful. Some of Mrs. McIntyre's lines sounded really forced and often the message was on the heavy-handed side, but the charm of the movie outweighs all these flaws. Molly was a pretty good character, but Emily stole all the scenes they were in. Emily and Mr. McIntyre were the best two characters, but the other ones were pretty cute too.

Molly and the other characters learned about adversity and how to overcome it and this is a good message for everyone to learn. The production values were awesome too--they really captured the essence of the era. And the movie clips really helped put what was going on in the world in perspective. This movie is good for the whole family but the adults will have to forgive some of the dialogue for its obviousness.

I'm only 25 minutes in watching with my daughter and this movie is already a huge disappointment. We were so excited to watch this after finishing the books together. I read them growing up and couldn't wait to share them with my daughter. She loved the books just as I did as a kid. Well. The movie is SO inaccurate. It's like the writers didn't even read the books. Pretty much the only thing that matches the books are the character names. So much of the plot is changed, there are huge plot holes and the writers pretty much just went totally 'off script'. My need for even remote accuracy is making me crazy watching this movie. My daughter is 5 and is enjoying it anyways but I pretty much hate it.

Due to having two daughters who are obsessive followers of the historical American girl dolls, I've read all the books and watched all the movies. I thought that the Samantha and the Felicity movies were exceptionally well done - true to the books and meaningful in presenting the time they represented for children. The same cannot be said for the Molly movie. This depressing and disjointed movie had little in common with the books and did little to illustrate the time period represented. The writing was just terrible - it made Molly look like a snotty, whining brat, had random cultural things dropped in just for effect(the jitterbug contest on the village green?), and was slow as molasses. I was truly dumbfounded at the poor quality of this film after the other two. Less focus on Molly being miserable and the constant deaths and more focus on the bravery and efforts of those on the homefront and what they were doing to assist the war effort and make due with what they had would have helped. More explanation was needed for children to understand - why would there be a scrap metal drive, or socks and blankets knitted, or rationing? None of it was explained, just dropped in the scenes in passing. The saccharin ending rang very false(I'm not saying what). That being said, the character of Emily and how her story was addressed was, I thought excellent and well handled. The acting was fine, if lacking in passion, but that was the problem with the film and script in general.