Anything Is Possible

A nice story in Anything Is Possible is unfortunately hoisted on a ridiculous premise. It unfortunately colors the whole film.

Young Ethan Bortnick is the child of Jonathan Bennett and Lacey Chabert, a military family with Chabert still in the service and deployed on a relief mission to Japan which has been hit with a tsunami. Chabert goes missing and social services comes knocking and the kid learns that Bennett is not his biological father. Social services wants to take Bortnick away and put him in foster care.

Unless someone made a complaint and no one has, no way social services would get involved. They have enough work without looking for cases.

In any event the kid is lucky to find homeless veteran David Haines on the street to look out for him. And his musical talents on the piano and keyboard come in handy in trying to save an orphanage. All in the best Mickey Rooney/Judy Garland 'let's put on a show' tradition.

Anything Is Possible is a nice family film, but believe me it wouldn't happen this way in real life.

This seems to be one of those films that people either love or hate. While the general concept is good, it is poorly scripted, poorly acted, and beyond cheesy. They touch on so many important issues such as the implications of active military duty on the family, PTSD, adoption, childhood cancer, children without parents,; but that's all they do, touch on them. Nothing is properly explored. The acting is just plain flat. In what should be a very highly emotional situation the actors seem emotionally stunted. The soundtrack is full of extremely mediocre songs meant to further their message of positivity, but quite frankly, it was extremely irritating. And there were multiple parts of the film that were simply not grounded and reality, parts that eluded to government process that simply would not occur. If you're not a fan of feel good low budget Hallmark type films, this will not be for you. It definitely was not for me.

If you want great acting, then this isn't your movie. If you want a great plot or even a realistic one, same answer. But if you like movies with kids and a good piano performance, then this is a fun movie.

100% sappy. Maybe 10% realistic. After Lacey Chabert who is barely in this, and Jonathan Bennett, most of the adult actors are like they are in community theater. Some of the kids aren't bad. The story is a little slow and very predictable, but it's heartwarming.

But the total gem in this movie is 12 year old Ethan Bortnick. He plays a prodigy and he comes off a little like a savant and maybe even as very high functioning autistic. But his piano playing is golden. He performs several piano numbers at length, and a couple are repeated more than once. But remember it is the kid playing, not someone else, and what's more, he wrote the original songs he plays. He even sings. This is someone who has performed on national TV.

The kids have fun. Almost everyone in the movie is encouraging. But this is not a religious movie. If anything the theme is - you can do anything if you believe in yourself.

When you just want to watch a feel good show. This is a movie for you. I was hoping that there was going to be a happy ending. This wasn't a deep thinking movie, just a nice make you feel good show.

Ethan Bortnick is a gift to our planet, especially children and music-lovers. This is a sweet and inspiring story which beautifully show-cases Ethan's gifts as well as societal concerns worthy of our loving support. Anything Is Possible emanates wisdom and hope of value to all ages.

As Einstein said, "There are two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle." Ethan, I'm with you. Anything is possible!

With a deep bow of gratitude and respect, ~ Jeanine DuBois, Compassion's Doorway