Molly: An American Girl on the Home Front

source: An American Girl on the Home Front

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.

I am unfamiliar with the series of "American Girl" books, so I viewed this film strictly on its own merits, just to see how accurately it depicts the American home front of World War II. Believe me, it does so astonishingly well. Frankly, I did not expect much from such a modest, unheralded release, but "An American Girl on the Home Front" is a sincere effort that should shame the shallow-minded producers of Hollywood rubbish. The screenplay is convincing, the performances and direction are uniformly excellent, and the sense of period is wonderfully captured, with evocative props, staging, and costumes. The people on screen seem utterly real instead of cardboard stereotypes, and the plot kept me guessing. I genuinely felt for these characters - even bringing tears to the eyes - and the film made me wish for a simpler, more innocent time than what we experience today. Watch this film, and grieve for a long-lost America that will never be again.

This title rates an "OK" as far as entertainment goes. The script changes a number of plot lines from the beloved Molly McIntire books which may annoy Molly purists as well as students and scholars of the American Home Front in WWII such as myself. (No spoilers here. Please read the books and see the film for those comparisons.) These books are an absolute boon to teaching young readers about the importance of patriotism and American pride as well as sacrifice on the Home Front, tightening one's belt, going without certain things we take for granted and supporting our soldiers. The film made Molly look like a self entitled clueless brat while the Molly in the books was a tireless patriot on the Home Front. Book Molly participated enthusiastically in scrap drives, rubber drives, and paper drives. She did not like the turnips Mrs. Guildford made until her Mother dressed them up for her but she did enjoy experimenting with recipes that helped stretch ration points. Another point is that Molly was very well versed in rationing and ration points and meatless meals. She would not have been surprised at the lack of ice cream in the soda shop and her friends would not have been upset over it.It's just the way things were. In fact, one of the books features a recipe for sugarless applesauce cupcakes because sugar was so strictly rationed. Molly made her own Halloween costumes and Christmas decorations because money and materials were scarce on the Home Front and her friends still had plenty of fun using their creativity to make something out of nothing. This film had several excellent opportunities to examine and expound upon those ideals and simply dropped the ball. The filmmakers also, while pandering to a modern day liberal left, glossed over the fact that in 1943, every child was required to recite the Pledge of Allegiance in public school and did so willingly during this time. Costumes were a nice try but even then, they missed a few key elements and the actors all suffered from half-hearted directing and amateurish editing. For a movie that does not require one to think much, this is OK but it won't teach you or your children much about the American Home Front in WWII.

We watched this with our 7 and 4 year olds and found it a very good family movie that was enjoyable to watch even though it dealt with very weighty topics. I found myself explaining aspects of war to the kids, introducing very current topics as at the time of this writing the United States is at war in Iraq and Afghanistan. I felt this movie helped give an appropriate introduction of weighty topics such that the kids can understand a bit more about their world without being thrown into depression or overwhelmed with things they can't understand. The movie also illustrates the value of persistence, hard work, studying, reading, being polite and considerate, altruism, compassion, helpfulness, and not giving up hope. All of that in such a way that you hardly notice; there's never a sense of preaching or proselytizing. The acting is TERRIFIC... Molly's teacher does an amazing job of period acting, Emily plays her part well and Molly herself is done in a style that is rare in American cinema; a complete contrast to Samantha. That being said I liked the character of Samantha better and there a few flaws in the movie. I have not read the books, so I'm judging the movie entirely on its own merits and vs Samantha which was the only other movie in this series that we've seen. Overally hurray for this movie and the series.

I liked it the plot line was cute and inspireing and it is a real tearjerker ecspsillay when Emily tells the truth about herself. However the cast wasn't great Hannah Fleming (Suesan) was the best of the children and did fair in the part. Maya Ritter (Molly)was OK but needs to work on her pazzazz. Tory Green (Emily) was fine but was too dramatic in some scenes. Samantha S Wilson (Linda)was poor in her part. She just didn't have the looks for it and was too fake in my opinion. She also needs to work on her pazzazz. Josette Halpert(Allison) was too cheerful and too fake and too dull. Her performance was so bad I wanted to puke. Overall it had a good plot line (even if it didn't follow the books). And the adult cast was really good. I look forward to seeing Kit next year and I hope to see Hannah in more movies. On a scale of 1/10 I give it a 7.

My grandmother and I get together whenever a new American Girl movie debuts. We enjoyed Felicity: An American Girl Adventure, very much as well, as my Aunt lives in Williamsburg, Virginia. This movie was wonderfully similar to all six books in the Molly Collection,and even though I have read them all, I still could not move because every scene had touching moments, It displayed what life would have been like back in WW2 for all of the Children and Adults that watched it together. I absolutely recommend watching it with the people you love most at Christmastime or any Holiday for that matter. It is a very touching movie in many ways.

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 loved the movie i thought out of them all that Emily was the best actor. I loved the script too. i can't wait to find out what the next American girl movie is about. I like the personality between each actor. i like the special effects. i think that this is the best American movie ever. i haven't read all of the molly books but i can't wait to read them.i watched this movie with my family and everyone enjoyed it. I would recommend this movie to anyone. I hope that everyone else that sees it likes it like i do. I do agree with the rest of the comments that other people wrote. Over all i loved this movie and i think that everyone should watch it.

I recently saw this movie on Disney Channel. I thought it was absolutely adorable. The drama was tragic, but ended up cute in the end. I thought the little British girl was absolutely adorable and everything bad that happened to these people made me want to cry (I managed not to!). There were parts that made me unsure about it being a children's movie, due to the fact that there was lots of crying and also the British girl (I can't remember her name!) once stated what it was like waiting for the black out alerts to be over and it seemed a bit depressing. My family and I nonetheless thought the movie was cute no matter how unbelievable the ending was! I give it an eight and the cast great. If you like movies that are based on some history, but relates to people this is a must see movie!