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rachel-mcbrayer
Reviews
The Measure of a Man (2011)
Don't Waste Your time
The trailer for The Measure of a Man looks great, I immediately wanted to see the film. Now I wish I had just stuck to the trailer. The movie is very disjointed, especially at the beginning jumping from present day to 1920's era to 1950's and back to 1920's. Basically the movie is the story of a father and his nine kids. A lot of scenes are just the father and various family members singing random songs that have nothing to do with the plot. The father is a bit sexist, forcing his daughters to do the household work while the boys enjoy playing most of the film. Granted the boys do mow the lawn and take out the trash, but that doesn't take nearly as long as the girl's chores. His wife even gets frustrated with him about the lack of boys help, but he refuses to listen to her. The acting is sub-par at the best. And in one scene they try to pass off a 40 year old women as a 16 year old girl. I'm not sure why they didn't get someone younger to play this part. It was so awkward watching a 40 year old play a teenager, jumping up and down for joy, going to the prom. The ending instead of being rather sad had me laughing aloud, you'll understand if you chose to waste your time watching the film and make it to the credits.
Like Dandelion Dust (2009)
Horrible Film
When I heard that they were making "Like Dandelion Dust" into a film, I was excited. But then I watched the film, and was sorely disappointed and mad. Why do movie producers/screenwriters think they have to change a book in order to make it into a film? If fans love the book, then why mess with success? The film is nothing like the book. If you like the book, save yourself the sorrow and skip this film.
The movie gives humanity to Rip's character, a humanity that is not found in the book. Instead of making Rip out to be the jerk that he is in the book, you actually feel sorry for him here. I realize that people can change, but that's not what Karen Kingsbury intended to write about.
Jack and Molly's characters are nowhere near as good as those Kingsbury wrote about. They aren't portrayed as the loving couple she makes them out to be. The complete second half of the film is all screenwriters' ideas, with only a few nods to Kingsbury. All the Christianity, faith, and prayer from the book have been scrapped. The book had such potential and would have made a great movie, if it hadn't been rewritten. I understand that due to time constraints some changes had to be made to the original book, but they didn't make some changes, they changed the whole film. If you're thinking about renting the movie, save yourself the money, and go to the library. The book is amazing and you won't regret reading it!