Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

People are voting emotionally.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Take Richard Harris' off-key singing over the opening credits as a warning: This is a bad film.Based on the flop Broadway play "Isle of Children" (11 performances in 1962) this maudlin story about a dying kid approaching her 12th birthday is nothing but talk and more talk set along the Nova Scotia coast.Jodie Foster plays little Deirdre as a pint-sized Camille with occasional coughs and sputters and chest clutching. She's dying from a bad heart. Daddy (Richard Harris) is her best friend and has apparently packed up the family to a coastal village in Nova Scotia (this is a Canadian film production) to give Deirdre one last wonderful summer. She's a little princess and he's built a miniature castle for her on a stairway landing by the sea. Mommy (Lois Nettleton) seems to spend her time chasing doctors and wringing her hands over Deirdre's fate. She and daddy fight constantly about what to do. Of course there is nothing they can do. There's also a stern tutor (Geraldine Fitzgerald) who makes Deirdre memorize historical knowledge (why?) and blathers about Jesus. The family is not religious.There's also a neighbor, a 9-year old (Brad Savage) who is Deirdre's best friend. He seems to serve as a sounding board for the family and asks questions only an adult would ask. Then there's a brief appearance by William Windom as a non-nonsense doctor who tells the parents for the hundredth time the kid is doomed.The ending, where the parents put on a play with a herd of overdressed children from the village in the audience, is intolerably bad yet seems to serve as a "happy ending" for all involved. I suppose it's supposed to be a bit of whimsy, but it falls flat even though the children watch this nonsense in rapt attention.Main problems are that sturdy little Jodie Foster is the wrong choice for playing Deirdre. You never believe for a minute that she is sickly. Harris mugs his way through his role (he also produced the film) with a wandering accent. Nettleton, Fitzgerald, and Windom all have one-dimensional roles. Savage is ok but his role as written, sounds like he's 19 rather than 9.Also incredibly bad is the music track that churns on in the background using strains from WEST SIDE STORY's "Maria" and the theme from GONE WITH THE WIND patched into it's Muzak score. Little Deirdre's (last) birthday wish is to be old. The audience must have been wishing for this film to be OVER.

Since it's been a long time since I saw the movie, and since I have searched for several years for it I would have to give it a 10. Since I have remembered only how it made me feel; what a wonderful, warm sense I got at that young age that has lasted, to make me want to; no, really, crave to see this movie again. I couldn't remember the actors. All I could remember was the little girl was dying and the love between her and her father was so beautiful and there was a sand castle. Tonight I decided that I had to find the movie and I did a search and remembered the name Richard. I found it. And my goodness, Richard Harris and Jodie Foster - two of my very, very favorite actors and what a wonderful job they did. I could see them. I don't know why I couldn't recognize them. I would recommend this movie to everyone. I will be getting it (finally) and won't let it out of my sight. Enjoy!

When Jodie Foster-admirers discuss her long career, this title usually gets left out. It's a simple, sentimental story of an ill young girl and the effects her strength and will has on the people around her. Richard Harris is a bit heavy as her father (and I could have done without his non-singing over the credits: "Deeer-draaah!"), but Foster makes the most of her scenes, particularly with William Windom as a doctor surprised by her maturity and Brad Savage as a local boy who's curious about sex (they hold hands and lie together on the beach in a stunningly delicate moment). Based on the flop Broadway play "Isle of Children", which starred a post-"Miracle Worker" Patty Duke, the movie gets a little hectic in its final stages as the filmmakers try to wrap up the story with a birthday party sequence I didn't much care for. Still worth-seeing for Foster, luminous at eleven years and holding this picture together. **1/2 from ****

All of the acting is as good as it gets. Jodie Foster as the main character gives a flawless performance, in this extremely well written story about the life of a precocious child that is dying. Director Don Taylor, creates a visually beautiful, yet simple canvas on which the actors ply their craft. This is a movie with much raw emotion, but as light as is possible on the cliche tear jerker stuff. It offers a range of emotions and insights into the human condition. Makes you proud to be human, even with all of our flaws. Don't miss it, but be prepared to be emotionally wrung out.