Save your money for something good and enjoyable

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

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 watched this movie with my six year old daughter and my Mom. First let me say that this a good family movie...they seem to be rare today! We all enjoyed the story of Molly and her family set during WW II. It was a first glimpse of the WW II era for my first grade daughter. My Mom was in fourth grade when her father went off to serve in the war so she could really relate to the story and enjoyed it a great deal. At one point during the movie my mother remarked "this is quite a history lesson". The story is so interesting that most kids won't even realize that they are learning as well as being entertained.This a a must see for everyone, not just American Girl Fans. A very interesting history lesson!

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.