Dear Frankie is an excellent example of how to create a touching story without getting too sappy. This film could have easily slipped into a sickly-sweet fairytale, but instead it stays realistic and creates characters that you actually care about. This is a beautifully made movie.

I first saw this movie when I borrowed it on DVD. It opens with a lovely piece of music and gently eases you into the storyline - and what a lovely story it is. Something different. Intriguing. It held me all the way through. Everything about this movie is handled with just the right amount of sensitivity, humour, romance, and drama. It is so well written and directed. It spans the bonds of friendship, love between a grandmother and her daughter, a mother and her young son, and an unexpected attraction between two strangers.I hadn't seen a Gerard Butler or Emily Mortimer movie before. I thought they were perfect in their respective roles and I've been a fan of both of them ever since. And Jack McElhone, as the little boy, made his character so lovable and real. The support characters were also very well formed. I cared about the people in this quaint Scottish town by the sea. I was rooting for them all the way.I've wanted to buy my own copy of 'Dear Frankie' on DVD but have never seen it in the specials. I reckon I've borrowed it six times from the Video Hire outlet. And then, this week, I got lucky. I went in to hire a DVD from my local Blockbuster store, only to discover them right in the middle of a closing down sale. Everything in the shop was for sale. And there it was, on the shelf, in the Foreign movie section. And now it's sitting on my shelf at home. Yeay!If you're in the mood for an original story, that will actually make you feel something, and maybe even make you cry a little (for a good reason) then get a hold of 'Dear Frankie' and treat yourself to a wonderful movie experience.

There is an argument around that the Brits don't do melodrama in film very well, preferring to to cram it all into their soaps. The wry humour strain is there from Whisky Galore to Local Hero, bleak urban blight like Ratcatcher and Red Road abounds, even feel good movies like Billy Elliot and The Full Monty have their day. But melodrama? Best left to Almodovar and other foreigners, it seems.Then along comes Dear Frankie. The film takes a while to win you over. The fag buying scene, the incorrigible granny, the librarian fawning over the boy when she discovers his disability - it all seems a tad indulgent, a bit too forced. But Frankie's charisma grows on you, and the dilemma his Mum has created for herself bubbles with intrigue. Butler's air of menace as the brooding stranger is introduced at just the right time and perfectly counter-balances the rainbow-tinted tone till that point. The plot is only incredulous to anyone who has never been part of a family and knows nothing of how absurd the problems they create for themselves can be.The soundtrack can be a bit smothering at times, and the dying hospital patient has far too much energy, muscle tone and rage for a dying man, but these are minor quibbles. Dear Frankie is an engaging tale, well-acted and unashamedly melodramatic, in the best sense. I read the logline and rolled my eyes, but in the end gave up a few well-earned tears. There is enough dark, tortured Glaswegian angst on celluloid (and in my family, for that matter) to satisfy aficionados of that strain of film-making. It is too cynical to suggest we don't have room for the likes of a Dear Frankie.Those of us who are parents, or who are brave enough to remember, will admit that children know a helluva lot more than we give them credit for. That is the message that Dear Frankie ultimately delivers, and triumphantly, too. Selling Glaswegian melodrama could not have been easy. Pullingit off, harder still. Bravo.

I remember a proverb that " Books are well written or badly written'.It is similar in case of movies too, Movies are well made or badly made. (there is no such thing as art films or commercial films). I saw the movie on STAR MOVIES on an evening, it completely mesmerized me.The actors weren't phony and script is also well executed. Also everybody brings out a seamless performance in acting, which can be credited to director.Even for people who hate movies, I will recommend this movie 10 out of 10.