I really love the story in this movie, it is superb, and heart-wrenching. I must admit that there is at least one aspect that is a bit confusing, and makes no sense. But overall, this movie is certainly worth seeing. The acting is especially superb. I must say, I cried hysterically during one of the more touching scenes with Cody Linley, and at the end (I won't say why, not to give anything away)- Also, the guy who plays David fit very well into this film, and added just the right touch to make the movie even better. Out of all the movies I have ever seen in my entire life, none ever made me cry as hard as I did during this one. I can't explain it, but there is something about the acting that really connects you to the film, and helps you really feel what the characters are feeling, which is a very important aspect of film. I suggest you grab a box of crying tissues, lay back, relax, and enjoy this touching film. I know it really changed my outlook on life, and no movie has ever been able to tug at me like that before. If are a big fan of love stories, than this is a must-see. I highly recommend it.

Brad Sayles music for Echoes of Innocence is a lesson in just how much a good score can raise the overall quality of a film. While the producers of the film were the victims of some very bad timing (Joan of Arc being a much used theme at the moment), there are skills here in the photography and editing that simply need to be honed. If anything, the film is an example of just how careful one must be in selecting a story that is suitable for a screenplay. Writing a good screenplay is disastrously hard work. The vision necessary to execute it into a cohesive film is another skill set altogether. It is clear in this effort that too much was done by too few people.Sayles talent is evident in the weaving of atmosphere, tension, thought, and love into an original score of depth and content. He possesses the gift that too few composers have at present: the ability to use startling silence in a musical context. The film would be very valuable as a lab piece for aspiring film/video composers.As to the movie as a whole, I've seen far worse, presented by bigger studios with 100 times the budget. This is an encouraging first effort. The producers simply need greater exposure to a wider variety of environments, film styles, and a much more worldly approach to their work.

I suppose this could be seen as a spoiler... however the poor script makes it hard to call it one because you can see everything the movie is going to throw at you from about the beginningI don't want to sound like I am just raving here. Remember high school health class? Remember those movies you watched in them. I liked those days when you would watch some corny movie in class about abortion or date rape instead of hearing some teacher drone on about it in obscure terms that turn the situation into some sterile subject to talk about in class. Well I paid to go to a theater and watch the baptist equivalent of a health movie, and it was not as fun to pay to watch such a thing.In all honesty, this movie is the worst movie I have ever seen. Let me start with the fact that the synopsis i saw before seeing it failed to mention that it was a Christian conversion film. Films with blatant objectives are always annoying but this one took it to a level I didn't know existed. Lets say you are down with the whole having scenes of movies being people reading bible passages to each other or having religion be displayed in a way that should be disgusting to anyone who actually holds the beliefs represented (which by the way are not even standard Christian beliefs but some strange skewed belief that is disgusting.)First off lets talk about acting. I am not someone who normally notices or cares about relatively bad acting. I also have liked when movies cast people that are actually about the age of the person they are playing in high school settings. However I don't think the actors they chose had even looked at the scripts before performing in the movie. The pauses were awkward and long. The Cinematography probably didn't help this feeling as it tended to look much like a TV show. The Cinematography of some WB TV show would stand alone as a reason to complain about the appearance of a movie, however this movie has another feature that gives it a great feel of film naivety. The exposure and lighting are horrendous. Every scene looks pretty terrible because there are random bright spots that shouldn't be bright or other amateur looking things. The technical aspects of the movie are worth cringing over but the story is not anything better. The plot is full of holes and is incredibly predictable. The story in brief is some girl who admires Joan of Arc begins to be made fun of for being a virgin in Jr. high. After being roughed up for being a 12 year old virgin she runs into the arms of a boy whom she falls in love with and makes a promise to marry so they can have sex in wedlock at the age of 18. Then in the present where she is 17 a new classmate arrives who is blonde just like the kid of her past and seems immediately interested in getting to know her. After 2 hours of the end twist being blatantly obvious he finally tells her on her 18th birthday and says he couldn't tell her before because he wanted her to be in love with the him of today not the 11 year old him. (which somehow explains why he became friends with her by saying you can't ask me anything about myself only i can ask you so i can write an article about your life!?)The bad guy character in the movie is also a blob of misguided symbolism, poor acting, and confusion. He is initially displayed as being a creepy creepy womanizing gun freak and his character stays this one dimensional the entire time. Unless you consider the fact that he suddenly acquires a demonic voice that seems to be trying to make the point that the bad you see around you is Satan's fault as he is here to ruin your life. The end leaves you confused, as to whether he was the devil, thinking that you must have imagined the lead girl being shot as she was fine in the next scene, and her friend that had been shot in the hand seemed to have wandered out into the woods after the incident even though i saw him collapse in the field earlier. Then he reveals that he is in fact the lover we all already knew he was and we get to know that if you lead a good monogamous life you do in fact get to have sex on bear skin rugs with fires in the background.

This movie was a travesty. I realize people will applaud it simply because it has religious themes and morals, but a good movie that does not make. The story was poorly plotted and executed, with thinly sketched characters with no motivation behind their actions. It seems the writing team didn't realize you can't base an entire script on coincidence (the main boy's "secret"), and that audiences expect a follow-up to events like bombs being planted but never going off (even hours later). The two lead actors were passable, but almost every side character was hysterical in their attempts to emote, such as the needlessly psychotic mother and the stereotyped stalker/killer. And then there's a killer cow, whom happens to be the embodiment of God? This wasn't a movie, just a poorly filmed piece of propaganda about virginity. Surely actually going to church would be a far better use of time, should you be intrigued by the concept.