If i didn't know this was a movie i swear i was watching my early life pass before my eyes. I cried so much out of her sadness but also cried cause of how heroic she was. She finally got the love and family she so deserved by the end of this wonderful film.This was a well written book first of all of which i read. The film stayed right along with each and every character in the book. It was so wonderful and a little amusing as she rode past the house of which the family's name was not Foster as she had thought. Also how she gathered up some money for the family to help take care of her. And how she dressed in her best clothes and rode over to the house on a very cold winter's day.This movie truly is worth watching over and over as i myself have done.

I saw this movie last night for the first time on the Odyssey Channel, and it is on again now. I thought it was brilliant, and nobody could have matched the way Jena Malone brought Ellen to life. Jena is one of my favorite actresses (I've seen 3 of her movies this month!) and I have been a fan of hers for a long time. I think that this is one of her most powerful roles, and she did a great job in her portrayal as the child of an alcoholic father being shuffled from relative to relative after her mother dies. Jena is definitely going to be a major actress when she gets older, as her acting talents are unbelievable. :)

Anyone with a heart could not help but like this movie. There was not a dry eye in the room, as we watched the movie. Ellen Foster shines, whether she is smiling or crying in the movie. The emotion she is feeling is expressed without words. She is a bright and intelligent little girl, mature beyond her years because of her circumstances. Abused by her father and abandoned by her relatives, she overcomes the trials life hands her and finds a place to belong. Isn't that what all people strive for in the end?I give this movie a ten out of ten. I would recommend that people view it with an open mind.Jena Malone is an actress to look out for, she is very talented. No wonder she played a young Ellie in the Jodie Foster movie Contact. Her quality reminds me of Jodie Foster.

i've read positive reviews of this program and only signed on here to counterpoint the first writer. EF is a brilliant little book and the title character is so far from being a brat that the first reviewer here sounds like one of ellen's relatives. i don't know how successful the film is in conveying the powerful combination of poverty and abuse that EF overcomes on her own, but the book is a dry-eyed treasure, just like its heroine.