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.

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.

I am usually a fan of Hallmark Hall of Fame TV movies, but this one failed to win my heart. At best, it was a SEMI- entertaining flick with Jena Malone playing a "troubled" girl (now is that creative or what?)who fails to get along with completely anybody. In other words, she's a complete little brat. If I want to see a movie about a troubled child, I will watch the first half of Jane Eyre. At least that one is entertaining and shows a vague human side behind all of Jane's "fiestiness." I failed to make the same connection with Ellen and that makes for a rather unlikeable little character and a none too likeable film. I'd give it a five out of ten at MOST.