hyped garbage

Absolutely Fantastic

The first must-see film of the year.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Based on a true story, this film uses muted tones to express the story of a family coping when a child goes missing, then struggling even more when he returns suddenly to their lives nine years later, as a twelve-year old. The film benefits greatly from finely crafted, understated performances from Pfeiffer and Williams, as well as the moodiness of Jonathan Jackson as the older brother, Vincent, who is trying bitterly to hold things together. Look out also for Whoopi Goldberg, and for an early appearance by Alexa Vega. Prepare to cry several times during this movie. It packs a real punch, and the performances by Ryan Merriman as the abductee, and John Kapelos as his unsuspecting adoptive father, are truly moving.

This is an original and well-written story — unlike most movies, which have predictable and time-worn story lines. It's about real people with real emotions, decent people trying to deal with difficult situations.I liked the characters. I liked the realistic way they dealt with the situations. And there wasn't any overacting, like you see so often in movies. People didn't go around screaming or otherwise overdramatizing, and yet their feelings were apparent. It was well acted by all.Most parents consider their children to be their possessions. Some parents have no regard for their children's feelings. Only a parent who really loves his or her child thinks of the child's happiness and best interests above all else. This picture recognizes this fact.This is an excellent movie. I really enjoyed it.

A kid of three years old is kidnapped; he will be retrieved after nine years. All of them will face difficult challenges, the parents, the boy, the adoptive father (who was rising the kid in good faith, without being aware of what had happened long time ago). The movie is based on the best-seller of Jacquelyn Mitchard. I didn't have the chance to read the book; some say it is superior to the movie (which would not come as a surprise). What impressed me was the outcome of the story, treated with great sensibility and poignancy.It called in my mind another movie, 'An American Rhapsody', as both of them offer somehow the same solution. The best decision can be taken only by the kid, if they let him find the answers in his own terms. And his decision will be of unexpected maturity: he will realize his importance and his responsibilities for the well being of the whole family.

MANY SPOILERS THROUGHOUT POST: This is one time I have to disagree with the majority. I thought Deep End of the ocean was a really good movie. I'm surprised so many don't like it. I found it to be a mature, thought provoking and disturbing drama with excellent performances all around from everybody. The cast actually, were not just good but superb. The movie was not overly long and in the time it ran, I was able to really get a good grasp on all the characters and thought the character development was actually excellent. I was really surprised by the low rating.Many have mentioned how the movie glossed over a lot. I can understand that but the movie wasn't all that long-it didn't really have time to go into everything. And also, I rather liked that the movie stayed fast paced and engrossing without lingering to long on just one thing. A lot of what the characters were feeling were picked up in the various scenes and the story was simply to complicated to go into everything-otherwise it probably would have been about eight hours. Though I really could see this having been a mini series....I think, in a way, Deep End was boxed a little into a corner, if it had gotten to much heavier it may have been labeled manipulative. As it is, the ending was considered to "Hollywood." I actually thought the way it ended was the best possible ending a story such as this could have had. And it was believable to, though throughout the whole thing, I was thinking "joint custody". Although that wasn't exactly the way it was done it was close enough, and I found it a great ending to a very good movie.One other thing I liked was the fact that the story didn't go into never ending tragedy land. By that I mean, none of the main characters are critically injured, , no divorces and custody fights etc etc.... the focus was kept on the individuals and how they dealt with this situation, rather then introducing as many bad things as possible. This played very well as it was a tearjerker in one sense, but also was really thought provoking, and much empathy could be felt for almost everybody from Sam to the natural parents to the adoptive father to the natural brother and sister. All were complex and interesting characters.I'd give this an 8 of 10, I really thought it was very well done and wish it had a somewhat higher rating on here.