Pluskylang Great Film overall

Stevecorp Don't listen to the negative reviews

CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Allison Davies The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

paulclaassen Wonderful acting from the young leading lady! In fact, the entire cast is brilliant and the film wonderfully colorful and entertaining, as a young girl becomes obsessed with a play. The film blends many genres seamlessly without any one of them becoming overbearing. Very good film indeed!

TheBlueHairedLawyer Sometimes people say that to understand someone, you have to be in their shoes. Well, I have Asperger's syndrome and my friend has Tourette syndrome. Both of us watched this and agreed that it was highly exaggerated and more like watching a melodramatic Lifetime movie than a movie based on fact.Phoebe, played by this terrible and overused actress Elle Fanning, is a little girl stuck in elementary school and also suffering from Tourette syndrome, although her parents have no idea. They just think she's different. Her drama teacher gets her interested in a play of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, but problems arise when Phoebe starts actions of self-harm such as walking off a catwalk high above the school stage.You have to give the film company credit for trying to raise awareness of Tourette syndrome, as some parents may be unaware if their child has it or not. However, my friend, who has the disorder, says she hated it. She's never even thought of self-harm, nor does she spit at people as Phoebe did. Perhaps they were too specific in this movie.The acting was generally terrible, especially from Elle Fanning. The school was portrayed as this demonic prison-like place with an evil principal, whereas in reality most schools are very understanding and accepting. The drama teacher I at first thought was just eccentric, but her constant reciting of phrases from Alice in Wonderland just became annoying. I also thought it rather strange that the mom diagnosed Phoebe, and that the therapist immediately suggested medication, as if not always wanting to be in such a lousy reality is bad.This film could have benefited from better acting and a more broad coverage of Tourette syndrome rather than the symptoms of one girl. The soundtrack was terrible as well, and unoriginal. I'm sure many people will disagree with my review, but I'm only rating it a 4/10. The four stars are for the fact that the production company at least had good intentions.

StarSassy Elle Fanning was just.. I have no words. Why didn't she get any fame from this and yet she did for Somewhere, where she didn't do much? She was brilliant in Phoebe In Wonderland. She really made the film a whole lot better. At first I thought it was going to be boring but now I have changed my mind completely. If nobody has watched this yet, then I think you should. This isn't a kids film, which at first, I thought it was. The Trailer makes it look like It's about a girl who gets a role In an play, but actually there's more to it than meets the eye. I especially liked the part where Phoebe's mum noticed that Phoebe had been hurting herself, I actually got tears In my eyes.

runamokprods When it's good, it's terrific, including an amazing performance by a very young Elle Fanning as a mentally troubled 8 year old, and good work by Felicity Huffman, and the always wonderful Patricia Clarkson. On the other hand, the very talented Campbell Scott is reduced to playing a one note joke, and the tone of the film is all over the place; odd quirky comedy one moment, a child contemplating suicide the next. But the real problems are when the film's Lifetime network roots show through, and suddenly there's that warm, fuzzy, phony feeling that being a kid with severe emotional problems isn't all that bad, and everything will be just fine. It undermines the film's interesting attempts to really get inside a struggling kid's head.None-the-less, the film gets real points for trying, and about 80% of the time, this is a very good, and very original film.