This movie was fairly enjoyable for what it was, a teen melodrama with plenty of pathos and a nice romance and beautiful scenery thrown in. It was fairly engaging and you cared about the two main characters and their personal journeys.
Virginia Gardner was good as Mia, our orphan in search of her mom. She was spunky and upbeat, a little quirky but always endearing. Alex Aiono was also good as her reluctant travel buddy Kyle. He was sufficiently dark and brooding at the beginning, but later showed his sensitive side. The chemistry between the two of them was a bit strained at times, but mostly natural. The problem with most romances, teen or otherwise, is that there is too little screen time for the leads to develop the relationship. That definitely wasn't a problem for this movie. Almost the entire movie was about them spending time together. The other main character in this movie was the beautiful Spanish scenery, and you definitely got a good enough dose of it to send you rushing to Expedia to book your next flight to Madrid.
Was this movie unrealistic at times? Sure. I never quite understood why Kyle agreed to go with Mia on her Spanish odyssey in the first place. No compelling reason was given for Mr. Doom and Gloom to consent to this. I'm not sure why Mia wanted him to come with her either, except to drive for her, and because maybe she saw him as a substitute for her late friend Noah, who was originally supposed to go with her. The whole trip to Spain didn't make much sense either. If she were really looking to find her birth mom, it would've made far more sense for her to do more research and maybe even hire a private investigator, rather than just seek out everyone with the same name as her mom, in hopes of finding the right lady. It all seemed like an overly-contrived way of getting Kyle and Mia together for a road trip through a gorgeous foreign country. The melodrama around Mia's heart condition was also a bit much to take at times, as was the ridiculousness of Kyle sneaking her out of the hospital. Oh well, I guess we need to suspend disbelief quite a bit for a story like this.
I felt like the final meeting of Mia with her mom fell a little flat. So, apparently her mom was happy to see her. But they never showed any real interactions between the two of them. No dialog. No explanations of why she gave up her daughter and never sought to find her again. No indications of whether they would now have an ongoing relationship. Even though she found her birth mother, it all felt very unresolved to me.
I also didn't like the ending very much. I'm as much a fan of a happy ending as anybody, but I hated the way they did it, making you think she'd died, only to discover that Kyle was likely grieving at the gravesite of his friend Noah who died in the accident, and that Mia was fine and ready to embark on a new chapter of life together with Kyle. I fully expected her to die at the end of this movie. Though I haven't read the book, I suspect that this is what happened at the end of the book, but the powers that be decreed that the movie would have a happy ending instead. It felt very forced to me. If she were going to survive the operation, I would much have preferred that Kyle be there with her as she struggled to recover, and see his overjoyed reaction as she woke up and it became apparent that she was going to make it.
Though this wasn't a perfect movie, I did enjoy it, because the performances were solid, the scenery was beautiful and the message of the movie about valuing life was touching and poignant. Definitely worthy of a watch or two.
Virginia Gardner was good as Mia, our orphan in search of her mom. She was spunky and upbeat, a little quirky but always endearing. Alex Aiono was also good as her reluctant travel buddy Kyle. He was sufficiently dark and brooding at the beginning, but later showed his sensitive side. The chemistry between the two of them was a bit strained at times, but mostly natural. The problem with most romances, teen or otherwise, is that there is too little screen time for the leads to develop the relationship. That definitely wasn't a problem for this movie. Almost the entire movie was about them spending time together. The other main character in this movie was the beautiful Spanish scenery, and you definitely got a good enough dose of it to send you rushing to Expedia to book your next flight to Madrid.
Was this movie unrealistic at times? Sure. I never quite understood why Kyle agreed to go with Mia on her Spanish odyssey in the first place. No compelling reason was given for Mr. Doom and Gloom to consent to this. I'm not sure why Mia wanted him to come with her either, except to drive for her, and because maybe she saw him as a substitute for her late friend Noah, who was originally supposed to go with her. The whole trip to Spain didn't make much sense either. If she were really looking to find her birth mom, it would've made far more sense for her to do more research and maybe even hire a private investigator, rather than just seek out everyone with the same name as her mom, in hopes of finding the right lady. It all seemed like an overly-contrived way of getting Kyle and Mia together for a road trip through a gorgeous foreign country. The melodrama around Mia's heart condition was also a bit much to take at times, as was the ridiculousness of Kyle sneaking her out of the hospital. Oh well, I guess we need to suspend disbelief quite a bit for a story like this.
I felt like the final meeting of Mia with her mom fell a little flat. So, apparently her mom was happy to see her. But they never showed any real interactions between the two of them. No dialog. No explanations of why she gave up her daughter and never sought to find her again. No indications of whether they would now have an ongoing relationship. Even though she found her birth mother, it all felt very unresolved to me.
I also didn't like the ending very much. I'm as much a fan of a happy ending as anybody, but I hated the way they did it, making you think she'd died, only to discover that Kyle was likely grieving at the gravesite of his friend Noah who died in the accident, and that Mia was fine and ready to embark on a new chapter of life together with Kyle. I fully expected her to die at the end of this movie. Though I haven't read the book, I suspect that this is what happened at the end of the book, but the powers that be decreed that the movie would have a happy ending instead. It felt very forced to me. If she were going to survive the operation, I would much have preferred that Kyle be there with her as she struggled to recover, and see his overjoyed reaction as she woke up and it became apparent that she was going to make it.
Though this wasn't a perfect movie, I did enjoy it, because the performances were solid, the scenery was beautiful and the message of the movie about valuing life was touching and poignant. Definitely worthy of a watch or two.