The Great Gilly Hopkins

Directed by: Stephen Herek

Written by: David Paterson

Stars: Sophie Nelisse, Kathy Bates, Glenn Close

Plot: 12-year-old wisecracking Gilly Hopkins finds herself shuffled from foster home to foster home until she meets Maime Trotter. (IMDB)

Based on the award winning young adult novel by Katherine Peterson (Bridge to Terabithia), A feisty foster kid's outrageous scheme to be reunited with her birth mother has unintended consequences in The Great Gilly Hopkins, an entertaining film for the entire family. Gilly Hopkins (Sophie Nélisse) has seen more than her share of foster homes and has outwitted every family she has lived with. In an effort to escape her new foster mother Maime Trotter's (Kathy Bates) endless loving care, Gilly concocts a plan that she believes will bring her mother (Julia Stiles) running to her rescue. But when the ploy blows up in Gilly's face it threatens to ruin the only chance she's ever had to be part of a real family.

This film was really heartwarming, and something that the whole family can enjoy. The film deals with themes such as growing up, and having a sense of belonging to a family. Sophie Nelisse is great in the titular role, and she expresses her spunky, feisty side as the foster kid. At first, I didn't like her character, based on what she was doing to her foster family. She acted rude at first, but she did end up growing on me near the end. I did feel sadness for her character when she finds her mom, but her mom wants nothing to do with her. I thought Nelisse would be overshadowed by her A-list co-stars, but she does hold her own in this film. Other highlights in the film include Kathy Bates as the loving foster mother, Octavia Spencer as Gilly's school teacher, and Bill Cobbs as Trotter's next-door blind neighbor. 

The plot is very straight-forward, and it doesn't feel rushed. The film flows nicely for the first half, with the set-up of the characters and basic shenanigans that Gilly gets into. Once Glenn Close's character, Gilly's grandmother, shows up, however, I feel that the movie falls flat. Close's character takes Gilly away from her foster family, and about 15-20 minutes are just Gilly and her grandmother. I think the film fell flat because I missed the earlier characters. But the film did have a nice ending, with Gilly realizing the importance of being accepted by a family. This was a good film for the family!