This is one of those movies that make you sit and wonder. Wonder about the difficulties that some underpreviliged people face. The hardships they go through while we just sit in the comfort of our homes enjoying whatever it is that we are doing. Very little do we actually do to help these people. In fact a vast majority of us, healthy people, aren't even aware of the sheer agony that these mentally or physically disabled people go through. We just live in our own world, lost in our luxuries, in our happiness while these people, who also happen to have flesh and blood like ours suffer, endlessly. Some do take notice, like Katie in the movie, who makes an effort despite having second thoughts and paying no heed to her boyfriends request to stay. She goes to a foreign country, to a different culture, taking us with her. She witnesses the plight of the young kids, almost all of them a lot younger than her and is swept away into a wave of emotion. Learning about a particular girl who's father had sacrificed a lot for her well being and failing to get her into surgery just because he was a little late, being hit by a bus in the process as well, Katie makes a bold move and in the middle of the night, leaves her hotel in search for the girl who lives in a different town. She shows a lot of courage and it is moving to see how a teenager feels so strongly for someone who she isn't related to, or even knows much about for that matter. Katie eventually meets the girl, Lin, who has a disfigured face and convinces her to visit the hospital for surgery. The movie teaches the viewer a number of things. It tells the viewer how easily an underpreviliged person's life can be drastically transformed into a beautiful one just with our little efforts. It's truly a great movie

I have just seen this movie on DVD and found it fascinating. The scenes were presented with a good balance of realism and restraint. I found it acted and directed well enough to immerse the viewer in the story. The pace of the movie supported a sense of suspense as hope alternates with anguish, and choices confront a number of characters. The character of the (Chinese) father is one that especially impressed me. The movie provides an opportunity for people like me who are privileged in many ways to reflect on what life and humanity is about, and it does this without sentimentality. It is not a movie to watch for mere entertainment. It provides an opportunity to connect with the world we live in, and to be reminded of the pain, tensions, choices and hope that are often part of the lives of many people in our world.

Not to be confused with Michael Ritchie's nasty 1975 beauty pageant spoof, this "Smile" is a down-turned example of those good intentions paving the road to hell.The film parallels two stories: an impoverished Chinese father sacrifices his wife and son to raise a facially-deformed orphan named Ling (Yi Ding), and a TV-spawned Malibu family act out "Gidget Get Birth Control." Katie (Mika Booram, the third Olsen twin) plays a spoiled, self-absorbed high schooler distanced from reality. Her teacher (Sean Astin) paves the way for a school trip to China aimed at showing students how to work with deformed children.The film uses deformity as a means of suspense by treating Ling like the Frankenstein monster. Kramer continually masks her deformity through hats, hoods and camera placement. This approach exploits the freak show quality inherent in the material. She may be uncomfortable with the way society views her and Kramer's answer is to cover her up until the big reveal. Why disturb your audience with such unpleasantness? We see her face briefly at the end and only minutes before closing-credit snapshots of her after surgery disclose a swan beneath the harelip. It is not good enough to give the girl a reason to live; what is imperative is Ling being equally as hot and popular as Katie.Funding for the film came from a trust established by the late Roy Rogers and Dale Evans. They envisioned a heritage of quality family films. Give me "Son of Paleface" any day.

I didn't hear about this movie at all. I was walking through Movie Gallery and came across this movie. I initially noticed Sean Astin's name so I picked it up. I then realized that the movie was based on OPERATION SMILE. I had to rent the movie then. Operation Smile is an organization that goes to third world countries and does facial reconstructive surgery on children. I personally think this is amazing. The movie captured the heart-rending pain that physically deformed children go through. It captured the love the parents had for those children and the sacrifices that they go through. It also captured Katie's journey from selfish spoiled little brat to someone who thinks about somebody else for a change. It showed her compassion bloom and it was a very pleasant movie to watch. I heartily recommend it.