I love Shirley Temple and tried to sit through this movie. I could not get past the fact that Orr (the actress playing Shirley) was eleven playing a five year old. To me the reason Shirley was so successful was because she was so young and small and able to act as well as any adult.To see an eleven year old do something a five year old did was not impressive or entertaining. I know there is only one Shirley Temple but couldn't casting find a smaller younger looking actress? Watching Orr costumed in the short, short dresses that were so adorable on Shirley was truly cringe inducing. Orr was almost as tall as some of her costars making the movie laughable at best and an insult to Shirley at worst.

I just happened to tune into this movie on Lifetime yesterday. I was bowled over. It was wonderful! The child actress that plays Shirley was magnificent. The scenes with the actor that played Bill Robinson (Bo Jangles) and little Shirley dancing up and down the staircase just made me cry. And the actress that played Gertrude Temple - she was fabulous! The fact this movie could have been so syrupy sweet, but was straight to the point kept me watching. I especially liked the actor that played John Ford; and the Lionel Barrymore actor.....that quote he spews when little Shirley makes peace with him, "Are you a 50-year old midget?", during the filming of the "The Littlest Rebel". Great. Just plain great! This is a movie anyone of any age can watch and love.

I am a huge Shirley Temple fan. When I saw this movie, it made me appreciate what a talented child Shirley actually was. Ashley Rose Orr made possibly the worst on-screen Shirley. Imagine an 11 year old playing Shirley Temple from the age of 5. That in itself is wrong. But getting her to 'mimick' Shirley's voice? And her singing is woeful. The dancing was good, I'll say that. As previous users have said, there was little dramatic scenes, nothing to make the story interesting. Not even Amelia Earhart... I would have liked to have seen more of the world wide phenomenon that Shirley Temple created. There was too much focus on the Wizard of Oz, when in reality, Shirley was just considered for Dorothy. The film portrays it as though it is the end of the world when she does not get the role. Shirley herself said that she is glad Judy Garland got to play her. For me the star of the show was the lady who played Gertrude Temple. Otherwise, stay away! For great Shirley Temple films, watch Heidi, Poor Little Rich Girl and Little Miss Broadway.

I didn't think this movie was very good at all. Basically they took a bunch of one-liners from various Shirley Temple movies, threw them together, and had Orr act like Shirley Temple acted on-screen. "Oh my goodness!" was said quite a number of times. If you are familiar with Shirley Temple movies, you will recognize several lines direct from her movies. The trouble is they have Orr saying these in Shirley's everyday life. In the end, what we get is a hodgepodge of re-created Shirley Temple movies, instead of any sort of real look into Shirley Temple's life. Save yourself the trouble and rent Shirley Temple movies, it's a lot better than watching Orr try and recreate Shirley's acting style.