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- Caption: Maya Ritter and Molly Ringwald play daughter and mother in the latest American Girl TV movie.
- Description:
Molly McIntire is a pigtailed klutz, a tap dancer out of sync, a longshot for the star role of "Miss Victory" in the student dance recital.
Maya Ritter and Molly Ringwald play daughter and mother in the latest American Girl TV movie.
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'Molly: An American Girl on the Homefront'
When: 8 p.m. Sunday, Disney Channel.
Starring: Maya Ritter, Tory Green, David Aaron Baker.
But that doesn't stop her from practicing and practicing to be the star-spangled lead of a Christmas extravaganza during World War II.
"Molly: An American Girl on the Homefront" is the third of the American Girl movies, following "Samantha" and "Felicity."
And it has the most heart, thanks to Maya Ritter, the actress who plays Molly with just enough endearing awkwardness to make her feel like a spunky little girl -- not a picture-perfect doll plucked off the shelf.
Molly Ringwald stars, too -- but believe it or not, she's Molly's mother. It's jarring to see Ringwald as a traditional 1940s mom, instead of a pretty-in-pink angsty teen.
Like Diane Keaton and Marcia Gay Harden, fine actresses who played the mothers in the two previous American Girl movies, Ringwald doesn't get to act much. But don't blame her. The script has her deliver a bunch of mommy platitudes.
Besides, Molly, the middle child, is a Daddy's girl.
When Molly decides she wants to have a tea party for her ninth birthday party, her mother tells her that it's impossible because of war rationing. Her father comforts her by telling her he will take her out -- just dad and daughter. It is a very sweet moment.
The movie is set in 1944, and the tension is set up when Molly's father, a doctor played by David Aaron Baker, volunteers to go to London to tend to wounded soldiers.
Molly begs her dad not to go -- and she is shown chasing after the train carrying her father to war.
Meanwhile, Molly and her two closest friends idolize their beautiful and kind teacher, Miss Campbell (Sarah Manninen), and her romance with her dashing boyfriend, who is shipping off to war. The two plan to get married once he returns.
Except he doesn't come back.
And there are other tragedies among the people in the community -- and the tension builds. Will Molly's beloved dad come back from the war?
Molly keeps dancing and dancing as she tries to adjust to changes during the war -- a missing father, no ice cream at the soda fountain, turnips for dinner. But the most jarring change is a new roommate, Emily Bennett (Tory Green), a little girl who relocated from London and moved in with the McIntire family.
Instead of saccharine sweetness, this movie shows the two girls eyeing each other warily at first. Molly thinks Emily is a rich snob, and Emily thinks Molly is spoiled.
It is only when Molly finds out the terrible truth about Emily's life in London that she softens and they become fast friends, a metaphor for how the two countries have to pull together to win the war.
It all builds to a tense crescendo. Will Molly become Miss Victory? Will her father come home alive?
We won't give it away.
But this movie has enough realistic plot twists and little-girl heart to keep you and your daughter watching to the end. - Actor/Actress/Director:
- Movie: Molly: An American Girl on the Home Front
- Id: 10159410
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