Wuchak "Smile" is an independent film from 2005 about an American girl and a Chinese girl born on the same day. Kate (Mika Boorem) lives the good life as a typical Southern California good-lookin' blond whereas Lin (Yi Ding) was discarded like trash as an infant by her parents because of a facial deformity. Thankfully, a man rescues the girl and sacrifices all to see to it that she has a quality life (Luoyong Wang). The two girls meet when Kate decides to take part in a program encouraged by her teacher Mr. Matthews (Sean Astin). The story's a cumulative creation based on thousands of true stories, including one of an American teen and Chinese teen. A picture of the two is featured at the end.The cinematography, locations, score/soundtrack, etc. are professional-level filmmaking and there are a few big names in the cast, like Linda Hamilton and Beau Bridges as Kate's parents, not to mention Astin. Although this is one of those tear-jerking inspirational dramas, it's also a coming-of-age flick. To be expected, the story goes back-and-forth between Kate and Lin. The latter's life is quite sad, except for her adoptive father, while the former's life plays out like the usual teenage-babe-in-high-school yarn. I don't mean that in a bad way because Kate's (melo)drama helps hook the viewer into the story and is one of the film's strengths. Another positive is that the filmmakers don't try to play your heart-strings too early. The whole story is a build-up to the revelation at the end and, I have to confess, it brought tears to both my wife and me.Unfortunately, you can tell that this is a low-budget movie in regards to the weak acting in several scenes. When a movie has the funds the filmmakers will take several shots of the same scene until they get it just right; and they'll kick axx if they have to in order to get the best out of the actors. Here you can tell that they set up scenes and shot them very quickly with the attitude of "That's good enough." Why? Because time is money and they didn't have the money to take all day to shoot one or two scenes, so they got the best they could on their limited budget. Another negative is that the story is too by-the-numbers. You're watching a scene and it feels like actors following the contrived words of a script rather than what they would do or say in real life, which ruins the movie's illusion of reality. If you can ignore these flaws, however, this is a worthwhile inspirational drama. Being shot in China, it gives Westerners a good spotlight into the lives of common people in that country.The film runs 107 minutes and was shot in Malibu, California, and Jingxi & Shanghai, China.GRADE: B-

socrates99 I get one for me and one for my wife which I usually don't watch. This one I did and was pleasantly surprised. As mentioned elsewhere the shots of China were as intriguing as those of Malibu. They're all quite revealing, details of life at both locations that I didn't expect. But the real surprise was the lead, Mika Boorem, who I don't recall having seen anywhere before. I've never seen anyone play 'innocent' and naive as boldly as this girl. What's also surprising is that her Chinese counterparts also come across as unusually devoid of negative traits with one exception.Anyway, this is the true story of someone needing an operation and how she eventually got it thanks to a teenager from Malibu. Not my usual idea of a fun movie, but I was engaged throughout. Not quite sure what did it, but if you're a guy looking to impress a charitable girl, this movie is a good bet.

heatherfife I love this film!!! This is a beautiful story, well-written - a film worth watching! From the moment it began I was drawn in to the beautiful photography and story set in China. All of the storyline that was filmed there was pertinent, realistic and touching. The message of the film is sacrifice, love, and compassion. Luoyong Wang, Yi Ding, and Mika Boorem were all fantastic. Both Erik von Detten and Sean Astin's acting was natural and believable.The majority of the film set in Malibu in an attempt at character building, is substandard. Part of this has to do, I believe, with the editing. For example Linda Hamilton's character appears loving and caring one minute, then manic depressive and "out of control" the next and them back to a loving caring mother/wife the next with no apparent reason for the extreme transitions. We don't need to see "Katie" dressing immodestly, see her parents freaking out on each other, or see her internal conflict about having sex with her boyfriend, or the way she uses sex to manipulate and frustrate two teenage boys to know she is not a touchy-feely, caring "good girl." It could have been shown simply with the way she is derogatory about her classmates and unbelieving that people in the world could be less physically beautiful than she. Sorry, this part was over-done. I would love to see a re-make of this some day...in the meantime, see this one and enjoy the beauty of the film spiritually and physically!

Lauren This movie was very good and uplifting, and it was written to educate about a great cause. While I think a few of the scenes are not necessary to the movie, like Katie's issue with her boyfriend, the movie as a whole was very good and definitely uplifting.Operation Smile, the real organization upon which the movie's "Doctor's Gift" is based, is fast becoming a great, well-known international organization. I myself am involved in Operation Smile and it is very rewarding--I hope to go on a mission trip with them within the next year or two. If you have a chance to get involved, you definitely should. Their website is www.operationsmile.org .