This very vanilla and completely unnecessary remake (the 2nd) of the 1962 film does manage to achieve some solid dramatic moments, but much of Gibson's play has been overly softened and sentimentalized to achieve what passes as "family entertainment" these days. This is one time when smoothing out all the rough edges for the sake of the children (or is it for the over-concerned adults?) has a negative impact.
The original play and movie are not absolute masterworks: some of Gibson's writing is too melodramatic and the supporting characters have few dimensions (not helped by the overacting of Victor Jory and Inga Swensen in the '62 film). But the taut direction of Arthur Penn and the sheer intensity of the Bancoft-Duke pairing resulted in an extraordinarily effective piece nonetheless.
Here we have the good Alison Elliott as Sullivan and Hallie Kate Eisenberg as a too-scrubbed-clean Helen (when one character remarks at how clean she is after Sullivan has her to herself for a week, you really don't see a difference). Eisenberg is competent, but not moving. Hers is a Helen that would work well in a Disney animated version of the story.
Elliot fares better, but the mediocre direction and script undermine her at times. In trying to give the other characters some added dimensions not in the play, the teleplay feels the need to konk us over the head about some of their issues. When confronted about his jealousy of Helen, half-brother James actually says, "If Helen gets better, who else can I blame for my unhappiness?" Yikes. Lucas Black looks very uncomfortable saying that clunky line, and you can't blame him.
David Strathairn should have better things to do than play Captain Keller, and his performance has little energy or impact. Kate Greenhouse as Kate Keller loses her southern accent after less than a minute and is rather amateurish at times.
Another vote to stick with the original. I've never seen the 1979 remake - which I gather is better than this one.
