Rating: 
Summary: moving, emotional, incredible movie
Review: "Deep End of the Ocean" is one of the most effective and emotionally heartwrenching films I have ever seen. It really shows how it only takes a minute for a child to be kidnapped and his family to be permanently affected because of it. Michelle Pfeiffer is excellent as Beth Cappadora, the loving but somewhat ditzy young mother who takes her two small sons and her infant daughter with her to a high school reunion at a hotel. There, Beth makes perhaps the biggest mistake of her life when she leaves the two boys alone right smack in the middle of a very crowded lobby while she pays at the front desk. As can only be expected when two young children are left unsupervised, something happens. The younger son--3-year-old Ben--disappears and is not found. After a series of breakdowns and withdrawals, Beth is finally able to start putting her life back together with the help of Pat, her extremely loving and supportive husband. Just when things are finally getting better for Beth and her family, a 12-year-old Ben randomly shows up at the Cappadoras' doorstep, so beginning another long period of confusion, fear, discomfort, and pain for everyone involved. It really is a very moving film; much like "The Face on the Milk Carton," but with a very different conclusion. "The Deep End of The Ocean" really grasps the issues of child abduction, the effects that it has on the other children in the family, and everything a mother goes through when she realizes that her child is lost and may never be seen again. I was personally touched by Jonathan Jackson's character--Vincent, the oldest Cappadora son. Only seven years old at the beginning of the movie, he ends up holding his family together when Ben disappears, and he is clearly overlooked throughout it all. Obviously, this plays a big part in the behavioral issues and problems that Vincent develops as he grows older. The character he plays is very realistic, and you come to understand how much he truly was overshadowed when Ben disappeared and how much he needs to know that his parents still love him and have forgiven him for what happened. (I won't say what he needs forgiveness for, but it all ties together in the movie.) Treat Williams was masterful as the loving husband. To me, he was the strongest part of the movie. He loved his wife unconditionally, he was a very caring father, and all he wanted was to help make his family whole again. Although he is sometimes a little unrealistic through his opinion that everything will fall right into place, it is very nice to know that there is a character in the movie with a very optimistic viewpoint and a belief that things will be all right in the end.
This is a movie that may move you to tears and may disturb you at some parts, but it is definitely worth seeing. The plot and the characters are presented in such a way that you can really see, know, and understand the ordinary life that they are forced to leave behind and the family issues which they don't choose but must take. Recommended viewing...very effective and poignant with a very strong message.
Rating: 
Summary: A heartwarming movie!
Review: "The Deep End of the Ocean" is one of the best movies of 1999, complex and moving, with truly emotional characters played by actors who carry the weight of the story on their shoulders with incredible ease and make it heartwarming and believable. The movie is actually two different stories, one being a family's emotional coming-to-terms with a missing child, and then the pain and stress they must endure when he shows up nine years later. On her way to her high school reunion, Beth Cappadora is told by her husband that if her head wasn't attached to her, she would lose it quickly. This provides a short laugh, while also setting up what is to come. At the reunion, she leaves her three-year-old son Ben in the care of his older brother Vincent, only to come back moments later and realize that he is gone. Hysterics grow, and after a thorough search of the building, he is nowhere to be found. Surrounded by family and friends, Beth begins to cope with her mistake as the community gets involved in the search for Ben, without success. Resigned to the fact that he will never be found, she returns home, and while the first steps to coping with what has happened are rocky, the family seems to be getting along well after the passage of nine years. They have moved to a new house in a new town, her husband has the restaurant he always wanted... A knock on the door turns everything upside down. Beth immediately recognizes the boy as her son, and is relieved and confused that he lives only two blocks away from their new residence. The authorities get involved, and soon Ben is taken from the only home he can remember and placed in a new and somewhat emotionally frightening setting where he is called by a name he does not know and lives with people he does not remember or feel much for. What makes this movie work for me is the complexity of the story as well as the characters, and the magnificence in which the two blend together. The first part of the story admittedly is the more believable of the two, diving into the emotions of the family as they must cope with the grief of the missing Ben. Beth's reaction to her son's disappearance is superbly acted out by Michelle Pheiffer, who carries it like she's been through it in reality. The first half of the movie shows her dealing with the pain in the only way she knows how: shutting everyone else out, ignoring the optimism of life that is to be explored. This causes her to become somewhat distanced from her husband, played by Treat Williams, and her oldest son, who feels the great weight of responsibility set in when he must take care of his little sister while his parents argue. The second half of the movie is the more emotional of the two, however, as the family, who is just beginning to enjoy life, find their son and bring him back home. There is an unmistakable truth in what occurs emotionally between the two brothers, Vincent and Ben, who goes by Sam. Vincent, who has just begun to gain the attention he never got from his parents, feels threatened by the presence of Ben, and does everything he can to make his long-lost sibling feel unwelcome. This, accompanied by the emotional baggage toted by the family in their struggle to be happy together all conspire to make the movie more heartfelt, warming and true. Some of the best acting talent ever has gone into the making of this movie, which is heavily called for considering the amount of emotion that needs to be conveyed to the audience. Michelle Pheiffer is Beth Cappadora, and in this role, she is literally required to become her character. She does this with superb talent, playing Beth as an overall emotional person with a strong will hidden beneath her sorrows. Treat Williams makes the perfect supportive husband, as well as a father who just wants things to be like he always imagined for his family. Ben's return has a big effect on him, and when he puts his foot down about what the family does together, the acting is nothing short of amazing. Jackson does a great job in playing the older brother Vincent, as well as the wild-child teenager who gets into a lot of trouble. Whoopi Goldberg seems like a stretch as the detective working the case, but she works the camera as well with her serious demeanor. Complexity and integrity are what make a movie worth watching, and "The Deep End of the Ocean" has all of this and more. The fact that the plot is basically two parts should not be a deference from the film; believe me, the story rolls right along. Dynamic performances and highly likeable characters also add to the film's appeal. What more can you ask for?
Rating:
Summary: A heartwarming movie!
Review: "The Deep End of the Ocean" is one of the best movies of 1999, complex and moving, with truly emotional characters played by actors who carry the weight of the story on their shoulders with incredible ease and make it heartwarming and believable. The movie is actually two different stories, one being a family's emotional coming-to-terms with a missing child, and then the pain and stress they must endure when he shows up nine years later. On her way to her high school reunion, Beth Cappadora is told by her husband that if her head wasn't attached to her, she would lose it quickly. This provides a short laugh, while also setting up what is to come. At the reunion, she leaves her three-year-old son Ben in the care of his older brother Vincent, only to come back moments later and realize that he is gone. Hysterics grow, and after a thorough search of the building, he is nowhere to be found. Surrounded by family and friends, Beth begins to cope with her mistake as the community gets involved in the search for Ben, without success. Resigned to the fact that he will never be found, she returns home, and while the first steps to coping with what has happened are rocky, the family seems to be getting along well after the passage of nine years. They have moved to a new house in a new town, her husband has the restaurant he always wanted... A knock on the door turns everything upside down. Beth immediately recognizes the boy as her son, and is relieved and confused that he lives only two blocks away from their new residence. The authorities get involved, and soon Ben is taken from the only home he can remember and placed in a new and somewhat emotionally frightening setting where he is called by a name he does not know and lives with people he does not remember or feel much for. What makes this movie work for me is the complexity of the story as well as the characters, and the magnificence in which the two blend together. The first part of the story admittedly is the more believable of the two, diving into the emotions of the family as they must cope with the grief of the missing Ben. Beth's reaction to her son's disappearance is superbly acted out by Michelle Pheiffer, who carries it like she's been through it in reality. The first half of the movie shows her dealing with the pain in the only way she knows how: shutting everyone else out, ignoring the optimism of life that is to be explored. This causes her to become somewhat distanced from her husband, played by Treat Williams, and her oldest son, who feels the great weight of responsibility set in when he must take care of his little sister while his parents argue. The second half of the movie is the more emotional of the two, however, as the family, who is just beginning to enjoy life, find their son and bring him back home. There is an unmistakable truth in what occurs emotionally between the two brothers, Vincent and Ben, who goes by Sam. Vincent, who has just begun to gain the attention he never got from his parents, feels threatened by the presence of Ben, and does everything he can to make his long-lost sibling feel unwelcome. This, accompanied by the emotional baggage toted by the family in their struggle to be happy together all conspire to make the movie more heartfelt, warming and true. Some of the best acting talent ever has gone into the making of this movie, which is heavily called for considering the amount of emotion that needs to be conveyed to the audience. Michelle Pheiffer is Beth Cappadora, and in this role, she is literally required to become her character. She does this with superb talent, playing Beth as an overall emotional person with a strong will hidden beneath her sorrows. Treat Williams makes the perfect supportive husband, as well as a father who just wants things to be like he always imagined for his family. Ben's return has a big effect on him, and when he puts his foot down about what the family does together, the acting is nothing short of amazing. Jackson does a great job in playing the older brother Vincent, as well as the wild-child teenager who gets into a lot of trouble. Whoopi Goldberg seems like a stretch as the detective working the case, but she works the camera as well with her serious demeanor. Complexity and integrity are what make a movie worth watching, and "The Deep End of the Ocean" has all of this and more. The fact that the plot is basically two parts should not be a deference from the film; believe me, the story rolls right along. Dynamic performances and highly likeable characters also add to the film's appeal. What more can you ask for?
Rating:
Summary: The Deep Movie Isle
Review: : Beth (Pfeiffer) and Patrick (Williams) Cappadora are a happy, ordinary family, with 2 young sons, until one day, in a busy hotel lobby, every parent's worse nightmare happens, one of them, Ben, the youngest, disappears. The loss of their 3-year-old shatters Beth and Patrick, and so they move away to another town to separate themselves from their grief. Nine years later, they finally move back, only to discover their son, now 12, living in the town with the people who kidnapped him all those years ago. The film follows the intricate family drama that ensues when the Cappadora re-unites.
Rating: 
Summary: ( WHY DON'T THEY ) SHOW SOME GRATITUDE AND RESPECT TO GEORGE
Review: A child was missing. Beth's guilty almost damage her marriage, abandon her career and neglect other children. Finally she get over it and luckily to find her boy after 9 years. It was supposed to be a humanity and very touching drama. The biological family want him back, I can feel it. But they don't have to cut him off from George. The good man adopted Sam and brought him up as his own. Have some empathy, the kid love him. He's a friend not an enemy. Why don't they try negotiate to share Sam's custody, 3 days a week or something, be friends with George. They all live in the same community after all. For they treat George so mean, I don't feel the story convincible.
Rating:
Summary: What is a family? That is the question.
Review: A great movie with a plot that flounders a bit in the middle. Otherwise I would have given it 5 stars. It starts as a very tense tightly-wound story about a small kid getting lost. We follow the family (and especially the mother) through its tremendous grieving process. After an unexpected event that turns the story upside down on its head, we are invited to follow another story-within-story, which is really the ultimate headliner of the movie: What is a family? The middle-class couple in question finds out that a family is, yes, the physical presence of its members. It is important to share the same house, genes and the same kitchen table. But to their great surprise they find out that that is not enough. A family is also about shared experiences, memories, about the collection of all the little things that we hate and like about our parents, siblings, children and relatives. Take away those memories and what's left behind? The film ends with a good twist that ties up all the loose ends nicely. This is the sort of film experience that makes you think a lot about your own family as you're watching it. It makes you smile for the all positive experiences that you recall from your own childhood. And it also makes you cry for all the things that you've missed while you were a child and wish the fate had dealt you a better hand. A roller-coaster of an emotional movie. Great acting by everyone in it. When it's over you feel a little tired from trying to control your own gut wrenching emotions. Recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Worth Watching
Review: Although this film tries with limited success to bring the heartbreaking story of a child's kidnapping and reunion with his family a decade later to the screen, due to its under 2 hour length it does not have the same depth as the book also titled Deep End of the Ocean. However I would highly recommend at the very least watching this movie at least twice. While passable performances are given by well known actors Michelle Pfieffer, Treat Williams, and Whoopi Goldberg, it is Jonathan Jackson (15 years old at the time the film was made) who steals the show. Unless you are a fan of daytime TV, you may not be familar with this talented young man's work. He is a rising Hollywood star. Now 17, he has just completed a 5 1/2 year run on General Hospital for which he won 3 daytime emmys.I highly recommend watching the movie twice in large part because he is an actor talented beyond his years who does not just deliver lines but becomes the characters he portrays. By simply watching any of his work once, the viewer can't possibly have a full appreciation of the nuance and depth he brings to every role.
Rating:
Summary: From the eyes of Ben
Review: As a parent, I could certainly empathize with the mother. Losing a child is definitely a concern most parents have from time to time. Once it was realized that Ben lived down the street, the emotions began to arise again. In me, this time, it was more for the child than the parent. While, I still wanted Ben to be reunited with his family, you have to stop and think of the emotions this child is going through. As a three-year-old, he loses his mom when he is abducted. Then, the "mother" that reared him committed suicide, so he lost his mom a second time. Then when his natural parents find him, he is taken away from the "dad" that reared him. I cannot begin to imagine the confusion going through his mind. I felt the portrayal of the DSS (Department of Social Services) was rather good. In my opinion, they were portrayed as being cold and heartless. While there are many in the DSS who are not heartless, the general trend of the agency is cold. The DSS needed to spend time working with this teen to acclimate him to the news that his "dad" was not actually his father and that he had been abducted as a child. They needed to work with him through his grief and work out a solution on how he could see the man who did rear him for so many years, who also was a victim in this situation. The story would have been stronger if it dealt more with the emotions of the child/teen and less with the mother. Most people, especially parents, can easily see her pain, but Ben's was overlooked in parts. I would highly recommend the movie. Be committed to seeing it through as there are some slow parts.
Rating:
Summary: From the eyes of Ben
Review: As a parent, I could certainly empathize with the mother. Losing a child is definitely a concern most parents have from time to time. Once it was realized that Ben lived down the street, the emotions began to arise again. In me, this time, it was more for the child than the parent. While, I still wanted Ben to be reunited with his family, you have to stop and think of the emotions this child is going through. As a three-year-old, he loses his mom when he is abducted. Then, the "mother" that reared him committed suicide, so he lost his mom a second time. Then when his natural parents find him, he is taken away from the "dad" that reared him. I cannot begin to imagine the confusion going through his mind. I felt the portrayal of the DSS (Department of Social Services) was rather good. In my opinion, they were portrayed as being cold and heartless. While there are many in the DSS who are not heartless, the general trend of the agency is cold. The DSS needed to spend time working with this teen to acclimate him to the news that his "dad" was not actually his father and that he had been abducted as a child. They needed to work with him through his grief and work out a solution on how he could see the man who did rear him for so many years, who also was a victim in this situation. The story would have been stronger if it dealt more with the emotions of the child/teen and less with the mother. Most people, especially parents, can easily see her pain, but Ben's was overlooked in parts. I would highly recommend the movie. Be committed to seeing it through as there are some slow parts.
Rating:
Summary: The Deep Movie Isle
Review: Beth (Pfeiffer) and Patrick (Williams) Cappadora are a happy, ordinary family, with 2 young sons, until one day, in a busy hotel lobby, every parent's worse nightmare happens, one of them, Ben, the youngest, disappears. The loss of their 3-year-old shatters Beth and Patrick, and so they move away to another town to separate themselves from their grief. Nine years later, they finally move back, only to discover their son, now 12, living in the town with the people who kidnapped him all those years ago. The film follows the intricate family drama that ensues when the Cappadora re-unites.
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