Rating: 
Summary: "Delightful, entertaining, and beautifully filmed!"
Review: It was one of those Fridays in late Spring when a teacher just wants to pop in a video for the middle schoolers that teaches without a lesson, entertains without 'the bad stuff', and holds the kids' attention through superb acting, and not idiacy. I had heard several students mention 'Dicey's Song' as a favorite Accelerated Reader book, and decided to rent this film, which is in the same series. Not only did the kids love 'The Homecoming'--I loved it too! The story centers around Dicey and her younger brothers and sister. They are abandoned by their mother in a mall parking lot, and struggle to find a place in the world to accept them. Ann Bancroft, a veteran first-rate actress in every respect, carries the 'heavy' role as the reclusive and often strange grandmother. She dominates the film, and must've been a model of acting excellence to the kids! The children are wonderful too. Each of the four is believeable in character, and convincing in performance. The strength of 'The Homecoming' (besides Bancroft) is the cinematography. It is wonderfully filmed! Shadow and light, water and mist, camera angle and mood creation--all lift the film well above average for this type genre. 'The Homecoming' owes much to the masterful touch of a director's keen knowlege of children, and New England. I can't find much to criticize in this film. Other than a six-year-old making an overt (though true) reference to all the children having the same father, and later briefly showing his behind in a rainstorm sequence, the film is safe, true to the author's intent, and expertly crafted. There are few movies which my seventh-graders ask to borrow. This is one.
Rating:
Summary: Very Well Done
Review: The actors in this movie are SUBERB. The kids all did a wonderful job. I must say though that I would highly, highly recommend reading the book before watching the movie. By itself, I'm not sure that the movie would make much sense in the fact that a lot of important scenes from the book were cut for the sake of time. But if you have read the book, the movie gives you pictures and further imprints the story in your mind; as I said, the acting is incredible. The characters are all real and diverse and the actors are nearly perfect for their parts. Again, read the book before you watch the film. As long as that base is covered, this is an excellent movie.
Rating:
Summary: Heartwarming
Review: This is a wonderful movie about relationships. Anne Bancroft is one of the best actresses of our time. She seems to pick projects that everyone will enjoy. The child actors in this movie are some of the best I have seen. This is a heartwarming movie that anyone can enjoy.
Rating: 
Summary: great for all ages...a must own
Review: We watched this movie with a group of adults and children ranging in age from five to 62 and no one left the room during the entire movie!
Rating: 
Summary: Sorry So Low...
Review: Well, I was dissapointed. I really wanted this movie to be fantastic... and it just wasn't. Homecoming is one of my favorite books of all time, and to be honest when I was surfing around one day and found this I was very excited. So excited, that I waited until a Friday when I had no plans, sat down with a cup of tea and expected to be amazed.
The Good: This movie did have some redeeming qualities, however. The little actress who plays Maybeth for the most part does an excellent job. I don't think its her fault that at the beginning her character isn't as solid, I think it's mostly the producers who just delayed too long in developing it properly. The boy who played Sammy, also, impressed me. Despite a few obvious lines that don't fit, on the whole he is very believable.
The Bad: Many scenes were cut out, which is to be expected based on the size of the book and the proportionate length of the movie. What I didn't expect, however, was one VERY major scene to be omitted, which if you haven't read the book, makes Dicey's fascination with boats very unclear. Some of the lines were very forced, and the only way I can describe it to someone who hasn't seen the movie is thus: imagine phrases that one reads, which fit in with the context of the book, but aren't frequently used in conversation. Ergo Dicey's "Cripes, this is like a ghost house," is to be blunt, perhaps the worst line of dialogue I have ever heard anyone speak. I mean -- cripes?
The Ugly: The main character, Dicey, really threw me for a loop. In some scenes she was alright, but in others, she stunk like last week's garbage. First of all, in the book, she is set up to be, sort of masculine... she often gets mistaken for boys. In this version, unfortunetly, she is very feminine, mostly because of her body, which even baggy clothes couldn't conceal. One of the best parts about the book, was Dicey as portrayed as a strong and resourceful thirteen year old girl; In the movie she was more like a scared and unsure manic. She has ups and downs, and shoots from emotion from scene to scene -- an unfortunetly enough, even within the same scene. I think this is mostly due to the fact that too much was cut.
Some people may say that I have judged this a little harshly, after all it was a made-for-tv movie that they put on home video, but I still expected more. Maybe I am too biased because this is my favorite book, but I still would like to see a better version. I mean, the didn't even make Sammy's hair color correct! To reccomend this or not to reccomend, I seem to have talked myself into a little corner! If you are looking for something for the family to sit down and watch, I would warn away. But if you are an educator and have just finished Homecoming or any other one of Voight's books (usually Dicey's Song) I would reccomend that you spend the 5 bucks and rent it for your class. But I honestly can't say this should be a part of your video collection, because there are much better movies to spend your money on.
Hope this helps.
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