Customer Reviews

Daniel's Daughter

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

As a girl of 9 Katharine lost her mother and, not sure how to care for her and provide for her at the same time, her father sent her to live with relatives she didn't know. He never came back for her or contacted her and she felt abandon.
Flash forward to Katharine as a high-powered editor of "Perfect" magazine, helping people achieve a perfect life. She is engaged to her extremely rich and successful publisher and is planning her wedding by bluetooth while simultaneously holding staff meetings. Did I mention that her publisher has children older than Katharine?
In the midst of all this a package arrives at her office. Thinking it is a wedding gift, she instructs her assistant to open it. He hands the envelope inside to her and proceeds to remove what he thinks is a music box. Katharine reads the letter and learns that the box contains her father's ashes and his last wish was to have her go to the old hometown and spread his ashes as they had her mother's and have his longtime friends and former fellow trio members sing "Danny Boy", as they had at her Mother's funeral.
She resents what she perceives as the selfishness of his request--to interrupt her busy life after having neglected her all these years, but the "perfect ideals" her magazine teaches spur her on to be the bigger person of the two and follow his wish.
Returning to the home of her childhood friend, now married with several boys of her own, she realizes this won't be as easy as she thought. Complications arise when she learns that the two men her father wanted to have sing together haven't spoken to each other in 20 years. Her fiance, who is away on business himself, has no idea where she is and expects her to be home in two days, when he returns, for an opera date with friends. She feels she can't tell him about the situation because he doesn't like to look back, and he doesn't like messy situations. And in the middle of it all she begins to enjoy the company of the town's Oxford educated, world-traveled attorney.
Lessons in forgiveness and being true to yourself are learned along the way.
There are some things about the story that just didn't add up for me, but I didn't let it detract from the fact that this is a movie with an interesting storyline, characters with which you can become involved, and nothing that you couldn't let your kids see, unless the mother dying in the beginning might disturb them. But it is handled very tastefully--just moving from a happy family scene one minute to a funeral the next with no suffering or death actually shown. There is nothing inappropriate, even the kissing scenes are brief and tender, not overly passionate and sloppy. No foul language, either, just good, clean entertainment.
Also, when I first reviewed this movie I had only seen a videotaped copy, so I couldn't comment on the picture quality from the disc. Having received it for Christmas, I can now say that we did not notice that the picture seemed dark, as has been mentioned elsewhere.

"Melrose Place" bad girl, Laura Leighton is cast against type as she portrays a New York magazine editor who must leave her busy job and frantic wedding planning behind so she can spread her estranged father's ashes in her tiny New England hometown. Once there, she renews old acquaintances, develops an attraction to a handsome local attorney (portrayed by Sebastian Spence), and begins to discover father she never really knew.

This is a Hallmark Channel movie and is a bit schmaltzy, but at the same time it's a refreshing story of love and self-renewal. It's nice to see another side to Leighton for a change.

© Tracy Vest, February 2009

is a lovely romantic story about forgiveness, and finding the person you were meant to be, with the person with whom you were meant to be.

I'm not here to review this fine movie as this has already been done. I'm writing more to address the issue of the picture quality of this dvd. I truly don't understand one reviewers complaint here about the picture of this dvd being way too dark. I just got a copy and found the quality to be outstanding, a beautiful picture, with the brightness being perfect. No problems here, and I didn't have to make any adjustments to my tv. I'm sure for some reason the picture was too dark for the reviewer or else he/she wouldn't have complained, but some setting or connection on their equipment must have been set differently or malfunctioned. The picture is excellent.

Take care...
AJ

The DVD arrived promptly and as described. I had seen this movie x2 and decided I needed to own it. Just a sweet story.

At first, I wasn't sure if I'd like this DVD when my wife brought it home from the library, but I was pleasantly surprised. Not by the predictable storyline, but by the fine acting of all the characters in it...including the dog. It was a warm, fuzzy, chick-flick, to be sure, and I was wondering why Sandra Bullock wasn't cast in the part of the "All Work/No Play" magazine editor Katherine instead of Laura Leighton. It seemed more like a Bullock vehicle. But that's just my opinion and I'm probably in the minority.

"Daniel's Daughter" was a very romantic movie set in New Kerry, MA, where just about all of the locals are Irish-American and a few still speak with a brogue. You'd think Massachusetts was a suburb of Dublin the way Hollywood envisions it in just about every movie I've ever seen that was flimed there. Fortunately, H'wood managed to not ruin a nice love story.

Both my wife and I highly recommend this enjoyable movie.

This is a great rainy, cold afternoon curl up on the couch movie. Watch it!

Relaxing movie, nice music,and the scenery was lovely. A love story all ages can enjoy.

Since I have loved watching this movie on my Hallmark channel I decided to purchase it to watch whenever I choose. One of my favorites. . .

The movie is well paced, has attractive scenes and settings and a cast that seems to fit their parts very well. The story is supposed to take place in New Kerry, Massachusetts, New York City, and back again to New Kerry. It appears it was all actually filmed in Canada and produced for the Hallmark Channel which tells you something about how it will play out.

The story starts with a flashback to the heroine as a 9 year old child being sent away by her father after the death of her mother. This is followed by a rather abrupt shift to the present when the viewer must determine that a tough-minded woman editor is that same little girl grown up. The movie is divided up into segments by sudden black screen breaks that were obviously intended to hold the original TV commercials; these are not really too disturbing but certainly reveal the origins of this made for TV movie.

The heroine, Cate, has her future all carefully planned when the unexpected arrival of a package containing her father's ashes and a request for her to scatter them back in New Kerry changes everything. The movie is about her trip back and the trials and tribulations she faces trying to fulfill her father's final request. The movie is blessed with a typical Hallmark ending which leaves the lead characters happy without bothering to fill in all of the troubling details implied by their decisions.

This is a suitable family movie and can be enjoyed by most family members including understanding husbands.