Common Sense Media Review
By Barbara Shulgasser-Parker
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Special ed students shine at space camp in book-based drama.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 10+?
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Where to Watch
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A Smile as Big the Moon
Parent and Kid Reviews
What's the Story?
In A SMILE AS BIG AS THE MOON, it's 1988 and Mike Kersjes (John Corbett) has been teaching students with disabilities in Michigan for 12 years. His students have everything from ADHD, learning disabilities, and anger management issues to Tourette's and Down syndrome. When they disrupt a visit to the planetarium, the school's principal forbids future field trips. Ben (Peter ten Brink), who has Down syndrome, waves around the NASA Space Camp flyers he's grabbed during the visit. Ben's interest inspires Mike to make inquiries, but Space Camp doesn't have a program for kids who receive disability support services. Ignoring the naysayers, Mike doggedly gets Space Camp to reverse policy and accept his group. He and his co-teacher spend nearly a year preparing the kids for the program's competitive tasks, and raising $50,000 to fund the excursion. The students learn teamwork, develop confidence, master skills, and depend on each other for support, showing they can compete and triumph at the camp.
Is It Any Good?
This based-on-a-true-story drama has it all: inspiration, exhilaration, emotional highs and lows, and the kind of heroic arc most movies would kill for. Corbett plays the supportive and loving teacher we all wish we had. With patience and empathy, Mike guides kids who lack the self-confidence to be their best selves to nevertheless perform well enough to win prizes in pressurized, competitive conditions. Expect teary and emotional moments throughout. Message movies are often preachy and hard to take, but this manages to push beyond the cliché of the teacher who believes in his kids. The lessons offered here are ones everyone can be inspired by.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about how easy it is to misjudge people's abilities. In what ways did these students demonstrate that they were more capable than many thought they were?
These students excelled at tasks that would be difficult for many people. What does that tell us about how many people are wrongly sidelined and dismissed as incapable without being given a chance?
Where could you go to learn more about the true story this film is based on?
How do the characters here demonstrate teamwork and empathy?
Movie Details
- On DVD or streaming : January 29, 2012
- Cast : John Corbett , Logan Huffman
- Director : James Steven Sadwith
- Studio : Hallmark Channel
- Genre : Drama
- Topics : Book Characters , Competition , Space , STEM , Transportation
- Character Strengths : Empathy , Teamwork
- Run time : 95 minutes
- MPAA rating :
- Last updated : June 10, 2026
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