Kepler's Dream

This sweetly sincere drama about a realistically courageous young girl in the grip of relatable circumstances is a great pick for family movie night. Unless, of course, kids are too young to enjoy a storyline about a girl whose mother could be dying! But if your children are old enough not to get trembly lips at the idea that parents can die, they'll be quickly taken in by Ella. The talented Blake-Thomas' performance is refreshingly natural; she doesn't mug or over-emote. Ella certainly sheds a few tears over her mother's health during the movie, but she's generally more interested in finding ways to keep herself busy while she's stuck with her grandmother: feeding a flock of peacocks, learning how to ride horses, finding a place where she can get bars on her phone, and making inroads into her grandmother's well-stocked library.

Grandmother Violet herself is a bit of a terror: a grammar-corrector who wakes Ella up every morning at the crack of dawn, collects rare books, and regards most other humans with something between disdain and long-suffering patience. But, as played by the inimitable Holland Taylor, she also emerges as a distinct individual with a depth of feeling for her family that she buries under crispness and an excessive attachment to objects like her rare copy of Kepler's Dream (a real illustrated book written by 17th-century astronomer Johannes Kepler). Naturally, it's that very book that goes missing while Ella is visiting, and it probably would be clear who did it even if the story's main villain didn't have arched eyebrows and an English accent. It's obvious, too, what will happen next, and how the whole story will turn out. But that doesn't stop this drama from being affecting, particularly for viewers who are suckers for dramas about a family finding new ways to be close to each other. This movie may be a little pat and predictable, but it's sweet all the same, and parents will enjoy watching with their kids.