Raising Izzie (2012 TV Movie) User Reviews

Raising Izzie Is A Delight

[deedee_2000-985-341635 · 8/10 · 6 March 2021]

Raising Izzie is a delightful movie. While this is a movie you can watch with your family, i especially liked the fact that it isn't syrupy sweet. There's quite a bit of conflict between the characters which is unusual for most family films. It's also worth noting for a faith based film, the recurring theme is God doesn't always answer our prayers the way we want, but that doesn't mean He's not there. i really loved this movie. 8 stars out of 10.

Great Movie To Watch With Family

[mylesmcmillan · 8/10 · 4 September 2017]

The Movie Was Good Do Not Watch Trailer Gives Away A Lot Of Movie. The Movie Is Predicable When You Watch It But Other Than That The Movie Was Awesome. Does Contain A Lot About Good Be Trust Me When You Get Far Into The Movie It Will Get Better, I Loved That It Had No Cussing So Great To Watch With The Family. Don't Watch With Kids That Are Really Young Would Not Recommend That Cause Some Scenes They Do Get Really Loud And Shoutout To Who Ever Played Izzie Really Good Actor.

Review of Raising Izzy (Mild spoilers within)

[GigiCalloway · 9/10 · 2 October 2013]

"I didn't say she looks like mommy. I said she's pretty like mommy." Without filter, without sentiment, Izzy Nash (Kyla Kenedy), who has, for nearly a year, been living alone with her fourteen-year-old sister, Gertie (Victoria Staley), speaks her own truth when she meets Tonya Freeman (Vanessa Williams), Gertie's teacher. Beauty shone in Izzy's mother's face and therefore, Izzy can see it shining in the face of others. Without mentioning skin color, this film tells a story of love. Metaphorically, Izzy puts on kid gloves and challenges her sister's fears toe-to-toe. No. I will not let you tell me that this woman is not pretty. No. I will not let you tell me there is no God. Gertie, who has been crushed by the loss of her mother, cannot understand how anyone can believe or see beauty in anything. When her eighth-grade teacher, Tonya, takes an interest in her, Gertie fights to keep her secret hidden. David Martyn Conley's screenplay coupled with Roger Bobb's direction challenges our fears and tests our faith through the doubts of a fourteen-year-old child and the desires of a teacher, who desperately wants children but struggles with fertility. An enchanting performance by Rockmund Dunbar permeates the screen alongside his co-stars. As a husband who struggles with reality and mortality, Dunbar provides the audience with a true sense of fatherhood. I do not pretend that this is an Oscar-worthy film. Obviously, the budget clipped and swept the residual hairs of that dream into an old duster. But what this film has is heart without smearing it all over our faces.

Overall, I recommend this film whole- heartedly for any human being who'd like to feel a connection to his or her heart or soul. Raising Izzy reminds its viewers what we're here for – to love one another fully and completely (and that family comes in all shapes and sizes). -- Allison Chaney (username: GigiCalloway)

Synopsis by GMC

[choppy527 · 9/10 · 12 October 2013]

Gertie and Izzie are two young girls on their own. Abandoned by their father and orphaned by their mother, they are doing the best they can to stay in school, stay undetected and stay together. With assistance from their mother before her passing, the girls are financially prepared to sustain themselves for some time. Gertie, 14, takes seriously her charge to raise her younger sister Izzie, 10, alone. Greg and Tonya are a couple whose love for one another radiates and for some time now they have attempted to build a family and have failed. Tonya longs to share the love and nurturing she has been channeling through her job as a teacher into children of her own. Is it God's will that they do not have children? From GMC

The whole movie is its own spoiler alert.

[AmakoaAkana · 4/10 · 1 July 2017]

I picked this movie because I like orphans on their own stories. I loved "About Scout", "Chestnut", "Rabbit Proof Fence", three of my 10 star ratings in the genre. Unfortunately, nowhere did I read that "Raising Izzie" was a fundamentalist Christian propaganda film with Jesus as a main character (never on screen of course). Frankly, if I want to be preached at about the miracle of prayer, or lack thereof, I want to see it advertised in the plot line.

What saved the movie from being nuked with the delete button was the relationship between the two orphans. Izzie, played by Kyla Kennedy (A Gift Horse, a much better movie I rated 8 stars) is the every optimistic little 8 (?) year old who is being taken care of by her 14 year old sister Gracie, played by Victoria Staley who is a pretty good mother. Better than most, if I do say so. What kept me watching was to see how they would survive. I really don't understand why they cast a 19 year old as 14, I suppose they wanted Gracie to appear more mature than her character's age.

The adults were disasters. I hated them both: the gorgeous, sweet, prying, nosebag schoolteacher and her Jesus brainwashed husband. Rockmond Dunbar, playing Greg, the meddlesome school teacher's husband, was funny now and again but had a confused character simultaneously being quite loving and at the same time a grump about kids. The school teacher (played by Vanessa Williams) just plain made me angry for getting involved in obviously non-abused children's private lives, all behind a passive-aggressive smiley face.

OK! I gave the movie as a whole four stars based only on the relationship between the two girls. If everyone else in the movie disappeared I might give their subplot a much higher rating. Otherwise I would give the movie a 1 star based on being fooled into watching a Christian faith movie with too much preaching, unpleasant adults (not mean, just unpleasantly self- righteous), a overcooked plot-line and an ending one could accurately predict the first time Mr. Greg pulls the car over for a long, rambling prayer shortly followed by another predictable result.