Movie Review - My Sister's Keeper

by Alex Popp



Abigail Breslin, from "The Ultimate Gift" (and Sunshine) plays a girl who was genetically designed to save her sister from dying from leukemia in "My Sister's Keeper."

The girl is now 11 and her sister needs a kidney transplant but she refuses to donate her kidney to her. She seeks a successful lawyer trying to hire him to earn medical emancipation. She tells the lawyer the story of her family after the discovery that her older sister has had leukemia; how she was conceived by in vitro fertilization to become a donor; and the medical procedures she has been submitted since she was five years old to donate to her sister. But the girl's mother is still determined to force her to help hers sister.

If you're aiming for a good and moving flick with not-in-vain optimism, then do not be fooled by other reviews that say this is the one you're looking for. This is a crass and deeply depressing movie. We thought that this movie would mean a lot to us, because my sister, who is 21 right now, was diagnosed with leukemia at the age of five and she made a remarkable recovery. My mom and I both hated it though and my mom remarked afterwards, "I did not need to go back there."

I didn't really see much point in the movie at all. It was just wrong. For the start, I can see that the girl and her sister loved each other greatly. But the girl clearly did not love her sister enough. In my opinion, if she did love her that much, she should have done whatever it took to keep her alive.

(SPOILER WARNING!) But the real thing with this movie is that it just ends with the girl's sister dying. The family grieves it, but the girl says at the very end that she knows she'll see her again, so they are clearly believers in Heaven, but it's apparent that they aren't Christians. It just makes the movie the more sad.

Rated PG-13 for language, disturbing images, and references to teen suicide, sex, and drinking.

One and a half stars (out of four) for "My Sister's Keeper," which no brother or sister will want to keep.

Review by Alex Popp for The Animation Empire blog.