A Family Lost (2007 TV Movie) User Reviews

I wish the film makers had looked at a map

[rdinning-580-67772 · 4/10 · 1 December 2009]

The plane goes down in the Yukon, but the search is staged out of Yellowknife and it's a short drive to the search area???

A Yukon search would be staged out of either Watson Lake or much more likely Whitehorse. Yellowknife is a five day drive to the Yukon during which you go a long way south to Fort Nelson before you head north again. Those roads to Fort Nelson are all gravel so speed isn't possible.

Also the FBI would have no jurisdiction, they would not even be allowed to carry guns. While they might be present, since they're after Americans, they would have to be accompanied by RCMP officers who are the only ones with the authority to make an arrest or anything else involved with law enforcement in the Yukon.

Lost is right

[sol-kay · 4/10 · 9 April 2009]

**MAJOR SPOILERS** Uneven and at the same time ridicules movie about a plane crash in the wilds of the Yukon with a sub-plot involving this super secret formula about a drug that can cure cancer that's been planted, in a teddy bear, on the backpack of one of the surviving passengers.

We already see what's coming at the very beginning of the movie with the creepy looking Marcus Vegarra,Zak Santiago, gunning down a security guard and then stealing the secret formula from the pharmaceutical plant where it's being tested at. This same Marcus gets himself on the plane carrying both Valerie Williamson and her diabetic 13 year old daughter Claire, Cynthia Gibbs & Nicole Munoz, on a flight to Fairbanks Alaska. With Ray the pilot, Peter Sherayko, losing control of the plane it crashes in the Yukon wilderness with Ray ending up as the only fatality.

It's then that Valerie's fiancée Steve Walsh, Daniel Roebuck, gets into the act in his very suspicious effort to rescue her and her daughter Claire that has nothing at all to do with their safety. It all has to do with the secret cancer formula that Steve and his cohort and partner in crime Marcus stole! As we soon find out Steve is anything but the master criminal that he makes himself out to be by what he does later in the movie. Steve stupidly blows his cover by murdering his forest ranger guide Karen Dinnis, Jennifer Pudavick, as soon as he and his two bumbling partners-the "Happy Campers"- Buck & Gary, Aaron Hughes & Jon Mikl Thor, get to the crash scene. It's then that Steve finds out that Marcus who's supposed to have gotten the formula from Clair's teddy bear screwed up and ends up, when he finally tracks him down, blowing him away as well.

This all alerts Valerie, her daughter Claire already knew what a rat he was, to what a murdering creep her soon to be future husband Steve is. The rest of the movie has Steve together with Buck & Gary trying to both murder Varerie and Claire and at the same time get their hands on the secret cancer formula,that the late Marcus stole, that was still in their possession.

Being the both murderous and bumbling buffoons that they are the trio, Steve Buck & Gary, end up screwing themselves with both Valerie and Claire getting away, with the help of a "friendly" Grizzly Bear, and Steves's dreams of money and power, in him selling the cancer formula to the highest bidder, evaporating or melting like the snows of a late spring Yukon thaw. The film is only worth watching for its unintentional, or were they really intentional,laughs and totally unbelievable story. With little Nicole Munez-as the bratty and know it all Claire Williamson-by her not taking herself and the movie that she staring in at all seriously as the about most believable character in the film!

Made for TV

[chipsdipsanddorks · 4/10 · 30 March 2021]

So this is the type of movie which was made for television and would have aired on one of the major stations, so don't expect it to be a theater type movie. No language or nudity issues. Some violence, but overall a good movie for ages teen and up.

Can they make a worse movie than this?

[capechick2730 · 1/10 · 28 January 2008]

Nothing else was on so I figured I would watch this Lifetime movie. What a stinker. The acting was horrible, especially the girl who plays 13 year Claire. One minute she's crying over some trauma but as the camera pans away from her face you can see her smiling....

I figured out the plot 10 minutes into the movie which should have been my clue to turn it off but it was like watching a train wreck in slow motion - I just couldn't turn away from the carnage.

The scenes were also phony especially the plane crash scene. I would love to know what the budget was on this movie because it must have been made on a shoestring. Terrible acting, stupid, predictable plot. Do not waste 2 hours of your life on this drivel.

Huh?

[ponderjoe · 2/10 · 22 February 2012]

This was one of the dumbest movies I've ever watched. I gave it 2 stars because at least it gave my 8 year old son and I a good laugh at its stupidity and inconsistency. Seriously, was the director on crack? ...or just stupid? Helpful bears, howling wolves that no one seemed concerned about, snow in one scene but not in the next, the old flash drive in the teddy bear trick, Alaska officers driving to the plane crash in the the Canadian wilderness.

Gee, if I were in a plane crash in the wilderness, I'd light a smokey fire and wait. I don't think I'd "head east" because a 13 year old girl thinks there might be a town in that direction. Guess that wouldn't make for much of a storyline though.

...and how about the review that praised the movie for showing the delicate balance a woman with a teen girl has to go through if she wants a rich, go-getter boyfriend. Get real.

Like an expert fisherman, this one delivers a fine cast!

[BackToTheWoods · 29 January 2008]

On its way to Alaska, a small plane crashes in the wilderness, leaving a mother, daughter, and creepy stranger to fend for themselves until help arrives. But the girl is diabetic and out of insulin. And the stranger seems nice, but...is he? Some form of help eventually arrives but is it really the kind of help they were looking for? You will notice many familiar faces and superb actors. You have the beautiful Cynthia Gibb (Short Circuit II!!!!), the talented girl actor Nicole Munoz, and also the amazing Daniel Roebuck (Cliff from Matlock!!).

The characters are built at a palatable pace, through dialog sprinkled with humor, wit, and drama. The facial expressions too are well-delivered, which is important in a movie where you aren't sure who to trust. Recommended if you like Lifetime movies. 8 out of 10!!

Woeful utter trash

[Howells-c · 1/10 · 16 February 2020]

Complete waste of 2 hours of my life.

The " Alaskan"scenery wasn't even any good.

Poor acting and just painful to watch the annoying brat trying to be so clever.

I'm not sure why I actually watched this. Think I'm still hungover LOL

One of the best bad movies I've ever seen

[shabadoux · 1/10 · 17 January 2010]

This drama was absolutely hilarious! From terrible writing and horrible acting to a complete inability to read a map, this movie has it all.

The movie really gets going when a charter flight from Seattle to Alaska is aboard a plane with a Canadian registration. I suppose it could happen. But then the plane goes down in the Yukon but there are no mountains and I started wondering how small the budget was for this film.

The search and rescue efforts are co-ordinated from Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. This is hundreds of kilometres from the crash site yet there are officials with USA Search and Rescue on their sleeves. These people would presumably be from Alaska but she drives a truck with a Manitoba plate (which would be thousands of kilometres away).

Next the FBI shows up even though they would have no jurisdiction in Canada. The three crash survivors are seen walking and one comments about looking for a trail or road while there is a paved highway in the background! Soon after, the USA search and rescue woman arrives from Yellowknife driving her Manitoba-registered truck only to be shot.

The three survivors are seen walking in what is supposed to be a mountainous forest but in the foreground is a tilled piece of farmland ... I'm no farmer but I think it was a harvested wheat field. The bad guys soon find the trio where fresh snow had just fallen. A foot chase ensues through a forest with trees in perfect rows and hundreds of footprints in the snow.

The snotty teenager who can't even keep a straight face during serious scenes ends up stuffing some unrefrigerated fish (which they planned to eat later) onto one of the bad guys causing a grizzly bear to attack him. The mom is chased by a fellow with a gun. She gets cornered at the edge of a cliff but pushes the bad guy away from the precipice causing him to fall to his death into the pit.

The greatest highlight of the film is saved for near the end when the mom and daughter are reunited after their harrowing experience. They hug and the daughter says one of the sweetest lines ever writted, "don't get snot on me."

If you're looking for drama, then find a better film. If you're looking for a comedy, watch this movie. We nearly laughed ourselves out of our seats watching this poorly made film!

Totally Lame Movie

[peg-144-500771 · 1/10 · 27 October 2014]

What everyone else said -- plus did anyone notice that the supposed virgin wilderness snow was already trampled in footsteps -- film crew perhaps?

Horribly lame dialog too.

The mother/daughter relationship was not realistic as they strolled slowly through the supposed forest discussing life even though they needed to get to safety before nightfall.

This requires me to write 10 lines of text in order to submit. The movie is not worth that much effort.

I want my two hours back. I strongly suggest time spent brushing your teeth or something else besides this movie.

Somebody wasted $3 million dollars making this movie. Too bad.

Sick and tired of watching annoying brats on screen

[foundsomefun · 1/10 · 26 April 2008]

If you have ever wanted to cheer for the demise of characters then this is your movie. Typical crap of the single mom wearing it like a badge of honor and raising a snot faced brat of a child. I couldn't even watch the whole thing. SAVE YOURSELF... do NOT NOT NOT bother.

Cynthia Gibb always plays the same type of character. She is always that victimized woman turning things around in her life. It is SO predictable. Boo-hoo for the mom caught between yet another "uncle" for her child. Boo-hoo for the legacy of a single mom being brought up by a single mom. Boo-hoo for the resulting brat... and horrible little actress too boot. There isn't much worse out there to watch.

A Family Lost

[vvrams · 10/10 · 25 October 2007]

You don't find many movies that show the struggle of a single mom trying to please the boyfriend and her child. I thought this movie handled that so well. The child had her issues and the boyfriend certainly had his but the mom tried to love them both and balance the fine line of giving them both her love.

I also thought the relationship between older mother and daughter was very realistic. They had their problems but when the chips were down they were there for each other.

The movie held my attention throughout. I love that it had action and suspense intertwined with these very real relationships and real dialogue especially between the mother and young daughter.

I won't be spoiling the movie for y'all - but kudos to the people who gave us some insight into the hard life of a single mom who is just trying to find love and make a nice life for her and her daughter. Nice adventure story with lots of twists - I didn't see them coming!!!

An Okay TV Thriller

[tiffanytallent1981 · 5/10 · 20 June 2021]

Movies made for television really have to be rated separately from blockbusters, especially lifetime, hallmark, and Sci-fi. Sometimes you'll get lucky and find one in the sane league, but not this time. I enjoyed the storyline and the scenery was okay. But so many things annoyed me, the main one being Valerie, the mom. She had blinders on when it came to the boyfriend and didn't believe that her daughter (Claire) saw him kill a man. Like really? Claire is 13, so yea of course she dislikes mom's boyfriend and complains about him often. But did Valerie seriously think that her daughter would or could make up such a horrific lie? Even at the very end, with all evidence in front of her, Valerie still wanted to believe the boyfriend.

The acting wasn't that great either, but not horrible. When Valerie heard gunshots and thought her daughter had been killed, her reaction was completely believable! She THREW a killer of a cliff and fell to her knees in agony. If only the rest of everyone's acting could've been as good. Some of it was just plain creepy. One killer is chasing Claire with a knife. She is able to rub something on the man so it'll attract a nearby bear. While the bear is tearing the man to shreds, Claire runs away smiling and does a little fist pump, saying YES! It reminded of Kevin from Home Alone when he stopped the burglars. Appropriate in a comedy, but psychotic looking in a tense thriller. I get that the man was going to kill her, but dang! A grimace would've been a better response, like you deserve it but I'm sorry it had to happen! And finally, after the FBI shows up, Valerie is still holding her boyfriend's gun. She just nonchalantly hugs Claire and her mom, gun flinging everywhere. Then she has to ASK the FBI to please take it. Lmbo So believable and true to protocol, am I right?

Exciting at times, enjoyable overall

[vchimpanzee · 12 November 2009]

At the start of the movie, Marcus has broken into a downtown Seattle office. He has what looks like a cigarette lighter (I'm told that's called a "flash drive"), which he uses to download important data from a computer. And he's not kidding around; someone dies before we see the other main characters.

Valerie divorced Claire's father when Claire was 7, and they live with her mother Carol. Now Claire is 13 and rebellious, but basically good. She has diabetes and must rely on an insulin pump.

Valerie's latest boyfriend Steve (who may be the one) works for a drug company which is about to discover an important treatment for pancreatic cancer. He seems to be rich, and he is quite caring. But he will never be good enough for Claire.

Valerie, Claire and Steve are going on vacation in Alaska, and they will get to take Steve's private plane. Well, not Steve. He has important work to do, possibly relating to that cancer treatment. But Marcus comes along. He's really nice and his knowledge proves valuable on the trip.

Over a remote but beautiful area of The Yukon, the plane gets in trouble and has to make an emergency landing. And snow is coming. Now what?

I think pretty much everyone does a good job here. The standout performances in this movie are those of Leslie Easterbrook as Valerie's frantic mother, and the actor playing the pilot. Nicole Munoz is quite good too.

The first half of the movie, despite a couple of deaths, makes this appear to be a family adventure in the tradition of "Lassie" and Disney movies. But don't be fooled. The movie's tone changes dramatically during the search and rescue. However, I think the V-chip rating of TV-14 that I saw may have been overly cautious. My feeling about this rating is that sometimes perfectly clean family adventures might get a TV-PG-V, so some additional caution is justified here. There is enough violence to be a concern.

There are some really exciting scenes, especially the plane crash, and some danger in the wilderness. The main characters handle themselves quite well, though, and mother and daughter get to know each other and work out their differences in some really pleasant scenes. There is even occasional comedy.

The biggest fault, in my opinion, is that the writers seemed to forget about Claire's diabetes about half the time. Doesn't the average healthy teen have a hard time waking up cheerful in the morning? There are also some inconsistencies as the snow moves closer to the lost family. I suppose it's possible to have no snow at all five miles from where everything is covered.

Overall, I enjoyed it.

Only one good actor and he is not even listed in the credits!

[pgkps · 2/10 · 12 November 2021]

Yup, the grizzly bear! ( Only reason I gave it 2 stars and not one).

This movie is poorly directed, written, acted and edited.

Btw the chase scene towards the end in fresh snow shows a lot of footprints in the track the girl runs in, must have been several takes made of the scene.

So enjoy it for the scenery, fast forward till the crash, and the bear.

Really?

[pileschnegger · 14 May 2021]

I agree the director was asleep during this film. What plane crash causes bark chips from a chainsaw to fall off a snapped off tree? I'm a woman and the first thing I noticed was the indisrepencies in the plane "crash". Do the filmmakers think we won't notice?? Not a believable movie at all. Now I'm just watching it for fun to see what else was missed.