The Magical World of Disney (TV Series) A Fighting Choice (1986) User Reviews

Good basic "underdog wins" TV movie

[rpw4471 · 7/10 · 1 August 2005]

This was a good basic movie about an ethical issue of whether it's right for a 16-year-old boy to sue his parents because he wants to have surgery that will drastically reduce his epileptic seizures. His parents feel the risks are too great. He gets moral support from his tutor (Danielle von Zerneck) and a friendship/romance develops between them. The courtroom scenes are a little overdone (too much drama) but it still leaves you hanging regarding the judge's decision. The big names in this flick (Beau Bridges, Karen Valentine, Patrick Dempsey) evidently weren't enough to make this one popular enough to get it made into VHS or DVD. Sad. It is still a good movie, pulling at your heartstrings, and making you feel really good by the end. If this one ever is rerun on TV, watch it!

Good movie about a teen with a debilitating seizure disorder who takes his parents to court to become emancipated so that he could have controversial brain surgery

[grambobber · 7/10 · 13 October 2006]

Good movie. The courtroom scenes were a little overdone, but Dempsey did a good job convincing me that an intelligent minor is capable of making decisions about his own quality of life. (Brought to mind the same issues that Jodi Piccoult addressed in her recent book "My Sister's Keeper"). It's ironic that Patrick Dempsey played the affected teen, and the 10/4/06 episode of Grey's Anatomy featured Dempsey (as "Dr. McDreamy") performing the same operation on a man with a severe seizure disorder. Dempsey has come a long way since the unpopular, dorky character in "Can't Buy Me Love". Who knew that awkward, skinny teenager would turn out to be McDreamy?

A very underrated film featuring a very young Patrick Dempsey

[lisafordeay · 7/10 · 16 September 2022]

A Fighting Choice is a 1986 TV movie from Disney's series The Wonderful World Of Disney and stars Beau Bridges and Patrick Dempsey . Based on true events the movie follows a young teenager named Kellian(Dempsey) who suffers from epilepsy and sues his parents who want him to get him to undergo a procedure which splits his brain. Will he change his mind and proceed with the surgery to save his life.

Overall it was a good film with a very good performance from Patrick Dempsey as the teen who suffers with seizures. If you haven't seen this film do give it a watch as it's a very hard film to find.

Saw this during the testing phase leading up o my brain surgery for the same issue

[kbschwan · 23 May 2021]

I was made to watch this when I was preparing to go through phase 1 testing for having a temporal lobectomy which did eliminate my epilepsy. Would like to see this again, 35 years after surgery, did not recognize the kid as Dr Mcdreamy. Gag me with an entire place setting. But it was a good movie to watch if you are getting ready for such a surgery yourself.