Desi is a girl who's mother has passed on and shes just hit puberty. She is somewhat of a Tomboy and feels a tad left out as her friends have just started wearing makeup and girlie clothes. Her father is a cartoonist trying hard to make a living. The story is a happy family Saturday movie with a great moral about how an angel helps her deal with some unpleasant people (including her dads new girlfriend). Includes some great food fights, great quotes, and makes an excellent family movie. A tad on the bad acting 80s boring, but there is always the entertainment laughing at their clothes and big hair. Keep an eye out for Mrs Morningside and her great but not always intelligible quotes.
8 Reviews
Bad writing, bad acting, bad theology!
cynthia-futch19 December 2007
Warning: Spoilers
My mom bought this and lent it to my 5-year-old to watch on the trip back home. I let her watch it w/out previewing it since my mom is a Christian and the movie was supposed to be about an angel helping a girl in need. After hearing some of the dialog coming from the back seat on the ride home, I was not impressed and decided to watch it for myself. If the plot were meaty and the lessons rich I could overlook the poor writing and the bad acting. However, there is nothing in the text of this movie to recommend it to anyone for any reason. The best thing i can say is it has no profanity, but neither do a lot of other movies that are also intelligent, entertaining, and of high moral character. The character Peyton wears revealing clothing which I suppose goes with her role as the seducing protagonist, but is totally unnecessary. Rather than looking like a wily, intelligent con-woman, she comes off as a street walker with a phony accent. The father character is an idiot, which has become all too common in modern entertainment, undermining the role dads have in the life of the family. The daughter, Desi, is probably the best one in the movie but still is unconvincing. The role the 'angel' RJ plays is TOTALLY out of Christian context! I believe angels exist and I believe they do interact with us, guiding and protecting us. I've even seen one and have known other trusted people who have encountered them. None of them were insipid little girls sent down to play tricks on the 'bad' people. In several scenes, she causes playful harm to Peyton - the 'bad' person - sending mashed potatoes flying into her face, salad dressing on her head, being covered with cake and landing in a pool (twice). The second time Peyton is dunked, no one offers to help her out of the pool and they go on w/the birthday party like she's not even there. My daughter even cried out, "Are they just going to let her drown?!?" Not exactly Christian character in my book, and definitely not the work of Angels. I'm all for maintaining high viewing standards for my family, but I'd rather read a good book, go for a walk, color a picture, or sit and talk before watching drivel like this. Sometimes an innocent message - if it presents a distorted picture of God's creatures and his true nature - is not really so innocent as it seems. As Oswald Chambers put it, I demand the "utmost, for His highest" even in entertainment.
Do not see
kkbrooks-5947630 March 2023
This is a terrible movie. Kid's and religion doesn't mix. If any adult forces a child to watch religious content. When that child becomes of age. That child should have the right to sue their parents for harm.
Religion is the cancer of humanity!!
As long as these religious nut cases keep FORCING their beliefs on other's. I'm going to keep fighting for my right to put these mentally ill people in their place.
Religion people are not in their right mind and they don't deserve to be around kid's.
Religious people talk to things that are not there and they even claim to hear a response from this nothing. In psychology this is a mental health issue.
Religion is the cancer of humanity!!
As long as these religious nut cases keep FORCING their beliefs on other's. I'm going to keep fighting for my right to put these mentally ill people in their place.
Religion people are not in their right mind and they don't deserve to be around kid's.
Religious people talk to things that are not there and they even claim to hear a response from this nothing. In psychology this is a mental health issue.
Try it, you'll like it ... there's good angels here
dennisg-615 July 2011
This is a cute family movie. An angel sees a 13-year-old girl having a tough time with her life. She gets sent to earth to help this just-reaching-puberty girl learn to appreciate her life, and her changing body (with her mother having died years before). The angel becomes a good friend, and tells her supportive things. This part of the movie is powerfully good.
Her friends at school are becoming boy-crazy, while she remains somewhat of a tom-boy, with a good friend who happens to be a boy. Things come to a head when she is invited to a birthday party (but only if she comes with a boy, yuck). This film portrays (quite well) the mixed bag of feelings a girl can go through.
Her father is a cartoonist, and sort-of falls for an extremely self-centered woman, who promises him to get his comic strip syndicated nationally. The parts with the girlfriend are almost cartoon-ish with some slap-stick humor (better for the kids to enjoy).
I have watched this several times over a few years. It holds up well. All-in-all, a pretty good hour-and-a-half.
Her friends at school are becoming boy-crazy, while she remains somewhat of a tom-boy, with a good friend who happens to be a boy. Things come to a head when she is invited to a birthday party (but only if she comes with a boy, yuck). This film portrays (quite well) the mixed bag of feelings a girl can go through.
Her father is a cartoonist, and sort-of falls for an extremely self-centered woman, who promises him to get his comic strip syndicated nationally. The parts with the girlfriend are almost cartoon-ish with some slap-stick humor (better for the kids to enjoy).
I have watched this several times over a few years. It holds up well. All-in-all, a pretty good hour-and-a-half.
Better than "Angels in the Outfield" and "Training Day" COMBINED!!
akevinisme4 April 2008
Once in a great while, a film comes along that completely redefines how you think about American cinema. That film may very well be "Angel in Training." First off, the acting is wonderful. The daughter is a gem, but the real show-stealer is the actual angel in training, Danielle Pessis. She often feeds the protagonist important nuggets of wisdom regarding being the "perfect age," something all teenagers can understand when they hear it from a space angel who shoots balls of light from her hands and uses the force to throw food at people. Gary Imhoff is great as the father character as well, who reminds me of the dad from Seventh Heaven mixed with Jon Arbuckle from Garfield.
From a purely technical standpoint, the movie is brilliant. It introduces a new technique that, despite the film being released for nearly a decade, still has not been widely used at this point (I have no idea why). Essentially, the director often uses voice-overs and flashbacks of things that happened within the last 15 minutes so that the viewers won't forget about them. There are also two or three wacky and hilarious sound effects, all of which appear in the last ten minutes of running time (if you don't count the five minute long montage that recaps the entire film at the end).
But really, what do things like acting and directing matter if the movie's got no heart? Well, don't worry about that here; "Angel in Training" has got so much heart that yours is likely to burst from your chest cavity and ruin all your limited edition "Spy Cat" cels. If you don't think this is the feel-good movie of a lifetime, then... well, you'd better watch it! So in conclusion, I highly recommend watching "Angel in Training" not once, but a dozen times. It will only get better.
My father used to tell me, "A great movie is only great if it has dead people and cartoonists." Think about it.
From a purely technical standpoint, the movie is brilliant. It introduces a new technique that, despite the film being released for nearly a decade, still has not been widely used at this point (I have no idea why). Essentially, the director often uses voice-overs and flashbacks of things that happened within the last 15 minutes so that the viewers won't forget about them. There are also two or three wacky and hilarious sound effects, all of which appear in the last ten minutes of running time (if you don't count the five minute long montage that recaps the entire film at the end).
But really, what do things like acting and directing matter if the movie's got no heart? Well, don't worry about that here; "Angel in Training" has got so much heart that yours is likely to burst from your chest cavity and ruin all your limited edition "Spy Cat" cels. If you don't think this is the feel-good movie of a lifetime, then... well, you'd better watch it! So in conclusion, I highly recommend watching "Angel in Training" not once, but a dozen times. It will only get better.
My father used to tell me, "A great movie is only great if it has dead people and cartoonists." Think about it.
It is what it is.
hmusol12 August 2019
Good lead performance
Denard18 September 1999
This is a movie that's aimed mainly at a young audience, but it deals with some mature themes, like the loss of a parent and entering into adolescence. Although it is a low budget film, I think it is a good family film, in large part because of the performances, particularly the lead actress Laila Dagher. She shows great maturity and subtlety in her work for a child actress. I hope Hollywood casting agents take note and put her in more projects.
Angelic!
PinkLadies8 April 2004
It's a good thing I have cable otherwise I would never have known this movie existed. I watched it some time ago on one of the movie channels and although it's a low budget little thing it's a very cute movie that I think everyone could appreciate, but especially women and young girls, as Angel In Training is a movie all about growing up.
The young cast members are what make Angel In Training so good. Laila Dagher is great as the lead character Desi, a girl who's having trouble watching her friends mature before her, and can't cope very well with the fact that she too is entering womanhood. But the real star is the beautiful and talented Daneille Pessis who plays R.J, an angel who comes down in the form of an older teenager and befriends Desi, giving Desi just the kind of friendship and guidence she needs.
The adult cast aren't too special but I did think Veronica Allen was funny as Peyton, the rather vile woman who Desi's father is dating.
The plot, while kind of thin, is enjoyable enough thanks to some cute writing and good acting from the leading characters. Angel In Training, while certainly not the best movie, is worth a look if only for Danielle Pessis (especially) and Laila Dagher's performences. The girls are great at interacting with each other on screen and their sweet and innocent friendship is a joy to watch. Not only that but it's nice to see a movie like this that doesn't resort to graphic sex scenes/talk and vulgar language, it's a very refreshing film about growing up and I liked that a lot.
The young cast members are what make Angel In Training so good. Laila Dagher is great as the lead character Desi, a girl who's having trouble watching her friends mature before her, and can't cope very well with the fact that she too is entering womanhood. But the real star is the beautiful and talented Daneille Pessis who plays R.J, an angel who comes down in the form of an older teenager and befriends Desi, giving Desi just the kind of friendship and guidence she needs.
The adult cast aren't too special but I did think Veronica Allen was funny as Peyton, the rather vile woman who Desi's father is dating.
The plot, while kind of thin, is enjoyable enough thanks to some cute writing and good acting from the leading characters. Angel In Training, while certainly not the best movie, is worth a look if only for Danielle Pessis (especially) and Laila Dagher's performences. The girls are great at interacting with each other on screen and their sweet and innocent friendship is a joy to watch. Not only that but it's nice to see a movie like this that doesn't resort to graphic sex scenes/talk and vulgar language, it's a very refreshing film about growing up and I liked that a lot.
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