The Echo of Thunder (1998)

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Echo of Thunder is a movie based on the book thunderwith It begin with our main character Lara (Lauren Hewett) who's mother has just died and has to live with her father/ Larry(Jamie Sheridan)and step mother/ Gladwyn (Judy Davis) and their 3 children Pearl , Opal and Jasper will they accept her or not.It begins in the beautiful Australian outback of NSW on the Rickety palm plantation of Willy nilly for a low budget TV film they have made a great setting with great Australian and some international actors they have really captured the essence of depending on each other to get through difficult situations.They've done we'll to make the film a awesome representation of the book but they did leave out a whole character garnet and made Jaspar a lot older but with so much going on you hardly notice at all.But with stuff left put and not a huge Hollywood budget it still has capture the main idea of the book that family is what matters so all together they've made a great film capturing the Australian out back in awesome intensity so watch this film and you will be impressed and enlightened .

For anyone who has seen several films produced by the Hallmark Hall of Fame, the basic style of acting and script will be quite familiar. The production is designed to be low-key, and you can be pretty much certain nothing too shocking will happen. Gladwyn (Davis) and Larry (Jamey Sheridan) are a couple who live in the wilderness of Australia with their three young children. When Larry's wife from his first marriage dies, his mid-teen daughter Lara is sent to live with them. You can extrapolate the basic drama from there.In my experience, Judy Davis' style of performance seems to directly depend on her level of comfort with the character. I suspect, in this case, she was not particularly at ease. But it's not necessarily a bad thing, because her character is not particularly meant to be personable. Her reaction and attitude to the world around her is very defensive. Her performance and that of Lauren Hewett (Lara) are the main reasons to watch this. Like most Hallmark shows, it depends directly on the quality of acting.There's some aspects of the plot that fall flat. The whole spirit guide mystical Hollywood Indian dog sub-plot is really lame. It's been done so many times, and it's never been done well. Overall, it's a good drama that is a pretty much A to B run, but with more than excellent acting to hold it together.RATING: 6.9 out of 10

It starts like a soap opera, or like one of those moralistic movies we see on Lifetime Channel... It promises to be just a little family movie.However - it soon becomes an enriching experience, created with lots of generosity. True, without the setting in the Australian outback, and without the isolated family of farmers dealing with unique hardships, probably the movie would have been just a well-done small drama.But the Australian charm and directness make all the difference. Definitely a "must see"!

A girl tries to adjust to her step-mother and dad whom she hadn't lived with before. There are some downsides to the movie, but over all I liked it a lot. I like how the Hallmark Hall of Fame movies are usually heart-warming and emotional, as this one is.