The Kid from the Big Apple (Movie Review)

IMDb Rating: 7.5/10
My rating: 8/10


     I must say, when I first watched this movie, it was love at first sight.

Plot (Spoiler alert!):

Sarah reluctantly moved to Malaysia to stay with a grandfather whom she had never met before as her mother had to visit China to resolve work-related problems. Initially, Sarah refused to adapt to her grandfather's traditional cultural practice, such as eating chicken feet for breakfast, and the local community and she thought that they were disgusting. Despite the best efforts of her grandfather to re-create a familiar environment for Sarah by recreating western dishes that Sarah is familiar with using local substitutes, Sarah only ate chips that she brought over from New York and refused to communicate with her grandfather.

Defeated, Sarah's grandfather turned to Ah Bao, a neighbour who claims to speak English, to translate his instructions in Chinese and Cantonese to Sarah. Annoyed but later amused at his poor command of English, Sarah starts to take an interest in the surrounding neighbourhood. She also reveals that she can actually understand and speak Chinese, much to her grandfather's relief. Slowly, she starts interacting with the children around the neighbourhood, who included her in their activities, and starts adapting to the local environment. She also began to interact with her grandfather and a bond starts to form between them.

Between the scenes of interactions between Sarah and her grandfather, there were also flashbacks that revealed the strained relationship between Sarah's mother and grandfather. It was revealed that Sarah's mother, unmarried and pregnant with Sarah, had a strong argument with her father (Sarah's grandfather) who was strongly against her moving to New York City to live with her boyfriend. She disregarded his advice and ran away from home, never contacting him for decades while perusing a career as a fashion designer whilst balancing her role of a single mother after Sarah's father abandoned her.

Over time, the bond between Sarah and her grandfather deepened, despite occasional tension created by differences between her contemporary, social media-influenced lifestyle and her grandfather's conservative values. Sarah had warmed to the community so much that as the time draws closer to her departure, she became reluctant to leave. Above all, she did not want to leave her grandfather alone, as she had learnt of his various health ailments that he had hid from everyone over the years. Sarah thus prodded her grandfather to embrace new media so that she could communicate with him overseas and also tried desperately to get her mother and grandfather to reconcile.

Before Sarah's departure, Sarah's grandfather got Ah Bao to film a video to give to Sarah's mother when he dies. Inside, he apologized for not being a good father, his admiration for raising Sarah single-handedly as well as him bequeathing assets to her and Sarah. Ah Bao, defying his promise to keep the video secret, sends the touching video to Sarah's mother. Touched by his words, Sarah's mother hurriedly returns home and reconciles with her father after many years of estrangement.

In was shown in the film's closing credits that Sarah's grandfather flew to New York together with Sarah and her mother.


Remarks/Thoughts/Lessons:

        This movie displays various moral values, cultural values, and the differences in a generation gap which at some times, may cause a conflict. Despite this, the real meaning behind the Chinese culture -- especially here in Malaysia -- is love.

     Lessons I've learned are:
1. Always be open and compassionate toward one another.
2. We may be imperfect and flawed in our ways, but we must acknowledge that we are all human and that as human beings, we make mistakes. Learn to accept that, forgive, reconcile, and move on.
3. Hold true to your roots and values.
4. Respect your elders, and honour each other in the family.
5. Always make friends and try your best to live in peace and harmony with your family, friends and neighbours.

This movie has some very sentimental and emotional scenes, that have made me jerk a tear or two (okay, okay...maybe even more than that. Hahaha)

So, if you are to watch this movie, watch at your own risk.
In other words, enjoy!