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Good concept, poorly executed.

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

First, this movie is an excellent demonstration of Hayden Panettiere's acting prowess. She carried this movie, even when no one else did. Conversely, I was disappointed in Bill Pullman's acting. I'm pretty sure he just phoned it in and showed up on payday. After seeing his inspiring leadership performance role in Independence Day, I was expecting, we'll, anything that might indicate a pulse. He failed to deliver. The plot was fine, but there were a lot of little holes that the movie glossed over in the interest of time. Like how the kids became so close so fast. From the foreshadowing on the plane ride, I expected there to be a bit more friction between the kids, but in the next scene, they were best friends. Hayden and her brother had cute chemistry but it was also a little unbelievable considering they apparently didn't know each other before the trip. Overall, the movie is worth watching. Just don't expect any life from Bill, and prepare to be amused with the cheapskate backgrounds used, particularly the unmoving sunset and repeating wave movement from the back of the ship.

My husband was an integral part of the security (as an MA) on the Connie at this time. He wasn't part of the Tiger cruise due to his need to set up security for its homecoming. Well the course of events on 9/11 changed EVERYTHING. Although the events that occurred are NOT exactly accurate, they are close enough for civilian eyes. And enough to let others have a good glimpse, without being at all a threat to the well being of the sailors (and at time civilians!) aboard ship. Yes, its true that kids wouldn't have been running around wherever they wanted unescorted. BUT there would have been areas were they WERE allowed to run around. I am sure that changed just a bit after 9/11. They had to. The part of H.P. belittling her father for his outstanding service is ridiculous though. With his being in for as long as he was, she would have been MUCH more familiar, and therefore, more comfortable with Navy life. In fact she wouldn't have known much different. All in all though i think they did a fair job at trying to portray how teens/tweens would feel about military family members in general, and how they would also feel about sudden and tragic world events. It was definitely patriotic. I notice several comments (many of them from non US citizens) about how it was all propaganda, how awful it was etc. The worst was the one about the 2 leaders, and one being the Anti-Christ and the Berlin wall crap. Pffft. Easy to lob stones from a country, ironically enough, that itself doesn't even allow freedom of speech, in the same way the US does. The men and women portrayed in this movie, are the same ones who fight and die for the rights of their fellow citizens to keep the ability to say nasty things about the military. Go figure. *shrug* So it irks me when they not only have to put up with those ungrateful bunch, but others from elsewhere that do NOT have *first hand knowledge* of what it means to be American. Sorry for the semi-rant. Good movie. Good for kids. Good for kids to watch to remind them of the tragic events (lest we forget! and NO we shouldn't bury our heads in the sand and leave the past in the past, as suggested by, I believe, a Canadian, go figure!). Sorry it wasn't filmed on the USS Constellation which my husband was PROUD to serve aboard as a Chief Master at Arms. He and I both will never forget that particular tiger cruise... and hopefully this movie will help others too.

I have a special interest in propaganda films and how they're made. Unlike a film made to merely entertain or distract, a propaganda film has a specific and identifiable goal. It is concocted to get an audience or at least a part of the audience to think and act in a particular way. I am interested in relating the films to each other- to compare the various WW2 propaganda films from different countries and to distinguish the various sub-types- propaganda films used to stimulate civilian domestic production efficiency, for example.TIGER CRUISE is the first example I've seen of a Navy recruiting film aimed at teen-aged girls. The story is this: A "tiger cruise" apparently is the last days sailing of a ship after its been rotated out from a long term deployment. In this case the super carrier Constellation is sailing back after have been in "the gulf". On these tiger cruises relatives of the compliment are invited along on the last leg. (Did anyone realize that we paid for this?) So the story opens with the relatives preparing for their flights to Hawaii to meet the ship in Pearl Harbor. Ominously the first date superimposed over the action is "September 2001". I know. I kept thinking about the HMS Hood too.The story centers one one teen age girl, apparently a member of the Disney teen age girl assembly line, the greatest kitch-pop teen queen production outside of Japan.Her father, Bill Pullman, is the Executive Officer on the Constellation and she wants him to quit the Navy and come home so they can be a real family. He insists that this is his job. It takes 9/11 to convince her that her father's work is more important. Of the some 800 relatives making the trip the only identifiable people are teen queen's (she actually has the blond corkscrew curls popular in barnstorming melodramas of 125 years ago) circle of two friends, a Hispanic girl and an African-American boy and a little boy played by the actress's brother. An older man visiting his son, a baker, provides a sub-plot which stresses the importance of even the peripheral jobs in the Navy even though dad promises his brother in the Pentagon could find him something more important. The brother is killed on 9/11. The other girl, not as pretty, is there because her big sister (what a knock out even if more than a little bit butch) is a jet fighter pilot, so I guess who says girls can't do that? The boy is an undisciplined tearaway who learns the seriousness of things because of 9/11. Meanwhile there are tours of the ship and the various jobs and tasks on display as well as the amenities. Exhibitions of patriotism are frequent and taken for granted. It all reminded me of the episode of The Simpson's where Bart joins a boy's band whose existence is merely a front for a Join the Navy campaign. If a certain number of teen age girls who see the picture are inspired to join the navy and prepare biscuits five or ten years in the future then the picture will have done its job. Except for some really cheap rear projection work meant to show the ship at sea, Disney has certainly come a long way in the 50 years since they spent a season on the Mickey Mouse Club showing how cool it was to fly TWA coast to coast. (And that airplane was a Constellation too.) After all, propaganda is just advertizing for a concept rather than a product.

I was most impressed with this latest Disney original. I have found many Disney movies to be fun and entertaining, but this one is phenomenal. The story is well written and both entertaining and emotionally intense. The acting is exceptional. Bill Pullman did a great job in this movie. The child actors were right on the mark as well. Troy Evans's portrayal of Mr. Horner was both intensely dramatic and enjoyably comic. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie and it sparked interesting conversations with my children. It was a great angle on the 9/11 story and was based on factual events. A friend of mine whose son is in the Navy was actually on a similar cruise on 9/11.All the themes addressed in the movie, patriotism, obedience, loyalty, compassion and sacrifice are values that are too often ignored in our society today and especially in the movies. Although it doesn't have a snowball's chance (political correctness and all that)...it should win SOME KIND of an award...Best Made for TV Movie?