Mae Whitman Movies

The further adventures of everyone's favorite fairy continue in this animated fantasy adventure that finds Tinker Bell retaliating against her longtime nemesis Vidia by hastily snapping the mischievous sprite's photograph. But Tinker Bell failed to considered the consequences of her actions before she acted in anger, and now these two rivals must put aside the differences and work together in order to prevent proof of the fairy realm from being discovered by curious humans. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Everyone's favorite Peter Pan fairy gets her very own animated adventure in this direct to video feature following Tinker Bell as she discovers just what kind of magic is possible when you finally learn to be true to yourself. Tinker Bell is convinced that in the world of fairies she just doesn't amount to much: After all, while the rest of the fairies are busy transforming the leaves, melting snow with sunbeams, waking animals after their winter slumber, or sprinkling water over the sprouts to keep the seasons moving along, Tinker Bell is just, well. . . tinkering. When Tinker Bell tries to go against her true nature and become something she is not, she becomes hopelessly frustrated at her lack of success. Thankfully her old pals Rosetta, Silvermist, Fawn, and Iridessa are all there to help Tinkerbell realize her true worth and discover, the realize just how important it is to have a little faith in yourself. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Adapted from author Nicholas Sparks' popular romance novel, director George C. Wolfe's Nights in Rodanthe tells the tale of a doctor (Richard Gere) en route to reconcile with his estranged son when his benevolent mission is sidelined upon checking into a North Carolina beach-town inn. When the doctor arrives at the inn, he enters into a passionate affair with an unhappily married woman (Diane Lane) who is currently considering divorce. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

In the first half of a two-part story, no sooner has George's father Harold O'Malley (Geoge Dzundza) nemerged from heart surgery than he must undergo another operation for cancer. Both Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) and Derek (Patrick Dempsey) suffer mightily when Meredith's estranged father Thatcher Grey (Jeff Perry) arrives in town to visit his other daughter Molly and his new granddaughter. While still putting off cashing her huge inheritance check from Denny, Izzie (Katherine Heigl) bonds with Heather, a teenager with a bad attitude, a worse case of spinal curvature, and no money for additional surgery. And the relationship between Cristina (Sandra Oh) and Burke (Isaiah Washington) reaches a whole new plateau. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

After years of upholding law and order on the cop drama Homicide: Life on the Street, Andre Braugher crossed over to the criminal side as the title character in the FX network weekly Thief. Set in post-Katrina New Orleans, the series cast Braugher as Nick Atwater, who supplemented his income as a vintage-car dealer by masterminding a team of thieves. Although Nick tried to keep his personal and professional life secret, this proved difficult when he was forced to shoulder the responsibility for his resentful and trouble-prone stepdaughter, Tammi Deveraux (Mae Whitman), after his wife, Wanda (Dina Meyer), was killed in a car accident. (In the first episode, Nick was arranging to get Tammi out of a jam with the New Orleans cops even as he and his cohorts were in the middle of pulling off a jewel heist in San Francisco!) Further complicating his life was a botched assignment in which Nick's team wound up with money stolen from a particularly vicious band of Chinese gangsters -- not to mention our "hero"'s ongoing struggle to play on both sides of the legal fence in order to keep his head above water. Also in the cast was Michael Rooker as Nick's nemesis and verbal sparring partner John Hayes, a corrupt police detective to whom extortion was second nature; Linda Hamilton as Rosalyn, Nick's fence, who like many TV-series outlaws had her own peculiar code of ethics; Clifton Collins Jr. as Nick's confederate Jack "Bump" Hill, the obligatory "crook with a conscience"; Yancey Arias as Gabriel "Gabo" Williams, the equally obligatory loose cannon of the gang, who also had a hit-and-run romance with Detective Hayes' wife; Malik Yoba as comedy-relief character Elmo "Mo" Jones, who like his boss Nick did his best to be a good family man; and Will Yun Lee as irascible Chinese hit man Vincent Chan, who was willing to let Nick live only long enough to get his mob's money back. By the time the series had concluded its initial six-week run, Nick and company were neck-deep in a scheme to steal govnerment money originally intended to pay off local authorities in the Colombian drug war. Based loosely on the 1981 James Caan theatrical feature of the same name, the weekly, hour-long Thief premiered March 28, 2006. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Originally created for (and telecast on) Nickelodeon, the half-hour anime series Avatar: The Last Airbender is set in an alternate world in which the "nations" are divided along the lines of elements: the Water Nation, the Earth Nation, the Fire Nation, and the Air Nation. The titular Avatar was supreme master of the four elements and was predestined to protect the rest of his world against the evil Fire Nation. Abruptly disappearing from view, the Avatar resurfaced in the form of 12-year-old Aang, the last of the Airbender tribe. Discovered frozen in ice near the South Pole by two young members of the Water tribe, Katara and Sokka, the irresponsible Aang had to summon up enough strength -- and self-esteem -- to do battle against the villainous Firebenders. The series' requisite "cute little animal" was Aang's pet lemur, Momo. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Mowgli the "man-cub" returns to the wilderness in this sequel to the Walt Disney Pictures animated favorite The Jungle Book. After leaving life in the jungle behind, Mowgli (voice of Haley Joel Osment) has been adopted, and now lives in the nearby village with his new parents and his younger brother, while becoming close friends with Shanti (voice of Mae Whitman), the girl who first lured him out of the wilds. However, adjusting to live among other humans hasn't been easy, and after Mowgli pays a visit to an old friend, happy-go-lucky bear Baloo (John Goodman), the boy considers staying for a while. Before long, both Shanti and Mowgli's new family notice he's missing, and Shanti goes into the jungle to look for him, despite her fear of wild animals. However, Mowgli and Baloo are soon reminded that life in the wilderness isn't always carefree when they learn Shere Khan (voice of Tony Jay) is looking for Mowgli, eager to settle an old score. The Jungle Book 2 also features voice work from Phil Collins and John Rhys-Davies; rock group Smash Mouth contribute a new version of "I Wanna Be Like You" to the soundtrack. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A true story based on the life story of writer/director Eva Gardos, this film depicts the personal odyssey of a family's escape from Communist Hungary. One night, Margaret (Nastassja Kinski) and Peter (Tony Goldwyn) arrange to escape Hungary with their eldest daughter in tow, forcing them to leave behind their youngest, Suzanne, in the care of Margaret's mother. When the mother is separated from the young child, she goes to live in a peaceful Eastern European countryside with a loving man and woman who raise her until age six, where Suzanne is sent for by her birth parents, now living in America. She finds the adjustment difficult and does not fully comprehend that Margaret and Peter are her parents, but she is willing to stay, and if she feels the same way in several years, Peter has agreed to give her a ticket back to Hungary. Later, as a rebellious teenager (played by Scarlett Johansson), with Margaret becoming a highly overprotective mother, she takes her father up on his offer to go back and reconnect with those who raised her as a child. While in Hungary, she has a change of heart , however, and discovers her true identity. The feature also co-stars Mae Whitman, Emmy Rossum, and Larisa Oleynik. ~ Jason Clark, All Movie Guide

The Yuletide Season is anything but merry for Emily (Carla Gugino), who is forced to take charge of her nephew J.T. (Evan Sabara) and niece Alanna (Mae Whitman) when their drug-addicted mother (Laura Dern) O.D.'s and the kids are dispossessed. When it looks as though the kids will be sucked into the merciless maelstrom of the foster-care system, Emily packs them up and heads out of her home state, ending up in a little town that happens to be named Bethlehem Even though the authorities have been temporarily left behind, Emily will need a miracle to keep her family together. Enter a versatile guardian angel (Patty Duke), who assumes a variety of earthly guises to save the day for Emily, J.T. and Alanna--and also orchestrates a romance between Emily and a sympathetic local cop (David Conrad). Based on a novel by Marilyn Pappano, A Season for Miracles first aired as a CBS Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation on December 12, 1999. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Actor/director Forest Whitaker (Waiting to Exhale) helmed this romantic drama about a one-time high-school beauty queen who returns to her hometown of Smithville, TX. The Steven Rogers screenplay begins in Chicago, where blonde Connie (Rosanna Arquette, uncredited) appears on a trashy daytime talk show and tells a nationwide TV audience about her affair with the husband of her best friend, Birdie Pruitt (Sandra Bullock). Walking into the ambush, Birdie is paraded forth for a public humiliation as Connie's claim is confirmed by husband Bill (Michael Paré). Birdie and her young daughter, Bernice (Mae Whitman), then move back to Texas to live with Birdie's eccentric mother, Ramona (Gena Rowlands), a taxidermist who has filled the house with stuffed animals. Since most of Smithville saw the TV show, embarrassment keeps Birdie sitting around the house in her pajamas; however, her moment of glory as the homecoming "Queen of Corn" has not been forgotten by handyman Justin Matisse (Harry Connick Jr.), the first guy who kissed her back in high school, so a romance soon begins. "Just give hope a chance to float up and it will," says Birdie. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

A group of intrepid humans attempts to save the Earth from vicious extraterrestrials in this extremely popular science-fiction adventure. Borrowing liberally from War of the Worlds, Aliens, and every sci-fi invasion film inbetween, director Roland Emmerich and producer and co-writer Dean Devlin present a visually slick, fast-paced adventure filled with expensive special effects and large-scale action sequences. The story begins with the approach of a series of massive spaceships, which many on Earth greet with open arms, looking forward to the first contact with alien life. Unfortunately, these extraterrestrials have not come in peace, and they unleash powerful weapons that destroy most of the world's major cities. Thrown into chaos, the survivors struggle to band together and put up a last-ditch resistance in order to save the human race. As this is a Hollywood film, this effort is led by a group of scrappy Americans, including a computer genius who had foreseen the alien's evil intent (Jeff Goldblum), a hot-shot jet pilot (Will Smith), and the President of the United States (Bill Pullman). While some critics objected to the film's lack of originality and lapses in logic, the combination of grand visual spectacle and crowd-pleasing storytelling proved irresistible to audiences, resulting in an international smash hit. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide

The struggle of country music's mother-daughter duo The Judds is told in this made-for-television drama. Kathleen York stars as Naomi Judd (then known as Diana Judd) a single mother of two daughters, who turned to music as way to help positively influence her increasingly belligerent and rebellious eldest daughter Wynonna (then known as Christina). The movie chronicles Naomi's struggle to provide for her daughters (the youngest is actress Ashley Judd), the singing duo's rise from Nashville fame to national celebrity, the ups and downs that accompanied a working family relationship, and Naomi's eventual retirement from the music business. The movie was based on Naomi's autobiography Love Can Build A Bridge. ~ Bernadette McCallion, All Movie Guide