recommended

Gripping story with well-crafted characters

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

This is not really a review of the documentary but more of a thank you to Lizzie.Its impossible not to shed a tear during this documentary. I think everyone has been bullied at one time or another in their lives. At times I had an extremely tough time in school. I was called many hateful names and each and every time it hurt. I'm a lover not a fighter type. But people just do not realize the impact they have when they pick on other people. Its so sad that people have killed themselves because of this. Some are very young kids with their whole lives ahead of them. So please everyone out there who is having a tough time or being bullied, just remember, it gets better, I promise. Please don't give up, don't give in. Get some help from someone or call one of the hotlines that are available. You are a special person and are here for a reason.Knowing Lizzie Velasquez, she will probably read each and every review here, so from the bottom of my heart, I want to thank you. Thank you for your kindness, courage, inspiration, and motivation to help others. Keep doing what you're doing, you have probably saved many lives. If the majority of the world were a little more like you, it would be a better place to live.

I thought Lizzie Velasquez was absolutely amazing for telling her story about her condition to the whole world. This will make people aware of bullying happening everywhere you go. It just makes you feel angry that there are stupid people out there that think it's OK to cyber bully someone that never even met before. Seriously since the Internet and the mobile phone were invented, bullying got way out of control! I felt extremely hurt for Lizzie when a troll on YouTube just posted a sick video of her being called 'The Ugliest Woman in the World'. I would seriously would love to know who that was and get them onto to the documentary to make them see for themselves! I hope that person gets arrested and not be let onto the Internet. Unfortunately there's too many of them out there to sort out but it wouldn't be a harm for a little revenge.I would consider YouTube the worst website with a lot of cyber bullying involved. I think YouTube should really get their arses in gear and ban users that need to be banned. Especially whenever you make a comment on a video, any users can strike you immediately without you realising it! I think Lizzie is such an amazing little person and she is definitely way better then the people that bully her. If I was her, I would too put them aside and just realise life isn't always hunky dory, it's just some of us haven't grown up to be confident or cope with changes as human beings. So life is short, we just gotta do our best to live!

It's rare that a documentary has such an explosively powerful subject at its center that you wonder sometimes if a frame will contain her, but Lizzie Velasquez *is* that subject.Velasquez was born with a disfiguring disease that she's never let stop her once. Sara Hirsh Bordo effectively introduces her and if you can get through the first ten minutes of this film without choking up, you're made of stone. And that's not a reaction of pity... it's one of admiration and courage for her and her amazing family and friends.What Lizzie went through, when a group of mean-spirited teens threw a video of her up on You Tube and how she positively transformed what could have been a suicide-inducing experience (for most people) is uplifting to say the least. She didn't let them win... she fought fire with fire and won hearts in the bargain.I will say that I don't think Bordo went deep enough into Lizzie's psyche with this film, or into what I think is supposed to be the major thrust of the piece (and long overdue): Lizzie's fight to finally hold kids and parents accountable for the criminal act of bullying. I felt there was more to Lizzie's story that might have been even more painful than the You Tube stuff and Bordo perhaps just didn't want to dwell too much on the negatives.It doesn't matter in the end because Velasquez steals the show with her effervescent sunshine optimism (even when she's looking very beaten and tired she still radiates hope).This doc should be mandatory viewing for teens. It's occasionally too slight for its own good but then again, there are few directors who could really measure up to the potency of a subject with this kind of immediacy and not steal her thunder.

POWERFULLY INSPIRING I was fortunate to see this movie at the SXSW Film Festival. The movie paints a beautiful portrait of Lizzie Velasquez and her family. One of the primary messages I took from the movie was the importance of a family's love in enabling a child to rise about challenges. The movie shows how Lizzie's parents and siblings raised her surrounded with their complete and unconditional love. The movie contains a great deal of serious content about bullying, but the movie is also full of joy and many humorous scenes that are truly endearing. Ultimately, the message of the movie is optimistic in that one person, especially a person surrounded with the love of an awesome family, truly can change the world for the better.