The defence The Sentimental Softie
“Sincerity is not manipulation.”
The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.
Back to trending 
Raising the Bar
Family · Drama · TV Movie · 2017
16-year-old Kelly quits an elite gymnastics program and moves to Australia. To help out a new friend and show up an old rival she re-enters competitive gymnastics, she'll have to find a way to move forward while making amends with her past.
Movie details
Raising the Bar
“Competition at its best!”
2017 Family · Drama · TV Movie 1h 33m
Critical arithmetic
One number, for now.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
TMDB
6.5 / 10
Community rating
16-year-old Kelly quits an elite gymnastics program and moves to Australia. To help out a new friend and show up an old rival she re-enters competitive gymnastics, she'll have to find a way to move forward while making amends with her past.
CriticWise case file
What this film says about your taste.
Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.
The archetype split
Who fights over Raising the Bar?
For the defence
The Sentimental Softie
“You came to feel something, and you will.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Cool Ironist
“Feeling things is a little embarrassing.”
Read their objectionThe split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.
Taste neighbourhood
Nearby on the taste map.
TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.
Where the Red Fern Grows
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Flicka: Country Pride
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Going for Gold
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Seventeen year old, Emma joins a high school cheerleading team when she moves to Australia with her dad who is a former Air Force Officer.
Horse Sense
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After treating his rancher cousin shoddily in L.A. Michael Woods is sentenced by his parents to spending a month on the ranch with his cousin and aunt.
Flicka
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Katy McLaughlin desires to work on her family's mountainside horse ranch, although her father insists she finish boarding school. Katy finds a mustang in the hills near her ranch. The headstrong 16 year old then sets her mind to tame a mustang and prove to her father she can run the ranch. But when tragedy happens, it will take all the love and strength the family can muster to restore hope.
Moondance Alexander
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Curiously named teen Moondance Alexander lives with her eccentric mother, and is faced with another uneventful summer until she discovers a lost pinto pony named Checkers. Although Moondance returns the horse to his rightful owner, the gruff and mysterious Dante Longpre, she is convinced that Checkers is a champion jumper in disguise and is determined to help him realize his full potential.
An American Girl: McKenna Shoots for the Stars
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A Second Chance
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A young girl and her coach overcome adversity to make their way into the National Australian Gymnastics Squad.
Tru Confessions
TV Movie · 2002
Trudy Walker hated her life. She thought it was totally messed up until she found out about a contest that could change everything...
Where the Red Fern Grows
Drama · 1974
Billy Coleman works hard and saves his earnings for two years to achieve his dream of buying two red-bone coonhound pups. He develops a new trust in life as he faces overwhelming challenges in adventure and tragedy roaming the river bottoms of Cherokee country with his dogs, Old Dan and Little Ann.
Where it lives
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Clay Glen
Written by
Clay Glen
Kelli Berglund
Kelly Johnson
Emily Morris
Ashley
C
Chris Koch
Teacher
Jordyn Wieber
Jordyn Wieber
David John Clark
Judge
P
Peta Shannon
Sarah Johnson
L
Lili Karamalikis
Nicola
Court is in session
Put Raising the Bar on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Cool Ironist
“The strings are showing.”
Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.