How do you go head to head with one of the summer’s most anticipated blockbuster movies? You do it by crafting a masterpiece on family dynamics that should draw everyone but teenage boys and young adult males. Based on Jodi Picoult’s novel by the same name, My Sister’s Keeper takes you into the family life of a child with cancer. Exploring the boundaries of what is ethical in keeping your child alive, you find yourself wrestling with the choices the family made and wondering what lengths you would go to for your own child.

As Sara (Cameron Diaz) and Brian (Jason Patric) struggle to make the right decisions for their sick child, Kate (Sofia Vassilieva), we see how it affects the other two kids. Older brother Jesse (Evan Ellingson) is the one that gets neglected to the point of basically being invisible. And while younger sister Anna (Abigail Breslin) gets a lot of attention, it isn’t the kind she wants. This leads to the crux of the film as Anna goes to ‘91% successful lawyer’ Campbell Alexander (Alec Baldwin) to sue for medical rights to her own body. It seems Anna is tired of being the living donor keeping her older sister alive.

While this is a poignant, tear-inducing movie for any parent (or anyone who has been touched by cancer or a child’s terminal disease), the brilliance behind the story are the uplifting moments of beauty that are celebrated throughout. From a first boyfriend, to a late in life trip to the beach, the snapshots of life show what it means to live everyday to the fullest instead of simply waiting for the inevitable.

And those snapshots come alive with this cast. Diaz is brilliant as a successful lawyer turned unrelenting advocate for her suffering daughter. Understated performances by Baldwin, and Joan Cusack (as the judge who presides over the case) round out a distinguished cast that keeps this from being just another teary chick flick. And while Breslin continues to show acting skills beyond her years as she did in Little Miss Sunshine, Sofia Vassilieva steals the spotlight. Her presence, and her smile, fills the screen with a joy that breaks through the sorrow of the film with a promise that there is more to life than pain.

Readers of the book will be surprised by some major changes in the story, but I believe they’ll see that the spirit of the book has been captured and released on a movie-going public that will cherish this adaptation. And while there will be some disappointment that there couldn’t be more focus on the father and son dynamic or the lawyer’s role from the book, they’ll have to acknowledge that you simply can’t include everything in a movie. What director Nick Cassavates (The Notebook) leaves out from the book, he makes up for in the careful weaving together of the different points of view and story pieces that tie this tour de force together.

They’ll be plenty of loud, action, summer extravaganzas to check out all season long. Take a break from the sensory overload and go with a friend to remember what really matters: doing life together with the ones we love.

Rating: ★★★★★