Watching Extraordinary Measures, you'd sometimes wonder by the vibe if you're not watching a Hallmark Hall of Fame movie or something of the ilk. But then you catch a glimpse of Harrison Ford and you are reminded that this particular film is based on a real story, that Ford himself backed it financially, and that at the end of the day, there's something more gritty going on here than the broad strokes of the lesser light movies. Here, the battle for life and death is against Pompe disease, and if you've got young kids, this one is going to rock you.

John Crowley (Brendan Fraser) hawks medical breakthroughs, but he and his wife (Keri Russell) can't find a way to make the lives of two of their children, Meghan and Patrick (Meredith Droeger and Diego Velazquez) better than the modern medicine which helps them breathe and for the time being keeps them alive. Pompe is too devastating, and the research hasn't quite broken through to the point where there's something available to save their lives.

Enter Ford's Dr. Robert Stonehill. In a role that it seems like Ford was meant to play, Stonehill serves as a loner, cantankerous and antisocial, who ends up being the best chance that the Crowleys have. Of course, the drama besides the development of the drug is the friction created between Stonehill and Crowley when their dreams, aspirations, and personalities clash. Of course, there's a third aspect that must be considered in the dramatic department: there's the way that the medical system, from the research side through to the billing side, seems to put the screws to the people who really need help.

Along the way, the adult Crowleys have to battle through issues that no parents should. Do I pray for the end of my child's life to ease their suffering? Do I pursue spending an overabundance of time with them because they might die any minute or do I pursue a full life of support and career to furnish them with a more supportive process? What lengths will I go to in an attempt to get them special treatment, better situations, and more? What pre-existing standards or rules of my life will I break to see my child has a better life?

Ford is excellent; Fraser is better than expected. And little Meghan Droeger is a spitfire in a "next Abigail Breslin" sort of way. But it's the discusssion of how we spend our money, work for the sick, and devote our lives to the betterment of others that makes this movie hum, and very well may make you cry. It may also make you laugh a few times, just to relieve the tension, but it will make you wonder why bad things happen to good people and recognize that God still moves in mysterious ways.