A Taken Judge's Daughter
Carly O'Neil (Emily Tennant - Driven Underground) has always had a difficult relationship with her mum, Annalise (Emily Rose - Secret Summer), ever since her parents separated and now things are likely to get worse as her mum has become a judge. It is why after the latest row Carly runs away from home, some thing she has done before and always returned having calmed down having spent time with friends. But Annalise fears that this time some thing has happened as Carly doesn't text or ring. It leads to Annalise asking an old friend, detective Sutton (Chris Kalhoon), for help whilst also speaking to John Gallant (Antonio Cupo - The Good Mistress) who runs a centre for runaway teenagers. What Annalise doesn't know is that her daughter has been taken and will be shipped overseas to the highest bidder as part of a trafficking ring.
That synopsis makes "Daughter for Sale" sound like a typical made for TV thriller as we have a daughter who ends up being kidnapped as part of a human trafficking ring, a common occurence in recent made for TV movies. As such there is a routine side to "Daughter for Sale" as we have Annalise using her contacts and friendships to try and find her daughter whilst having to deal with her friend, detective Sutton, trying to ease her fears as there is major news over teenage girls being abducted into trafficking rings. Basically you know that come the end of the movie there will be danger as Annalise takes matters in to her own hands.
But there are a couple of other things going on in "Daughter for Sale", one of which is that it tries to highlight some of the sides of the trafficking situation as not only do we see how the police don't like concerned parents going to the media but we also see Carly talking to other abducted girls and so we get their back stories such as having runaway from abusive parents. But within the first 30 minutes of the movie starting we learn who the mastermind is behind things and without giving too much away it is one of the people who Annalise thinks is on her side and trying to help. Unfortunately by telling us so early on it robs "Daughter for Sale" of any real suspense and makes this a movie which builds to Annalise learning the truth and then putting herself in danger by trying to bring the person down.
What this all boils down to is that "Daughter for Sale" is sadly just a routine made for TV movie using the abducted daughter storyline but doing little with it to stand out from the crowd.
