Starring Selena Gomez, Jane Lynch, Drew Seely, and Jessica Parker Kennedy
Directed by Damon Santostefano
Music and Lyrics by various
The original A Cinderella Story was a non-musical romantic comedy featuring then-hot ingénue Hilary Duff as the put-upon teen of the title. It was such a smash with kids, Warners followed it with a series of direct-to-DVD films that all followed the same theme. This was the second in the series, and the first to be a musical. Selena Gomez was another popular teen star of the time, having made waves the year before in the Disney Channel fantasy sitcom The Wizards of Waverly Place. How well does she do in a less overtly magical story? Let's begin with a dance routine in the head of Mary Santiago (Gomez) and find out...
The Story: Mary was taken as a child by lazy and vain fading pop star Dominique Blatt. She and her silly twin stepdaughters Bree (Katherine Isabelle) and Britt (Emily Perkins) treat Mary like a servant, working her to the bone. The spoiled duo make Mary's life miserable in and out of school, where they bully her and her more courageous best friend Tami (Kennedy).
Mary's school is up in arms when handsome pop star Joey Parker (Seely) returns for his senior year. He's hoping to regain his inspiration and remember why he started dancing. His best friend Dustin "The Funk" (Marcus T. Faulk) arranges a dance contest for the end of the school year. Dominique wants to shove her girls at him or at least sing with him, but he can see straight through her and refuses. Meanwhile, Tami convinces Mary to attend their school's Black and White Ball with her. She dances with Joey without knowing who he is...and flees when she finds out. She leaves behind her music player as the only clue to her identity. Joey has to figure out who has that specific playlist, then convince Mary to finally come out of her stepfamily's shadow for good.
The Song and Dance: Gomez makes a lovely Cinderella here, showing all of the charm that made her a favorite on Waverly Place and other Disney programming of the time. She's also a good enough dancer to pull off some of the more intricate moves in several numbers, including when she and Seely are matching moves in the "two-way mirror dance class" number. Lynch may be the craziest, most over-the-top stepmother in these movies yet, with her wild costumes and mile-high beehive hair, even if you don't believe for a minute that she was ever a major pop star. We also get a rare reference to some older versions of Cinderella where the stepmother gives her tons of chores like picking peas out of lentils in the ever-growing list of chores Dominique piles on Mary.
Favorite Number: We open with serious dancers in black before a black backdrop performing the hit "Tell Me Something I Don't Know" with Mary. The number ends abruptly when Mary's awaken by the domineering Dominique. "Hold 4 You" and "Baby Got Bacne" are part of the ridiculously over-the-top advertisement for zit cream that Dominique's been reduced to doing in order to hang on to her lavish lifestyle. Dustin and Joey sing about how they're going to find a "1st Class Girl" who will capture Joey's heart. Joey falls hard for Mary when they do the "Valentine's Dance Tango" at the Black and White Ball. They write "New Classic" during a date at Dominique's mansion; later, this becomes the song Joey uses to convince Mary to come onstage for the big finale at the dance contest.
What I Don't Like: Not only is Seely no more interesting as the male lead than other "Prince Charmings" in the Cinderella Story movies, but he's a decade older than Gomez and looks it. The stepsisters have all the personalities of two wet mops and other than arranging for Mary to find Joey with his ex-girlfriend Natalia (Nicole LaPlaca) and their awful dances in the end don't have much to do. Dustin and Tami are the obvious "best friends" too, and while Kennedy can be charming, Faulk is just annoying. It's also as obviously low-budget as the other films in this series, with most of it set in the school or mansion. And yes, there's the fact that the story is a mass of cliches you've seen a thousand times before in stories of this stripe and will again (including four more times in this series).
The Big Finale: As with the other movies in this series, this would make great background noise for a slumber or birthday party for girls in the appropriate 8 to 14 age range.
Home Media: Easily found on all formats; it's on disc paired with the original Cinderella Story. HBO Max currently has it with a subscription.
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