Frame of Mind Entertainment, 2010
Starring Ashlee Hewitt, Sterling Knight, Thomas Calabo, and Juliette Hing-Lee
Directed by Sean and John Dunston
Music and Lyrics by various
The Cinderella Story films and their popularity with young girls inspired similar projects. One of them was this small indie film featuring two then-up-and-coming stars Knight and Hewitt. Knight was a hit in Disney Channel shows and films from the early 2010's, particularly the sitcoms Sonny With a Chance and So Random! and came with his own fans. Disney Channel hits like High School Musical series made fluffy musicals all the rage among younger kids, but does this modern fairy tale about a girl who is afraid to follow her dreams after tragedy work the way the Disney movies continue to? Let's begin with Elle (Hewitt) as she imagines our animated opening credits and find out...
The Story: Elle is an intern at her Uncle Allen's (Calabo) Spunn Records. She's mainly a go-fer for their biggest musical act, obnoxious pop stars Sensation. She's talented in her own right, but after her parents died on their way to her audition for a music school, she's too afraid to sing anymore. At least, until her favorite music star Ty Parker (Knight) turns up at Spunn, insisting on creating a record that's different from the usual shallow pop music. Allen thinks he has the right girl to sing besides him in British internet star Kandi Kane (Kiely Williams). Elle accidentally poses as her when she dresses up and records a number of her own.
Ty's smitten with this sincere newcomer, but it turns out that Elle is in major trouble. First of all, she recorded over Sensation's newest single. Second, Kandi and lead Sensation singer Stephanie (Katherine Bailess) have something to hide, and they're not about to be upstaged by an intern. Ty is still interested in Elle even when he learns the truth, but Kandi is not above using blackmail and petty humiliation to keep her place at the top. Elle is ready to give up her dreams, but her best friend Kit (Hing-Lee) and Andy (Shawn-Caulin Young), the goofy barista she has a crush on, dig up the dirt on Kandi and the Sensations that reveal they're anything but the high-and-mighty divas they claim to be.
The Song and Dance: Some ok performances are pretty much all to recommend for this one. Knight is one of the more charming pop princes to turn up in one of these movies, witty and supportive after Kandi and the Sensation trio cruelly make fun of Elle's crush on Ty. Hing-Lee and Young have a few cute moments in the second half when they manage to dig up the real dirt on Kandi Kane and her sudden ascent to fame. There's also a lovely scene where Adam admits that he'd admired Elle's parents and didn't just start Spunn Records for the money. And admittedly, I do give the cast a lot of credit for writing their own songs, including Hewlitt.
The Song and Dance: We open during the animated credits as Elle explains what "My World" is like. Sensation's silly music video "Something About a Saturday" belies their popularity with cheap background graphics and out-of-step dancing. No wonder they don't end up finishing it. "Hollywood" provides the backdrop for the montage of Elle trying on Sensation's costumes. Elle is first seen "Love Is With Me Now" as a child at her birthday. She reprises the song in her white gown and a simple setting of flickering candles and acoustic guitars in the studio. "Kandi Sweet" is the song that supposedly made Kandi an online smash, but with its cheap background and obnoxious lyrics, one wonders how it became such a hit.
Elle once again reprises "Love Is With Me Now" at Adam's party that ends with Kandi and Sensation mocking her fondness for Ty. She finally sings the number she wrote with Ty, "Fairy Tale," at the music school audition. The movie ends with "Happy Ever After" as we find out what happened to the main cast.
What I Don't Like: The movie looks and acts as cheap as those fake blue screen backgrounds in Sensation and Kandi Kane's music videos. For one thing, most of the leads either can't act, or like Hewitt and Knight, are stifled by the cliched material. It randomly throws together elements from better teen pop movies like Save the Last Dance and the Cinderella Story films in the hope that kids won't notice how annoyingly bland it all is. I'm really tired of the prince claiming he wants to find this huge new sound...only to end up performing songs that aren't all that far removed from the frothy pop stuff he was doing before. The dull music and costumes scream "bad indie movie from fifteen years ago trying desperately to be hip."
The Big Finale: Unless your 8 to 12-aged girl is a huge fan of anyone in the cast or is looking for background noise at a slumber party, this is one Cinderella who can be easily left at the ball.
Home Media: Easily found anywhere and on every format. It can currently be found for free with ads at Tubi.
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