Once upon a time, in a kingdom far far away, so far away that its not even on a map, lived a girl, but not just any girl, Cinderella. The girl hoped that one-day, she could be rescued from her horrible life of working for her evil stepmother and stepsisters, who weren’t really that evil but Cinderella was a slight spoilt brat anyway so there we go. But her hopes lay buried in vain for all she could do was mop and sweep and clean (and eat and sleep, giving her a perfect figure and beautiful face.). And on the subject, hadn’t she ever heard of running away?
One day, all three sisters got an invitation to a royal ball, but unfortunately for Cinderella, she couldn’t go because she had to clean the house. (Ever heard of something called cleaning the house before or after the ball and not during!) Her stepmother and stepsisters left for the ball and Cinderella wept her eyes out by the fire until there was a little pool of tears by her side. And then all of a sudden:
Wait, why am I telling you the traditional story?!? A Cinderella Story may have the story of Cinderella (well obviously) but the film is slightly more modern than that! And slightly more realistic too!
Story:
Sam is a young teenager who lives with her stepmother and stepsisters, because her father remarried but sadly lost his life. She is not allowed any luxuries, no nice clothes, no jewellery, no make up (gosh, how can she survive!) and not even a car. But she doesn’t complain: not because she is a wimp like the original Cinderella but because she needs funds to go to Princeton University and only her stepmother will give her these. She works in a diner that her father made but her stepmother took control of, but she doesn’t get paid. Only her best friend and her colleagues in the diner understand her. Even at school its as if she is invisible; no-one neither knows nor cares who she is.
Enter the gorgeous Austin (who was technically already there but we are introduced to him at this point), who has perfect looks (I’ll second that!), is intelligent, is on the school football team and has a perfect girlfriend. Basically he is one of those guys who “every guy wants to be and every girl wants to see!” He also doesn’t know the who and what of Sam, except that she plays great baseball. But behind the scenes we discover that his dad is pressuring him to go to a university of his choice and not Austin’s. (Sounds a bit like She’s all that doesn’t it?)
So two completely unrelated people right? Well, not quite. At this point, we realise that Sam is in contact with an anonymous person called Nomad, who she met on a Princeton chat room. All she knows about him is that he goes to her school. And guess who he is? Austin! The two decide to meet finally in the upcoming high school dance. But then everything goes wrong. Sam’s stepmother decides that Sam cant go to the dance because she has to help in the diner and refuses to budge.
The night finally comes. Her two stepsisters leave. But Sam is left working in the diner, until in the form of one of her colleagues comes her Fairy Godmother, who makes her go to the dance and lends her a fabulous costume and mask, so when she comes into the dance, everyone is left standing and staring. Finally Sam and Austin meet, she realises who he is but he still doesn’t know. The two have a magical night, until it is midnight and Sam realises she must go back to the diner before her stepmother arrives. In her rush, she leaves no name, no anything, just her mobile phone.
Sam thinks that since Nomad is Austin, he wont have any interest in her if she tells him who she is. But, he puts up posters, interviews girls, email’s her continuously, in an attempt to find out who she is. But he still cant find her. Meanwhile, we see that Sam gets an offer from Princeton but her stepmother craftily forges the letter to say the opposite.
Will they come together? Will she discover her stepmothers plans? Will she ever leave home? To find out, watch this movie.
Characters:
Sam: Played by Hilary Duff, who really did a great job in portraying the innocent and obedient Sam. She looked the role, her acting was brilliant and she could even carry off the sadness without looking corny. I think she plays romantic roles very well, but at times she tended to overact.
Austin: Chad Michael Murray! He looked perfect in this role as the Prince Charming, as one of the best looking Hollywood actors. He also acted very well, pulling off as the popular, perfect yet humble kind of guy. I think he was the best in this film! ;) And in the dance he looked great as a prince: suit boot me aaya kanaya band bajane ko.
Best Friend: Dan Byrd, who is supposed to look like a bit of a loser, plays her best friend. He is also supposed to be strange in that every day he dresses like a different person, i.e. one day perhaps a dork, another day a rapper etc. I think he also did a fabulous job in this film, he looked very sweet.
Stepmother: She was played by the hairdresser in Legally Blonde whose name I don’t know but I think she did a nice job as always. Her over exaggerated nature and her fashion obsession was well acted and I think she played a perfect ‘tarty’ stepmother.
Direction
This film was very well directed, it is one of my all time favourite Hollywood movies. I particularly liked the locations of all of the scenes which fitted in perfectly with the story, and the placing of the characters was perfect.
The film was also nicely written, with some comic scenes involving Austin’s ex-girlfriend and Sam’s best friend and I cant forget the step-family!
I think the costumes were the best though. Sam’s dress was gorgeous, as was the costume Austin was wearing. Even the casual clothing fitted in perfectly with the characters’ personalities.
Overall
I would recommend this film to anyone who likes very sweet love stories, like Cinderella for instance. I loved this film and I think you lovely people would too! You can watch it with anyone! :-)
Don’t forget to RRC :-)