Question 1 - How many times can you watch Cinderella without getting bored?
Question 2 - Is an adorable creature acting adorably enough for you to watch 1.5 hours movie?
Question 3 - Is a stunning background score good enough to last you through 1.5 hours movie?
If the answers to any of above question is yes, chances are you will like What a Girl Wants. One more thing this review is all about the celebration of mush, so well ....
First of all I would like to tell you, I am a big big big sucker for mushy movies, where there is comedy, emotions and large mansions et al. What the heck? I like those Fairy Tale stories about wonderful people in not so wonderful situations and everything ending well. Well the only catch is that they should be entertaining and well made. What a Girl Wants knows its target audience and delivers to them everything they expect. That way it is a triumph. But be sure, if you are marginally above 30 or cant tolerate ’’Teen Flick’’ rules with added mush thrown in, chances are you will either hurt your stomach laughing or fill up rest room wash basin with vomitting.
~~~~ THE STORY ~~~~
A short lived love affair ended by those cruel advisors of our king leads our queen (a commoner) to New York and raise her child all alone while the king does not know of existence of his only daughter. The king does not marry and the queen does not marry as well. The princess grows up and wants to find out who her dad is. She goes on a journey and with the help of another commoner charms her way in the social circle and thwarting the moves of an evil would be step mother and step sister. And then, the king and queen and would be queen and would be king live happily ever after.
~~~~WHAT’S GOOD?~~~~
Ninety five percent of the movie time features Amanda (yes that Nickolodean girl) and hence, if you like eye candy sweet teen girl, she will rock your world for sure. Ah well I just loved her when she came dressed in that silver bindi and when she danced in that beautiful gown. She has exquisite body elegance and grace and is a born natural in front of camera for sure. What’s more, she is shown as not a naive but a street smart girl and is oh so lovely and carefree. Yo baby! you rox! Keep rockin ... Awrite! You get what I am trying to say right?
Support cast is fairly adequate. Colin Firth, Kelly Preston and James Oliver all deliver some fine scenes when the need is there. I mean its not like they are going to be nominated for oscars of something, but well, they were good. Well done!
Some of the background score is fantastic. ’’Hey I am your Girl’’ is the pick of the lot. All the songs rocked and the placement is just brilliant. There are time when you want to go with the flow your self. Brilliant! The music and camera together make London look like a cool place to be in.
The caricatures - Princess Clara, Peech and Pair sisters, Evil Step Mother, Evil Step Sister and the Lovely Grand Mother. All perfectly stereotyped without an inch of nuance added or deleted. All wonderfully portray their roles and do whats expected of them. Quite alright. And that stiff upper lip never got stiffer.
Moments - There are moments which when captured on screen can be seen over and over again. Like the one moment, where the evil step sister connives to have Amanda humiliated at the Royal Dress Show only to the effect that Amanda casuals become talk of the town. And then when, evil duo gift Amanda (whos called Dephne) a boring gown only to be shocked when they see her in a cut down version of same dress. And when Amanda gets the party started or when she hogs the newspaper headlines or Queen accepts the invitation to her bowl. Pure and complete mush. So, if you want mush, you know where to go, lol. And then there is the ultimate mush moment ’’Father Daughter Dance’’
Dialogues - ’’Why are you trying to fit in when you are born to stand out’’ Oh yes, for sure. ’’All my life I have wanted this one moment and now when it is here, I realize I dont want it’’. Ahumn! ’’From now on I will behave like an impeccably brought up girl’’. Its just one mushy moment after another. (Excuse me, I told you this one is going to be about mush and more mush at the beginning, so dont complain now, ok?)
~~~~FINALLY~~~*~
The movie is good time pass and is sufficiently eye candy and ear candy and for some even heart candy. Forget about others like editors and directors, since they do what ever little is demanded on them well. The actors, the costumes, the camera and the screenplay all rox. Its got the beautiful people, beautiful mansions, evil connivors who are not so evil after all, great locales, good songs, Amanda Baytes (is it?) and is only 1.5 hours long. The target audience seems to be young giggling girls lol. I am not one for sure but it will be dishonesty if I say I did not enjoy the movie and am not going to watch it again. So want to give it a try?
~~~~ And they happily RRC’ed ever after ---------...........