Ah, what's become of you, Mr May, I hear some folks saying, "*liking* a Disney film!"
Well, I'll just say that this was a perfectly enjoyable, minor film, that barely really bears the Disney mark. It doesn't especially moralise or grotesquely sentimentalise (the sentiments are well handled). Where there are morals, there are suitably hands-off, jocular parents, playing libertarians, and two sisters reconciling their differences. Not to mention the chestnut of the ghastly, 'cool' peer group being shown up for what it is - a rule-bound coalition of bitchy remarks. Yes, this film is far from revolutionary, and many aspects tend towards a strong conventionality; but it's carried off with impressive gusto by the two central actresses. Danielle Harris and Katherine Heigl pull off playing their characters (indeed in each other's skins, from a certain point, as per the plot) very well; Heigl portraying Alexia as the shallow, appearance-obsessed 'prom queen' type who is won round to a bit more humility, and Harris investing a great deal of touching uncertainty into her Hayley Wheaton. That Hayley has the 'inner beauty' is starkly emphasized; she feels beyond the make-up and artifice of her sister, and ironically manages much better with the hapless boyfriend of Alexia's, who Alexia had dumped.
A fair amount is done with the fantastical premise; obviously much is unexplored, but this is a family film, and really its job is satisfactorily done. It entertains, with little pretension other than to tell a simple story and expound a few easy, yet broadly sound moral points. Things are simplistic; but who on earth would take a Disney film, or indeed virtually any teen movie (high school life appears a self-contained phantasma of a world, in many recent movies) and expect to gain particular insight into real life matters?
Rating:- *** 1/2/*****
Well, I'll just say that this was a perfectly enjoyable, minor film, that barely really bears the Disney mark. It doesn't especially moralise or grotesquely sentimentalise (the sentiments are well handled). Where there are morals, there are suitably hands-off, jocular parents, playing libertarians, and two sisters reconciling their differences. Not to mention the chestnut of the ghastly, 'cool' peer group being shown up for what it is - a rule-bound coalition of bitchy remarks. Yes, this film is far from revolutionary, and many aspects tend towards a strong conventionality; but it's carried off with impressive gusto by the two central actresses. Danielle Harris and Katherine Heigl pull off playing their characters (indeed in each other's skins, from a certain point, as per the plot) very well; Heigl portraying Alexia as the shallow, appearance-obsessed 'prom queen' type who is won round to a bit more humility, and Harris investing a great deal of touching uncertainty into her Hayley Wheaton. That Hayley has the 'inner beauty' is starkly emphasized; she feels beyond the make-up and artifice of her sister, and ironically manages much better with the hapless boyfriend of Alexia's, who Alexia had dumped.
A fair amount is done with the fantastical premise; obviously much is unexplored, but this is a family film, and really its job is satisfactorily done. It entertains, with little pretension other than to tell a simple story and expound a few easy, yet broadly sound moral points. Things are simplistic; but who on earth would take a Disney film, or indeed virtually any teen movie (high school life appears a self-contained phantasma of a world, in many recent movies) and expect to gain particular insight into real life matters?
Rating:- *** 1/2/*****