Article
"A Cinderella Story"
Warner Brothers
"She slopped her dripper."
Archie Campbell, of HeeHaw fame, used to tell the story of Renda-Celler who lived with her muggly-other and her two sad blisters. They were all invited to a bancy-fall by the Prancesome-Hence. Of course Renda-Celler and the Prancesome-Hence lell in fuv. Then the clock struck twelve and Renda-Celler ran away, but as she was running she slopped her dripper.
There were more laughs in Campbell's two minute HeeHaw monologue than in this entire movie.
Here's the plot in a nutshell: Cinderella…I mean Samantha…is the light of her father's life. That is until he dies tragically in an earthquake, leaving her in the care of her evil Step-mother. Evil Step-mother has two evil daughters of her own, and together they delight in making life miserable for our heroine.
Cinderella…er, Samantha…gets an invitation to the big Halloween masquerade dance but can't go because Evil Step-mother requires her to scrub the floor. Samantha makes it to the dance but has to leave by midnight in case Evil Step-mom decides to check up on her, but as she leaves she drops her…wait for it…cell phone.
I'm not even going to go into how Prince Charming…uh, Austin (aka Captain of the Football Team) tries to find her.
Sigh. "A Cinderella Story." The title tells you every thing you need to know about the plot. Unfortunately there is nothing new or surprising in the film to arouse or maintain our interest. Hilary Duff does her perky best, but she's still just Lizzie McGuire with a new name. Chad Michael Murray is appropriately charming as Austin, but it is a role that requires little of him. There is just not enough of a script for these young actors to work with, and the direction doesn't help. A Cinderella Story is cute and inoffensive, and for the most part safe. But for the most part it's just insipid.
Okay, I'll admit to a couple of factors that color my opinion.
First - I'm a guy.
Second - I'm over 12.
"A Cinderella Story" was obviously not made with someone like me in mind. But I think even our tweenagers deserve better for their $7 bucks. "EverAfter," "The Princess Diaries," heck, even the vintage Rodgers & Hammerstein musical version of Cinderella were better than this. Warner Brothers really slopped their dripper on this one.
Family Factor: "A Cinderella Story" is rated PG for some mild language.
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