REVIEW: A Cinderella Story: Christmas Wish Kicks Off The Holiday Season

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the Blu-Ray I reviewed in this Blog Post. The opinions I share are my own.

A Cinderella Story: Christmas Wish is the newest addition to the A Cinderella Story universe. This version centers on Kat Decker (Laura Marano), a seventeen year-old looking to escape her mundane life, dreaming of becoming a singer/song-writer. Her evil, over-bearing, suffocating step-family combined with an underpaying job as an elf at Santa Land, make Kat’s dreams seem impossibly far away. When she starts falling for the new Santa Claus at work, “Nic” (Gregg Sulkin), she begins to believe things may just be changing for the better.

A Cinderella Story: Christmas Wish is the fifth film in the A Cinderella Story franchise and follows the same trajectory as its predecessors. “Cinderella” has big dreams but plays servant to the evil step-mother and step-sisters. Their only goal remains focused on torturing the “Cinderella” for no reason expect for that she exists.

When all seems lost for our heroine, she meets her “prince” and falls in love. Cue the intervening step-family, a big reveal, and then everyone lives happily ever after. Even with the expected plot, this film felt stale. In a world where female characters are now more dimensional, diverse and strong, it’s hard to believe in, and cheer for, a one-note female lead such as this film’s “Cinderella”.

Laura Marano plays the film’s version of “Cinderella”, Kat Decker, and has found herself a nice home in the romantic comedy genre. Marano does well to bring this optimistic singing elf to life. To be fair, the main issues with Kat aren’t the fault of Marano, the issues are linked to who “Cinderella” is supposed to be: a woman who believe kindness will overcome all obstacles. In fact, there were many moments where it seemed as if Marano herself wanted her character to have a little more backbone.

Gregg Sulkin is the film’s “prince”, Dominic Wintergarden, who dreams of becoming a manager in the music industry. The chemistry between the two leads is sweet but is interrupted often times by a random musical number. It would have been nice to see these two interact in more scenes together with just the two of them.

Johannah Newmarch, Lilliam Doucet-Roche, and Chanelle Peloso play Kat’s evil stepmother, Deirdra, and evil step sisters, Joy and Grace. It’s hard to take any of these characters seriously when their motives for wickedness are surface level greed and pettiness, but they make do with what they are given. Rounding out the cast is Isabella Gomez as Isla, Kat’s best friends. Gomez’s Isla was one of the best parts of the movie and completely underused. She’s responsible for many of the laughs throughout the film and would have been a strong addition in a larger role.

As a holiday themed version of A Cinderella Story a touch more magic would have been a welcome sight to the film. Musical numbers play a large role, too; they don’t hinder the story at all but certainly don’t move it along.

A Cinderella Story: Christmas Wish isn’t as strong as other films in the series and the holiday magic is lacking. However, if you know what to expect going in you won’t be disappointed.

A Cinderella Story: Christmas Wish is available for purchase now on Digital and Blu-Ray & DVD from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment.

Grade: B-