Review: A Cinderella Story: Starstruck Is A Swinging Good Time
A Cinderella Story: Starstruck is the sixth film to be released in the Cinderella Story franchise. This new take has a country spin and centers on Finley (Bailee Madison), a country girl with big dreams of becoming a star. When a movie musical comes to her small town to film, Finley is determined to land an audition and leave her evil stepmother and step siblings behind. When the audition goes wrong, Finley must do whatever it takes, even changing her looks, to achieve her dreams. As with any Cinderella Story, her plan is thrown for a loop when the handsome leading man, Jackson Stone (Michael Evans Behling) enters the picture.
Director Michelle Johnston, who has directed multiple films in the Cinderella Story franchise, is back to bring this new story to life. One of the greatest things about Johnston is she understands these films are meant to be cheesy, mindless entertainment geared towards the pre-teen demographic. She does not veer far off that course with Starstruck and delivers a fun time once again for viewers.
If there was one difference to note about this film compared to the others is that our protagonist has two evil step-siblings to deal with instead of two step-sisters. This minor change is a nice modern update that fits perfectly into the Cinderella Story universe. The addition of the male sibling offers an entertaining, new dynamic that hopefully is replicated in films to come.
Madison is tasked as our Cinderella and she is wonderful. Her job is not easy, especially as she follows in a very long line of wonderful Cinderellas, but she is absolutely adorable in this film and clearly had a lot of fun filming it. Michael Evans Behling plays the film’s Prince Charming, a country film star that is looking for a slice of small town life. Behling is charming and the chemistry between him and Madison is lovely. April Telek plays Valerian, the former “It girl”, now evil stepmother to Finley while Lillian Doucet-Roche and Richard Harmon play her evil step siblings, Saffron and Kale. All three give such over the top performances that it’s hard to not be entertained. Their campiness is everything viewers would expect and more from the evil trio.
A Cinderella Story: Starstruck is definitely predictable, and yet, sweetly entertaining with a few catchy tunes that parents of tweens will be hearing non-stop in the car for the next few weeks. As for fans of the older films, those viewers will be just as charmed by this installment as they were with the previous versions.
Cinderella Story: Starstruck is now available on Digital and will be available on DVD July 13th and on HBO Max later this year.
Grade: B-