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A Cinderella Story | 2004 | PG | – 3.3.3
A re-imagining of the classic fairytale story, set in a modern-day high school: A young woman (Hilary Duff) is left at the mercy of her evil stepmother and stepsisters after her father dies. Relegated to an attic room and ordered to do menial jobs, she eventually finds her prince, who’s the high school football star, a college football hopeful, a closet poet, and the all-around most popular guy. Also with Chad Michael Murray, Jennifer Coolidge, Julie Gonzalo and Regina King. Directed by Mark Rosman & Susan Duff. [1:36]

SEX/NUDITY 3 – A young man and a young woman kiss passionately, and a young man and a woman kiss several times and hug. Young women flirt and fawn over young men in several scenes. A young man tries to force himself on a young woman. A young man and a young woman dance close together, he tries to kiss her but she pulls away. A young woman walks through a boys’ locker room where young men are bare-chested with towels around their waists, and bare-chested with football pants on. Young women wear outfits that reveal cleavage, bare shoulders, bare abdomens and bare legs throughout the movie, and cheerleaders wear short tops and short skirts that reveal cleavage, bare abdomens and bare thighs in several scenes. A woman lies in a tanning bed presumably nude, the lid opens, a young woman reacts to seeing her uncovered, and the woman wraps herself in a towel. A young woman wears a costume made up of a grass skirt, and bikini top, revealing her bare abdomen, cleavage and bare shoulders, and a young man remarks about how good she looks. Also, three young women wear costumes consisting of short, low-cut tops, short shorts and thigh-high boots that reveal cleavage, bare abdomens and bare thighs. A woman adjusts her breasts in a low-cut top, a woman wears tight-fitting, revealing outfits throughout the movie, and young women are shown in swimsuits in a few scenes. Young men remark about young women and admire them in several scenes. A young woman describes a young man in romantic terms, a young man and a young woman flirt on text messaging and e-mail messages, and young women are lined up and introduced (and their attributes are described) to a young man. A young man invites a young woman to “join me in the mating dance” and he swirls around her making chirping noises.

VIOLENCE/GORE 3 – An earthquake shakes a house, we hear a woman scream, a man goes to save her and we are told that he died in the effort. A young man tries to force himself on a young woman, and he is interrupted by another young man who threatens him; he jumps over a balcony, the other young man chases him, they tussle briefly, one young man is knocked down when he is hit in the face by a hinged counter top, and then a jack-o-lantern lands on his head. A young woman kicks and slaps another young woman in the face accidentally (at least it appears so). A young man is hit in the leg by a baseball, and a young woman runs into an open locker door with her face (she rubs the spot and keeps walking). A woman hits her head on the lid of a tanning bed, two young women slip on a soapy floor and fall, a woman falls on top of them, and two young women tumble down a flight of stairs (they appear relatively uninjured). Two young women argue and tussle in several scenes. A young woman hits a baseball that she imagines is her stepmother’s head. A woman insults and is demeaning toward another woman, and a young woman in many scenes. Also, a young woman is teased and humiliated by a group of people on a stage while acting out a skit depicting her life, and people tease, make fun of, and insult a young woman in many scenes. A young woman yells at a woman, and a woman yells at a woman and threatens to beat her up. A car taps a sign pole, the sign teeters and falls crashing onto the car and exploding (no one is injured). Also a woman drives her car recklessly through busy streets causing accidents and nearly hitting several cars. Two young women argue, one threatens the other with a squeegee, they run through a car wash, they are soaped, scrubbed with a large rolling sponge and hot-waxed (we see them stiff and covered in wax). A young woman flatulates in a pool, bubbles surface and another girl reacts. A man eats an apple like a frog, sticking his tongue out and spitting pieces out. A young woman falls and lands face-first in a tray of whipped cream. A few young people are shown with body piercings.

LANGUAGE 3 – 4 sexual references, 1 scatological term, 4 anatomical terms, 1 mild obscenity, 4 religious exclamations, insults and name-calling.

DISCUSSION TOPICS – Fairy tales, dreams, ambition, friendship, death of a parent, true love, family, step-families, loneliness, greed, humiliation, fantasy vs. reality, ego, mental illness, social classes, secret admirers.

MESSAGE – Dreams do come true. Have faith in yourself.

CAVEATS

Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.

We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.

Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.


A Cinderella Story

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