Reviews by yellowhair

Key reactions:
+ The beginning always hooks me
+ There are good characters and comedy
- It is slow at times, especially the uncut version
- The dying for love theme is pushed in the story line and soundtrack
- Accents are clearly inconsistent and distracting

Key reactions:
+ I enjoyed the fun take on the villain
+ It made me laugh a few times
+ I can appreciate that they were trying to empower the heroine
- I did not buy the chemistry between the princess and prince
- The plotline with the prince's army and Charles Renbock just vanished
- The queen's hair was not wet when coming out of the water so to speak
- I did not like the creative decision to change the fairy tale
- Accents seemed to be American and British which was bothersome

I thought the movie offered a fresh take on a high school comedy.

That being said, many aspects of the plot were unrealistic and raised questions for me:

- connecting with people in one night who you have shared little connection with over four years
- everyone the audience is introduced to happens to be going to an ivy league school which are known to be very selective
- Amy decides to get arrested even though she will presumably have a record
- the police only arrest one person out of a party with upwards of forty people
- the girls do not get in trouble for speeding through the town and crashing through a fence at their graduation
- there were few adults at graduation and seemingly no parents or family members
- only Molly drove Amy to the airport when she would be in a foreign country for a year

It is also disappointing to me that one of the girls' feminist heroes seems to be Michelle Obama or any woman in the Obama family. This makes me question how politically informed they really are, as the Obama administration kicked people out of their houses, jailed journalists who exposed war crimes, and bombed many countries. These policies do not seem to support personal freedoms and equal standards of living.

This movie has a heart. I like the Adam Sandler/Drew Barrymore team up again. That being said, I know it's "just a romantic comedy" and "supposed to be funny" but I resent the one dimensional way Africa and Africans are portrayed. I also dislike that it endorses tourism, especially as shown here where animals are mistreated and ATVs are ridden in natural areas for the sake of American entertainment. What's more, no qualified field guide would jeopardize the safety of those he or she is responsible for by continually sleeping through their work or allowing anyone on foot so close to a rhinoceros. If this is the only image some people in the western world have of South Africa then it is doing a disservice to the country.

This was a fascinating story with a lovely soundtrack. I liked to see the writing process or the enacted version of the writing process in any case. Now I have to read all the books!

Elisabeth Shue elevated this picture. Her scenes of panic were very believable. The later violence was gratuitous. Also, I was not okay with the police just ignoring Paul's crimes.

This movie was a little slow and predictable, but I really liked Abel. I did not like the largely one-sided portrayal of Germany and the Soviet Union.

I liked parts of this movie. Abigail Breslin is a great actress. I just didn't like the ending very much. All of the loose ends aren't tied up . . .