When I saw the commercial flicks for What A Girl Wants, I was almost positive I didn’t want to see it - it looked extremely corny to me. I spoke too soon. That night we had a huge ice storm and the electricity was cut. So, we decided we would go to the movie theater and see what was playing. Of course, nothing else was playing at this time so I was dragged into What A Girl Wants.

Cast

Amanda Bynes, one of Nickelodeon’s biggest actresses was the lead actress in this movie. This seems to be her second movie, and she also played in Big Fat Liar. She has played in All That and Amanda Show on Nickelodeon. Here are some of the other actors and actresses who play in this movie:

Anna Chancellor
Tom Harper
Kelly Preston
Chris Mulkey
Eileen Atkins
Colin Firth
Jonathan Pryce
Erik Von Detten

Plot

Daphnie is a 17-year-old girl who lives in Chinatown, NY with her mother Libby. They work together as wedding planners, and Daphnie’s father lives out in London. Every time the father-daughter dance comes on, Daphnie gets emotional and thinks that she’ll never be able to dance to that song since she never met her father.

One day, she decides she’ll fly to London all by herself to see him! She does just that and learns that he is running for a higher government position than he already has. However, when Daphnie arrives at his palace, she learns that he has a fiance and a future wife - Daphnie’s soon-to-be step-mom.

While in London visiting her father, she attends all the fancy balls but tries to make them more fun and a lot more casual. She even start playing American music - she thought it was about time to turn London upside down. Some of these scenes were a bit humorous.

I wouldn’t want to ruin the ending for you, so we’ll just leave it there.

The Three R’s

Release Date: April 4th 2003
Rated: PG
Running Time: 95 minutes

My Thoughts

What will happen? Will Daphnie get her mother and father back together? Or will Daphnie’s father get married to someone else? Will Daphnie remain in London to live with her father instead of her mother in Chinatown? Those are the questions I asked myself while watching the movie, but it was way over predictable and the answers to those questions were right in my hand.

It seems that there were some scenes that could have been added in. For example, when Daphnie goes to London, it just seems like she’s just there. There is no airport scene to inform me that she’s going to London. I was actually a bit confused when I saw the London Bridge while I still thought she was in NY.

The story’s been told before. Many movies are centered around a daughter setting out to find her father in a far-away land. I wish the directors and script writers could have come up with something a bit more creative.

This movie is mostly focused around the 10-year-old range. Younger kids may be a bit confused on what the story is about and what it means. 10-year-olds will probably enjoy it since it is just enough for them to handle when it comes to a movie, yet isn’t too babyish.

The movie is a bit corny, but not too corny so don’t worry. So if you have kids that are in the 10-year-old range, go ahead and see it, but you may want to be warned that the movie isn’t all that great - don’t expect something that would get an Oscar.

Recommended: No