First things first. I'm not in the target demographic, nor is my wife. We're closer to 30 than 20, let alone 15, and haven't even seen Amanda Bynes on screen before. But, we're fans of Colin Firth and we like fun comedies, and this was the same team that brought us The Princess Diaries, which we really enjoyed, so we went to see What A Girl Wants.

Overall, we were charmed. Firth's interaction with Bynes was pitch-perfect, not too cloying, not too cold. Most of the rest of the cast was also well-played, although we felt the script pushed some of the characters too far into the stiff-lipped or scoundrelous Brit caricatures, but rather than let that push us out of our zones, I think we both just went "oh well" and passed through the annoyance.

The film definitely was designed to be a "vehicle" for Bynes...rarely a moment passes that she's not on-screen. She's a cute girl, though, and doesn't have to stretch her acting chops much in the movie, so we didn't have any real bad "acting!" moments. Firth is good as always, although I found the one scene with him trying on his old clothes to be a little off-kilter, albeit necessary to his character.

I thought that Jonathan Pryce was ill-used, however. His character was really quite nasty, and not very well-written. Anna Chancellor's character wasn't much more satisfying, but then, they and her daughter were not intended to be much more than one-note villains, so you just go with it and let it be.

Overall, a fun, non-offensive (rated PG for mild language), "family flick" that most should enjoy.

Recommended: Yes