If nothing else, the original A Cinderella Story illustrates movie marketing and "franchise" creation. Warner's unremarkable 2004 theatrical release, a teen modernization of the Cinderella plot that eschewed all magical and supernatural stuff, was followed by direct-to-video stepsisters Another Cinderella Story, A Cinderella Story: Christmas Wish, A Cinderella Story: If the Shoe Fits, etc., etc. None were true sequels, just further do-overs of the same old plot, carving out a "brand" with Disney-Channel young actresses (Hillary Duff, Selena Gomez, Lucy Hale) taking turns as heroines. A Cinderella Story: Starstruck gives the material a country-and-western twang with newcomer Bailee Madison now in the lead.
She plays Finley, an Idaho farm girl reduced to sleeping in the barn because her daddy's dead and the ancestral homestead is taken over by the nasty stepmom (April Telek), vapid stepsister Savannah (Lilian Doucet-Roche), and snarky stepbrother Kale (Richard Harmon). Finley's show-business dreams seem to be coming true when the farm gets utilized as the shooting location for a new musicalization of the Billy the Kid saga, starring Hollywood hunk Jackson Stone (Michael Evans Behling).
But, in a complication that makes Hannah Montana look like Brokeback Mountain, Finley finds she can only get on set...in male drag, with unconvincing mustache and goatee, as an actor named Huck Finn. Everybody is transfixed by `Huck,' especially Jackson—but also Savannah, who is delighted to play a love scene with `him.' Maybe if the director were John Waters (instead of longtime series choreographer Michelle Johnston) there would have been a more memorable payoff to that part.
It seems unkind to A Cinderella Story: Starstruck to be nitpicky about the timeless premise (the essential Cinderella tale has been traced all the way back to ancient Egypt), but the material illustrates what critics Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel used to call the "idiot plot," a scenario that could never, ever function unless every single character were an absolute idiot. On the plus side, songs are pleasant in an early-Taylor-Swift kind of way, and amusingly caustic actor Harmon appears to have attended the Paul Lynde School of Dramatic Arts for his schtick.
Due to proven appeal, the title will find passing interest in the J shelves among the intended school-ager audience. Other viewers run for your lives. Hey, that's a good title: A Cinderella Story: Run For Your Lives. Have Warners call my agent. Optional. (Aud: P)