A Cinderella Story: Once Upon a Song

Lucy Hale stars in this take on Cinderella (with a side of Cyrano de Bergerac thrown in) as Katie, who lives in a shack with her bratty stepbrother, Victor (Matthew Lintz). Katie caters to every whim of her shallow stepmother, Gail (Missi Pyle), and talentless stepsister, Bev (Megan Park), who live in a mansion. Afraid of being put back into foster care, Katie plays the same subservient role at school, where Gail serves as the dean of students. Katie's dream of becoming a recording artist seems within reach when she meets Luke (Freddie Stroma), the designated Prince Charming and son of famous music producer Guy Morgan (Dikran Tulaine). When Katie secretly slips Guy her demo, he becomes an instant fan, but Gail leads him to believe that Bev did the singing. At a masked Bollywood ball, Katie also impresses Luke when she sings a song, but then she refuses to reveal her identity, forcing Luke into an investigation of this mystery girl. Meanwhile, he works on a track with Bev, while dutiful Katie feeds her lyrics via text messages. Director Damon Santostefano continues the machinations at the big talent show, where Gail's plans to secure a record deal for her daughter don't go quite as expected. A predictable if also reasonably entertaining direct-to-video release, this is recommended. (K. Fennessy)