The Cinderella model has been twisted to fit anything from sports films to basic dramas, and there’s never any guarantee whether the results will end up being good or even watchable. To that end, Warner Brothers has been chugging along with their A Cinderella Story series, which started with an original starring Hilary Duff and earned itself a theatrical release. Since then, Damon Santostefano has taken over at the helm and now the series only receives a direct-to-DVD debut as it continues to crank out stories taking advantage of each new generation of Disney songstress. Another Cinderella Story had Selena Gomez and now, with the most recent entry A Cinderella Story: Once Upon a Song, they’ve got Lucy Hale, one talented singer amongst a few in the film, and a final product that entertains the children and is actually watchable by parents. That’s a rare claim for straight-to-video kids’ movies nowadays.
Katie (Hale) lives like a servant with her step-mother Gail (Missi Pyle), a socialite with musical ambitions for her daughter Beverly (Megan Park), which begin to fizzle out when it’s revealed Beverly’s voice just won’t cut it, even for a music mogul (Dikran Tulaine) and his song Luke (Freddie Stroma) desperate for new talent. Katie, on the other hand, has a great voice, and in her attempt to get out from under Gail’s thumb, slips her demo into the mogul’s briefcase, drawing attention to her, only to have Gail redirect it and convince him it’s her daughter Beverly singing. This starts off a chain of events where the neglected step-daughter is extorted into feeding songs and lyrics to Beverly as she pursues a career and romantic relationship that should be Katie’s.
DVD Bonus Features
The featurettes are mostly throw-away promo pieces like focusing on the rises to fame of Lucy Hale and Freddie Stroma or “instructional” featurettes about dancing like a sequence in the film. After that it’s a behind-the-scenes look at the production with the cast and a music video for “Bless Myself”.
"A Cinderella Story: Once Upon a Song" is on sale September 6, 2011 and is rated PG. Children & Family, Comedy, Drama. Directed by Damon Santostefano. Written by Erik Patterson, Jessica Scott. Starring Megan Park, Missi Pyle, Lucy Hale, Freddie Stroma.
