A Cinderella Story: Once Upon a Song (2011)

Cyrano De Bergerac meets Cinderella. Over-worked, harried and terrified of being put back in foster care, 17 year old Katie (Lucy Hale) does her stepmother and step-siblings' bidding ... See full summary »

Director:

Damon Santostefano

Writers:

Erik Patterson, Jessica Scott

Stars:

Lucy Hale, Freddie Stroma, Missi Pyle

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Lucy Hale	...	Katie Gibbs
Freddie Stroma	...	Luke Morgan
Missi Pyle	...	Gail Van Ravensway
Megan Park	...	Bev Van Ravensway
Matthew Lintz	...	Victor Van Ravensway
Manu Narayan	...	Ravi / Tony Gupta
Jessalyn Wanlim	...	Angela
Titus Makin Jr.	...	Mickey O'Malley
Dikran Tulaine	...	Guy Morgan
Lucy Davenport	...	Ms. Plumberg
Christopher Monroe Stokes	...	Dude #1 (as Christopher Stokes)
Jermonte D.M. Hatcher	...	Dude #2
Robert Jarvis Jr.	...	Dude #3
Adam Powers	...	Dude #4
Andrew Kelly	...	Hunky Jock #1

Storyline

Cyrano De Bergerac meets Cinderella. Over-worked, harried and terrified of being put back in foster care, 17 year old Katie (Lucy Hale) does her stepmother and step-siblings' bidding without complaining. Vocally gifted, Katie feels particularly upset when forced to lay down singing tracks so that her untalented stepsister, Bev Van Ravensway, can hopefully win a recording contract from Massive Records - who's company President, Harvey Morgan, is scouting for new spectacular talent at a talent showcase for the Performing Arts Department at a prestigious private school.

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Genres:

Comedy | Family | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for language, and some crude and suggestive content

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

6 September 2011 (USA)

Also Known As:

A Cinderella Story 3

Filming Locations:

Wilmington, North Carolina, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Premiere

Technical Specs

Runtime:

88 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1 / (high definition)

Did You Know?

Goofs

In the scene when Beverly and Luke are out to dinner, the amount of water in their glasses changes between shots throughout the scene. Also, in between shots, the water in Beverly's glass is moving and in the other shot, it's not.

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Quotes

Bev Van Ravensway: You feel like he wishes you were a totally different person?
Luke Morgan: Yes. And sometimes I wished that. Does that sound stupid?
Bev Van Ravensway: Yes.
Luke Morgan: Sorry?
Bev Van Ravensway: No... I mean no.
Luke Morgan: So, who is your favorite artist?
Bev Van Ravensway: Today, it would have to be moose.
Luke Morgan: Do you mean Muse?
Bev Van Ravensway: Yeah, that's what I said.
Luke Morgan: Oh...
[...]

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Connections

Follows Another Cinderella Story (2008)

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Soundtracks

"Possibilities"
Written by Rick Nowels, Tim James and Antonina Armato
Performed by Freddie Stroma

User Reviews

Perfectly good mindless entertainment.

I saw this on a whim, expecting it to be cliché ridden and annoying, the way most things are which are aimed at a young audience, but Cinderella Story winked, stuck its tongue out, and then thoroughly entertained me for ninety minutes.

There's no substance here and that's a good thing. Cinderella Story knows what it's trying to be, and wisely maintains its light, laid back tone for the duration, avoiding the common comedy mistake of trying for some ham-fisted poignancy in the third act.

There is a fair amount of clichés, but most melt seamlessly into the deliberate borrowing from Cinderella, Cyrano de Bergerac and Bollywood, and are nicely smoothed over by the movie's easy charm. The humour is surprisingly subtle at times and the rest of the time not so much, but though it does beat the audience over the head with stupidity for cheap laughs on occasion, it doesn't overdo it to the point where it becomes offensive to one's intelligence. The silliness is quite easy to forgive, actually, as almost every character is likable, including the villains, and the heroine is considerate enough to skip the self-pitying woe-is-me emo nonsense we've come to expect, and be someone a person can actually root for.

The acting is okay on most fronts, with the hero being a bland and boring exception.

The script, direction and editing are likewise solid, though there is a missed opportunity towards the end to better resolve the arc of a supporting character who was given a redeeming moment earlier, indicating there would be some kind of reconciliation. It's a minor annoyance, but it bugged this reviewer when that reconciliation never came. Perhaps due to this, the pacing seemed to falter slightly at the very end, making the appearance of the credits feel a little abrupt.

The soundtrack is like the movie itself; bright bubblegum pink but fun and produced nearly to perfection, with a crisp studio sound, upbeat rhythms and catchy melodies.

On the whole, this is a solid little comedy/musical. It won't be the most memorable movie experience of your life, but if you're in the mood for a little light entertainment, it's hard to see how Cinderella Story could disappoint.