A Cinderella Story Once Upon A Song Trailer

[Peppin Kishore]

Themovie's central message (other than that cruelty will eventually be repaid by justice) is that you should never be afraid to follow your passion or use your gifts. Both Katie and Luke are suppressed by controlling (and in Katie's case abusive) guardians, but they persevere and are eventually able to show off their musical talent.

The grown-ups are all negative role models: Gail is cruel and moneygrubbing, Luke's father is doesn't listen to him, and the guru is a quack. Katie is selfless but a bit too self-effacing; she doesn't ever stand up to her stepmother until prodded by Luke, who's a good role model for following your own dreams rather than those imposed on you by your parents.

Teens go out on a date and nearly kiss. Another couple flirts and ends up sharing a couple of kisses. The word "hot" is used a few times to describe girls. In one scene, a prank leaves a girl naked, but viewers only see her shoulders and legs. A boy makes jokes about "partial nudity."

Some insults like "idiots," "freakin'," "stupid," and "crap." The stepmother makes cruel comments about nearly everyone. She calls her daughter "untalented" and tells her stepdaughter that she'll never amount to anything. The stepmother also calls a girl "an Asian dwarf" and pretty much says something unkind every time she speaks. Her own young son calls her a "beeyotch."

Parents need to know that this is the third take on a familiar tale, A Cinderella Story. Like the first two movies, this one follows a talented-but-put-upon Cinderella stand-in who lives under the tyrannical rule of a mean stepmother. The teen romance is mild and only includes two sweet kisses, but the protagonist endures quite a lot of emotional -- and verbal -- abuse from her humorous-but-cruel parental figure. The stepmother character, however, gets hers in the end, and at the very least, this Cinderella has unexpected allies who help her triumph. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails.

Katie Gibbs (Lucy Hale) is a gifted singer-songwriter, but before she can head off to music school for college, she must endure one final year under the emotionally abusive supervision of her "evil stepmother" Gail (Missi Pyle) and bratty stepsiblings. Gail, who's the headmistress of Katie's private school, has landed a star transfer pupil, Luke (Freddie Stroma), the handsome son of a billionaire music producer. A condition of his attendance is that Luke produce the school's annual talent show. When fame-hungry Gail realizes that Katie is much more talented than her own daughter, she forces Katie to sing songs that stepsister Bev (Megan Park) will lip-sync during the big show. Katie agrees, but watching Bev and Luke get cozy over her own songs nearly breaks her heart.

This third installment in Warner Bros.' popular Cinderella Story franchise is as sugary sweet and entertaining as the others -- which is to say, fluffy and cute, not deep and enduring. Tween girls will delight in Hale (star of Pretty Little Liars) and Stroma's (who memorably played the cocky Cormac McLaggen in Harry Potter) attraction at first listen, and parents will approve of how their relationship develops in an almost Cyrano de Bergerac fashion -- a meeting of like-minded artists, not teens in hormonal overdrive.

Unlike other Cinderella adaptations, Katie's stepsiblings aren't always cruel, but the stepmother is completely cold-hearted. Pyle is definitely the movie's top scene-stealer, with her pinched smile and narrowed eyes. She's the kind of character actress who deserves a starring comedy or sitcom role but instead has to settle for these supporting gigs. Pyle's love-to-hate-her performance, combined with Hale and Stroma's adorable leads, makes this a perfect sleepover pick for girls who haven't graduated to PG-13 romances.

Families can talk about how family relationships are portrayed in this story. Does Katie have a healthy home environment? How does her stepmother treat her? Are kids sometimes treated this way in real life?

Voice Cast: Anna Kendrick, Justin Timberlake, Zooey Deschanel, Russell Brand, James Corden, Gwen Stefani, Icona Pop, Ron Funches, Kunal Nayyar, GloZell, Christine Baranski, John Cleese, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Walt Dohrn, Jeffrey Tambor, Quvenzhan Wallis

REVIEW: Recently Dreamworks has been hit and miss with their films. Their only 2015 release Home was mediocre at best yet Kung Fu Panda 3 was relatively decent When Kung Fu Panda 3 was released back in January, a teaser trailer for their next animated film Trolls was released. It was undeniably one of the most cringiest teaser trailers to see before Sony's Ghostbusters reboot teaser trailer took the cake. It had everything we hate nowadays in animated films just in that trailer from hip hop music to animated characters busting the most popular moves hip people do today. But Dreamworks have the amazing creativity and animation to make something that looks very bad to unexpectedly become very good. Remember how disgusted we were with the animation of The Croods looked just from the trailers, but how charming and beautiful it ended up to be? Maybe they can redo that same magic.

After the Bergens invade Troll Village, Poppy (Kendrick), the happiest Troll ever born, and the overly-cautious curmudgeonly Branch (Timberlake) set off on a journey to rescue her friends. Together, this mismatched duo embark on a rescue mission full of adventure and mishaps - trying to tolerate each other long enough to get the job done.

THE GOOD: What makes any Dreamworks Animation film amazing just by a visual stand point with nearly every world they create is the amount of effort that is put into the production. The world they create with Trolls is visually stunning. This is one of those animated films that you can watch with the sound off and be astounded by the animation. A lot of detail and effort was put into the creation of the world. The film is pretty bright and colorful as any animated movie these days would but with this the environment that incorporates wool, string, and yarn with the skin of all the creatures from the Trolls to the ogre-like creatures the Bergens to even the psychedelic looking creatures in the forest. Its as if they took the game designers of Kirby Epic Yarn or Yoshi's Island and hired them as animators because it resembles a similar visual those games had.

You're immediately immersed into this world and sucked in with how it looks that leaves you wanting to see more. It is one of those animated films that you want to buy the art book for. And the best way to experience this works is in 3D which Dreamworks is already a perfectionist with integrating with their movies. Nobody does 3D better than them.

What makes the film's story move along is the dynamic between Kendrick and Timberlake's characters Poppy and Branch. They have a lot of chemistry together that brings a lot of genuine laughs in. As Poppy is the happy go lucky optimist, Branch is the polar opposite as to be more cold and pessimistic. It's similar to the dynamic you see on Star Vs. the Forces of Evil between Star Butterfly and Marco Diaz. It is a bond that gets you through the film because it's an interesting combination to see onscreen. It doesn't come off as annoying but in the end, comes out charming and rather cute.

Another thing that gets through the film is the music. It has some original songs yet brings out some preexisting tunes that lead to imaginative and fun musical numbers. The film's climax (if you have seen the second trailer it's already spoiled for you) has a dark and depressing moment that leads to the famous Cyndi Lauper song True Colors that is emotionally heartwarming. The music helps tell the story of the film.

THE BAD: As beautiful this film is with its visuals it doesn't really have anything to say. It is nice to have a film that is aimed at much younger viewers but after a year like this where animated PG films had messages varying from social injustice and discrimination (Zootopia) to anger being an answer (The Angry Birds Movie) to the acceptance of life and death (Kubo and the Two Strings) to dealing with people with physical or mental disabilities (Finding Dory) that the film's message about finding happiness is a bit weak. As I said before the music tells the film's story because it barely has a story. It is told like a fairy tale similar to Shrek but then after its rather strong opening, it just dwindles from an adventure comedy to just a Cinderella story. It turns into so many different movies that it doesn't know then what it actually wants to be by the end of it. It wants to be a comedy all the way through but when it gets emotional it just makes a joke out of it. Even if it tragically involves a death, it is made into a joke and it's really off.

The film features a large array of musicians and actors to voice these characters and a majority of them are wasted. If you aren't Anna Kendrick, Justin Timberlake, Zooey Deschanel, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Christine Baranski, or even James Corden to an extent, the script will have nothing for you to do. The film has Gwen Stefani, Icona Pop, and several YouTube stars who barely gets a line in or two. The only time a voice cast that huge was wasted was the Angry Birds Movie. The film has even a black troll with dreads and a 70s flat hat that is designed differently and it comes off a bit offensive.

The film doesn't feature enough character to keep it going because even the Trolls themselves get under your skin for a while. They are as annoying and cringy as the teaser shown. There's a glittery troll voiced by Raj from Big Bang Theory where everything he says is in autotune and it just makes you go "no movie. Just no."

LAST STATEMENT: As gorgeously animated as it is with beautiful sets and designs to entertain a much younger, Dreamworks' Trolls lacks enough story and character to fully recommend for a larger family diversion.

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