Elle - L'ultima Cenerentola

Elle is an intern at Spunn Records in Los Angeles, run by "Uncle" Allen, who took care of her when her parents traveled and later adopted her. Elle's parents, who were backup singers, died in a plane crash just as Elle was about to audition for Berklee College of Music. She hasn't sung in public since. Elle is from Nashville and has written songs, and her taste leans toward what is called country music these days.

Elle's best friend is Kit, also an intern. Kit seems to like Andy, the somewhat geeky but appealing kid that sells them coffee. As part of her job Elle must do demeaning tasks for Spunn's biggest singing group, Sensation. They are pretty, conceited and demanding, especially their leader Stephanie. They are actually talented, as we can tell briefly in a scene with just their harmonies and no electronic manipulation. But they are mostly fluff and their performances are pure bubble gum.

Ty Parker is essentially Justin Bieber, and Elle is an obsessed fan. But Ty wants to do more serious music as his fans get older. He doesn't care whether his existing fans will desert him. He only cares about his art. And Allen is willing to take a chance on him. But one of the conditions is that he must sing a duet with another hot bubble-gum singer, from Britain, named Kandi Kane.

Elle sneaks into the recording studio and performs a song she wrote. It is essentially pop-country, but because she accompanies herself only on acoustic guitar, it's not bad. She is talented. And Ty can see it. Believing her to be Kandi Kane, he is excited about performing a duet with her. Elle won't deny being Kandi because she doesn't want to disappoint Ty, and they seem to have more than a professional interest in her. So Elle is Kandi, complete with British accent. they seem perfect for each other.

So what happens when the real Kandi shows up? And what nasty surprise do Sensation have for Elle? And what happens to their relationship when Ty learns who Elle really is? Further, what happens to Elle's music career?

This has been done before. It's a formula, but I like the formula. Ashlee Hewitt is pretty and likable and a talented singer, even if some of her music sounds like garbage once the noisy rock band is added. Actually, most of the music other than background music is garbage, at least to me. The target audience of teenage girls will love it.

Kiely Williams is the standout actor here. Everyone does a pretty good job in what is of course bubble-gum material, but I like it, and that's what matters.

There are lessons here about values, friendship and honesty. But they aren't quite what you might expect.

It's a harmless family movie, if you don't mind something you've seen a hundred times.

The worst Cinderella movie I've ever seen. Maybe adequate of it was an Indie film, but it's awful the actors other than the one in place of the prince are absolutely terrible like high school video class level, terrible British accent. Any instrumentals they have are all just Awful public domain almost ringtone like music, and the entire plot that relates it to Cinderella is the worst of any Cinderella remake I've ever seen.

I could not even get to the middle of this movie. After 20 minutes, I had to leave. It was a very predictable movie, adding no originality nor spice to Cinderella. There was no substance to this movie. It also moved at a really odd pace. I felt that they didn't need to spend so much time on Sterling Knight's character's meeting with his manager and that they should have spent that time going over the protagonist's background even more. Even high school plays are better than this "movie".

I was so disappointed because it looked so adorable! Not to mention that there was an actress in it that wasn't stick thin or Hollywood pretty. I was hoping that she would be a good role model or example to girls but... yeah, that ship sailed.

Overall, don't waste your time watching it.

The acting here was terrible. I enjoy chick flicks and family movies, so I always tend to give them a better than average review because they're my favorite. Unfortunately, I can't do that with this one, because the acting was way too bad. The bad girls were too much and the main actress didn't convince. They seemed to get their act together closer to the end, but it was too late to overlook.

Elle (Ashlee Hewitt) has undergone a life-change of great sadness. An aspiring country singer, her parents died in a plane crash on the way to hear perform at a school concert. Thus, Elle has moved in with her uncle Alan in Los Angeles and works as a "gopher" for his small recording label. This means fetching coffee and arranging schedules for the studio's main act, a three gal pop group called Sensation. Naturally, this trio of young ladies are budding prima donnas and they put Elle down at every opportunity, as well as making constant demands. Unhappily, Elle finds it difficult to talk to her uncle, both from her shyness and his work schedule. No one realizes that spectacle-wearing Elle may have musical dreams. One day, a Bieber-type singer, Ty Parker (Sterling Knight) comes to the office to talk with Alan. He is tired of recording the same old pop tunes and wants to sign with a label that will give him more creative freedom. Alan, having a shoestring budget, wants to sign the very popular Ty but he asks that he make a record with a British pop teen, Candy Cane, FIRST, and then they will discuss his future venture. Ty says he must think about it. In the meantime, Elle goes into the studio late one night, to record one of her compositions, on the sly. What she doesn't know is that Ty has had to come back to the office to retrieve his cell phone. When he sees and hears Elle's performance, he guesses that she is Miss Kane and wants to talk to her about their future duet. Stunned, Elle plays along but then vanishes after a night of coffee and conversation. Soon the real Candy arrives, confusing everyone. How will this tangle of webs get undone? Is there a future for Elle and Ty? This is quite a sweet little film, at times, one that its target audience of tween girls will like. Hewitt and Knight are quite gifted, musically, and also sport very natural acting abilities. The rest of the cast, mostly unknowns, do a fine job as well. Costumes are also very fetching, while sets, script and direction are above average. However, it would still behoove parents to watch with their gals and discuss issues presented. For example, not all young singers are arrogant folks like Sensation but, more importantly, the musical business is quite competitive and singers don't usually take off their glasses, put on cute outfits and make it easily. It would have been nice if the film had actually shown Sensation practicing and receiving advice from teachers and those with industry knowledge, too. In short, this modern fairy tale is enjoyable but parents will want to bring any daughters with singing ambitions back to reality at the finish.