Movie Review: Sydney White

Here is the first of what may be a series (I've decided not to make any promises about what may or may not appear on this blog) of movie, TV show and book reviews. Of course, as far as movies go, we almost never see movies in the theater, so it will be reviews of movies that are now on DVD, and most likely ones that have been on DVD for quite some time.

Nor should anyone make the assumption that I think my opinions of these forms of entertainment matter to anyone other than myself, but it's my blog, so I'm going to do what I want. So there. Oh, one more disclaimer: I am in no way a professional reviewer.

OK, now that that's out of the way, I can move on to the actual review.

Sydney White is a modernized version of Disney's Snow White, set on a college campus. That's probably all I'm really going to say about the plot. There are a few nice bits that play off of elements of the Disney version that everyone will recognize--in particular, look for the way they work "Heigh ho" into the movie. I was also impresses with the way they worked the personalities of the dwarves into the modern setting.

In general, the script is well done and enjoyable. There were a few thread of the plot that I wished had more explanation, most notably Sydney's mother's involvement with the sorority. I guess it is implied that the sorority wasn't as nasty until the current president (filling the spot of the wicked witch) took over, but there's plenty of other reasons why I at least am not convinced by that. But I suppose that's really just background that we're not supposed to concern ourselves with because it was only needed to setup the situation properly. And in fact it didn't ruin the story so much, as make me wonder if it could have been even better if that element had been fleshed out. (if I'm getting incoherent here, please excuse me and move on. I'm babbling again).

What really makes the movie work is the acting and the characters. And I do think it was a joint contribution. The characters were written well, with good dialog and reasonable motivations. I especially appreciated how in the end many of the seemingly shallow and superficial characters turn out to be decent people who submitted too much to peer pressure.

Those well-written characters are allowed to shine, however, through the performances of the actors. I've long been a big fan of Amanda Bynes, who plays Sydney White, and I think she was a perfect choice for this part. She has an ability to seem very natural and normal, which always makes her characters believable. More important, it makes it very easy for us to like her and want her to succeed.

Matt Long is also very good in the Prince Charming role. Again, he comes across as very natural and real, and you find yourself liking him very quickly. In fact, that was what we found ourselves saying over and over during the movie about most of the characters: "I like him/her."

The seven dorks are all very well played. Despite the fact that the characters are written to match up with the required personality quirks, they still, in the end, seem like believable characters.

To sum up, I enjoyed this movie a lot, and would certainly recommend it to others.