Brittney Murphy, Dakota Fanning, Heather Locklear, Donald Faison, Jesse Spencer, and Marley Shelton, directed by Boaz Yakin
The movie is pretty flawless, provided, that you are a pre-teen and a girl. Everything from the heavy use of peppy teen music, to the shiny lights and purples and pinks decorating the sets and wardrobe to Brittney herself create a mood characteristic of a modern Cinderella story.
For the rest of us, it might not be your cup of tea depending on how far removed you are from 12 and your gender, but it still has its moments. Brittney proves herself capable of creating movie magic on screen showing us her childish side, even if she overdoes it a little. As for her counterpart, Fanning holds up ok except that the writers didn't create a very convincing 8-year old. It might have been more realistic to dumb her down a little. On the whole, the movie is rather intelligent and deals with some weighty material (death of a parent, neglect, etc) that is quite powerful. I even shed a tear or two.