Alice Upside Down
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Movie Reviews of Alice Upside Down
Movie Review: Fabulous 5 Stars
This is a very good movie!!I got to see it at the premiere and I can't wait to see it agin!!!!!!!!! :DMovie Review: A Light Family Film With A Few Heavy Issues
Summary: 4 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
"Alice Upside Down," based on the "Alice" series of books from Phyllis Reynolds Naylor explores the ups and downs of being a pre-teen girl. Alyson Stoner ("Camp Rock," "Mike's Super Short Show") portrays Alice McKinley, a young girl who's mother died when she was five and has grown up with her big brother Lester (Lucas Grabeel of "High School Musical") under the guidance of their widowed father, Ben (Luke Perry, "Jeremiah," "Eight Seconds," "Beverly Hills, 90210").
Moving into a new town can be tough for a young girl, especially if she's a tomboy with a wild imagination. Alice feels that she can't do anything right and always seems to end up in embarassing situations. She dislikes her new teacher, has a tough time making friends and doesn't understand why girls think her brother is cute. Lester seems to have adjusted to his new home quite nicely. He's in a band, has a few girls after him and his grades are decent enough. Ben has also adjusted to his new digs. His music shop is a success and he's started a relationship with an old friend.
While this sounds like a typical Disney Channel or Nickelodeon film, there are some tough issues that are addressed. Ben struggles with the loss of his wife. He also battles his relatives over how to properly bring up his children. Alice deals with all of the normal problems that face young teens and pre-teens, but her mother's death weighs heavy on her as well. She is desperate to fit in, but her male-driven upbringing makes her stick out like a sore thumb. She also has a problem of forming an opinion of people before actually getting to know them. This especially comes into play when a supposed villain becomes a best friend.
The cast is excellent. The youngsters in the film do a fine job. There's a slight "Babysitters Club" vibe running through the whole picture, and they convey this with ease. Two of the adults should be easily recognized. One is the aforementioned Perry and the other is the wonderful director/actress Penny Marshall. Marshall's role is a bit limited, but her character is key to the development of the story.
What's best about this film is the fact that the adults face up to their problems without the usual "all is lost" mentality. The kids act like kids, and respond as expected. Alice does act a bit older than she really is, but she's the voice of reason for the young audience. She actually gives some solid advice to younger viewers.
This DVD comes with two brief and very unnecessary interviews with Stoner and Grabeel. They basically answer questions culled from the pages of "Bop" and "Tiger Beat." Also included is a brief featurette on the many costumes that Alice dons during the film and trailers for upcoming films.
While the heavier issues in this film might be depressing, this film is primarily lighter fare. The bond between Ben and his children is nice to see on film and I'm glad that teachers are shown in a positive light. Also, the kids aren't strung out on drugs or having sex every five minutes.
Overall, "Alice Upside Down" is a positive film about dealing with day-to-day issues for junior high kids. It's not the most moving film out there and the humor is primarily geared towards the pre-teen set, but your entire family should enjoy this film. Recommended to anybody with kids aged six and up.
Movie Review: Wonderful film, a breath of fresh air
Summary: 4 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
With so many videos out with violence, raw language, and adult situations, it is hard to find a good family film.
This one FITS THE BILL
Everyone is awkward at that age. EVERYONE. Now, I haven't been that age for over 25 years, AND my only gripe that prevented this from getting 5 of 5 stars is, MOST kids when they lose a parent as a baby don't miss them the way she is portrayed missing her mother. Kids are pretty resilient, and this film has her crying and missing her mom like it happened last month, NOT when she was a baby. Also, another gripe with the mother character is ALL the acting in this film is fine. EXCEPT the deceased mother. Yeah, you'ld think playing the role of a dead person would be a breeze for most, but she simply tries too hard, and the acting, is well, quite overacted. The GOOD news, is her segments are short, and you won't be subjected to too much of the overacted acting. (When you see it, you will be magically whisked away to a high school musical, with very bad overacted scenes...) I'd think just KNOWING her mother died and her father was a widower would have been enough information for the viewer. If they edited all the "mom" and "missing mom" scenes out, this film would be fine, as you pretty much get she has no mom during the first scene. Those other additions were kind of creepy to me, to see a child so obscessed with a person she never really knew.
Those scenes truly weren't needed to feel her need to bond with a female figure, like her teachers. AND, a valuable lesson is learned, pretty packages aren't all they are wrapped up to be, the best person for her might not be the pretty package, but the one with the plain brown wrapper. I'll leave the movie watching to you to see that, another valuable lesson!
I LOVED the music, and wasn't bored once. I even had to snicker a time or two, perhaps she DID remind me of myself at that age. And even if you never were an awkward preteen, the self doubts she feels I'm sure were felt by everyone.
Now, kids that age in my junior high school weren't so kind and forgiving. There was a lot of maturity in the conversations of these preteens. In real life, when true jealousy occurs, there is bound to be some name calling and rarely forgiveness. But this movie lacks the name calling, and is full of forgiveness. THAT is why I found it a breath of fresh air. In real life, and outcast is an outcast, and they usually need therapy by the time they are 30. In this movie, an outcast is accepted, and befriended. So, maybe not true to real life, but true in the sense that it is the way things SHOULD be.
I'm going to share this video with family and friends with preteens. I feel it has a message and a story that needs to be shared!
So, buy this movie, pop some popcorn, and set aside some GOOD family time, as this is a WONDERFUL family movie.
Movie Review: Growing Pains: The Alice McKinley story
Summary: 4 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
This drama is based on the story of Phyllis Reynolds Naylor that shows the growing pains of a teenager named Alice McKinley (Alyson Stoner.) Strongly supported by the fine performance of Penny Marshall as Mrs. Plotkin and Luke Perry as Ben McKinley, the movie depicts the sad and painful years of a teenager who lost her mother when she was five. Her father Ben is of little help since he is still in a state sadness after losing his wife. Adjusting to the life of widower and bringing up two children on his own is a little too much for him. In the meantime Alice learns to live in a fantasy world with vivid imagination to keep her happy. With some help from her teacher Mrs. Plotkin, she learns to be less judgmental in life and grows to a reasonable young woman. The movie shows a contrasting life of her big brother Lester (Lucas Grabeel) who seems to have a normal life and even popular among girls. The movie shows the vulnerability of growing young woman without her mother, but apparently has lesser impact on a boy. Alice Stoner offers a brilliant performance in this excellent family drama: Highly recommended for family viewing.
1. A Parent's Guide to Growing Pains - Decision Making
2. Growing Pain Series - Three Big Teen Issues
3. A Parent's Guide to Growing Pains - Protecting Yourself
4. Growing Pains - The Complete First Season
5. The Facts of Life - The Complete First & Second Seasons
6. Family Ties - The Complete First Season
7. A Parent's Guide to Growing Pains - Family Changes
8. Step by Step (Television Favorites Compilation)
9. Diff'rent Strokes - The Complete First Season
10. Full House - The Complete Series Collection
Movie Review: How to Enjoy Life... Even When Everything Goes Wrong
Summary: 4 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
Teen actress Alyson Stoner (Cheaper by the Dozen), portrays Alice McKinley in "Alice Upside Down," a young girl whose life is disrupted when her father moves her and her brother to a new town a few years after her mother has died. Luke Perry (Beverly Hills 90210) plays Alice's father, Ben McKinley, and Lucas Grabeel (High School Musical) plays her brother, Lester, in a movie that feels a lot like a Disney made-for-TV special. While most of Alice's problems stem from the fact that she has been struggling to figure out how best to behave like a lady without much in the way of a female role model since her mother died several years earlier, she is also unusually challenged by innate clumsiness and tone deafness.
The joy of watching Alice come to terms with each setback and embarrassment is what makes "Alice Upside Down" most fun, and young girls will enjoy the vicarious thrill of seeing someone so smart and pretty bumbling through the kinds of situations that most of us run into much more than we'd like in adolescence. Some of the issues dealt with in "Alice Upside Down" feel heavy at times, as Alice confronts her father about his difficulty integrating poignant memories of the past (in the form of old home movies and pictures of his wife) with the new life he's building in the new house and town.
While the main story line of how Alice can develop her sense of identity in a new town even when things seem to keep going wrong is fairly good, there are some choppy aspects to "Alice Upside Down." The movie's frequent use of voice-over narrative in which Alice looks and speaks directly to the camera kept reminding me that this is "just a movie," and the character development seemed a bit flat and two-dimensional. I would have loved to know more about the other characters than this movie showed... such as why Alice's dad started dating and then suddenly stopped, for example.
One of the strong points of "Alice Upside Down" is that the actors are fabulous and the cast is strong enough to really hold viewer interest, so even predictable plot development and a made-for-TV vibe didn't dissuade me from watching the movie all the way through to the end. I really loved seeing Penny Marshall playing the role of Mrs. Plotkin, Alice's teacher, and I loved the heart-warming ending of the film in which Alice gained an appreciation for true friends in unexpected places.
I recommend this movie for fans of Alyson Stoner, Luke Perry, Lucas Grabeel, and Penny Marshall... and young girls who can handle a movie that deals with serious issues of mortality (death and illness).