Hairspray

Rating: PG

Movie Release Date: July 13, 2007

DVD Release Date: November 20. 2007

Plot 411: The fat chick gets the last laugh - and fights against racial prejudice.

Review: Tracy (Nikki Blonsky) and Penny (Amanda Bynes) are huge fans of Corny Collins (James Marsden) and his dance show. They can barely make it through school before rushing home to catch the program. When the show announces auditions, Tracy is eager to try out. However, her mom (John Travolta in drag - shudder) doesn't like the idea. The show and its manager Velma (Michelle Pfeiffer) supports segregation and only allows black kids to dance once a month on a special day. The kids practice their moves in detention, where Tracy is sent when she skips school. When Velma cancels "Negro Day," Tracy organizes a rally to protest. The movie also stars Zac Efron, Christopher Walken and Queen Latifah. Now this musical is more of what I'm used to. It's lively and upbeat with great singing and dancing all the way through. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Even Walken's creepy weirdness was charming in this role. Despite focusing on something as common as one girl's dream of dancing stardom, this movie is also able to incorporate serious topics like racial equality, segregation and prejudice. Not only does it comment on the black/white divide of the '60s, it highlights negative perceptions about body image too. Not bad for a movie where everyone is busy singing and dancing.

Watch It: For the great musical elements.

Skip It: If you enjoyed Sweeney Todd as this is the polar opposite of that.

Sydney White

Rating: PG-13

Movie Release Date: September 21, 2007

DVD Release Date: January 22, 2008

Plot 411: A college freshman rushes her mother's sorority in hopes to feel closer to her but ends up in a house with seven dorks.

Review: I always did like Amanda Bynes. If you ask me, she's this generation's Lucille Ball. In a tweaked and modernized version of Snow White, Bynes plays Sydney White, a college freshman trying to pledge her mother's sorority house. However, early on it is pointed out to her that she's different and will never fit in as a sister. A group of outsiders take her in and here she truly learns what friendship means. As in all her films, Bynes projects an approachable and very pleasant person. It's so easy to like her, especially because she always seems like the girl next door. Her comedic timing is always great, and when she is surrounded by the seven dorks it seems perfect. These are her people. As awkward and nerdy as they are, the actors are still able to distinguish themselves from one another. This is a delightful little feel-good film for teens that champions anyone who has ever felt that they didn't belong.

Watch It: If you liked Bynes in She's The Man. This has a similar moral but with less deception going on.

Skip It: If you're too old for this bubble gum teen stars.

I'll Be There

Rating: PG-13

Movie Release Date: June 13, 2003 (United Kingdom) / August 1, 2003 (USA)

DVD Release Date: January 7, 2004

Plot 411: An aging 80s rock star discovers he has a 16-year-old daughter after a motorcycle mishap leaves him in a psych ward of a hospital.

Review: Craig Ferguson plays an 80s rock star named Paul Kerr, who discovers that a smashing weekend in 1986 resulted in the birth of his daughter Oliva (Charlotte Church). Rebecca (Jemma Redgrave) has done all she can to keep her daughter away from the life of a musician, but it's been a difficult road to travel since her own father is in a touring band. This is a teen comedy in the vein of What A Girl Wants, starring Amanda Bynes. But where Colin Firth is stuffy and aristocracit in What A Girl Wants, Ferguson is wild and uninhibited. The movie is about confronting the past, overcoming obstacles and learning who you are. All of these themes are very motivating and typical for this genre. There isn't anything to spectacularly unique about this movie. It's a feel-good flick that's easy to watch.

Watch It: For the many musical performances.

Skip It: If you fall out of the tween/teen demographic.

She's The Man

Rating: PG-13

Movie Release Date: March 17, 2006

DVD Release Date: July 18, 2006

Plot 411: A girl goes undercover as her twin brother and joins the boys soccer team to prove that girls can play.

Review: Yes, this is a teen movie, and yes, I did watch it . . . more than once if you'd like to know. But, I have an ulterior motive that isn't just to see Channing Tatum in all his glory. My real reason (or so I continue to tell myself) is that I used to play soccer and can never pass up a movie with soccer in it. I like to critique the actors since more often than not they don't know how to play. Fortunately, this movie hired a lot of extras who actually knew what they were doing and the main actors were athletic enough to pull it off. Unfortunately, Amanda Bynes didn't. Oh well, it'd be expecting too much for the entire cast to look good. Other than that, I enjoyed the twists and turns of the plot (based on Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night"). It's a typical teen movie with love triangles and social hierarchy coming into play. David Cross is hilarious in his role.

Watch It: If you enjoy other films like "She's All That," "Can't Hardly Wait," "Cinderella Story" or any of the other popular teen movies in recent decades. Another two good reasons are Channing Tatum and Robert Hoffman.

Skip It: If you're over the whole "love him, hate him, love him again" whirlwind of teenage crushes and first loves.

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