#american girl movies

[novelist-becca]

In my opinion the first American Girl movie about Samantha was the best one, and one of the most underrated kids movies ever

[in-pleasant-company]

Review of American Girl: Corinne Tan The Movie

This review contains spoilers for the movie, as well as the books Corinne and Corinne to the Rescue.

Rating: ****

I think it's important to start off by saying that the theme of this movie is somewhat different from the Corinne books. In the first book, Corinne is struggling to adjust to her stepfather, whose wealth gives her and her younger sister access to a different lifestyle and home environment. Her discomfort with her stepfather causes her to become self conscious, and this is escalated when he dismisses an incident where she experiences sinophobia. (It's important to note that these books take place during the Covid-19 pandemic, when sinophobia was at peak levels.)

In the movie, Corinne is anxious to find her True Calling because "everyone else" has one. Her little sister is figure skating prodigy, her mother is achieving her dream of opening a Chinese restaurant ...

Hold that thought.

My theory is that Corinne developed anxiety about who she is from her parents' divorce itself - her father is painted as a bit of a loser who lives in a smaller, less glamorous house and only feeds his daughters cheap junk food, and she fears that she'll end up like him and be rejected by her mother. (The idea of a smaller house being the sign of a loser is laughable, considering the prices for houses in Aspen and the surrounding area.)

The irony is that Corinne isn't as swayed by her stepfather's money as her mother is - at one point she vents that she's the only one who has no True Calling, aside from Arne. He protests, but it's an entirely fair assessment - he doesn't have interests that drive him like the rest of the family. Other than money, Arne and David, the girls' father, seem strikingly similar. (And am I the only one who seemed to think they had more chemistry with each other than with Judy?)

Sadly, Corinne's parents (yes, all of them), seem too wrapped up their own vague, unspecified problems to care when their daughters leave. There doesn't seem to be a major effort to find Corinne when she goes missing the first time, and when Gwynn leaves the house at night in the middle of winter, Judy and Arne don't even notice. (It's never explained how Gwynn gets to the resort, but there's no way that isn't anxiety inducing.)

I've gotten this far with the review, and I haven't even touched on the dog. I'll be brief, because I can be. If you've read the books, you'll notice right away that the dog plot is completely different. Instead, Corinne clearly sees herself in a dog who's so terrible at her ski rescue training that she's about to be sent back to the breeder.

There was a missed opportunity here to connect loser dad to loser dog. There's a scene where Corinne asks her father why he never competed in the Olympics, and he tells her he's happy being a ski instructor. That should have been the lesson of the movie: it's not necessary for someone to be have a True Calling and be The Best at something. What if the dog's purpose was just to be a dog? What if Corinne's purpose is just to be a girl? But that's not marketable.

Corinne thinks the dog deserves just one more chance (over and over again) and fights for what she believes is the dog's True Calling of being a ski rescue dog. The dog proves her worth at a key moment, and the movie ends with everyone being friendly to each other.

It's a shame that the impactful themes from the book series are completely missing from this movie. The family's confrontation of racism brought pandemic era sinophobia to the attention of the littlest readers in an easily accessible way, and was an excellent example of "grownups ARE wrong sometimes." There's also no Covid-19 pandemic at all.

It's also a shame that the warm, love filled bonding moments between Judy and Corinne are missing from this movie, as they were one of my favorite parts of the book.

Final notes:

Miya and Kai were great despite the clunky script. If they decide to continue acting, I'd love to see them in other projects. Historically (haha!) American Girl actors can and do go far, but if they "just" want to be kids now, all the power to them.

If you're looking for a doll themed movie about anxieties about self, go with the new Barbie movie instead. The messages are much clearer and healthier.

I'm very curious to see a "Psychologists watch ..." style review of this movie.

[maryellenlarkin]

Does anyone know of ANYWHERE I can watch Maryellen, Melody, and Ivy and Julie’s movies? It looks like they took them off of Prime Video

[americangirldollies]

American Girl movies dvd cover scans

[mr-orange505]

[antiquecorse]

[alintalzin]

I wish we had got a Rebecca film, a Marie-Grace and Cecile film, and a Caroline film.

You know what. Random rant time. I’m salty we don’t get AG movies anymore. There are some Goty dolls I so wish we could’ve gotten movies for (including ones that predate the Goty movies we did get. Actually a lot of them), and some of the historicals (cough Rebecca cough) really deserved a movie.

So here are my thoughts on who didn’t get a movie that I think deserves one, in no particular order:

1. Rebecca: look we deserve it. Especially with the emphasis most of the historical movies have on Christmas, I would have loved to see Rebecca getting to go to the movie studio, Rebecca up on a crate at the protest reading out the letter, ending it on Hanukkah the way that most of the movies end on Christmas. We could’ve had it all. I would have loved a Rebecca movie.

2. Addy. Look I’m partially glad they didn’t because I straight up don’t wanna think about how badly they could’ve messed up addys story without a lot of extra effort put into making it translate well. But on the other hand, the scene when Addy leaves the church puppet show on Christmas Eve makes me tear up just thinking about it, so like I would’ve loved to see it in a movie.

3. Jess. Need I say more? She was the original going on a big trip girl, but it was cool and fun when she got to go on a work trip with her parents.

4. Cecile and Marie-Grace. The masquerade, the high stakes of the people they care about being sick, New Orleans, it would’ve been great in my opinion. They deserved better than they got and this is a part of it too. Also I hate the art style in their books and wish I had another mental image for them. Don’t get me wrong if they were to immediately bring them back right this second, I would not want a movie about their story for a while Bc I like everyone else am very sick of hearing about epidemics.

5. Caroline. Everyone who complains about her story being boring without ever reading it would realize how wrong they are. Caroline has such a cool story and I would’ve loved to see any of the scenes on a boat, watch her help her father escape, or watch her and her mom run the shipyard in her fathers absence. I would’ve loved her movie.

6. Lanie. Poor Lanie got the short end of the stick. Right inbetween 2 girls who got movies. I know her story was a lot lower stakes than some of the other Goty dolls but her storyline is so sweet and I would’ve loved to see it play out.

7. Gabriela. She also got the short end of the stick on not getting a movie when everyone before her did for like 5 years, but that’s what happens when AG decided last minute to change story like they did. But a story with a girl with a stutter on screen, and the emphasis on saving the arts? Could’ve been amazing.

8. Mia. I love ice skating movies ok. Plus her family was so fun and colorful. And the scene where she’s skating in the mascot costume is hilarious.

9. Marisol. Her story was also lower stakes, but moving is hard. Also her story had a lot of really fun characters that I could see translating to the screen well. Maybe if we got a movie we also would’ve gotten a Ballet Folklorico outfit too.

10. Joss. ON SCREEN ASL. Joss helping out the other cheer team at the competition. All the surfing. Again. I wish we had gotten that.

Honorable mentions:

Kirsten. I like little house on the prairie but since they’ve decided to ignore Kirsten I guess it could never be in the cards.

Tenney. Homegirl (allegedly) had a movie started and then AG abandoned it when they decided to switch to Gabriela. I’m glad they didn’t finish it and overshadow Gabriela more. But like it’s still a shame.

Lindsey. Considering Lindsey just makes problems all the time it would’ve been a hilarious movie. A Bar Mitzvah food fight would be incredible.

Nicki. Again a lower stakes movie, but it would’ve been so pretty and I love how her story really does focus on a lot of everyday struggles.

[carm3n-carm3n]

so excited!!

🝮 made by me 🝮

[lovezhype]

lolita (1997) film stills ୨୧

[therealsigmamale1]

[in-pleasant-company]

Ooh maybe! It would make sense that they'd have one ready made since Pleasant Company sold this dress for a while. I just love this detail that Samantha was sharing her clothes but obviously on Jenny her dress would have been too big.

is jenny meant to be wearing samantha’s birthday dress?!??

[wieqo]

[444kylamae]

[anyataylorjoys]

MILA KUNIS in American Psycho II: All American Girl (2002)

[fanofspooky]

Scream Queen - Katharine Isabelle

[mr-orange505]