DVD Review: Picture This

We all grew up hearing the story of Cinderella. The downtrodden, unpopular, but unquestionably beautiful woman finally gets a shot at her fairytale ending. This basic storyline has implanted itself in the hearts of all little girls who finally grow up wondering what happened. Because let’s face it -- life is not a fairytale. The knight in shining armor snores and leaves his socks on the floor. But still, somewhere inside, we long for the perfect ending. So we replay the story of Cinderella a million times over in movies like Enchanted, Maid in Manhattan, She’s All That, and the recently released Picture This.

This ABC Family Original stars Ashley Tisdale as Mandy Gilbert, the unpopular, glasses-wearing geek. She is about to turn eighteen and is determined to get Drew Patterson, the most popular guy in school, to notice her. First problem: Drew is currently dating Lisa, a popular girl who has bullied Mandy throughout her high school career. Second problem: Mandy wears glasses!

Oh wait, within the first ten minutes of the movie her overbearing father finally breaks down and gives her contacts, so she can transform from beautiful in glasses to beautiful in a tight-knitted blouse. Now she can finally go after generic tall, dark, and handsome Drew, the maybe-good-with-tongue-but-not-so-good-with-words jock.

Was the sarcasm coming through? To tell you straight out, this movie was a pain to suffer through. I’m not sure how the other 4.3 million viewers felt when they watched it on ABC Family on July 13, but for me, it held no Cinderella wonder. Tisdale’s character is no different from her popular counterpart. The point of Cinderella’s story is to encourage young girls who don’t have it all to remember that they’re secretly better than those who throw themselves at men. Picture This does nothing more than teach young women how to lie to their parents using a camera phone.

Article Author: Janica Unruh

Janica Unruh has her Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from the college of Professional Writing at the University of Oklahoma. She is happily married to a very nerdy engineer and enjoys writing more than breathing, but refuses to give up the latter.

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