"What a Girl Wants" isn't without its charms, and though I expected just a pretty vapid Cinderella story with an appealing young star trying comedy, I got just a bit more than that. Actually, this does tend to get saved by the sheer talents of Colin Firth who tends to bring an err of credibility and class to the film. I always seem to enjoy Firth's presence in a film, and damn it it's because he's such a good actor, and here is no real exception. Firth plays Henry Dashond, the local politician in London who is vying for a high political position, though is unaware that across the ocean he has a daughter he's never met. Amanda Bynes plays Daphne Reynolds a young free spirited girl who is struggling to get to college and works as a waitress in weddings while her mom Libby (Kelly Preston: Jack Frost, For Love of the Game), a hippy, sings at the weddings for a living.

Desperate to find her father and get the part of her life she never had as a child she treks to London to find her estranged father and now the two must find a way to bond, but not if the stuffy British family has anything to do about it. Regardless, Firth is actually very good here, possibly the best with a lot of comedic flare without losing his dignity. He's funny with physical comedy that is amusing but never over the top, and there are some really good physical scenes he performs here that made me laugh. He's basically the straight man and he has a very interesting character who is faced with a dire dilemma of fulfilling his political duties and coming to grips with the fact that he's suddenly realized he's a father and we sympathize with him.

Firth is put to good use despite being in a film such as this and his relationship with his estranged daughter and their sudden friendship is very touching to watch and make for some charming moments, especially the scene during breakfast when they discover they're more alike then they thought. The dialogue between the two is pretty nice to watch and their chemistry is believable, plus Bynes is very charming and likable here. It's said her role model is Lucille Ball and Bynes has some qualities echoing her including her charm, flair,
and charisma that really registered, plus she's really good looking.

This plot is really just very recycled to the point where I knew everything that was going to happen before it happened. Taking plot elements from "Cinderella" and many other films, there's just nothing here that ever sparks originality and everything is so poorly done. This is a pretty dumb film and there's not really a lot for creativity here with a lot of poorly contrived scenes, especially the really cheesy take off from "Airplane" involving a dance scene in the opener. There are also a lot of really bad British stereotypes presented here, and I tell ya, the American's don't come off well here, either.

Simply there's a lot of predictable British stereotypes that bordered on dumb to really ridiculous, there are people here who don't smile, the grandmother explains "I'm British, we only display affection to dogs and horses", and the usual stuffy parade of debutants who scoff, scowl, insult one another, and comment on those "Barbaric Americans", blah, blah, and then there's Bynes who comes off as bubble headed, and ditzy without a single spark of intelligence and wit.

She's loud, and all over the place hardly presenting any manners which is basically the concept for her character, but her emotions whether comedic or not never feel very genuine. This really corny fairy tale is a bit naive, though tailored for preteen audiences, this is so dumb it never felt realistic. Everything here works out conveniently and for the best as it always does, she never has trouble traveling through London, meets the man of her dreams in the beginning without a single mis-step, she sees her father's newscast just as she steps into the hotel, and there are a lot of plot holes as in why there was no security when she snuck into the mansion? Did she still have to pay for the hotel room even though she never really spent the night there? Along with a really obnoxious party scene where she conveniently manages to get people in the party to dance in sync at the right time almost as if they'd been given choreography. No, it's not possible! But, people always break into spontaneous dance numbers when I go to parties.

Regardless, we're given a bunch of cheesy sub-plots during the story that never really were that interesting including Bynes' under-developed romance with her very bland love interest Ian, played by Oliver James. As well, there are the obligatory villains that are required including the evil stepsister and stepmother ala "Cinderella" ad nauseum, and so many more sub-plots that were never developed to their full potential and never ended with a lot of satisfaction. Bynes looks like she's trying really hard to be funny here but most of the time just comes off as annoying especially with her terrible dancing, bad delivery of physical comedy and horrible one-liners from the stupid script, and just played a character that was barely fleshed out from the beginning and was more like a broad concept of a heroine.

While this does have some charm with some touching moments and character chemistry as well with Colin Firth's performance, and Amanda Bynes appeal, but in the end this really is just a very dumb, vapid, contrived and cheesy piece of fluff.

• The movie poster for the film featured Bynes flashing the peace sign, but her fingers were airbrushed out due to fear in raising suspicions it would be deemed as a form of subliminal protest since the Iraq-America war had begun at the time of its initial release. But the MPAA wouldn't get paid if they didn't find some reason to censor a movie, would they?
   

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