13 Going on 30 Review

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home > arts&culture > 13 Going on 30 Review

April 23, 2004 11:29 AM
by [email]

(B-)
Cast - Jennifer Garner. Mark Ruffalo.
Comedy.

Pretty good, and I’m guessing it’s better if you are (or have) a pre-teen girl. This was a weekend for films that were reincarnations of previous films (Big for this one, while Connie and Carla ‘borrowed’ from Sister Act).

The slight modification here is that while 13-year old Jenna wants to be ‘flirty and thirty,’ she in fact awakes from her dream as a 30-year old version of herself, 17 years later.

In Big, Tom Hanks’ character asked for about the same thing, but instead of being transported through time, he merely aged and stayed in the same position on the time continuum in which he found himself the day before.

Prepare to suspend disbelief in the primary plot vehicle (a 13-year old catapulted 17 years into the future as her 30 year-old self) and the soundtrack (which, though exciting, is, at best, chronologically incorrect).

Love is a Battlefield (1983) and Thriller (1982) form the nucleus of the soundtrack, providing the two musical numbers in the film, predating the 1987 scenes in the film by nearly 5 years.

A lot of the other tracks come from the early 80s as well: Burning Down the House (83), Jessie’s Girl (81), Tainted Love (81), and Crazy for You (85). Yes, Whitney Houston represents 1987, but wasn’t 1987 all about Whitesnake and Bon Jovi?

Garner does a good job as a 13 year-old trapped in the adult world. Much like the Tom Hanks’ character in Big, her character’s innocence actually works to her advantage in the business world. And once again we learn the sacred lesson presented in films of this nature – when we finally get that which we crave, we find that it changed us significantly enough that we’re not happy with ourselves, even though we should be.

Yadda, yadda, yadda. Of course, maybe the pre-teens that are going to flock to this movie haven’t learned that valuable lesson six or eight times over, so I’m probably being a little harsh.

This movie is good for a smile and a chuckle or two. But I wouldn’t go as far as to suggest that Garner should quit her day job after this outing and last year’s Daredevil.