This movie has heart. There are some normal teenage movie expectations as well. Very sweet.

Instead of the prince just saving Cinderella, they discuss psychological abuse and removing her from the bad environment.

Imagine what a Cinderella story would be like if it was set in modern suburbia with high school students. Okay, now you are imagining this incorrectly. So imagine it was a realistically based story that addressing the issues and mechanisms associated dealing with abusive foster parent environments. Now you are getting the picture.

This story of Cindy Ella (get it),who lives with her aunt and uncle and their daughters, while going to school, and there is a handsome guy involved.

This is not exactly a well written story, and while the acting is okay, it is all a bit superficial. But it addresses some important issues intelligently enough. So yeah, it is a good one for teens to watch.

It is a given in almost every rendering of the Cinderella story that the step-mother and her daughters will be exaggerated in how cruel they are. So despite the fact that this aspect was really bad and hard to watch, I can accept that as part of the movie. As a viewer, I just needed to be careful not to let this set up my expectations for the rest of the movie. I'm glad that I took that approach because there is so much in this movie to make me glad I watched it. There is much to smile about. There is much to bring tears. There are "ah" moments.

There were a lot of other unrealistic things, but what is surprising is how accurate so many things were. It is easy to see how people, including Indy, could miss how badly she was being treated by her aunt and uncle. Yes it was obvious that it was unpleasant to the extreme, but it wasn't as obvious that it was illegal. That is a tough case to make.

More than anything else, I am glad I met Indy. And her friends Maxton and Bryant were exceptional too. All of them had aspects of maturity and generosity that are well beyond the capability of high school kids. Even so, I loved Indy. By the end of the movie, this scrawny, plain-Jane, stick of a girl displayed the more-than-skin-deep beauty that shines.

In most of the more traditional tellings of Cinderella, the story is practically finished when the prince rescues her. One moment he is fitting the glass slipper on her, and the next there is a wedding at the castle and The End. In this version, we get to see some of Cinderella's transition from slavery to what comes after. I thought the writers had some really great moments in a script that was both excellent but also had some flaws. One moment I really loved was when Indy looked at the pancakes and said "That's all for me?" It was brief and it was a small thing, but after what we saw early in the movie, it spoke volumes. I also loved her shoes. Truly a double meaning.

Other than the intentional exaggerations, most of the acting was at least tolerable. Paris Warner did an excellent job as a down-to-earth girl who has suffered but mostly remains positive. I loved watching her face in some of the scenes with one of the two boys. Her pain and fear really grabbed me as she listened to the Doctor argue with the social worker and policeman. Unfortunately, she was not good in the scene of confrontation with her aunt and uncle. The two actors playing the boys were good playing young men who were too good to be true.

I loved this movie, but only because I was able to dismiss the intentional exaggerations for what they were and sit back to enjoy.