Don't we all wish our lives could be fairy tales??? In this movie, that's exactly what one naive and tomboyish girl named Sydney White gets. To us, it seems like a rather familiar story.

What Amanda Bynes is so good at is delivering clean and funny teen and family comedies. She is a very funny actress, and continues to be respectable by not screwing up her life like most actresses her age. She's cute as Sydney, though her tan was not. It was quite over-done in fact. Besides her the ones who steal the show are, of course, the dorks (aka dwarfs). They are certainly adorable, and we can't help but think that Sydney has found the best possible friends on campus. The downfall in the cast was Sara Paxton as the arch-nemesis Rachel WITCHburn. She just didn't seem quite evil enough for me. Crystal Hunt was also not that great as Sydney southern friend Dinky.

There are some laugh-out-loud moments and one-liners. The most fun part of the movie is catching the fairy tale parts as they come. That and watching the dorks. "Sydney White" is a fine family film and will even work well for teens, and it has a very nice message. However, it never reaches any kind of high point and kind of just seems to go on at a continuous rate. Still, it's worth a watch as a diversion from reality and back into fairy tale world. 6/10 stars!

Jay Addison

Watching this brought back uncomfortable memories of 'House Bunny' although the latter was released a year later and I didn't buy the DVDs in chronological order. Where this succeeds and HB fails, is that Amanda Bynes makes the best of her role but Anna Faris looked very uncomfortable in hers - which to be fair to her was rather exploitative..

Much of this is drivel, let's not kid ourselves. All credit to AB that she alone does not give up on the weak script and lack of direction, and in the end pulls a rabbit or two out of a decidedly tired hat. By the end of this movie I had forgiven much of the dull and uninspired performances because it all works out for the best. Sentimental twaddle it may be, but it won me over - so all credit for that.

Saddest sight for me was seeing a 33 year old Danny Strong playing a student - a role he seems permanently associated with. He didn't look too impressed either. And I don't see Matt Long as the hero type but hey ... at least Sara Paxton makes a good bitch .. or witch. I didn't get the Snow White thing till about 3/4 way through, but then I'm a bit slow :)

The idea for SYDNEY WHITE isn't all that new. I am not referring to the fact that the film is a re-telling of the story of Snow White, but that this same concept was done with the wonderful Barbara Stanwyck and Gary Cooper film BALL OF FIRE. It, too, was a retelling of this Brother's Grimm story, though BALL OF FIRE was done much more subtly--so much so that many seeing the film didn't realize the similarities. Here, though, the similarities are far from subtle--making this much more a film for younger and less savvy crowds. Now I am NOT saying that SYDNEY WHITE is a bad film (it isn't),but that it is just a lot more obvious in it's parallels.

Amanda Bynes plays Sydney--a nice girl who has a dream of going to her dead mother's university and joining the same sorority. However, once there, it turns out the sorority is ruled with an iron fist by a nasty and self-absorbed girl, Rachel Witchburn (not exactly subtle, I know). Rachel does all she can to make Sydney's life miserable and eventually has her blackballed from the organization.

When Sydney is refused admission, she has no place to stay and a group of seven nice geeks invite her to live with them in their broken-down home. Not surprisingly, these are the embodiment of the seven dwarfs and together they turn out to be pretty happy--probably a lot happier than Sydney would have been with that stuck-up sorority.

Like the original tale, soon Sydney is introduced to her own "Prince Charming" and the story presents very few major surprises. However, while there aren't too many surprises, the journey there is what makes this an excellent family film. First, the lessons here are excellent for young adults, as Sydney succeeds by being a decent person and treating others well--not seeking revenge, sulking or trying to be someone she's not. Second, there are lots of cute little touches that will make this film fun even for adults. All too often, the term "family film" means sappy or cloying or a film just marketed to the kids--this is just not the case with this film (thankfully). You don't need to have a teen to watch this film. The only caveat I might point out is that the film is rated PG-13 for some profanity and irresponsible drinking--nothing that bad compared to TV but also need really needed in the film.

If you want a cute and sweet film to watch with your teen, look no further.