Stargirl is the latest of Disney’s coming-of-age films to be released exclusively to the Disney+ streaming service. Featuring an up-and-coming cast led by Graham Verchere and Grace VanderWaal, the story follows Leo (Verchere) a teenager who lives in a small town in Arizona with his mother. Both Leo and his mother are still mourning the loss of Leo’s father, a loss Leo deals with by wearing his dad’s old ties. When the previously home-schooled quirky ‘Stargirl’ (VanderWaal) arrives at Leo’s school for tenth grade, Leo falls for her immediately, while she causes a big reaction from the small-town school with her quirky outfits and frequent singing.
Speaking of VanderWaal’s singing, she may look familiar from her viral audition and eventual success winning the eleventh season of America’s Got Talent at the age of 12. Since then she’s focused heavily on her musical career, with Stargirl being her acting debut at age 16. For a first film, VanderWaal does well, however her singing abilities are still very much at the forefront of her career with the film even taking several pauses in the story to allow for her to perform in various settings including the cafeteria and football games. This film isn’t a musical in terms of the characters bursting into a song that moves the story forward but instead the action or drama will pause and focus solely on Stargirl performing before going back to the story.
The story itself comes directly from the young adult fiction novel of the same name written by Jerry Spinelli. The film feels similar to other films within the YA-book-to-film genre, reminding me a lot of Paper Towns (starring Cara Delevingne based on the novel by John Green) and Perks of Being a Wallflower (starring Logan Lerman and written by Stephen Chbosky) if they were for a younger audience. One of the noticeable aspects that comes with the transition from book to film is that Stargirl features two story arcs. Films with a younger audience usually stick with an introduction, a conflict and a resolution all tied up nice and neatly; however, Stargirl has one obvious romantic storyline be resolved in the first half of the film, leaving the story open to quite a decent plot twist and not the usual neat ending expected of Disney films which was pretty refreshing.
Overall, Stargirl features a nice message for a young audience about being true to yourself and making friends who accept you, and although I found it cringey at some parts, I also knew watching the film I was not the intended audience. Full of first loves, original songs and plenty of high school drama I don’t know if Stargirl will be a new classic, but it’s a light-hearted film with a nice message that can successfully serve as a welcome distraction right about now.
Score: 3.5 / 5