Smart Cookies (Gaiam Vivendi DVD)
Picture:
B- Sound: B- Extras: D Telefilm: B+
Julie is
a realtor that can do, sell or handle anything, except little girls, but she is
forced into doing PR and community service by her boss to lead the most hopeless
group of Girl Scouts, The Fireflies. At
first, she tries to do the bare minimum to just get through her 90 day
'sentence', but after being snubbed by Monarch and their stuck up den mother,
she decides to turn this bunch 'loser' girls into the winners of this year's
girl scout cookie selling champions in Smart
Cookies.
Usually,
any Hallmark production would say Julie is a rotten human being and even imply
she is against God and nature (and maybe worse) by being a strong, independent
woman realtor who is egotistic and has no time for relationships, friends, much
less girls or kindness. We get a bit of
that here, but then she is stuck with the worst group of girl scouts, Daisy an
idealistic girl who needs a role model and mother, Frank, the tomboy tough girl
with a troubled past, Emma, the obese girl, Mattie a quiet shy girl, and Paris,
the girl who is obsessed with boys in what is supposed to be the realism of the
teleplay. Together, they learn about
friendship, confidence and team work and what the spirit of the Girl Scout is,
but is this about being a team and not an individual.
Despite
the politics, I felt this to be a good feel-good family TV movie, sort of like
the Mighty Ducks, except it was with girls and about Girl Scouts in stead of
hockey. It is the age old story of how
the underdog, loser team became number one. It teaches morals about life, how life is more
than just winning, how being number one it isn't always the most important
thing. And story a group eccentric girls who find confidence in themselves and
the value of friendship with each other.
Now you can judge for yourself if it is heavy-handed.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1,.78 X 1 image and lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo are
as good as they are going to get in this format and there are no extras… not
even free Girl Scout Cookies.. or those new Girl Scout Cookie Chocolate Bars…
- Ricky Chiang
