The Lizzie McGuire Movie

This wholesome Hilary Duff vehicle/TV series spin-off will have Mary Whitehouse smiling in her grave. Duff plays the school Cinderella who flies off on a junior high post-graduation Roman holiday with 30-odd classmates. They include sweet Gordo (Lamberg), a loyal, platonic male support with the secret hots, and hissable Kate (Brillault), a Miss Popular adept at bitchy putdowns. The director's visual style betrays close study of the art of travel commercials and shampoo ads, his semaphore thoughtfully backed up by chart pop or orchestral music, which underscores every emotional or moral move for the inattentive viewer. What he does successfully, however, is to supply an easy, affectionate slant to affairs, aided by Duff's 'girl next door' decency and standard-issue attractiveness. On the other hand, Gellman's Paolo, the teenage Italian pop star Lizzie falls for, is drearily flavour-free. Borstein, as funny/cynical principal Ms Ungermeyer, more a bruising bear than a protective tiger to the darling little cubs, is a delight and surely a teacher's icon in the making. But the film's chasteness, unashamed lack of inflection and two-finger-salute street-cred may disappoint older teenagers.