Julia Hart’s bubbly sequel picks up the story in summertime and reframes around Stargirl, a character who in the first movie was auxiliary by design.
After I read Jerry Spinelli’s best-selling Y.A. book “Stargirl,” titled for a quirky free spirit who spices up life for a diffident boy, I privately logged the name as a shorthand for stock female characters conjured to make men feel alive.
Julia Hart’s movie adaptation of “Stargirl” reproduced the novel’s more noxious clichés by locking us inside the male protagonist’s point of view and according Stargirl (Grace VanderWaal), a do-gooder ukulelist in suspenders, all the interiority of a decorative urn.
Loyal fans may then be startled to see that Hart’s sequel, “Hollywood Stargirl” (on Disney+), takes a hard left turn into the carefree young lady’s world. The movie picks up during the summer before Stargirl’s senior year, when her costume designer mother (Judy Greer) relocates them to Los Angeles. Scarcely a day passes in the new city before the flower child meets the wholesome Evan (Elijah Richardson), an aspiring filmmaker who casts her as his co-star in a low-budget musical.
“Hollywood Stargirl” could be seen as a filmmaking exercise. How do you build a story around a character who was auxiliary by design? Hart’s solutions are manifold, but her most effective one is to quash the grating altruism that drove Stargirl in the first movie. In its place is a more balanced, authentic charisma. Numerous breathy pop song performances — including one where Stargirl duets with a washed-up musician played by Uma Thurman — leave little time for emotional development, but then again, when you’re starting out as a stargirl, how much personal growth do you need?
Hollywood Stargirl
Rated PG. Running time: 1 hour 42 minutes. Watch on Disney+.
Source: Movies - nytimes.com
