This review may contain some minor spoilers so keep in mind if you haven’t watched it or read the book. I do my best to avoid them but it’s not always possible.
Summary: Two unlikely friends, the loud and fearless Bean, and the thoughtful and quiet Ivy. Yet the two discover that an adventure can reveal that even seemingly different people can become the best of friends.
Title: Ivy + Bean
Rating: U
Runtime: 57 Minutes
Cast: Keslee Blalock, Madison Skye Validum, Nia Vardalos, Lidya Jewett, Marci T. House, Jaycie Dotin, Garfield Wilson, Innocent Ekakitie, Hudson Hua and Parker Hua
Director: Elissa Down
Writers: Annie Barrows (Books), Jeff Stockwell & Kathy Waugh
Review:
The story is a live action telling of the books about mischievous destructive Bean and witch in training Ivy who refuse to be friends until Bean’s behaviour makes her need Ivy’s help to escape her mean big sister Nancy. Making the girls become inseparable best friends.
This was perfectly done, it was adorable the two girls playing Ivy and Bean were perfect toy cast and very talented young actresses. They were so cute but naughty and the connection between them was amazing. They were really funny and had managed to capture the characters from the books really well.
The movie has the same problematic-ness that the books had with Bean’s behaviour and her and Nancy being incredibly mean to each other constantly, mostly for no reason and having no parental interaction to stop it nipping the bad behaviour in the bud. The parents just let them bully each other which they didn’t need to do.
I did love the adventure and imagination within this movie and seeing it visually come to life was honestly beautiful, it was such a pretty little town. I really loved the magic that Ivy is doing and how what her imagination was doing lined up perfectly with what Bean’s imagination was doing. It was hilarious how it all worked out and even though the girls didn’t want to like each other they had to in the end.
This is a great movie for young kids or families to watch together it’s really sweet, has a great cast, an interesting storyline that will hook you in, it’s funny and so imaginative. The friendship that blooms is really great and progresses nicely and it’s also a nice shorter watch.
I’m really impressed with how this version of the story turned out, it was honestly way better than I expected it was going to be.
apapergirlapapertown 