When I first heard about this film, it reminded me of a film called, ‘Everything, Everything’ so I assumed it would be a re-hash of the same story, and with Bella Thorne playing the lead role, I assumed that it would be some Disney style romance story – but as they say, you should NEVER ASSUME ANYTHING.
As a grown up, I didn’t grow up with Bella Thorne on TV, but my son’s generation did, and so have lots of my dance students from my dance school, Unique Dynamites Cheerleading & Dance Academy so it was amazing when we were offered a special screening for the students to preview the film before its official release.
For those who don’t know… Bella Thorne is best known as an all singing, acting and dancing girl in The Disney Channel’s ‘Shake it Up’
But now, she’s all grown up and starring in proper films π … take a look at the trailer for Midnight Sun…
The Synopsis
Bella Thorne plays Katie Price, a teenager who has spent her whole life watching the world go by from the safety of her bedroom window by day due to her developing a rare disease XP which prohibits her from going out in the sun at all for her own survival.
She just longs to be able to do the things that other teenage girls her age can do, but at least she has best friend, Morgan (Quinn Shephard) who she can confide in about girly things, such as her crush on Charlie (Patrick Schwarzenegger), not that she doesn’t have a fantastic relationship with her Dad, Jack (Rob Riggle) but you know how protective dad’s can be.
Katie spends most of her time playing her guitar and songwriting, she makes regular trips to the local train station where she busks for the evening commuters for performance practise and a bit of pocket money, this is where Katie and Charlie meet by chance, and the story quickly develops from there.
My Thoughts
This film is more than just a romance, there are some really funny scenes, for us older viewers be prepared to be transported back to those awkward teenage years when you had to actually talk to your crush and you were just tongue-tied and your brain turned to mush? Remember those days…yeah, well… there are some real cringe moments in this film – totally hilarious π
The subject matter is sad on the surface, but there is also such inspirational messages entwined within the plot, Katie lives her best life possible, she takes each day as it comes and makes the most of her situation without too much complaining… How many of us can say that we do this, daily?
Themes explored in this film include Father/Daughter relationship, friendship, first love and grief.
Although these are quite heavy themes, the film manages to entwine them into the film in an entertaining way without diluting the seriousness.
There is actually a lot of humour in this film.
Bella is an amazing actress and just as talented a singer, the soundtrack to this film is really good and well worth checking out too.
This is such a beautiful film both visually and story, this film will soften even the hardest of hearts.
My dance students thoughts...
The age group attending the screening was 8yrs – 15yrs old, so quite a gap.
All the teenagers admitted to shedding some tears and absolutely loved the soundtrack, the younger children seemed to be inspired by Katie’s songwriting and guitar playing with a few stating that they want to start writing songs after watching the film.
Both the accompanying dance mums and I ended the film in floods of tears.
We were treated very lovely by the teams at Organic and Studio Canal, we arrived at a beautifulΒ Central London Hotel to be greeted with free soft drinks and a Midnight Sun goody bag with lots of little treats, including the BOOK πΒ (If you’d like to win a goody bag, stay tuned to my social media account, particularly myΒ twitter account
The film is rated a 12A, due to some scenes of underage drinking but nothing else for any real concern, although my younger dance students did have a giggle or two, every time Katie and Charlie shared a kiss – aahh to be so innocent again π
If you’re looking for aΒ brilliant family film that will appeal to all ages this Easter break, then you can’t go wrong with this little gem.
Enjoy!
Chanel π x
Chanel Williams