Elle Fanning is a 17-year-old Polish immigrant farm girl living on Britain’s Isle of Wight who enters a TV singing competition with the complications involved in discovering her inner strengths. Writer-director Max Minghella has filled the story with pop songs old and new and keeps the plot predictable but not stale. He goes a bit heavy on the sugar coating and there are a couple of noticeably absent back stories. But, as Fanning’s character is befriended and coached by a down-on-his luck operatic tenor (Zlatko Buric), the content remains determinedly non-offensive, making this probably appropriate for mature adolescents.
Watch out for: Underage drinking, some sensuality and fleeting crude language.
Rated: A-III, adults; MPAA: PG-13
