An American Girl: McKenna Shoots for the Stars

McKenna Shoots For The Stars is another tie-in film from the American Girl series based on the dolls of the same name. I’m pretty sure partly on some books as well. It is the story of a young girl named McKenna whose entire life is gymnastics and because of this her studies suffer. She is in competition to make the regional competitive gymnastics team but id forced to take on a tutor, something she is somewhat ashamed of and tries to hide from her friends. Of course when it rains it pours and poor McKenna takes an injury and is sidelined much to her dismay. Can she get her academics in line and bounce back from her injury in time to make the team?

My kids are a bit old for this but with Olympic try-outs on the television, we watched the gymnastics bit a few weeks ago, they were intrigued enough to sit still and watch it with me. Honestly, it failed to capture their attention and I was easily able to jot down some notes as to why that might be.

As you could have guessed the movie is more about making the sport look good. There are several sequences of the girls performing backed by poppy tunes and lots of smiling. Also, as you might have guessed, this is a feel good film which has all the syrupy sweet goodness of such a film for kids. Sometimes they lay it on a bit too thick and other times it works. If your kids are susceptible to the thought that they can grow up to do anything they will be sold on the idea of gymnastics here in the light of being a lot of laughs and good friends to conquer all with. Still, the film has all the makings of made for TV enlightenment which felt like the acting was dropped down a few notches along with the writing. It could have been better but it’s fine for what it is.

PICTURE AND AUDIO QUALITY:
Universal presents McKenna Shoots For The Stars in a 1080p presentation which has it’s quirks. There are soft spots every so often, sometimes to the point where definition suffers for it. A splash of grain here and there also pops up. Color looks fine, definition, when not being drowned out by the occasional soft spot looks presentable. All together though the presentation found here borders an 80/20 score. Kids won’t care, parents will probably watch once or twice before it becomes something the kids watch on their own, but it gets the job done. Audio is also presentable offering very little immersion but a crisp dialogue and lively soundtrack during the performance sequences.

BONUS FEATURES:
~DVD Version
~Digital Copy