Debra Martin Chase Movies

The tale of forbidden love on the dance floor gets the remake treatment from original choreographer Kenny Ortega (High School Musical) in this Lionsgate production. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, Rovi

A promising young gymnast finds her high-flying goals getting in the way of her studies, and attempts to raise her grades with the help of a tutor while recovering from an injury in this inspirational story for the entire family. When McKenna Brooks (Jade Pettyjohn) is up on the balance beam, there's nothing she can't do. If she practices hard, there's a good chance she'll qualify for the regional competitive gymnastics team. Meanwhile, her grades are plummeting, prompting concern from her parents (Ian Ziering and Nia Vardalos) that she's spending too much time in the gym. Embarrassed by her teacher's suggestion for her to seek out a tutor, McKenna eventually finds the perfect person to help her get back on track in the classroom, but suffers a slight injury that means she'll have to be in a cast for eight weeks. Now, with just two months to get back on her feet, make the team, and improve her grades, the determined young gymnast discovers that anything is possible when you're family and friends are there to help pick you up. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

When NBA All-Star Scott McKnight (Common) suffers a debilitating injury, tough-talking physical therapist Leslie Wright (Queen Latifah) pulls out all the stops to get him back on his game. But their professional relationship turns personal when Leslie finds herself falling for Scott, and discovers the feeling may be mutual. Paula Patton co-stars in a romantic comedy penned by Michael Elliot and directed by Sanaa Hamri. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

The Cheetah Girls have been cast in a high-profile Bollywood musical, and now the trio that rocked the U.S. and grooved through Spain are about to get another eye-opening cultural experience as they set their sights on India. They've got the songs to keep India dancing, and the moves needed to make an impression on the big screen, and it's beginning to look like this unique opportunity could be precisely the big break that the Cheetah Girls' have been hoping for. Their future as a group is thrown into question, however, when Chanel (Adrienne Bailon), Aqua (Kiely Williams), and Dorinda (Sabrina Bryan) discover that they'll be in direct competition with one another to win the starring role. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

In this sequel to the 2003 Disney Channel hit The Cheetah Girls, the girls travel to Spain to compete in a prominent music festival while learning a thing or two about themselves in the process. Convinced that they are destined for stardom and determined to make it to Spain to compete in the New Voices of Music Festival, New York teens Galleria (Raven Symone), Chanel (Adrienne Bailon), Aqua (Kiely Williams), and Dorinda (Sabrina Bryan) pull out all the stops to convince mothers Juanita and Dorothea that a "cultural and educational experience" on foreign shores is just the thing to prepare them for the rigorous demands of adulthood. When the girls finally arrive in Spain and find their priorities leading them each in different directions, they quickly discover that there may be more to life than living the wild life of a Cheetah Girl. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Directed by Garry Marshall, The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement picks up where its predecessor left off -- that is, with American teenager Mia Thermopolis (Anne Hathaway) reeling over the news that she is a princess within the royal family of Genovia, a little-known European nation with a population of barely 50,000. As promised, Mia, along with her best friend, Lilly (Heather Matarazzo), travels to Genovia after their high-school graduation. The unlikely princess has hardly settled into the castle, let alone begun representing the country, when she learns that a larger title is approaching more rapidly than expected; it seems as though Mia will have to take over as queen. Suddenly, in addition to further schooling on the etiquette of royalty, Mia finds herself with a daunting prospect -- according to Genovian law, all princesses must be married before they can be crowned. In addition to Julie Andrews' reprisal of her role as Queen Clarisse Renaldi, The Princess Diaries 2 also features Hector Elizondo and John Rhys-Davies in supporting roles. Though Princess Diaries author Meg Cabot did pen a sequel (The Princess Diaries: Princess in the Spotlight), this film is not an adaptation. ~ Tracie Cooper, Rovi

Based on the popular series of children's books by Deborah Gregory, the made-for-cable The Cheetah Girls is all about four teenage girlfriends, all from different ethnic and economic backgrounds, all attending a Manhattan high school specializing in fashion design. The foursome includes the unofficial leader, Galleria Garibaldi (Raven) and her pals Dorinda (Sabrina Bryan) and Chanel (Adrienne Bailon), as well as comparative newcomer Aqua (Kiely Williams). Aspiring to pop-music stardom, the quartet forms a girl group, whereupon they attract the interest of music teacher (and former disco queen) Drinka Champagne (Sandra Caldwell) -- who, in turn, refers the girls to Jackal Johnson (Vincent Corazza), a charming but duplicitous producer for Def Duck Records. Sensing that the Cheeta Girls' first taste of showbiz success will degenerate into exploitation and backstabbing, Galleria's mom, ex-model Dorothea (Lynn Whitfield), tries to save her daughter and friends from the cruelties of life in the fast lane. The Cheetah Girls debuted August 15, 2003, on the Disney Channel. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Seen on ABC's Wonderful World of Disney, this $12-million production is the only musical Rodgers and Hammerstein wrote for television. The CBS-TV original, with 21-year-old Julie Andrews in the title role and Edie Adams as the Fairy Godmother, played on live television March 31, 1957 to TV's largest audience ever to that date (107-million viewers). That historic production, captured on kinescope, can still be seen today on library monitors at the Museum of Television & Radio in New York and Los Angeles. Hammerstein died in 1960 and did not get to see 18-year-old Lesley Ann Warren as Cinderella in the February 22, 1965 restaged production, repeated annually on CBS until 1977 and later made available on videotape from CBS/Fox Video and Facets Multimedia. Added to the 1965 show was "Loneliness of Evening", a song actually written for South Pacific but cut before the Broadway opening.

Running a half-hour longer, this third interpretation premiered November 2, 1997. Filmed over a 28-day period, it stars Brandy Norwood as Cinderella and Whitney Houston as the Fairy Godmother, with Bernadette Peters as the Stepmother, Whoopi Goldberg as the Queen (wearing $60 million worth of borrowed Harry Winston jewelry), Paolo Montalban as the Prince, and Jason Alexander as the Prince's steward, Lionel. Scripter Robert L. Freedman provided a rewrite of the original Oscar Hammerstein book, and three other Richard Rodgers songs were added to the existing score: "There's Music in You" (from the 1953 movie musical Main Street to Broadway), "The Sweetest Sounds" (a Brandy/Montalban duet), and "Falling in Love with Love". Originally set in motion as a follow-up to the highly successful TV Gypsy (1993) with Bette Midler, this 1997 multicultural version (sometimes referred to as the "rainbow Cinderella") was years in the making, since it was initiated in 1994 when Houston joined executive producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron (the team responsible for the TV Gypsy). ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

A soldier discovers how elusive the truth can be in this first major film about America's role in the Gulf War. Lt. Col. Nathaniel Serling (Denzel Washington) was the commander of a unit during Operation Desert Storm who mistakenly ordered the destruction of what he believed to be an enemy tank, only to discover that it actually held U.S. soldiers, including a close friend. Since then, Serling has been an emotional wreck, drinking heavily and allowing his marriage to teeter on the brink of collapse. As a means of redeeming himself, Serling is given a new assignment by his superior, Gen. Hershberg (Michael Moriarty). Capt. Karen Walden (Meg Ryan) was a helicopter pilot who died in battle during the Iraqi conflict, and the White House has proposed that Walden be posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. Serling is asked to investigate Walden's actions on the field of battle, but he quickly discovers that no two stories about her are quite the same; Ilario (Matt Damon) says Walden acted heroically and sacrificed herself to save the others in her company, while Monfriez (Lou Diamond Phillps) claims she was a coward who was attempting to surrender to enemy troops. Meanwhile, reporter Tony Gartner (Scott Glenn) is hounding Serling, trying to get the inside story on Walden and on Serling's own difficulties. Matt Damon lost 40 pounds to prepare for his role in Courage Under Fire, which resulted in a potentially life-threatening illness for the young actor. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi