A Cinderella Story: Prime Video's Underrated $70M Modern Fairy Tale Gem

Among the movies currently streaming on Prime Video is a modern fairy tale that is an underrated streaming hidden gem, and it stars a beloved pop star. Prime Video has positioned itself as one of the biggest and most popular streaming services, offering both licensed and original content, with some of its projects now ranking among the best TV shows of all time.

Prime Video offers a wide variety of TV shows and movies, and different titles can be found on its trending list every week. Among those trending at the time of writing is a modern fairy tale released in 2004, starring one of the most popular teen stars at the time, and which, over the years, has become a cult classic.

A Cinderella Story Is A Modern Take On The Classic Cinderella Tale

In 2004, the teen rom-com A Cinderella Story was released in theaters. Directed by Mark Rosman, A Cinderella Story is a modern take on Charles Perrault’s version of the Cinderella folk tale, and it takes the audience to the then-present-day San Fernando Valley. The movie follows Sam (Hilary Duff), who was raised by her widowed father, Hal, who owned a diner.

Hal marries greedy and vain Fiona (Jennifer Coolidge), who has twin daughters, Brianna and Gabriella. After Hal dies in an earthquake, seemingly without a will, Fiona takes over the diner, the house, and Sam’s life, forcing her to move into the attic and serve her as she pleases. Now, a 17-year-old Sam works at the diner so she can attend Princeton.

Unbeknownst to Fiona and her step-sisters, Sam has an online pen pal known as “Nomad”, who attends her high school and also plans to attend Princeton. Sam and “Nomad” gradually fall for each other and agree to meet at their school’s Halloween dance as they will both be wearing costumes, and Sam learns that “Nomad” is popular but unhappy quarterback Austin (Chad Michael Murray).

Instead of dropping a shoe, Sam drops her cellphone, and that’s all Austin has to find her. Although predictable, like most teen rom-coms from the 2000s, A Cinderella Story is a unique modern take on a classic tale everyone knows, and it knows how to use modern elements to its advantage.

Is A Cinderella Story Worth Watching?

A Cinderella Story was a commercial success, but as it happens with most movies of its kind, it wasn’t the critics’ favorite. A Cinderella Story holds an 11% critics' score on Rotten Tomatoes, but its cult classic status speaks volumes about its impact and legacy.

I admit A Cinderella Story isn’t a movie for everyone in the sense that it’s predictable, cliché, and does have some laughable moments due to how cringeworthy some lines, scenes, and performances can be – however, this doesn’t make it any less entertaining and even endearing.

Ultimately, A Cinderella Story was never a movie meant to be an award-winning, critically acclaimed piece, and it serves its main purpose of entertaining its audience, and that alone makes it worth watching.

A Cinderella Story Spawned A Forgotten Movie Franchise

Perhaps not so surprisingly when looking at its $70 million against a budget of $19 million, A Cinderella Story spawned an anthology movie franchise – unfortunately, it’s a forgettable or even unknown one. Hilary Duff’s A Cinderella Story was followed by five standalone movies, all of them direct-to-video releases.

All of these movies are modern retellings of Cinderella, with different elements and ways to add mystery to the main character. While none of the sequels were as successful as Hilary Duff’s movie, they all had notable lead actresses: Selena Gomez, Lucy Hale, Sofia Carson, Laura Marano, and Bailee Madison.

It’s unlikely the sequels will ever reach the cult status that A Cinderella Story reached, and despite its flaws, Hilary Duff’s modern Cinderella movie is still one of the most popular teen rom-coms of the 2000s.