Wild Child Reviews - Portrait Reviews

Wild Child
Review by: Amanda

Poppy (Emma Roberts) has been living the life of the rich and fabulous in Malibu, California with her dad (Aiden Quinn) for the last few years. At sixteen, she pays little attention to rules, and she’s used to getting what she wants, or acting out to find a way to get it. She finally goes too far though, and her father sends her to a strict all girls boarding school in England to get her to clean up her act. Poppy makes it her mission to get into as much trouble as possible, certain that expulsion is her ticket back to sunny California. To her surprise, all of her attempts to get herself ousted earn her a group of friends, and the admiration of her classmates, so she decides to up her game.

Ignoring the atrocious blond wig the movie makers put on Emma Roberts at the start of the film, and the really easy to decipher plot, and this movie is pretty fun. I initially had a hard time seeing Emma Watson as the blonde party girl from Malibu (this may be partly because of that horrible wig), but as her character starts to grow, she becomes more believable. You know going into a movie like this that Poppy has to learn her lesson, that she’s acting out for a reason, and that discovering true friendship is at the heart of the movie. It’s predictable, it’s comfortable, but it is fun to watch. There’s a bonus in that Poppy’s love interest is the headmistresses son, played by Alex Pettyfer. (You can catch him next opposite Vanessa Hudgens in Beastly.) He’s a good choice for the role, as were all of the girls cast as Poppy’s roommates. Each of the characters is incredibly quirky and fun.

I’m sure you’ve sensed the theme by now. The movie isn’t deep or thrilling, but it is an enjoyable ride.