The Baby:Sitters Club [Import]

This is a very nice and easy going movie that gives a great look at Ann Martin's classic book series. I have to agree that even though Schuyler Fisk is a good actress (she's Sissy Spacek's daughter) she just didn't capture the character and confidence that Kristy has in the book series. Kristy in the movie is whiny and unsure of herself and apologetic. Kristy in the book series is loud and bossy, ever-so-confident and headstrong.
However, the movie is a pleasure to watch over and over again. Rachel Leigh Cook shines as Mary Anne; quiet, reserved, and lovely. Plus Claudia, Dawn, and the rest of the club members were acted well. The movie is not just based on a single BSC book, but chooses to concentrate mainly on the relationship between Kristy and her Dad. She and the other club members also run a summer play camp, which they do many times in the book series, and it features true girl situations, from boys to bullies, from anger to laughter, from trouble with babies to cranky next door neighbors. The ending was cute and is the best part, definitely because Cokie gets what she deserves! For a BSC fan, this movie is very satisfying. Overall, a great movie that shows how fun true friends really are!!

Clearly the writer/director had an axe to grind against all men. Every male in this movie was depicted as childish, ignorant, callous,irresponsible or moronic. It was clear by the dialogue too that men were considered part of this world by default and so many problems could be linked to their existance as was clearly indicated by the story line. Since this movie was aimed at young girls, this message was seared into young girls minds further widening the gender gap. In fact in reality in some cases the gender roles were reversed in this movie with the boys only goal in life to get a girl and the girls only thinking of making some project work. It's sad what people wont do to be part of a movie...any ,movie.
Take that out and the movie was still not very good. The logic and logistics of the summer camp weren't spelled out very well and it's a wonder how such a summer camp could exist without adult supervision. The "villans" were overacted, and frankly I was glad when the movie was finaly over.

Yes, the dialogue is corny, Mallory and Jessi get shafted (practically no lines for Jessi at all), and the tv series was much better. But this isn't a terrible movie either. I was a huge fan of the books as a kid, but hadn't seen this movie until my little sister rented it recently. I expected terrible acting, but Rachel Leigh Cook (of She's All That) really stands out as Mary Ann, and Larisa Oleynik (10 Thing I Hate About You, The Secret World of Alex Mack -what a great show!) and Schuyler Fisk (Orange County) do well too. Ellen Burstyn's appearance, while a bit random and very corny, is entertaining. The only one I wasn't impressed with was the actress playing Stacy. There's a whole lot going on in this movie, as each of the five older babysitters gets a least some subplot to herself, but it all ties together pretty well. There are some genuinely funny moments, and some more serious issues as well (Kristy deals with the reappearance of her deadbeat dad, who wants her to keep his presence a secret from her friends and family). While the movie will be most appreciated by younger girls, I think that people like me who grew up in the nineties will get a kick out of it too, with it's dated clothing, music (that awful rap scene!), pop-culture references, and of course, the babysitters themselves (and in their original form, great for those of us who remember the times before Dawn was replaced by Abby and similar blasphemous changes made).