Sad but true, I’ve been waiting to see Freaky Friday since January, I remember stumbling onto a site which informed me of this movie, as soon as I read the information I was as excited as anything, yes, yes I really should grow up and watch more intellectual movies but I’m just a huge fan of light hearted fun! In case you didn’t know “Freaky Friday” is a remake of the 1976 movie of the same name starring Jodie Foster and Barbara Harris. I liked the original version of this film and was just waiting for a modern remake, and alas here it is! There is a TV version starring Shelly Long and Gabby Hoffman, and I thought that version was ok but I was waiting for a big screen remake! Shockingly this version did pretty well with the critics and even surpassed expectations by raking in more than $100 million at the box office in America alone. Slightly unexpected but well deserved, as this summer there did seem to be somewhat of a drought in the cinema when it came to family films.

Tess Coleman and her daughter Annabelle are not getting along. Tess is considered to be an uptight mother who sucks the fun out of everything, whilst Tess thinks her daughter is a slacking troublemaker who is always found in detention. For these two it’s just from one argument to another. Tess is a widowed psychiatrist who is engaged to Ryan. Their wedding is in a few days and Tess is excited as anything. Anna really likes Jake, a very cute guy from school; the two have a lot in common but just don’t get the opportunity to talk too much. She is also in a band called pink slip and practices in her garage every day. The band have been given the chance to enter a once in a lifetime competition, however at the time of the competition is Tess and Ryan’s rehearsal dinner. Later that night at dinner in a Chinese restaurant Anna brings up the once in a lifetime opportunity only to be let down, her mum just won’t budge. The two decide to have a private discussion about the matter which then turns into an argument when a Chinese woman offers them a fortune cookie, the two open it to find a cryptic message and then suddenly they’re hit by an Earthquake, they run into the restaurant to find everybody in their seats, no one has reacted to the Earthquake they just felt a few minutes ago. The next morning is about to get very freaky. Tess wakes up in Anna’s room, shocked at why’s she’s there, she looks in the mirror to find she’s in Anna’s body. Tess in Anna’s body has to go wake up Anna in her body and both are completely horrified, they need to find a way to switch back, and fast.

I think Lindsay Lohan is a very good actress and I for one hope to see bigger things from her in the future. Now as shameful as it is I’ve seen the remake of “The parent trap” far too many times for my own good, but Lindsay was so impressive in that movie that I knew she was going to be just as good in this. She played the part of the rebellious teenager so well; she was so believable yet after the transformation she was just as good if not better as an uptight mother. She played both parts just as well as each other. I don’t usually say this about the new invasion of the young teen actresses (Amanda Bynes, Kaley Cuoco, Brittany Snow, Emily Vancamp, Raven Symone, Alexis Bledel, Mischa Barton, and Hilary Duff, the only one besides Lindsay who I think can actually act is Evan Rachel Wood) but I think Lindsay is a good actress; she managed to pull off both parts so believably. Also you even get to hear Lindsay sing in the movie and she does have a great voice compared to someone else (Hilary Duff) who isn’t quite as talented in this department.

I did expect a lot of comedy in this movie but it really wasn’t as funny as I expected it to be but that doesn’t mean I didn’t like it. It was more giggle, funny, not laugh out loud funny, but to me that isn’t really a bad thing, I still thoroughly enjoyed what I was watching. Even though I like the original, I preferred this version mainly because it’s updated and is more appealing than something made in 1976. The jokes are funnier and it isn’t as sugar-coated as the first, it’s sweet but not too sweet, I mean yes there is sentimentality but that’s inevitable as the mother and daughter need to understand what it’s like to be them but other than that it’s not too bad.

The director Mark S. Waters has managed to create a bright, uplifting movie which is just fun to watch. The dated jokes and elements from the original are absent and replaced with modern day elements such as the working mother and the rebellious daughter in the band. I think this movie was made right; it wasn’t a mish-mash of adventures of mother as daughter and vice versa but it had enough comedy and the right amount of sentiment without becoming just another Disney movie. Yes the Disney feel is there, but it’s not in your face, which I quite appreciated. One thing I just loved about this movie was the atmosphere, it could have gone so wrong but it’s just perfect for the plot.