Passport To Paris (DVD)

Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen fever has finally reached our household, resulting in their DVDs being played pretty much all the time. Any parent with young girls is likely to have heard of this duo who are huge in the US. Basically they are identical twins who have their own make-up line, clothing line, toy line and are actresses as well. Their speciality type of film is starring with each other in pre-teen type films usually aimed for young girls aged ...
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Ally (Mary Kate Olsen)
Melanie (Ashley Olsen)
The twins play two 13 year old American girls, Ally and Mel, who are sent to Paris for a holiday by their parents to vist their grandfather who is the US ambassador to France. Their grandfather is a grumpy old man who insists on quiet in the household and that the girls behave like ladies. The girls arrive in Paris and are strictly chaperoned by one of their grandfather's special ... more

Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen fever has finally reached our household, resulting in their DVDs being played pretty much all the time. Any parent with young girls is likely to have heard of this duo who are huge in the US. Basically they are identical twins who have their own make-up line, clothing line, toy line and are actresses as well. Their speciality type of film is starring with each other in pre-teen type films usually aimed for young girls aged about 7-12 years.

Ally (Mary Kate Olsen)
Melanie (Ashley Olsen)
The twins play two 13 year old American girls, Ally and Mel, who are sent to Paris for a holiday by their parents to vist their grandfather who is the US ambassador to France. Their grandfather is a grumpy old man who insists on quiet in the household and that the girls behave like ladies. The girls arrive in Paris and are strictly chaperoned by one of their grandfather's special assistants named Jeremy. The plot is very thin in that it basically involves the twins annoying their grandfather with their noise-making and how they roam around Paris. They sight see around the city visiting the Eiffel Tower, Jardin des Luxembourg etc and meet two French boys imaginatively named Jean and Michel with decidedly dodgy French accents. The story is pretty much about how the Ambassador's residence changes with the presence of the twins (butlers and maids dancing to rap music; the French chef being converted to Macdonalds) and how they get to like their chaperone Jeremy more and more. The twins also go shopping and make friends with a French supermodel and try and sneak about Paris to meet the French boys.
Although weak it was a welcome change from most films involving identical twins in that there was no identity swapping etc.

The soundtrack in the film was pretty much unmemorable.
The film was actually shot in Paris so it was good in that the location shots did not look fake.

Certificate U
Price £4.99 at play.com
The only extras included were the Mary -Kate and Ashley Fashion Close up where they go through where their clothes came from scene by scene. This was actually quite interesting but would have been more appropriate had we been watching a film where I would actually allow my kids to wear clothes similar to those featured!

The girls under 12 years absolutely loved this film and watched it repeatedly. The boys watched it as well and also enjoyed the film but probably not to the same extent.
The story was fairly weak but this level was okay for the target age group- it wasn't difficult to understand and appealed to young girls. Similarly the dialogue was childish (look how cute that boy is etc etc etc), but again not difficult for the target audience.
The extras included on the DVD were pretty basic in that it was just the Fashion Close up and this brings me to my biggest gripe about the film! The girls' clothes! Their clothes were not inappropriate in that they were not revealing or anything but I just felt that they were far to adult for 13 year olds to be wearing. I should be wearing those clothes! For example in one scene the twins are wearing sleeveless black dresses with pearls??? How many 13 year old actually do this??
In other scenes their clothes are just too high fashion- long fluted floral skirts, leather coats!! Perhaps I'm showing my age but I thought this was silly. I'm sure that in the coming few days when I go clothes shopping with my girls I will have to put my foot down firmly and refuse to buy them any thing like the clothes featured in the film!
Overall the film was fun to watch and was thoroughly enjoyed. Despite my comments about the weak plot, dodgy accents etc, considering it's target audience it was well worth £4.99 as it has been watched to death!
One tip- don't bother watching it if you haven't got kids!
 

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