DirectorJulia Hart brings a low-key energy to the film that journeyman filmmakers likely would avoid or simply not think of. Stargirl, though, is in the vein of indie comedies like Garden State and (500) Days of Summer, though unquestionably targeted at a more family-friendly audience.

Previous titles, such as Togo and Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made, were easy enough to connect to earlier Disney films, as if these newer titles were pitched as, for example, ' White Fang but with Willem Dafoe'. Stargirl is, whatever else is true, something of an odd choice for Disney+ in terms of their original content. But of course, such perfection can't last for a while, as conflicts arise and Leo learns the limitations of how weird he's willing to get. Soon enough, Stargirl wins over Leo and the entire high school, even turning into a lucky charm of sorts for the now very-talented football team. One day, he meets a new student named Stargirl (Grace VanderWaal), whose clothing is goofy and gaudy, who carries around a ukulele and sings 'Happy Birthday', and who seems laser-focused on Leo as a person. He's got a core set of friends, but is mostly just very lonely, having lost his father a few years before the story begins.

Set in Mica, Arizona, Stargirl is about Leo (Graham Verchere), an awkward kid who plays in the marching band for his school's woefully terrible football team. But this film had the potential to be a lot more.

Stargirl has plenty of charms, and if you're (like this reviewer) cooped up in your house for a few weeks, you can do a lot worse. 20 years isn't that much time in terms of how drastically culture can shift, but when Spinelli wrote the story of a shy teenager who's brought out of his shell by a mysterious, quirky, charming young woman with plenty of tricks up her sleeve seemingly intended to make him a better person, it felt fresher than such a story can feel after the introduction of the MPDG into pop culture. The 2000 novel by Jerry Spinelli has finally spawned a live-action adaptation, this time courtesy of Disney+ (and what incredibly perfect timing for them to have a new original film right now). Before there was a manic pixie dream girl, there was Stargirl, at least for the young-adult set.

Stargirl disney book