Bottom line:: Twinkle Toes is an animated movie on DVD from Skechers, stemming from their line of Twinkle Toes shoes. The story is music and dance focused and conveys a positive message about taking risks and believing in yourself.
MPAA Rating: NRGenre: Animated/children's
Guide Age Recommendation: 7+
Runtime: 71 minutes
Twinkle Toes - Overview
Grace Hastings loves three things (aside from her adoring father): sparkly clothes and shoes, her pet rabbit Walter, and dancing. Unfortunately, she has a serious case of stage fright and doesn't like to dance in front of anyone. Lucky for Grace, though, an eccentric dance teacher sees that Grace has talent, and she gets Grace accepted to a prestigious performing arts school.
After a humiliating first day of school, Grace has made a few friends, but she's also become the target of the popular performer Brittany, who bullies Grace both in school and online. On top of all that, The Performing Arts Academy loses funding, and announced that the school will be shut down. Grace can't let go of her dream now that she's got a foot in the door, though, and with a little help from her friends, she comes up with a plan that just might work.
Twinkle Toes - Guide Review for Parents
Let's start out with what is good about this DVD: the animation is colorful and cute, the movie has some great age-appropriate humor, and the story conveys a positive message about overcoming obstacles and persevering despite fear, opposition and bullies (both in person and online). Also, the main character, Grace, has a positive attitude, dresses modestly, and is respectful toward others.
Along with being a celebration of youth, character, talent and dance, this movie is also a very effective commercial for Twinkle Toes shoes. The DVD begins with three Skechers commercials for products like Twinkle Toes shoes and Twinkle Toes accessories at Build-a-Bear Workshops. In the movie, Grace blings out her shoes just like Twinkle Toes shoes on the night before school. The animation focuses on her blingy shoes several times throughout the movie. Also, Grace's nickname in the movie is "Twinkle Toes." After watching this movie, any young girl would be likely to want to go out and buy some Skechers Twinkle Toes shoes and accessories. The movie presents a good opportunity to teach kids thinking skills by helping them understand and analyze advertising.
Other than that, parents should know that the movie contains a few rude words like "loser" and "brat." Grace experiences both in person and online bullying ( a humiliating video of her embarrassing fall goes viral), and she is teased and laughed at while at school. We also see Grace talk to her mother as she looks at the sky, so it seems her mother has passed away. Some of the issues Grace faces (like the online bullying), though certainly relevant to current culture, seem a little mature for the age group of kids who will be wanting to watch this movie -- that stems from the fact that the main characters are in high school, while 5-12 year-olds are the ones who will want to watch a movie like this.
*For more information on Twinkle Toes products, see the official Skechers website.