Barnes & Noble

Jennifer Garner, the babelicious, butt-kicking star of Alias and Daredevil, stakes her claim to America's Sweetheart status with this enchanting wish-fulfillment fantasy. Garner stars as Jenna, an awkward just-turned-13-year-old who yearns to be one of the "Six Chicks," the clique that rules her school. When her birthday party ends in embarrassment at their devious hands, Jenna wishes she was "30, flirty, and thriving," and thanks to some "wishing dust," she awakens as an editor for the fashion magazine that was her adolescent bible. Big, of course, comes to mind, but 13 Going on 30 is actually more akin to Regarding Henry, in which a brain-damaged Harrison Ford slowly recovers his memory and discovers he doesn't very much like the ruthless lawyer he has become. Jenna, too, makes some unflattering discoveries about the choices she made to get where she is, including abandoning her childhood best friend (Mark Ruffalo), who is understandably wary when she reenters his life. The adorable Garner's considerable charm goes a long, long way in sustaining audience sympathy for the misguided Jenna, and there are many crowd-pleasing moments. Among these are when grown-up Jenna re-creates the Thriller music video at a company party, and when she bonds with some preteen girls in her apartment building over the Pat Benatar anthem "Love Is a Battlefield." Mild profanity and adult situations, such as when a towel-clad man emerges from Jenna’s shower (she’s horrified, of course) -- earn the film its PG-13 rating. Girls just want to have fun, but feminists might not appreciate the cautionary subtext that only mean girls are successful in business. Donald Liebenson

All Movie Guide

Thirteen-year-old Jenna (Shana Dowdeswell) has had enough with the trials of adolescence. In addition to being saddled with a devoted-but-nerdy best friend, Matt (Sean Marquette), she falls victim to one of the dangers of playing Seven Minutes in Heaven with the coolest kids in school: being stranded without a willing make-out partner. Humiliated, Jenna buries herself in the aformentioned make-out closet, wishing she could skip the whole adolescence bit and move straight into adulthood, and miraculously wakes just weeks away from her 30th birthday. Of course, a lot has changed since going to bed the night before, not the least of which being an impressive set of womanly curves. The new, older Jenna (Jennifer Garner) is a successful magazine editor with friends in high places and a lion's share of potential suitors -- including a hockey-playing boyfriend and a swarthy married man. The problem is that her mind hasn't matured with her body; Jenna not only finds living on her own more terrifying than cool, but is quick to dismiss any male over the age of 14 as "gross." Half excited, half mortified, Jenna seeks out Matt (Mark Ruffalo), whom she learns she had spurned as a teenager in an effort to join the popular crowd. Gary Winick directed, from a script by Josh Goldsmith and Cathy Yuspa; Gina Matthews produced. Choreographer Michael Peters - who died in 1994 - received posthumous credit, as his choreography from the Michael Jackson Thriller video is used in one scene. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide

Product Details

• UPC: 043396134119
• Source: SONY PICTURES
• Region Code: 1
• Aspect Ratio: Theatre Wide-Screen (1.85.1)
• Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
• Language: English, Français, Portugais
• Subtitles: English, Français, Cantonese, Portugais, Español
• Time: 1:38:00
• Sales Rank: 3,446

This DVD is also available as part of a box set:

• 13 Going on 30 / Significant Others: the Series
• 13 Going on 30 / Maid in Manhattan
• 13 Going on 30/Little Black Book

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