McKenna: Shoots for the Stars is the 2012 film based on the American Girl books. It’s about a gymnast named McKenna Brooks (Jade Pettyjohn). McKenna is an excellent gymnast, but starts to fall behind in school. Things go from bad to worse when she breaks her ankle and won’t get her cast off until three weeks before a big competition. Nia Vardalos plays her mom and Ian Ziering plays her dad.
I really enjoyed this movie. I think that a lot of young girls should see it because it’ll probably inspire them. Seeing what McKenna went through was very realistic. I appreciated how much thought the writers put into the script. Also, the actors were great. Jade Pettyjohn really stood out. I hope she keeps acting.
I did think that the scene where McKenna’s friend was following her was shot a little too silly. It was almost like it was a whole different movie. It seemed to not match with the flow of the film. I also thought that her friends were too hard on her. But it didn’t ruin the movie.
The theme of this movie is to go for the gold, but to not push yourself too hard. If you do, you’ll start to break. That’s what happened to McKenna. I remember in the Bible there is this wonderful passage about not worrying and that the Lord will take care of you. That passage has gotten me through some hard times.
It’s great that American Girl has been able to stick around after all these years. I hope that they do more modern day adventure movies because this one was one that girls can relate to. I hope that this movie does well when it’s released and that they keep doing films. They’re great!
