This wasn’t a very promising film because the plot wasn’t very original or new. It’s about an entire family coming together in order to make a girl’s dream come true. The characters and the events were all movie clichés: an angry teenage boy, a person that teaches everyone to be successful in their lives, a road trip, problems with the police, etc. In other words, these scenes were in plenty of other movies.

However, everyone that took part in creating this film was critically acclaimed: the film got awards for best script, best actor, and best soundtrack. The main actress even got a special award in her age category of actors under 10 years old. In general, the film was successful because of 2 factors: the great acting performed by Abigail Breslin and the comical portrayal of a beauty contest.