From Prada to Nada (2011)

Wow, this is a REALLY bad movie!

Perfect cast and a good story

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

I have to admit I have a soft spot for Austen and the many, many (did I mention many?) adaptions. Yes I realize that most are less than stellar but there is something about a classic Austen love story that makes me smile. This is most assuredly a knockoff adaption of Sense and Sensibility, if you know the tale you will not be surprised where this story takes you. As far as adaptions go however, this is a very sweet, abet unoriginal version.The "twist" to this Austen remake is that the cast is mainly Latino and is set in modern day east LA. I am not Hispanic so I cannot speak to the authenticness (and not stereotypical) of the Mexican/American culture but I enjoyed how they incorporated this aspect into the Austen storyline.I did not expect much so I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it. There was a real sense of love and warmth between the family, more so than in many other portrayals. The writers managed to bring the adaption into the modern world and cast the characters well. With the title being what it is I was not expecting the level of acting to be high but I was surprised at how good they depicted their roles. Yes it isn't top notch acting but for the most part they all delivered a solid performance. In short decent acting, good Austen plot, and warm loving characters made this worth watching at least once.

I note some comments mentioning this as an adaptation of a Jane Austin. For me that author is way to heavy, but there are light adaptations that make for stories that I can accept as okay fun.If it is an adaptation, it is not a heavy, difficult to get through, sort of story. I find this to be a story to enjoy.If I had to look for a message I would likely get it wrong, but the title, Sense And Sensibility, does remind me of how impossible good sense is these days, of how sense and sensibility are central factors re how to face reality, yet somehow impossible at the same time. If I go no further than that in deep meaning I also note that this is a happy ending story. Reality not appearing to be so well geared to happy endings, see opera as stories re that, I do prefer my fiction to be an escape from that aspect of reality and From Prada To Nada says it all while having a happy ending.I find the background music to be a really fun part of the 'get away from it all' aspect. The first time that I tried to identify the Latin American type songs in a feature, it was something like Mary Kate and Ashley's television competition story, I did not get very far. This East L.A. story is plastered with such music and it is nice and fitting to the story and oh so easy to identify.Soon after I started watching my Blu-ray of this I purchased a DVD of Walkout (2006), a story about a historic aspect of East L.A., an actress called Alexa Vega in the lead. That has more difficult to identify music, including a couple of songs that were around East L.A. during 1968. But the main song is Om Hraum Mitraya by Deva Premal, which I had thought to be eastern Buddhist but is identified in a DVD commentary as Aztec, a more recent interpretation but still extremely fitting. It is used at the start and at the end, the ending it goes on for around ten minutes. Really right.

I enjoyed this movie.It may not have the most amazing acting but I can tell the people in it are having fun. I loved the slices of Mexican/American culture. It is a pretty clean comedy compared to most PG- 13 ones. The expanded rating gives the reasons for the PG-13. It is a unique variation of the Jane Austin movie it is based on. I think the parts in Spanish are much more entertaining if you know Spanish. Although you can still enjoy it even if you do not know Spanish. If you know nothing of LA or some Mexican traditions this is probably not the movie for you. I liked it more for the culture and the moral lessons. I would watch this movie again which is a lot to say since most movies fail to entertain me after one sitting.

I thought it was one of the cutest romances I have seen. I even teared up a couple times. If you don't like romance or reality this isn't for you. I fall asleep during most movies and didn't nod off even once during this. It is very sweet. I would definitely recommend to friends and I am sure I will watch it again.I thought it was one of the cutest romances I have seen. I even teared up a couple times. If you don't like romance or reality this isn't for you. I fall asleep during most movies and didn't nod off even once during this. It is very sweet. I would definitely recommend to friends and I am sure I will watch it again.