Daddy’s Perfect Little Girl (2021 Lifetime)
Cast: Heather Mitchell, Matt Wells, Hattie Kragten, Tracy Shreve, Sophie Gendron
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Synopsis (via Lifetime)
Two years after her adoptive mother dies during a family vacation in the Dominican Republic, 12-year-old Sienna now lives alone with her adoptive father, Henry. The two have formed a close father-daughter bond since her adoption at age 9, when Sienna’s biological mother (Henry’s cousin) was sentenced to a psychiatric institution. In Sienna’s eyes, her father is perfect! She is willing to do whatever it takes to sabotage those who don’t feel the same. Things grow complicated when Henry begins dating a new woman named Cecily, who has a 14-year-old son, Zander. Sienna and Zander attend the same adventure and leadership summer camp, and Sienna grows jealous when the camp separates the boys and girls during an overnight trip- creating an opportunity for Henry and Zander to bond over all the fun activities that Sienna desperately longs to do with her father. Worse yet, Sienna’s biological mother is set to be released from her court-ordered psychiatric care facility, and threatens to try to regain custody of Sienna, taking her away from Henry for good. Consumed with jealousy by the “son her father never had,” racing against the clock to ensure her mother won’t take her away, and faced with additional obstacles, Sienna goes to deceitful and dangerous lengths to remain forever daddy’s precious little girl. Starring Hattie Kragten, Matt Wells, and Tracy Shreve.. (2021)
Thoughts
Ella and her hunk father, Nolan, ride bikes through their subdivision and argue over the perfect ice cream flavor. The perfect day is ruined when a speeding car runs Nolan off the road. Ella beats the crap out of the car driver, and she screams that she will kill the driver. Wow Ella is intense. Nolan comforts Ella and assures her that he is going to be fine. He promises not to die like her biological mom or her adopted mom… My question is … WHY DID THOSE LADIES DIE?
A nosey neighbor, Albert, comes over to yell at Nolan about his parenting skills. Ella doesn’t like her neighbor or the fact that her father has a pretty housekeeper, Larissa, and “works too much.” She cuts her finger for attention and pins it on the housekeeper.
Nolan works at a casting agency and works with the Lifetime legend Sophie Gendron. He tells her that he is taking his daughter on vacation since she cut her finger. Ella plans a trip to Adventure Camp and brags to her friend Kinsley. (Who is clearly over Ella, haha.) Ella marks the calendar and is VERY excited to hike and zipline.
Ella watches a show called “Twisted Pretty” about a girl who lost her mother and was killed by her boyfriend. The star of the TV show, Juliette Lee, is booked for a job with Nolan’s talent agency. This impresses Kinsley, who demands a selfie of the actress ASAP.
Onset, Ella is starstruck and meets Juliette in the makeup chair. The meeting is awkward, and Juliette declines the selfie invite. To add insult to injury, Ella sees her father flirting with a set designer named Cecily. Ella snaps when Juliette Lee takes a selfie with a cute boy instead of her. The cute boy’s name is Zander, and he is Cecily’s son. She creates a scene to get her father’s attention away from Zander and Cecily but misses her chance to get a selfie with the star.
Without the picture, Kinsley mocks Ella for lying. Ella stomps on Albert’s flowers and messages Juliette on social media. She weirdly talks to the social media profile giving a lot of exposition about her mother’s abusive boyfriend shooting and killing her, maybe in front of Ella?
Nolan fills in a few more plot holes on a date with Cecily. His wife had cancer, but they still adopted Ella to rescue her from the awful situation. The wife died, leaving Nolan and Ella alone together. Cecily is understanding, and Nolan decides to continue dating her with Ella’s approval. (Ella later gives her father permission to date.)
Albert angrily bands on the front door while Ella is home alone. She makes a creepy hanging gesture and looks him in the face. It is creepy. The following day Albert is back and shows Nolan the security footage. He threatens to call the police.
Since Nolan is dating Cecily now, Ella is forced to hang out with Zander. She is highly jealous and takes a basketball game too seriously. She fakes an injury and claims Zander hurt her on purpose. He calls her on her bullshit.
The Adventure Camp trip is canceled due to Nolan’s work conflict. (Cecily offers to try and get him replacement tickets.) Ella gets so mad she breaks a pencil. Then she asks Juliette’s social media account what to do. She goes through Nolan’s co-worker Gabrielle’s things; Ella snoops and asks too many questions about Gabrielle’s mom, who is sick at home. Ella rides her bike to the address on Gabrielle’s driver’s license and plans to poison the mother with tide pods. TIDE PODS!!!!! (I’m surprised this is the first time I’m seeing this in a Lifetime movie.)
Ella is on the hunt for Tide Pods. When she doesn’t find them at home, she attempts to steal them from the store. (Well, only a few.) Albert witnesses the theft and threatens to call the police. She uses the old empty pocket trick to get him off her back. Then she knocks him off a ladder and kills him to keep Albert from telling her father.
Ella then sneaks into Gabriella’s house. She rips her shirt but is on a mission to put the tide pods in the mother’s yogurt. Ella heads home after watching the mother spoon some yogurt in her face. The plan backfires because Gabrielle takes time off to take care of her mother leaving Nolan with the workload.
Larissa, the housekeeper, tells Nolan about Albert’s death. She also mentions all the strange things she has notices with Ella’s behavior. Nolan questions his daughter and decides to ignore Larissa’s concerns.
Cecily comes through with the Adventure Camp, which is great news for Ella until she learns that Cecily and Zander will be joining them. In the middle of the night, Ella attempts to suffocate Zander with a pillow but is caught. Since that didn’t work, she signs Zander up for the longest and most difficult trail. (Oh no!) Just in case that wasn’t enough Ella tampers with Zander’s bike too.
Zander ends up in the hospital with a broken leg. His basketball season is cut short. Cecily asks Nolan and Ella to stay at Adventure Camo and enjoy themselves. Cecily notices Ella acting strange and decides to ask Larissa and Kinsley. Kinsley really spills the tea and tells Cecily that Ella killed Albert and probably tried to kill Zander too.
Kinsley tells Ella that she told Cecily everything because they are not friends anymore. I love Kinsley. Ella has a panic attack and tries to gain her father’s sympathy before talking to Cecily. Nolan and Cecily talk but are interrupted by Ella and her knife.
Ella mistakenly cuts her father and cries. Cecily calls 911 and reports the attack. Ella starts crying and apologizing. She talks to Juliette on her phone, screaming for help, and falls into a ball of tears. She asks him if she is his “perfect little girl, daddy?” That is the title of the movie and gets an automatic POUR IT UP!
Cecily and Nolan give their relationship a go while Ella gets some much-needed child therapy.
Side Note
Minority Report: Kinsley, Cecily, Zander,
.
I appreciate that Ella always wore her helmet while riding her bike. Safety first!
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Overall rating
🔪🔪🔪🔪 (4 Knives)
🍷🍷🍷 (3 glasses of wine required.)
*Photo Credit: © 2021 Lifetime® | A+E Networks®
Ya wear your helmet, safety first…..Ella…….omigosh……. she’s a young narcissistic sociopath! Ya wear your helmet be safe and stop bopping people off!
I realize this is just a fictional movie but it brings this to mind. It would be great to think that such a child, traumatized at such a fundamental level, could be rehabilitated. How could you ever take her back home? How could you ever know she wouldn’t harm others again? She murdered and harmed and attempted to harm so.many people and she’s only a young preteen! I could never feel safe around her again nor feel sure for the safety of others.