13 Going on 30
After total humiliation at her thirteenth birthday party, Jenna Rink wants to just hide until she's thirty. Thanks to some magic wishing dust, Jenna's prayer has been answered. With a knockout body, a fabulous wardrobe, an athlete boyfriend, a dream job, and superstar friends, this can't be a better life. But soon Jenna realizes that adult life isn’t as easy as she hoped for.
Gary Winick's body-swap comedy hands Jennifer Garner the kind of role that lives or dies on physical performance, and she does the 13-year-old-in-a-30-year-old-body bit without ever winking at the camera. Mark Ruffalo grounds the romance, and the Thriller dance sequence is the cultural memory most people retain. PG-13 at 98 minutes; works for ages 11+ as a gateway to the magic-wish subgenre and surprisingly thoughtful about second chances.