Parents' Guide to Heart Parade

Heart Parade feels like an over-long made-for-TV movie, more suitable for the sensibility of tweens and their small dogs than for grownups. That doesn't mean that the cast doesn't do its best with the meandering and dull material at hand, but they weren't given much in the way of character depth to work with. And no groundwork is laid for the implausible personality change the audience must embrace at the story's end for any of this to make sense. In fact, just about every plot and character detail falls apart under the slightest scrutiny. Much is made of Magda's supposed fear of dogs, but every reminder of it feels labored and pointless and, often, when dogs are around her, Magda doesn't even seem to remember her fear.

The moment the brash Magda meets the gentle Krzystof, there's no doubt the pair will end up together but the way they make their way toward each other just isn't interesting enough. The women in this story display all the worst personality traits -- superficiality, pettiness, vengefulness, self-absorption, and self-importance. And bringing the point home regarding the movie's view of gender roles, the woman is the one required to give up her career, silly as it is, in order to find love with a good man. Adding to the unreality is the fact that Magda's original intent was to betray Krzystof and his cohort of friendly organizers. That's forgotten as the new lovers taxi off into a supposedly happy future by the film's end.