Chrissa Stands Strong (movie)

Chrissadvd — The DVD cover of *Chrissa Stands Strong*

Chrissa Stands Strong is a movie retelling the stories of Chrissa Maxwell.

Cast[]

Sammi Hanratty as Chrissa Maxwell
Adair Tishler as Tara James
Ariela Barer as Sonali Matthews
Kaitlyn Dever as Gwen Thompson
Shelby Harmon as Jayden Johnson
Uncredited as Amanda
Annabeth Gish as Meg "Mom" Maxwell
Timothy Bottoms as Paul "Dad" Maxwell
Michael Learned as Louise "Nana" Hanlon
Austin Thomas as Tyler Maxwell
Joanne Baron as Mrs. Ziminsky
Jennifer Tilly as Mrs. Rundell
Don Franklin as Mr. Beck
Jennifer Parsons as Janine Thompson
Kaylin Stewart as Alexandra
Christian Pikes as Joel
Grace Rolek as Hayley
Preston/Tyler Strother as Brock
Ashley Ausburn as Rachel

Crew[]

Director: Martha Coolidge
Screenplay by: Christine Coyle Johnson and Julie Prendeville Roux

Plot[]

Book Plots Included in the Film[]

Book and Movie Differences[]

In the books, Sonali, Jadyn, and Gwen are on the swim team. In the movie, they only come to the meets.
In the books, Gwen was on the swim team, but quit the team due to not being a strong swimmer and afterwards, became Mr. Beck's coaching assistant for the younger children. In the movie, she only comes to the swim meets and is never said to be a swimmer.
In the book, Tara is unaware of the cyberbullying and Jadyn is eventually revealed to be the culprit. In the movie, Tara is implied to be the cyberbully.
In the books, Chrissa asks Mr. Beck to let her switch seats so that she can sit with Gwen and Sonali, and he grants her request. In the movie, Mr. Beck comes up with the idea himself after discussing Tara's bullying with Mrs. Ziminsky. The next day, he informs Tara and Jayden that they must switch seats with two other students, and then informs Gwen that he’s moving her to Cluster Four where Chrissa and Sonali are sitting, much to her delight.
In the books, Starburst is born in the summer, and Chrissa named her Starburst because she just "burst into the scene". In the movie, Starburst is born in winter, and Chrissa and Tyler named her Starburst because their grandfather wanted that name.
Nana's cat, Sonali's father, Jadyn's parents, and Tara's parents do not appear in the movie, though Tara's mother is mentioned. Chrissa's parents, Sonali's mother, and Gwen’s mother are the only parents (of the main characters) that appear in the movie.
In the books, Tara takes the initiative to try to befriend Chrissa and Gwen, although she still accuses Chrissa of "stealing" Sonali. In the movie, Chrissa and Tara make a truce to allow their swim team to win and after this, Tara seems to reconsider her actions and try to reform; she never accuses Chrissa of "stealing" Sonali away.
In the books, Tara and Chrissa are already friends when she dares Tyler on the diving board. Chrissa prompts this by muttering that someone should teach him a lesson for boasting about his dive and Tara takes it up. However, she is not as malicious as she is in the movie; there, Tara dares Tyler in the movie to get back at Chrissa.
The Solidarity Scarves Chrissa, Gwen, and Sonali make only appear near the end of Chrissa; they are more prominent in the movie.
Chrissa briefly quits the swim team in the movie.
In the books, Tyler gets a concussion after he hits his head on the diving board; in the movie, instead, it is implied that he just has a minor head injury.
Janine, Gwen's mother, states that her husband abandoned her and Gwen in the books, leading to their later homelessness. In the movie, it is implied that Gwen's father passed away; Mrs. Thompson says that eighteen months ago she "lost" her husband, and then the house.
In the movie, it is never mentioned that Gwen and Janine lived in their car.

Characterization Differences[]

In the book, Chrissa is left-handed; in the movie, she's right-handed (like her actress.)
In the book, Sonali is disturbed by the bullying directed towards Chrissa from the start. In the movie, Sonali does not begin to regret her actions as a bully until she starts to befriend Chrissa.
Jadyn has straight blonde hair and brown eyes in the movie while in the book, she has curly brown hair and jade-green eyes. The spelling of her name is changed to "Jayden".
In the movie, it is implied that Joel is Tyler's age (fifth grade), whereas in the books, he is in Chrissa's fourth grade class.
In the movie, Gwen has hazel eyes and her hair is more of a dirty blonde.

Errors and Inaccuracies[]

Television Release[]

The movie premiered on HBO on January 5th, 2009.

DVD Release[]

The DVD was released on January 6th, 2009 through the website and various retailers. Retail cost at American Girl was $19.98. American Girl retired the DVD in 2015.

Items Associated With the Movie[]

These items and outfits, along with the dolls, are displayed in the movie; many are modified from the collections' looks or only shown as select components.

Links[]

Trivia[]

In the movie, Kaitlyn Dever's character, Gwen Thompson, played the violin. Clara Rosenberg's hands were filmed for the close-up shots of Gwen playing the two songs in the movie. The actual songs were pre-recorded by a third person.
The Chrissa character was given the code name "Lulu" to prevent outside sources finding out data prior to release. "Lulu" is the name of the movie's casting director's dog.
Chrissa is seen wearing several child-sized American Girl outfits from the My American Girl collection; some include the School Days Outfit, the I Like Your Style Outfit, and the swimsuit portion of the Island Luau Outfit. Gwen's character is shown wearing the Licorice Play Outfit.

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