It's easy to see this TV movie is based on a book. The story is of three sisters, living in a house with several boarders, and attending a dancing and acting school in order to learn skills to make money with. The essential failing of the movie is its inability to leave out material. Far too much has been crammed into the 90 minutes, resulting in 90 minutes of often rushed scenes that largely don't link sufficiently to each other. It's more like a visual summary of a book than a movie.

That said, when I saw the first glimpses of Ballet Shoes I actually expected something much worse because of the drab visuals and lifeless soundtrack. The quality of acting was a positive surprise, and while the book is aimed for children, the material is fairly adult.

I should clarify: it wasn't a surprise that Emma's acting as Pauline Fossil is good. She does what can be done within limits of the role, although that's not a great deal. I reviewed this movie because I wanted to see what Emma is like outside of Harry Potter. I can report there were no negative surprises, but neither positive. It's unfortunate she didn't pick a better movie as her first non-Potter one; those remain the only interesting ones as far as her young actress side is considered.