We all had unrealistic expectations when we were going into high school, whether you feared the tooth and nail teachers or the plethora of clubs from which to choose. Maybe you just couldn’t wait to experience a never ending musical and find your soulmate. Of course, every single movie about high school experiences is a lie made to distract us from the end of the world. Yes, even the documentaries! But that doesn’t mean that all high school
movies paint a pretty picture.

Consider the movie Mean Girls from 2004.Despite at the end of the day it is just another high school movie, Mean Girls pushed the envelope for the genre, so much so that no other movie made after it has entered the essential teen high school list. I will post the list in the comments, if requested. Anyway, on to the best movie for preteens who want that sweet taste of high school… The movie states right off the bat that our main character Cady is a complete stranger in the real world (aka America) due to her being homeschooled in Africa. As a result, she sees everything through African-tinted classes, and perceives high schoolers as uncontrollable animals. She makes friends with Janis, who is a stereotypical Goth student, and Damien, who is also stereotyped as a homosexual.

These two immediately warn her about “The Plastics,” a group of popular girls consisting of Gretchen, Karen, and the leader Regina. Despite this warning, Cady becomes friends with The Plastics almost instantly, so Janis comes up with a plan to systematically destroy them once and for all. Cady’s only reason for agreeing to Janis’s plan is because it would get her closer to her sweetheart, Aaron, who happens to be Regina’s ex-boyfriend. Things go smoothly until Regina gets back together with Aaron at a Halloween party, proving to Cady that Janis was right about The Plastics. Then, both of them plan to eradicate The Plastics once and for all. After some failed attempts at sabotage, Janis hatches a plan to fatten up Regina to keep her out of The Plastics. The plan is successful when Regina no longer fits into the dress that she wanted for the Spring Dance.

This makes Gretchen and Karen force Regina out of The Plastics and they crown Cady as their new queen. Cady then throws a party in her house without telling Janis and Damien, destroying their friendship. Regina finds out about this and realizes that, if she goes down, so does everyone else in the school. She makes this happen by leaking the contents of her Burn Book everywhere in the school through papers scattered on the ground. Hey, this in the 2000’s the only thing the Internet was used for was emails and flash games.

This leads to the Spring Dance almost being cancelled and Regina being hit by a school bus. Finally, with Cady’s grades failing, she opts to enter a math competition to bring up her grades.It is happening during the Spring Dance, so after she wins, she returns to the festivities and gives a speech as queen of the dance. The movie concludes with everyone getting along at the school. Now I left out a lot of stuff and only mention the most important things that happen in this movie, but that’s only because of just how good this film is. I give this movie an 8/10, thank you for reading this article.