The Globe and Mail

CHRISTINA AGUILERA

Blown-up big, fringed with bangs and dark eye makeup, Aguilera’s face resembles a young Goldie Hawn, but without the mischief. Her character is generic ingénue – gushy and giggly and puppy-eyed sad – until she gets onstage and turns into a multicostumed musical dominatrix. The pipes are mighty but it would be a relief to feel some human warmth beneath all that heroic vocalizing.

CHER

Cast for her status as a long-time gay icon, Cher plays the rueful but wise older gal with a face of wax and a heart of gold. In spite of her habitual stiffness, she can still dig relatively deep in a narrow field, tapping into her best attitude – wounded dignity. Her big number is the Diane Warren-penned "You Haven't Seen the Last of Me," which is staged, successfully, to emphasize her age, vulnerability and deep well of pluck.

STANLEY TUCCI

Making amends for his pedophile/murderer role in "The Lovely Bones," Tucci plays the bald and hairy den mother to the girls and Cher’s moral support. Tucci must bear the burden of dialogue that thinks it’s more clever than it is (“Alice? Hmm – well, welcome to Wonderland”). Still, it’s fun to watch the veteran actor transcend a stereotypical character and weak script by slathering on the charm. While patting dancers’ bums and sympathizing with bustiers that pinch, he’s the film’s all-purpose Spirit of Must Go On.

KRISTEN BELL

Former television star Bell ("Veronica Mars") was supposed to make a big-screen splash in the past couple of years but after the flops of "Couples Retreat" and "When in Rome," expectations may have been adjusted from star to character actress. Though she’s too sweet and youthful-looking to be cast as Ali’s alcoholic, embittered rival, she handles the part with enjoyable flounce (“I will not be upstaged by a pair of mutant lungs”). Must be tough being a washed-up lip-synch artist who looks as though she could still be in junior high.