From the world of “Legally Blonde” comes Lexi Minetree as high schooler Elle Woods in the prequel “Elle.” All eight episodes are available to watch on Prime Video as of July 1.
In the original movie, “Legally Blonde,” sorority and fashion girl Elle Woods (Reese Witherspoon) attends Harvard Law School in hopes of rekindling her romance with her ex-boyfriend, Warner (Matthew Davis). Throughout the movie, Elle struggles to adapt to the cut-throat law school environment. She soon learns that she is more capable than people give her credit for, and has to make a decision about what she really wants out of her future.
In the main trailer for the new prequel show, Elle Woods starts off as a highschooler enjoying her lush and lavish life in Bel-Air during 1995. Her parents, however, tell her the unfortunate news that they are moving to Seattle where the pink and glittery Elle Woods struggles to not stick out. Prime Video fills this coming-of-age series with “tricky friendships, forbidden romance, and questionable fashion choices.”
In “Legally Blonde,” we see Elle Woods find her way to believing in her own intelligence while not sacrificing who she truly is. If Woods begins such major character development that much later in her life, the question, of course, arises as to whether a prequel would be successful.
The showrunners attempt to answer this issue by highlighting the change and development of Elle’s confidence.
Co-showrunner, Laura Kittrell reflects on the challenges Elle faces in the new show. In an interview with TVLine, Kittrell said, “we thought, well, you have to fall flat on your face one time and feel bad before you can get to be that confident person.”
With the plotlines and showrunner’s reasoning in mind, a few issues become apparent. Firstly, the show’s similar plotline of being a misfit and learning to accept yourself makes the connection between the original movies and the new show appear less cohesive, easily isolating fans of the movies from the new series. For instance, part of the “Elle” plotline focuses on accepting her more somber Seattle classmates. This conflicts with the original movie’s plotline, since Elle continues to struggle greatly with fitting in with her more serious peers in law school.
The show’s emphasis on building confidence is also confusing considering high school Elle appears to be rather similar to her college self at the start of the movies. It is honestly quite difficult to pinpoint the difference between the two which brings into question how much confidence Elle really builds in the show.
Overall, the reviews for the show are mixed, with critics underscoring several hits and misses.
Some of the highlights of the show are due to Witherspoon’s involvement as an executive producer. Witherspoon brought to life the glittery and iconic performance of the character, helping cement “Legally Blonde” as the fun and campy movie that fans still love today. Executive producer and director Jason Moore revealed that much of the show’s plot came from Witherspoon. It was greatly influenced by her own children’s high school experiences, in addition to her own performance.
The show itself also includes several nods to the original film, such as referencing Elle’s future career as a lawyer and including a backstory to her iconic companion, Bruiser the chihuahua. While the references are not extensive, they do provide a fun connection that only those who have seen the original film would be able to understand.
Minetree was also applauded for both her performance as well as her love for the role.
Minetree’s audition proves her ability to not only recreate the iconic figure, but also her ability to bring her own energy and talent to the role. In the tape, Minetree recreates Woods’s law school admission video essay, which is famously shot with Woods sporting a hot pink glittery swimsuit in her mansion’s pool, smiling to the camera.
Witherspoon mentions the audition tape in an interview with Jimmy Fallon, saying, “when I saw her video, it was like lightning strike.” With her mannerisms and composure, Minetree secured her spot as the new generation’s Elle Woods by making sure to not shy away from being a little bit extra. Minetree’s performance in the show, from her delivery of lines to her similarities to the original performance, adds to the enjoyment of viewers.
Both Witherspoon and Minetree make sure to bring in the extra-ness of Elle Woods herself to every event for the show. In the same interview with Fallon, Witherspoon talks about lending Minetree one of her old archive dresses that she wore to the original Legally Blonde premiere 25 years ago.
“It fit perfectly,” Witherspoon said, “It’s like Cinderella’s Slipper…She was meant to be Elle Woods.”
Besides the positivity that comes with Witherspoon and Minetree involvement, the show still receives its fair share of criticisms.
The Guardian applauded Minetree’s performance, but strongly criticized the script for its overuse of tropes and inability to capture the original movie’s spark and campiness.
“The new aesthetic — the screen fills with sludgy browns, greys and camo-plaid combos over band T-shirts — is depressing to look at…and the new characters are bland at best,” TV critic Lucy Mangan said.
It’s hard to disagree. Interestingly enough, BBC writes that the plot might purposely have used old tropes and simple storylines, saying that the show’s use of “second-screen writing” takes the original written script and simplifies it for viewers. Regardless of whether this is the case or not, the script seems to take a major blow from critics.
On Rotten Tomatoes, “Elle” currently averages about 57% on the Tomatometer making this prequel rotten. Despite these low critic reviews, however, the audience score is much higher, with 75% on the popcornmeter.
The difference in reviews underscores the target audience for this show. It is likely to be a fun watch for the casual viewer, but mega-fans of the original movie and harsh critics may want to sit this one out.
Kelly Saenz is an Arts & Entertainment Intern for the summer 2026 quarter. She can be reached at saenzkm@uci.edu.
Edited by Corinna Chin and Riley Schnittger.
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