Heart and hair colour combine as Barbie goes to Harvard in this not-as-dumb-as-it-looks campus comedy.

As perky Elle Woods, Reese Witherspoon is so blonde and fluffy it makes the heart weep and the eyes water. A student in a super-affluent Californian dreamland, Elle is a Miss Hawaiian Tropic runner-up and pink-clad president of a sorority house for party-loving Cosmo girls. But she's no airhead. So when ambitious WASP boyfriend Warner Huntington III (Matthew Davis) dumps her on the eve of his departure for Harvard Law School for being "too blonde", she sets out to clinch her own spot at the prestigious college and prove him wrong.

Elle heads east as the first Harvard student in history with a major in Fashion Merchandising. Arriving at a campus stuffed with troll-like dork caricatures, her pink notepad, pet Chihuahua and Playboy Bunny outfit see her blending in as well as Gary Glitter at a school sports day. But gradually, Our Heroine wins over the doubters and rises to the top of the class via a headline-grabbing murder defence of butt blasting workout guru Brooke Taylor (Ali Larter).

As a more intelligent descendant of the high school comedy, Legally Blonde offers plenty of laughs, but few surprises. Witherspoon tackles Elle with just enough knowing sophistication to make the gags work. Sassy and sparky, her performance almost makes you forgive the scriptwriters their inevitable saccharine ending.

Of the rest, up and coming leading man Matthew Davis has little to do as Warner. Cast at first as the token villain of the peace, he ends up standing by helplessly as his Valley Girl turns into a Legal Eagle. Selma Blair is super fine as brunette bitch rival Vivian Kensington, Luke Wilson is the floppy-haired, sleepy-eyed attorney with the courage to believe in the pink-clad prodigy, and veteran Victor Garber is smug as the high-powered attorney trying it on with his delectable young intern.

It's true that there are more pressing concerns in the world at large than the right of attractive blondes to real self fulfilment. But if a rose-tinted feel good comedy is what you're after, then look no further than Legally Blonde. This world would be a greyer place without it.