25th Oct 202430th Oct 2025 by The Disney Purist

Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie (2009)

BACKGROUND

Being on a long-running television show is said to be steady work to many in the entertainment industry, which can be difficult and fickle at times.

Disney Channel have had their fair share of long-running series, which allow young actors to find their feet and figure out their acting style, ready for when the time comes for them to move on from Disney into more mainstream projects. This is also the same for other children’s networks, such as Nickelodeon or CBBC.

Sometimes, if a television series is popular enough, a television movie, or even a theatrically-released feature film, will be made to extend the reach of the series, push its characters to the brink with a longer, more intricate story, or to wrap up the show after it has ended. I grew up watching Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996-2003) and re-runs of Saved by the Bell (1989-93) and both of these series had two television movies. Sabrina Spellman went off to Rome and the Great Barrier Reef, and Zack Morris and friends went to Hawaii and Las Vegas. I loved all four of these movies, and enjoyed getting the opportunity to see my favourite characters in a new location, dealing with troubles outside their everyday lives.

Wizards of Waverly Place premiered on Disney Channel in 2007. It followed the life of Alex, a teenager and middle child in a family of three kids. Her and her brothers are wizards-in-training, under the supervision of their father. The Russo family also runs a sandwich shop in New York City. The show ran for four seasons, ending in January 2012.

In 2009, the time came for Disney Channel to extend the reach of Wizards of Waverly Place, a very popular series at the time, by giving it the television movie treatment, and adding it to their never-ending list of official Disney Channel Original Movies.

In this case, Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie was created to allow the characters to delve further into their magical abilities by making a more complex storyline for them. This feature-length movie also moved the Russos to an exotic location as so many TV series-based movies do. That’s right, the Russos were going on vacation: to the Caribbean.

I watched Wizards of Waverly Place when it first premiered on the channel, but I never finished the whole thing. I think I watched most of Season 1 and parts of Season 2 and 3, but it wasn’t something I avidly followed. Come to think of it, I didn’t “finish” all that many Disney Channel series. I watched Lizzie McGuire (2001-04), That’s So Raven (2003-07) and Sonny with a Chance (2009-11) all the way through, but I think that was it.

So that means I’d never seen Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie before. It was quite interesting to be back with the Russos after so many years, and even though I obviously wasn’t a big time fan of the series, I did still like the movie.

PLOT

Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie begins at the Russos’ iconic Sub Station restaurant. Alex has discovered her brother Justin’s bag sitting on a table. She decides to have a sneaky look at what he’s got in there, but soon finds herself being sucked into it. Alex’s parents and Justin come into the restaurant and see Alex in some difficulty. It turns out Justin put a spell on his bag to stop people looking through it when he’s not around. Alex begs him to get her out of the bag, so he does. But Alex reveals the family’s magic wand and the Book of Forbidden Spells in there. She reveals her discovery to her parents. Surprisingly, they aren’t bothered, and that’s because Justin had been given them by their father, to allow for further study, because Justin is the most responsible Russo child. This makes Alex jealous.

Alex’s parents then announce they are going out for the evening. Alex’s friend Harper arrives, giving Alex the opportunity to ask her parents if they go can to a party that night. Her parents say she cannot, and that them allowing Alex to stay with Harper whilst Justin, her parents, and Max, her other brother, go on family vacation means she shouldn’t try to push the subject any further; Alex is told to stay inside.

Well, that works for Alex, because she has magic. Using a spell from the Book of Forbidden Spells, which she did not return to Justin, she enchants the subway cart in their restaurant to go on the actual New York City subway to get to the party, with Harper on board. Harper tells Alex that they are going the wrong way, so she attempts to reverse their direction, but unsurprisingly for Alex, her spell isn’t working out the way she hoped. As they are about to crash with real subway trains, Alex attempts to magic them out of there.

Alex and Harper find themselves back at the restaurant; she did it. Except she didn’t – Justin was the one to return them and the subway car with his own magic. The subway car looks a little worse for wear, and as the parents come back home, the whole thing falls apart. Harper goes home, and Alex is ordered to pack for the family vacation; she’ll be going with them now as her punishment. To make matters worse, Alex’s mother bans all magic from this vacation, telling her kids to leave their wands and spell books at home.

On the way to their vacation in the Caribbean, Alex’s mother bores everyone with her stories about how her and their father met at this exact resort they are going to. When they finally arrive at the hotel, Alex wants nothing more than to escape her family. But she’s not allowed. It’s Forced Family Fun Time! In the day, they spend time at the beach and visit the historic sights, but by night, we learn that Justin brought the Family Wand to the vacation, and Alex still has the Book of Forbidden Spells, breaking the no-magic rule.

The next day, as they are at yet another historic sight, Alex tells her mother how bored and annoyed she is that nobody is asking what she wants to do. Her mother promises her they’ll go windsurfing next like Alex wanted. Alex, Justin, and Max then see a magician attempting tricks in front of a small crowd, but he isn’t very good. Max uses some basic “hand magic” to torment this magician and make him look useless. Their parents discover what they are doing and drag the three away. But the magician follows them. His name is Archie, and he asks if the family are wizards. They won’t reveal anything to him, but Archie says he was a wizard too once, but lost out at the Family Wizard Competition. Each wizard family must do this to decide which person in the family will be the Family Wizard; only one can keep their magic. What a rubbish rule. Archie’s parrot sidekick was also a wizard, named Giselle, who was turned into a parrot for misusing her powers. They plan to get their magic back – by finding the Stone of Dreams, a magical object that grants a wizard’s wish. Justin is intrigued but his father tells him he’s probably a con artist and that no-one knows where the Stone actually is, with tourists being sold fake maps to it all over the place.

Back at the resort, the family finally get to do windsurfing, which pleases Alex as she’s hoping to impress the instructor, Javier, with her mad skills. But she doesn’t have any, and Javier is too busy watching Justin who is a natural at windsurfing. This annoys Alex so she casts a spell on him, hoping to make him fall off. Justin manages to counter her spell using his wand, which makes him look even better. The only problem is he doesn’t know how to stop and he slams into Alex, who falls onto some kids’ sandcastle, destroying it.

Later, Javier invites Alex to a party on the beach. Alex asks her mother’s permission to let her go, but she refuses, saying he’s much too old for her and they don’t even know him. Alex tries to convince her mother using magic, but the spell wears off after only a few seconds. Alex then confronts Justin, knowing he was using the wand during his windsurfing lesson. Justin says he knows Alex still has the spell book. Alex confirms she does and that she needs the wand to cast a six-hour agreement spell on their parents. Justin doesn’t want to hand it over and says he’ll cast it himself, but Alex then reminds him that if he does that and gets caught, he’ll no longer be “the perfect son”. He hands the wand to Alex.

As Alex is about to cast the spell, Alex’s mother walks into her room and discovers that she’s been using magic. The two argue, and her mother walks away, with Alex angrily shouting “I wish you and Dad had never even met” at her departing back. Alex quickly realises something is wrong, and thinks she might have accidentally cast a different spell. Alex runs to find her mother. When she does, her mother thinks she’s the concierge. Alex then runs to Justin, who can’t find their father, and when he does, his father doesn’t have a clue who they are. They learn that Alex has messed up their timelines, so their mother and father haven’t met. They are just Jerry and Theresa now. They see that Jerry has magic, something he gave up when he met Theresa since wizards cannot keep their magic if they marry a mortal. The kids also see that Jerry has the Family Wand and the Book of Forbidden Spells. They try to steal it from him, but he notices. He isn’t angry though and is pleased to see some fellow wizards around. He talks to them about this spell and says that it probably needs to be reversed within 48 hours or the kids will lose their memories and vanish forever.

The next day, Justin and Alex decide they have to talk to Archie, the magician, about the Stone of Dreams as they need the wish to turn everything back to normal. Max is tasked with staying at the resort and ensuring that Jerry and Theresa don’t run off and marry someone else in the meantime. As Justin and Alex sit down with Archie to discuss his original, authentic map to the Stone, Jerry comes over and says he’s got that same map, having bought it from some store. Justin and Alex are about to leave, when Archie shows them an additional unique piece of the map. They head off to the first point.

At the edge of the forest, the map tells them that the path will reveal itself to one whose intentions are pure. Justin takes the lead but no path reveals itself. It does, however, reveal itself for Alex, this time making Justin jealous. They enter the forest along with Archie and Giselle the parrot. Back at the resort, Max tries to get Jerry to talk to Theresa. It works momentarily, and there is an attraction there, but Jerry states that he would never give up magic to be with a mortal. Getting their parents together might be harder than Max thought…

Eventually, Justin and Alex get to the edge of a mountain where the map instructs them to build a bridge of stones to get across to the other side. Justin does so with his wand, however, Alex shows him that his bridge is not as good as it looks, crumbling when she throws a pebble on to it. Alex instead uses a levitation spell with two boulders and Justin’s help to get across. This leaves Archie and Giselle on the other side, but there’s no time to help them; Alex and Justin go on ahead. Archie climbs down the mountain with Giselle.

The next morning, Alex and Justin are spooked by Archie and Giselle finding them. But it now means they can go on together again. Max is starting to get worried about Alex and Justin, and asks Jerry to help him find the Stone of Dreams, as well as Alex and Justin. Theresa overhears this and wants to help too, as she has information they might need to find it; she can also speak and read Spanish, to understand the map, which Max and Jerry can’t. They begrudgingly agree to let her come with them.

Justin, Alex, Archie, and Giselle continue their trek and are then told to find a cave, using “the one who knows the least” to lead the way. Alex attempts to communicate with some local farmers, but they think she’s crazy. Alex then comes across a little girl, who takes her to this cave. Archie lets Justin and Alex proceed into the dark cave alone.

They come to an area with a glowing stone within it. Half the floor of this room is missing. Balancing on breaking beams, with pillars crashing down, Justin makes his way over to the Stone. But it falls down a crack in the floor. Alex climbs down to reach it and manages to get it. Justin pulls her back up. As they are about to leave, the Stone is snatched from their hands by Giselle the parrot. Jerry, Theresa, and Max then arrive, and Alex gets excited thinking the spell has reversed. It hasn’t… Alex tries to tell them that Jerry and Theresa are married, and that she, Max, and Justin are their kids. This comes as a shock to Theresa who can’t wrap her head around it and heads back to their resort.

Jerry sticks around though and tries to help them find another way to reverse the spell. He finds something in his spell book, but it says only a full wizard can enact it. Max then begins to forget his life and is swallowed into a vortex. Jerry calls an emergency Wizard Competition for Alex and Justin. The two must compete to gain the wizard power before the other gets there, using only spells that relate to the four basic elements: water, air, fire, earth. Neither are particularly equipped for this contest and the power keeps flying around this make-shift arena. The two mostly just trip each other up as they fight to get to it first. Eventually, Alex, using a spell that transports her as a flower, gains the power – just as Justin begins to forget his life. Alex tearfully tries to get him to remember her, but he is sucked into a vortex, just like Max. Even with all this power, Alex doesn’t know how to reverse the spell, with all of her attempts not working.

But Theresa comes to save the day. She saw Archie and Giselle, now a human, at the resort. Giselle had the Stone of Dreams around her neck and Theresa confronted her. Archie did too, as Giselle now wants nothing more to do with him. Archie steals the Stone back and makes his wish to turn Giselle back into a parrot and then hands it over to Theresa. Theresa passes the Stone to Alex, so she can make her wish. She wishes for everything to go back to the way it was.

Alex then returns back to her room on that fateful day. Her mother comes in and is surprised to find this sudden outpouring of love from Alex, Max, and Justin, who are happy their parents are back together and that they remember who they are now. Alex also tells Justin that as she wished for everything to go back to the way it was, she no longer has the wizard powers and is not the Family Wizard. They’ll have to wait another day to do the competition for real. The Russos can now continue their family vacation in peace.

CHARACTERS & CAST

Alex Russo is the headstrong teenage daughter of Jerry and Theresa Russo, and the one the main series mostly revolves around. Though Alex loves being a wizard, she isn’t particularly careful or studious around learning magic, so she tends to act before she thinks. This is how her parents end up forgetting all about their children – because Alex was being impulsive and reactive as per usual. Alex also hates the fact Justin is considered to be the “perfect child”, having a good grasp of magic spells and having the motivation to study it properly. Well, if Alex weren’t quite so stubborn and didn’t feel like the whole world was against her, maybe she could’ve been given that title too – but that’s teenagers for you.

Alex Russo was played by Selena Gomez. She has a successful career in both music and acting, going back to her “Disney days”. As a singer, some of her earliest hits were “Love You Like a Love Song” and “Who Says”, with some more recent ones being “Wolves” and “Lose You to Love Me”. Around Gomez’ time acting on Disney Channel, she was cast in the DCOM Princess Protection Program (2009) and was cast in other teen movies such as Monte Carlo (2010), playing the leads of GraceAnn and Cordelia; and Ramona and Beezus (2010) as Beezus. In more recent years, Gomez was chosen to voice the character Mavis in the Hotel Transylvania film series and is currently starring as Mabel in the murder-mystery series Only Murders in the Building (2021-present) alongside Steve Martin and Martin Short. Gomez was also cast as Jessi Del Monte in the Oscar-tipped Emilia Pérez (2024). A documentary about Gomez detailing her struggles with her mental and physical health, titled Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me, was released in 2022.

Justin Russo is the most trusted Russo child. He’s very responsible – perhaps a little too much – and likes to stick to the rules his parents have set, although he will bend the rules slightly when it comes to magic. He wants to be the best, he is determined to become the Family Wizard, so when he’s told this is going to be a “magic-free” vacation, Justin doesn’t listen and takes the Family Wand away with him, whilst Alex does the same but with the Book of Forbidden Spells. If both of them had just listened to their parents, then that spell would never have happened. Just saying.

David Henrie was cast as Justin Russo. Some of his earlier acting roles include Luke Mosby in How I Met Your Mother (2005-14); Larry in That’s So Raven (2003-07); and Wheeze in the DCOM Dadnapped (2009). After Wizards of Waverly Place ended in 2012, Henrie then appeared as Frat Boy Zac in Grown Ups 2 (2013) and as Lane in Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 (2015). In more recent years, he directed and starred in the film This Is the Year (2020) as Sebastian; this film also credits Selena Gomez as an executive producer. Henrie was also cast as young Ronald Reagan in the movie Reagan (2024).

Rounding out the three Russo kids is Alex and Justin’s younger brother Max. Naturally, he is the furthest behind his siblings in terms of his magic ability, because of his younger age as well as his short attention span! Actually, in Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie, Max’s magic seems to have improved, and he’s even asked by Justin and Alex to use a levitation spell to try and steal the wand and spell book from their father, Jerry, to find a way of reversing Alex’s spell. Max also uses his magic to mess with the magician that they see entertaining tourists; it’s a bit mean, but it was good magic. However, he is not trusted to go on the journey to find the Stone of Dreams by his brother and sister, instead being given the task of ensuring his parents don’t start flirting with other people…Max definitely got the short end of the stick there.

Jake T. Austin was cast as Max Russo. Prior to Wizards of Waverly Place, Austin voiced the character of Diego in the Dora the Explorer spin-off Go, Diego, Go! (2005-09) and voiced Nicky in The Ant Bully (2006). Around the time of Wizards of Waverly Place, he was cast as Bruce in Hotel for Dogs (2009) and as Chris in the DCOM Johnny Kapahala: Back on Board (2007). Austin went on to voice Fernando in Rio (2011) and its 2014 sequel, and appeared as Jesus Foster in the first two seasons of The Fosters (2013-18). He also played Huckleberry Finn in the live-action adaptation of the Mark Twain novels Tom Sawyer & Huckleberry Finn (2014). In 2016, Austin competed in Season 23 of Dancing with the Stars.

Jerry and Theresa Russo are the parents of Max, Justin, and Alex. Jerry is a former wizard, having given up his magic to marry Theresa, a mortal, so he has been in charge of his children’s wizard training, as well as managing the family’s sub restaurant. Theresa is a cool mum, but she’s also quite strict, not allowing Alex to run off to parties or hang out with much older boys, in the case of the movie’s events – which might seem harsh but it’s really good parenting. After Alex’s spell goes awry, and Jerry and Theresa have no knowledge of each other or their kids, both of them become quite self-absorbed. They spend their time flirting with other hotel guests, with Jerry being kind of obnoxious as well. Whilst Jerry is willing to talk to the Russo kids as fellow wizards, Theresa doesn’t give the impression that she likes the kids at all initially, finding them a nuisance on her lovely vacation. But when Jerry and Theresa spend time together, influenced by Max, it’s clear that they were always destined to be together.

Jerry was played by David DeLuise, son of comedic actor Dom DeLuise, who voiced Fagin in Disney Animation’s Oliver & Company (1988). Early on in his career, David DeLuise appeared as Tony in an episode of Saved by the Bell: The College Years (1993-94). I recently watched this back a few months ago for the first time in about twenty years, probably, as it was shown on Nickelodeon when I was younger, and I instantly recognised him! DeLuise also was cast in the recurring role of Bug Pollone in the sitcom 3^rd Rock from the Sun (1996-2001) and then as Darren Warner in Season 1 of Jesse (1998-2000).

Maria Canals-Bareera was cast as Theresa Russo. Prior to Wizards of Waverly Place, she had voiced the character of Sunset Boulevardez in Disney’s animated series The Proud Family (2001-05). Now she voices the character in its reboot The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder (2022-present). Also for Disney, she voiced the character of Paulina in Danny Phantom (2004-07) and was cast as Connie Torres, Mitchie’s mother, in Camp Rock (2008) and Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam (2010). Canals-Bareera won an Imagen Award for her performance as Theresa Russo in Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie, in the category of Best Supporting Actress/Television.

All five of the Russo family were played by the actors from the Disney Channel series. Other than the family, there are few other characters in Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie but two worth mentioning are Archie and Giselle. Archie is the magician who Max torments as he’s just trying to do his job, entertaining tourists to try and get some cash. The trouble is Archie isn’t a very good magician so it was only too easy for Max to mess with him. But this meant that Archie managed to find some real wizards on the island. Archie intends to find the Stone of Dreams to help Giselle turn human again, but he needs wizard help, which is why he tells Alex and Justin he knows how to find it. Archie is not the villain here; he is being motivated by his love for Giselle, but knows that the Stone of Dreams can grant more than one wish. Unfortunately, Giselle has her claws in him so deep – or should that be talons? – that she steals the Stone for herself and turns herself human, before casting Archie aside, having used him to get what she wanted. Archie then does the right thing and gives Theresa the Stone so Alex can save her family – but not before turning Giselle back into a parrot with his own wish. That’s karma for you!

Archie was played by Steve Valentine, who went on to appear in other Disney projects: as Mr. Moore in Avalon High (2010) and as Les Camembert in Teen Beach Movie (2013) in two Disney Channel Original Movies, and as Derek Jupiter in I’m in the Band (2009-11). Valentine also has a history in voice work, having voiced the character of Alistair in the Dragon Age series of games; Minister of Spring in Tinker Bell (2008) and its sequel Secret of the Wings (2012); as well as some characters in Jake and the Never Land Pirates (2011-16) and Mickey and the Roadster Racers (2017-21). More recently, Valentine played Dracula in Monster High: The Movie (2022) and its 2023 sequel. Human Giselle was played by Jennifer Alden, who played Christina Cleary in the comedy film Wedding Crashers (2005).

Finally, one other character to mention, who only appears at the beginning of Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie is Alex Russo’s incredibly bubbly and positive friend, Harper. Reprising her role from the series is Jennifer Stone. Stone went on to star as Harriet in Harriet the Spy: Blog Wars (2010) and in Mean Girls 2 (2011) as Abby Hanover. After this, she was cast as The Babysitter in the horror-fantasy series Deadtime Stories (2012-14) for Nickelodeon. Most recently, Stone co-wrote and starred in the movie The In-Between, which premiered at the 2019 Twister Alley Film Festival in Oklahoma.

MUSIC

I was surprised to find there weren’t many songs at all Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie, despite Selena Gomez’ singing talents.

It was disappointing, for a start, to not hear the original theme song, “Everything Is Not What It Seems”, at the start of the movie, not even an instrumental version of it.

Instead, as the opening song, we hear a section of “Magic” performed by the band Honor Society; the song was originally performed by the rock band The Cars in 1984. I don’t mind it as a song, but I would’ve preferred to have heard the theme song in some form. Around the time of Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie, in 2009, Honor Society were performing as an opening act for the Jonas Brothers World Tour.

Next, the song “Magic Carpet Ride” performed by KSM plays during a montage of some of the activities that the Russos do early on their vacation, like sightseeing and snorkelling, as Alex frowns and generally looks annoyed at this attempt at family fun! This song is quite nice; it’s a pop version of the original song “Magic Carpet Ride” by the rock band Steppenwolf in 1968. KSM had been one of the opening acts for The Cheetah Girls – One World Tour in 2008; Demi Lovato: Live in Concert in 2009; and even for Honor Society’s Full Moon Crazy Tour in 2009 around this time.

The End Credits song, “Magic”, is a cover by Selena Gomez of the song “Magic” performed by Scottish band Pilot back in 1974. It makes sense to have a song titled “Magic” be used in Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie, but as much as I like Selena Gomez and her music, honestly, I prefer the original in this case.

All three of these songs can be found on the Wizards of Waverly Place soundtrack, along with others that featured in the series or were inspired by the series. Other artists on this soundtrack include Raven-Symoné, Mitchel Musso, and Aly & AJ. As expected, all the songs have something to do with magic.

The score for Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie was composed by Kenneth Burgomaster, who also composed the music for the Wizards of Waverly Place 2013 TV special The Wizards Return: Alex vs. Alex. He had previously composed the score for the Disney Channel movie Halloweentown High (2004) and its sequel Return to Halloweentown (2006), and was credited as the composer on the series Jonas (2009-10).

PRODUCTION

The history of Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie begins with the series itself, created by Todd J. Greenwald, which began airing on 12^th October 2007, right after the DCOM premiere of Twitches Too (2007).

Disney Channel had released very popular comedy series aimed at children and tweens throughout the 2000s, with shows such as The Suite Life of Zack & Cody (2005-08) and Hannah Montana (2006-11) preceding Wizards of Waverly Place.

Disney Channel aired two seasons of Wizards of Waverly Place prior to the movie being released, with two more seasons following on from it. However, there is some discussion about where the events of Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie fit within the overall series. Given the Russos are on a family vacation, it is assumed that this takes place during the summer. But within Season 2 of the series, a four-episode storyline, titled “Wizards vs. Vampires”, apparently takes place in autumn, after a new school year has already started; Season 2 finished airing before Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie even premiered. If you want to try and stick as close as possible to chronological events when watching the show back, many suggest watching Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie before finishing Season 2 of the series, aiming to watch the movie before any of the “Wizards vs. Vampires” episodes. It’s not entirely clear or obvious where the movie fits within Season 2 though, so you can just watch the movie in between Seasons 2 and 3, as events from the movie are referenced within Season 3.

The screenwriter for Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie was Dan Berendsen, who had written for numerous Disney Channel Original Movies prior to working on this film. His previous writing credits include working on Twitches (2005) and its 2007 sequel; Stuck in the Suburbs (2004); Eddie’s Million Dollar Cook-Off (2003); and Halloweentown High (2004). After working on Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie, Berendsen co-wrote for the Disney Channel’s musical sequel Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam (2010).

Wizards of Waverly Place the series, despite its title, was not filmed in the Waverly Place area of Greenwich Village in New York City, but was filmed in Toronto, Canada. It is meant to be set in that location though. The early scenes within Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie also were shot in Toronto, as the same set of the sub restaurant is used here.

The rest of Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie was filmed in Puerto Rico. Princess Protection Program (2009), another DCOM featuring Selena Gomez, along with her Disney bestie at the time, Demi Lovato, was also filmed in Puerto Rico. The hotel scenes were shot at the Caribe Hilton Resort. For some of the more action-filled shots, the emergency Family Wizard competition is held at Castillo San Felipe del Morro in Old San Juan, with the cave that holds the Stone of Dreams being Cueva Ventana in Arecibo. Puerto Rico was also the filming location for other movies. Another DCOM that used the beaches of Puerto Rico for some of its scenes was Teen Beach Movie (2013), as well as its 2015 sequel. Big blockbuster hits such as Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022); James Bond: GoldenEye (1995); Fast Five (2011); and 22 Jump Street (2014) were partially filmed there too[1].

Director Lev L. Spiro loved how they had managed to use a lot of the natural environments of Puerto Rico in their movie, using not only the beach and historical locations, but also the rainforests, which worked well to give Alex and Justin’s quest for the Stone of Dreams some grandeur and a sense of adventure. Spiro had previously directed the DCOM Minutemen (2008) and some episodes of the Disney Channel series Jonas (2009-10). More recently, he directed some episodes of UnReal (2015-18) and Insatiable (2018-19).

To add to this quest, special and visual effects were also used. For the levitating stone “bridge” that Alex and Justin use to get across the two cliff edges, Selena Gomez and David Henrie were jumping across two fake boulders on a golf course, with “movie magic” being used later to make it seem like the rocks were actually floating. Walls of fire, vortexes, and bottomless pits were also created to give a real sense of danger to the mission. It’s also worth noting the effects used in the runaway subway car scene that takes place at the start of the movie whilst the Russos are still in New York.

More gentle actions scenes were also shot, including scenes of windsurfing. Justin is supposed to be struggling against the waves during this scene, however, his scenes were shot on the beach and not in the water, so David Henrie had to pretend to be windsurfing whilst someone threw water in his face. Sounds fun… But the actors were also given proper windsurfing lessons so acting clearly isn’t all bad.

Animal actors were also used here, in the form of macaws. Apparently, there were four different parrots used in total, though Ruby was the friendliest one. Steve Valentine, the actor playing Archie, joked that they had to have four because Ruby needed two stand-ins and a stunt parrot. Though Ruby supposedly liked to snuggle into people’s necks, Selena Gomez and Ruby seemingly did not get on as well as Gomez would’ve hoped; she said the bird freaked her out a bit[2].

RECEPTION

Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie premiered on 28^th August 2009 on Disney Channel. It did air at a later date on some international channels, but in the US, Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie’s summer vacation setting fit well with the US school summer vacation.

Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie was popular with its target audience and if you already liked the series, the movie was a good extension of it; a feature-length episode set in an exotic location. I liked the fact the Russos went to the Caribbean, instead of just ending up in a European city as so many other American movies do, like going to Paris, or Rome, or Barcelona. Many viewers liked how the movie allowed for some deeper character development. It also allowed for some deeper moments, like when Alex fears she is all alone in the world, without her parents, without her brothers, with no clue how to bring them back; that part actually made me tear up a bit. Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie was seen to be superior to Hannah Montana: The Movie (2009) which had managed to gain itself a theatrical release in April 2009, just a few months earlier, so some were disappointed that Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie did not get the same treatment.

However, as usual, there were some negative comments. The fact that the movie was seen to be a rip-off of Back to the Future, Harry Potter, and Indiana Jones was mentioned frequently. It is unlikely this comment came from the target audience of children and teens who previously liked the series though. I don’t think I would’ve accused anything of being a rip-off of anything when I was “Disney Channel” age; I didn’t have the wealth of film experience or knowledge when I was that young. I see the point here, that the magical elements link back to Harry Potter; the quest feels a bit like Indiana Jones; and making your parents accidentally never meet, threatening your entire existence, is the plot of Back to the Future, but this sort of thing doesn’t bother me. I just think “oh, I see where they got that idea from” and move on with my life.

Continuing with some of the less positive reviews, the visual effects were criticised, despite this being a television movie, and the message about loving your parents was seen to be preachy, which it probably wouldn’t have been if you were the right age when you watched it. Something I did agree with though was that there were few additional characters in the movie, beside the five Russo family members. It was really only Archie the magician who got much screen time. He had enough screen presence to be a really good character, but it might have been nice to see a few other new characters as well, just to liven it up a bit.

Really, I think if you are a fan of the series, you’ll like the movie. I was a half-fan of the series, I guess, when I was younger, so I was happy enough watching the film.

Following on from the premiere and the usual second, third, fourth showings of the film, a “What’s What” Edition, where movie facts are displayed on screen during the movie, was released in October 2009. The Extended Edition DVD was then released in December 2009 in the US. Extended edition DVDs were common for DCOMs around this time, although normally they’d feature an unseen song. In this case, with a non-musical movie, the DVD contained a previously cut scene. It showed Alex, Justin, and Max attempting to use magic to get their parents back together, but the spells go wrong, with Theresa and Jerry magically swapping clothes; Jerry turning into a shark; and them turning into kids. It certainly didn’t add anything to the storyline for me, and seemed like a forced comedic scene.

Around 11.4 million viewers were said to have tuned in to the new DCOM on its premiere date, making it the second-most-viewed DCOM film premiere after High School Musical 2 (2007). Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie went on to win the Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Children’s Program in 2010.

LEGACY

As I’ve previously mentioned, four seasons of Wizards of Waverly Place aired on Disney Channel during its run from 2007 to 2012. Two of these seasons aired before Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie, and two afterwards.

Season 4 ended in January 2012, finishing with a two-part finale, which tied up the overall series story of finding out who would become the Family Wizard. The wizard competition that features in Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie was only held in an emergency situation, so the result of Alex winning did not mean anything for the overall series. She wanted things to go back to how they were, so it was like the whole event had never even happened. So, in “Who Will Be the Family Wizard?”, the real result was revealed to the world. The two-part finale averaged just under 9.8 million viewers[3].

I won’t give spoilers, just in case but also because it’s not relevant here, but me being a half-fan of the series, I had clearly forgotten all about Wizards of Waverly Place at some point in my life and only realised when I was watching the movie that I hadn’t even watched the finale to find out who became the real Family Wizard, so I only watched it this week.

After Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie aired in 2009, a sequel movie was apparently in discussion from 2010, probably because of its amazing viewing figures. It never happened, however, the television special “The Wizards Return: Alex vs. Alex” premiered on the channel on 15^th March 2013. All of the Russo family actors, except David Henri, as well as the actors who played Harper and Mason, Alex’s boyfriend from Season 3 onwards, returned to reprise their characters. It saw them all go on vacation to Tuscany for a family reunion, with Alex accidentally creating an evil version of herself which runs amok and tries to destroy her family and friends. “Alex vs. Alex” drew in 5.9 million viewers, which was less than the series’ finale and nowhere close to the number that watched Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie. It did, however, receive more views than some of the then-new Disney Channel Original Movies, like Girl vs. Monster (2012) with 4.9 million, and Let It Shine with 5.7 million (2012)[4]. “Alex vs. Alex” is not classed as an official DCOM though.

After “Alex vs. Alex”, Wizards of Waverly Place was believed to have fully finished. However, on 18^th January 2024, it was first announced that a pilot episode for a reboot was being filmed. In March 2024, it was confirmed that a full season of the show would be airing. Named Wizards Beyond Waverly Place, it was soon revealed that the plot would follow Alex bringing a young wizard to her brother, Justin, to train her. Justin Russo had been leading a normal mortal life with his family up until this point. Other members of the Russo family will be returning to the series; however, it is unclear how many episodes they will be in[5]. Two episodes are due to premiere on Disney Channel on 29^th October 2024, with two more coming the day after. The first eight episodes will be available on Disney+ on 30^th October[6].

FINAL THOUGHTS

Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie felt both familiar and different to me. As I hadn’t kept up with the series whilst it was on, it was nice to see the Russo family again by watching the movie fifteen years after it had first aired.

It did what movies based on television series should do: it provided fans with a chance to see their favourite characters cope with a new environment whilst dealing with a more perilous, troubling situation than they might normally face in a regular episode. Overall, it was a pretty good movie and I know fans of the show will have liked it.

As Wizards of Waverly Place had been a popular sitcom for Disney, winning Primetime Emmy awards in 2009 and 2012 for Outstanding Children’s Program, amongst other awards including Kids’ Choice Awards and Teen Choice Awards, it makes good business sense for a reboot to be commissioned for Disney+, as a way of bringing new content to the platform, as well as allowing former fans of the series to revisit the Russo family years after the events of the original series. New viewers can also be introduced to it.

Time will tell if this new series is as bewitching as the original.

REFERENCES

[1] Credit: Discover Puerto Rico, ‘Seeing is Believing: Experience Film Locations in Puerto Rico’, DiscoverPuertoRico.com, date unknown.

[2] Credit: Disney, ‘Wizards of Waverly Place – The Movie: Extended Edition 2009 DVD Overview’, Diamond Boy’s Disney DVD Overviews YouTube Channel, 31^st January 2024.

[3] Credit: Mike Reynolds, ‘‘Wizards of Waverly Place’ Finale Conjures 9.8 Million Viewers’, NextTV.com, 10^th January 2012.

[4] Credit: Nellie Andreeva, ‘Disney Channel’s New ‘Wizards Of Waverly Place’ TV Movie Draws 5.9 Million Viewers’, Deadline.com, 16^th March 2013.

[5] Credit: Briannah Rivera, ‘What We Know About the Wizards of Waverly Place Reboot So Far’, Elle.com, 31^st August 2024.

[6] Credit: Disney, ‘‘Wizards Beyond Waverly Place’ Premieres October 29 on Disney Channel, Next Day on Disney+’. TheWaltDisneyCompany.com, 29^th August 2024.

18th Oct 202430th Oct 2025 by The Disney Purist

Girl vs. Monster (2012)

BACKGROUND

Halloween is big business, especially within the movie industry. Whether that is family-friendly entertainment, like Casper (1995) and Coco (2017), or scared-out-of-your wits horror movies like It (2017) or The Shining (1985), Halloween movies are nothing new. These have been coming out year-in, year-out for decades.

I’m not one for scary movies, because I scare very easily and I know I’ll get nightmares from watching stuff like that, so it’s taken me a while to appreciate that there are a number of not-so-scary Halloween movies out there for people like me. Although I still can’t get used to Hocus Pocus (1993). Sacrificing young children for eternal youth is horrifying.

For a while, I wouldn’t go near any of the Disney Channel Halloween movies, steering clear of anything that had a monster or a ghost in it, despite knowing that The Walt Disney Company don’t make a habit out of terrifying children. These movies would be “safe” for me, but I didn’t even watch the Halloweentown series until I was in my late-20s.

The Halloweentown trilogy, and I only say “trilogy” because I know many people don’t like the fourth one, continue to be watched every Halloween season and are fondly remembered by children of the 90s and 00s. This is one of Disney Channel’s most popular movie franchises. Twitches (2005) came along as the Halloweentown series was wrapping up and delighted a new set of children and tweens, but since then, Halloween-specific Disney Channel movies have not been released regularly.

Girl vs. Monster was released five years after Twitches Too (2007) and six years after Return to Halloweentown (2006). In that gap, Disney had seemingly turned away from spooky movies and were diving in to the world of musicals, thanks to the enormously successful High School Musical (2006). Girl vs. Monster was Disney Channel’s first Halloween movie for half a decade.

I hadn’t seen Girl vs. Monster before this week and I didn’t know what to expect. To be perfectly honest, I was a bit nervous about watching it because of the word “monster” in the title. I didn’t know if they’d look horrific or there would be lots of jump scares. Rest assured, I was fine watching Girl vs. Monster and I felt ridiculous for expecting anything terrifying! I was surprised at the amount of music in the movie though, but given Disney Channel’s history with musical movies, I probably shouldn’t have been.

Girl vs. Monster reminded me of lots of other Halloween movies and it clearly borrowed and adapted some aspects of those. It’s not a particularly original storyline but Girl vs. Monster wasn’t bad. Not exactly a glowing review, but like I said, I struggle with Halloween movies; I’m very fussy with them. There were still plenty of things about Girl vs. Monster I did like and can appreciate though.

PLOT

The story begins in an old mansion, where a group of teenagers are setting up a Halloween party. One of these is a girl called Skylar, who has a crush on the guy whose party this is, Ryan. Ryan has a band that will be performing at the party. Skylar is a pretty good singer, but Myra, Ryan’s on-off girlfriend, as well as lead singer of this band, won’t let Skylar take her spot – in either capacity. Skylar doesn’t feel threatened by her anyway, and she heads home with her friend, Sadie, walking through the cemetery in the grounds of the mansion. Sadie finds this cemetery creepy, but Skylar isn’t bothered by it.

She probably should be though, since some monster was watching her walk through there. Two people arrive and capture this monster, saying that it was “out too soon”, whatever that means. This doesn’t feel like a normal Halloween, apparently. What makes a Halloween “normal” anyway?

The next day, before school, Skylar has an argument with her parents. They are going away for a work event – they study mould for a living – leaving Skylar alone in the house. She wants to go to Ryan’s Halloween party that evening and begs her overprotective parents to let her go, but they refuse. She isn’t allowed to go to parties until she is sixteen.

At school, everyone is getting excited for Halloween, but not Skylar; she’s still annoyed. Myra, trying to keep Ryan’s attentions on her, tries to fix a school banner in the way that Skylar did when they were preparing for the Halloween party; by jumping up really high. But Skylar has had years of gymnastics training and Myra hasn’t, so naturally, she falls and hits the ground hard, injuring her neck. Great, now Ryan’s band needs a new singer…

In the middle of town, a new monster appears, this time disguised as a dog. It scares off a group of trick-or-treaters, before being captured by the same two people from the cemetery. It turns out these monster hunters are Skylar’s parents. OMG, so they don’t just work with mould!

Skylar watches as Ryan’s band practise with Ryan singing, however, he’s not happy with his vocal talents and tries to convince Skylar to sing with them at the party that evening. Skylar can’t bring herself to admit that she’s not allowed to go, and sees the desperation in his face, so she agrees to sing. But that doesn’t change the fact she’s not allowed to go.

Back home, Skylar’s parents are still trying to work out why there are so many monsters around for this time of year – duh, because it’s Halloween! There’s no time to ponder this though as they have to get out there and keep capturing them. Skylar is left locked inside the house, via their fancy security system, with Skylar’s dad’s assistant, Cobb. He is happy to be her babysitter for the evening, or be the “teen social companion” as he likes to call it – because that doesn’t sound creepy at all… Skylar knows the only way she’ll be able to leave the house now is if she cuts the power, so she heads to the basement and does just that, before Cobb can realise what she’s doing. The only problem is Skylar doesn’t know about all the monsters locked up in storage containers. With the power off, these monsters have escaped. Way to go, Skylar – you couldn’t have missed one party and just stayed inside, playing Jenga?

At least Skylar’s out of the house now, as her and Cobb run from these monsters. Skylar’s friends, Sadie and Henry, come to see what’s going on. A trio of monsters faces them: a woman in a red dress, a witch, and a scarecrow. They vow to come back to get them later and vanish. Cobb has some explaining to do. Skylar learns that the woman in red is an ancient, immortal monster called Deimata. Deimata is Skylar’s monster, who was captured when Skylar was just a baby by her parents. Skylar’s mother is a fourth-generation monster hunter, using her grandfather’s weapons and modernising them so monsters can be captured and stored. This allowed Skylar to go through life without fear, but now that Deimata is free, a lifetime of fear has hit Skylar all at once, and she’s terrified. And in denial, not believing any of this is real. Cobb assures her it is very real.

Skylar’s parents call Cobb and confirm to Skylar that they are monster hunters. But before they can say much else, the line goes dead. Skylar’s parents continue to pursue these monsters that are now all over town. They are later tricked into believing that Deimata has Skylar. As they rush to save her, they are captured themselves, ending up tied to chairs in an attic. Deimata says she plans to scare them to death and she’ll use Skylar to do it.

Cobb believes that Skylar and her friends will be safe going to Ryan’s Halloween party at the old McQuarry Mansion. He arms them with monster-hunting equipment just in case, and sends them all on their way, telling them to remain calm if they see any monsters as they feed on fear. He’ll try to fix the containment unit back at the lab.

In the woods, Skylar learns from Sadie and Henry that they have seen these monsters before. Sadie’s monster is the witch, called Theodosia, and Henry’s monster is Bob the Scarecrow. Trees start to come alive and chase the friends through the woods. None of them can keep calm enough to pacify the ghosts and Henry ends up literally frozen with fear – yes, he’s been petrified, just like in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002). Cobb has been watching them all from the lab and realises something is wrong. Cobb meets them in the woods and gets the girls to their party. He then takes Henry back to the lab in a wheelbarrow to try and un-petrify him.

At the party, Ryan is annoyed that Skylar isn’t there to sing with the band, but just as they are about to start playing, she arrives. He calls her on stage, and despite her fear, she gives it a go. However, she soon spots Myra in the crowd and is too scared to continue singing for some reason. Myra then goes up on stage to show Skylar what a real lead singer looks like, performing the song with Ryan’s band instead. Everyone is surprised to see Myra here after getting injured at school. That’s because Myra isn’t really Myra; she was possessed by Deimata at her house so that Deimata could get into the party and scare Skylar, to make herself more powerful.

Skylar doesn’t think she can cope with this evening, but then, her and Sadie come face-to-face with a monster. Sadie convinces Skylar to use their monster-hunting equipment to capture it. Eventually, they succeed and call Cobb to ask for more storage containers as they’ve got many more monsters to capture. Skylar then sees a photograph of her mother in this mansion, realising that this must have been her grandfather’s house. And now it’s a rental venue for parties. How did that happen?

At the lab, Cobb has successfully unpetrified Henry. Henry is too freaked out by all this and wants to quit, but he knows he has to help Skylar and Sadie, so heads to the party. Once again, though, he is confronted by his monster, the Scarecrow. The Scarecrow torments and taunts Henry, who weakens in front of him. He then remembers what Cobb told them about facing their fears, and stands up to the Scarecrow, not allowing himself to feel scared. The scarecrow shrinks in front of him. Ah, so that’s how you defeat a monster.

Henry runs inside to tell Skylar this, however, the party is in a shambles, as Deimata, now free of Myra’s body, has unleashed a frenzy of monsters on all the party guests who are fleeing the mansion in terror. Deimata and the Witch taunt Sadie and Skylar, who are not able to confront them in the way Henry did. But Skylar has another idea. She goes over to Ryan and tells him to follow her outside with his guitar, whilst Henry finds the other band members. As Ryan is about to do this, he is possessed by Deimata.

Outside, Skylar stands in the centre of the cemetery and begins to sing to all the scared teenagers about not showing fear, knowing if they can do that, the monsters will vanish. But Ryan interrupts Skylar, telling her she’s a terrible singer. Skylar knows that isn’t Ryan talking, but is actually Deimata, and continues to sing, regardless. Sadie also confronts her own personal monster, the Witch, and she shrinks to nothing. Skylar then encourages Ryan to do something he’s scared of, to get Deimata to leave his body, so he asks her out; Skylar says “yes”. The monsters start to flee.

But not Deimata. Singing isn’t enough to stop an immortal monster. She goes up to the attic where Skylar now knows her parents are. She follows, but finds her parents aren’t there. Out on the roof, Deimata threatens to drop Skylar’s parents to the ground below. After some attempts to capture her, Skylar, Sadie, and Henry realise Deimata is too strong, as she is feeding on not only their fear, but Skylar’s parents’ fear as they worry about her safety and her monster-hunting ability. She tells them to trust her. Which is easy to say when you’re not the one hanging off roof tiles by your fingertips!

Skylar then says she’ll sacrifice herself to save them. With this trick, and her parents’ trust, Deimata is sufficiently weakened. Skylar, Sadie, and Henry then fire at Deimata and she is finally captured, hopefully forever. Skylar then pulls her parents to safety.

After the events of that night, Skylar sings with Ryan’s band the next day, alongside Myra, who has come to be friends with Skylar. Sadie and Henry also continue their lives, not allowing themselves to be controlled by their fears. A final shot shows the containment unit starting to crack, showing that monsters will never be gone completely. Spooky.

CHARACTERS & CAST

Skylar has managed to live the whole fifteen years of her life without fear, blissfully unaware of the struggles that many others face with their own anxieties. Lucky her… Well, that all changes when Deimata is released, her own personal monster, unleashing all those years of fear on Skylar all at once. That bubbly, confident exterior starts to crumble and she has to cope with that, along with the whole finding-out-your-parents-are-monster-hunters thing, which comes as a total shock. It does explain her parents’ overprotectiveness though; her mother even tries to feed her garlic on toast for breakfast to keep the monsters away. Gross. Eventually, Skylar has to learn that facing your fears, not running from them, is the only way to move through life, as fear never goes away completely.

Olivia Holt was cast in the role of Skylar. She began her career with Disney by starring in the series Kickin’ It (2011-15) as Kim Crawford. She went on to appear in a different Disney Channel series, I Didn’t Do It (2014-15) as Lindy Watson. She also voiced the character of Morgan in Tinker Bell and the Legend of the NeverBeast (2014). More recently, Holt was cast as Tandy Bowen / Dagger in the Marvel series Cloak & Dagger (2018-19) and as Kate in Season 1 of Freeform’s Cruel Summer (2021-23). Between April and June 2023, Holt made her Broadway debut, playing Roxie in the musical Chicago. Holt is set to star as Sophie in the 2025 Netflix Christmas movie Jingle Bell Heist.

Skylar’s friends, Sadie and Henry, have clearly found school life more difficult than Skylar, as Sadie stresses about school presentations and tests, and Henry finds himself being picked on by bullies. Because of this, they are the ones who manage to calm Skylar down on multiple occasions as she struggles with the whole idea of fear, particularly stage fright, and just how awful it makes you feel. Sadie and Henry also both help with the actual monster hunting like good friends would; Skylar wouldn’t have managed on her own.

Sadie was played by Kerris Dorsey. Dorsey had previously been cast as Paige Whedon in the ABC series Brothers & Sisters (2006-11). After Girl vs. Monster, Dorsey went on to appear as Emily Cooper in Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (2014) for Disney, alongside Steve Carell and Jennifer Garner. She was also cast as Bridget Donovan in the series Ray Donovan (2013-20) and its 2022 movie. Henry was played by Brendan Meyer, who went on to appear in the web series Tagged (2016-18) as Eric/Dunbar Rakes and The OA (2016-19) as Jesse Mills, after Girl vs. Monster.

For Skylar’s love interest, Ryan, his main focus is his party and his band during the events of the film, as he is not involved in the monster hunting. But it’s quite clear that he likes Skylar, and thinks she’s a great girl. I have to admit, they do end up being a cute couple. On the other hand, Myra, Ryan’s ex-girlfriend, isn’t so impressed by Skylar, feeling jealous of her for taking Ryan’s focus. Myra does come to like Skylar, and I think that’s because she helps her pick herself up off the floor after Deimata decides to stop possessing her at the party. Or the possessing messed with her brain chemistry…Who knows! Either way, all three of them find they are able to get along by the end of the movie, and find there is room in the band for more than one singer.

Ryan was played by Luke Benward, who had already starred in the films How to Eat Fried Worms (2006) as Billy Forrester; the DCOM Minutemen (2008) as Charlie; and Dear John (2010) as Alan Wheddon prior to his casting in Girl vs. Monster. After that, he went on to appear as Beau, Teddy’s boyfriend, in the final season of Good Luck Charlie (2010-14) and in the DCOM Cloud 9 (2014) as Will, with Dove Cameron. He also appeared as Dillon Sanders in the short-lived Pretty Little Liars spin-off series Ravenswood (2013-14). In more recent years, Benward was cast as Bo Larson in the Netflix film Dumplin’ (2018).

Myra was played by Katherine McNamara. After Girl vs. Monster, McNamara went on to appear as Sonya in the last two instalments of the Maze Runner film series. She was later cast as Clary Fairchild in the series Shadowhunters: The Mortal Instruments (2016-19), winning a People’s Choice Award and a Teen Choice Award for her performance. McNamara also starred as Abby Walker in the series Walker: Independence (2022-23).

An element of comic relief in amongst all the threats from monsters comes from Cobb, Skylar’s parents’ assistant. He seems to be quite capable with the technology involved in his work but Cobb is not the best at keeping calm in a stressful situation, as we see during multiple moments in the movie, like when Deimata is first set free; he hardly comes across as a strong protector! That might be a bit unfair; Cobb certainly did help Skylar and her friends deal with this big, life-changing event. Cobb was played by Adam Chambers. For Disney Channel, Chambers had guest roles in Andi Mack (2017-19) and Good Luck Charlie (2010-14). Prior to his casting in Girl vs. Monster, Chambers had been cast in the web series’ My Alibi (2008-09) as Cy Woods, and I ❤ Vampires (2009-10) as Wyatt. More recently, Chambers appeared as Paul in Season 1 of the sitcom B Positive (2020-22), and as Adam in the movie For When You Get Lost (2023), which won various film festival awards. Chambers has also moved into directing work in recent years.

Now, to the monsters. Deimata is the leader of the primary trio of monsters that threatens Skylar and her friends. Deimata is a more powerful monster than the others, because she is an immortal. This means she is not easily captured or easily weakened. She is absolutely determined to ultimately possess Skylar’s soul forever. Nice…Deimata does have her more comedic moments too though, because this is a Disney Channel movie and she can’t only be menacing. For example, Deimata tries to get Skylar’s parents to play charades with her, in order to get them to guess how she plans to destroy them. Oh, what fun! She also has her fair share of sarcastic, witty lines: her opening line is “Hello, world. Mommy’s home!”, for example.

Tracy Dawson was cast as Deimata. At the time, Dawson was performing as Meghan Fitzpatrick in the sitcom Call Me Fitz (2010-13), for which she won a Gemini Award and a Canadian Screen Award for Best Lead Actress in a Comedy Series. This was her final acting credit, as Dawson then decided to focus on writing instead, having written some episodes of Call Me Fitz. In 2022, she published her first book Let Me Be Frank.

For Deimata’s two “sidekicks”, we have Theodosia the Witch and Bob the Scarecrow These two aren’t particularly threatening and end up being easily defeated, just by having Sadie and Henry stand up to their taunts. The Scarecrow is quite funny as he begs Henry to be scared of him – he sounds so sad – so that’s another element of comedic relief in the movie. I did like all three of them discussing how the world of horror had changed just after Deimata escapes the containment unit, as she wants to know what’s happened in the world in the fifteen years she’s “been away”. The little quip about Twilight (2008) was amusing.

Theodosia and Bob were played by Anna Galvin and Stefano Guilianetti respectively. Some of Galvin’s credits include Gina in Smallville (2006-11); Rachel Young in Mr. Young (2011-13), which also starred Brendan Meyer, Henry in Girl vs. Monster; and Jane Wilkes in Loudermilk (2017-20). Guilianetti voiced the character Bogie in the animated series The Bots Master (1993-94), and he has also made guest appearances on series such as Supernatural (2005-20) and Once Upon a Time (2011-18) in recent years.

Obviously, this being a Disney Channel movie, there is only so much they can do with scary, horror elements in their Halloween-inspired films. I think they got the balance right here, in a similar way to the Halloweentown series, which included monsters and moments of suspense and peril, but dealt with them in a way that is non-threatening and non-traumatising for any small children that may have come across the programming!

MUSIC

Another way the scariness of the plot was toned down was by way of the music, with three original songs being written for the movie. This was a surprise to me as I was not aware that Girl vs. Monster had any original music prior to me watching it.

The song “Fearless” was performed by Olivia Holt as Skylar as she is trying to convince everyone at the party to not show fear so that the monsters will disappear. It was very “Disney” to have the lead character sing away the monsters. Not very realistic – I don’t think that’s a plot point in films like A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) or Halloween (1978) – but I quite liked this song actually. A typical pop song, but it was good, and Olivia Holt has a great voice. “Fearless” was written by Jeannie Lurie, Aris Archontis and Chen Neeman.

“Had Me @ Hello” is first performed in the movie by Luke Benward as Ryan, when he’s practising with his band prior to the Halloween party, trying to work out if his singing is good enough. This song is then reprised by Holt, Benward, and Katherine McNamara as Myra at the end of the movie. “Had Me @ Hello” is another song here that I liked. I can see why it won the Best Crush Song at the 2013 Radio Disney Music Awards; it’s cute[1]. The song was written by Dan Book, Alexei Misoul, and Shelly Peiken.

“Nothing’s Gonna Stop Me Now” is the other original song written for Girl vs. Monster. It is performed at three different times within the movie. The first is by Skylar when she is helping set up the Halloween party with Ryan and her friends. The second is at the Halloween party, but just as she thinks she’s overcome her stage fright, Myra, possessed by Deimata, shows up to make her stop. Myra then performs the song herself. It’s a song all about moving forward, but I didn’t love either version of it, though Skylar’s more earnest performance was preferable to Myra’s rock version for me. “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Me Now” was written by Mitch Allan, Kevin Kadish, Sean Douglas, and Nikki Leonti.

Another song heard within Girl vs. Monster is “I Got My Scream On”, performed by China Anne McClain. “I Got My Scream On” is being played at the party just before Deimata unleashes all the monsters, causing the party guests to flee. This is not technically an original song; however, China Anne McClain was well-known on Disney Channel at the time for her starring role as Chyna Parks in A.N.T. Farm (2011-14), and was recording music for the company at the time.

There are some less obvious songs here too. One is the End Credits song, which is “Rich & Famous” performed by Joy Enriquez. Another song is playing at the Halloween party before Skylar and Sadie arrive, and that song is Miss Amani’s “Turn the Party Up”. A song called “Superstar” seems to be playing on Myra’s TV as she sits in her room eating popcorn on Halloween night, just before being rudely possessed by Deimata. This is performed by Clooney.

The composer of Girl vs. Monster’s score is Robert Duncan. He previously composed the score for another DCOM, Avalon High (2010), but has also composed music for television series such as Castle (2009-16) and Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003).

PRODUCTION

Girl vs. Monster’s cast was first announced in March 2012, and the premiere date was set to be during the second annual month-long “Monstober” event on Disney Channel[2].

Disney Channel’s Monstober is quite simply their build-up to Halloween, where Halloween DCOMs and Halloween episodes of Disney Channel’s most popular series are shown. The event has changed names throughout its time, but it does still exist in one form or another to get kids excited for Halloween.

Girl vs. Monster was created by a team that had a history of working on Disney Channel series and movies, with many of the crew having direct experience with Disney Channel’s spookier content. The story was written by Annie DeYoung, who had worked on Princess Protection Program (2009) and Return to Halloweentown (2006), with the teleplay being written by DeYoung and Ron McGee. McGee had previously worked on The Nine Lives of Chloe King (2011), an ABC Family production.

Stuart Gillard came on as the director for Girl vs. Monster. Gillard had previously directed three other Halloween DCOMs: The Scream Team (2002), Twitches (2005), and Twitches Too (2007). Executive producers Sheri Singer and Tracey Jeffrey had also worked on Disney Channel movies prior to Girl vs. Monster. Jeffrey had been a producer on The Suite Life Movie (2011); and Singer on Good Luck Charlie, It’s Christmas (2011)[3].

Singer’s production company had also produced all four of the Halloweentown movies. Singer wanted to work on Girl vs. Monster as it was continuing in the tradition of making Halloween TV movies, and felt Girl vs. Monster was similar to Halloweentown in some ways. One is the fact the main character learns about a big family secret. Singer did say Girl vs. Monster was more expensive, more ambitious, and bigger than Halloweentown[4].

Girl vs. Monster features quite a lot of special effects for a Disney Channel Original Movie. There are obviously the CGI monsters themselves, but there were other effects used. For example, when Skylar cuts the power to her parents’ house, some elements of the basement lab explode. The final battle on the roof of the mansion also required some stunt coordination. A set of the roof was built with a green screen behind it and the actors are on wires. This proves Singer’s point about this movie being more ambitious and bigger[5].

Girl vs. Monster was filmed in Vancouver, with some of the movie’s scenes being shot in the same woods that feature in New Moon (2009), the second movie in The Twilight Saga. Some of the cast members also believed their mansion location, which they thought used to be a convent, was haunted[6].

RECEPTION

A promo of Girl vs. Monster was first aired on 17^th August 2012, during “Shake It Up: Made in Japan”, a movie-length episode of Shake It Up (2010-13).

Girl vs. Monster then premiered on Disney Channel on 12^th October 2012. 4.9 million viewers on average watched the film during its premiere. It was also the No. 1 scripted cable TV telecast of the night. The premiere of Girl vs. Monster was followed by the premiere of a new Disney Channel series, Dog with a Blog (2012-15).

With this being a family-friendly Halloween movie, the reviews were always going to be mixed, as some think Halloween movies should only be all-out scary. Girl vs. Monster sits very much within the realms of family-friendly entertainment and will never suit those looking for horror movies. I can only hope nobody looking for a slasher film accidentally stumbled upon Girl vs. Monster, expecting something scary.

On the more positive side, viewers felt the movie was fun and an enjoyable movie to come from Disney for the Halloween season. The message about facing and overcoming fear was also considered to be appropriate for the target audience of tweens and teens. The soundtrack was also judged to be pretty good.

However, there were also negative comments, including that it was seen to be simply a way of showcasing Disney actors, although the performances of Luke Benward and Olivia Holt were considered a highlight. Some did not like the special effects for the monsters, finding them to be bad and low-budget. This is a television movie so the special effects wouldn’t have been as good as a Hollywood blockbuster. I thought they were fine.

The biggest criticism came from Girl vs. Monster’s plot being unoriginal. I can agree with this, as the movie’s story felt like a mix of multiple other movies, both Disney and non-Disney, for example, Hocus Pocus (1993), Casper (1995), Ghostbusters (1984), and Halloweentown (1998). With Skylar’s discovery that her parents have quite a cool and dangerous job, it also reminded me a bit of Spy Kids (2001). This didn’t bother me though and I don’t feel the need to criticise the movie for using similar ideas from other places.

Girl vs. Monster received a nomination at the Directors Guild of America Awards for Outstanding Directing – Children’s Program, however, Stuart Gillard lost out to Paul Hoen’s directing of the musical DCOM Let It Shine (2012). The movie did win at the Writers Guild of America Awards, awarding the win to Annie DeYoung and Ron McGee in the Children’s – Long Form or Special category.

LEGACY

Girl vs. Monster perhaps could have had a further movie. After all, the movie does end with Deimata seemingly cracking the containment unit, showing that her escape is possible.

But I don’t think Disney Channel could’ve produced a whole series of films based on Girl vs. Monster, like they did with Halloweentown, as I think the concept might’ve felt quite samey after a while. However, a sequel would’ve been interesting, to allow us to see Skylar have the opportunity to finally go monster hunting with her parents.

A sequel was not commissioned, however, Girl vs. Monster still continues to be included in the Halloween Collection on Disney+, although some other DCOMs and franchises, like ZOMBIES and Descendants, also make that list, despite not really being Halloween-y in nature. Disney Channel have continued to make Halloween movies, though not particularly frequently. Under Wraps 2, released in 2022, is their most recent one.

With the current trend of unexpected Disney sequels being announced or at least discussed, such as a sequel to Freaky Friday (2003) and The Princess Diaries 3, the possibility still remains for Girl vs. Monster 2 to become a reality, if a good story can be written and the cast are interested in returning for another outing.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I’m not a big fan of Halloween. I keep saying this and that’s because I know that I am not and was never the target audience for Girl vs. Monster. Clearly, I’m not the right age for it now, but even when I was, I still wouldn’t have watched this movie.

I’ve never been interested in Halloween DCOMs because I don’t like spooky movies. Girl vs. Monster wasn’t as scary as I thought it would be, which was good for me, and the music was quite nice. I also thought it was quite funny in places so overall, though I can say Girl vs. Monster didn’t suit me personally, I can’t tell anyone it is a bad movie, DCOM or otherwise.

What I feel I can say is: if you’re looking for a properly scary movie this Halloween, Girl vs. Monster is not the one. If you want toned-down spookiness, it most definitely is.

REFERENCES

[1] Credit: Jim Korkis, The Vault of Walt Vol. 9: Halloween Edition (2020), ‘Girl vs. Monster (2012)’, pp. 237-238.

[2] Credit: Nellie Andreeva, ‘Disney Channel Sets Cast of ‘Girl Vs. Monster’’, Deadline.com, 28^th March 2012.

[3] Credit: Jim Korkis, The Vault of Walt Vol. 9: Halloween Edition (2020), ‘Girl vs. Monster (2012)’, pp. 237-238.

[4] Credit: Emily Rome, ‘‘Girl Vs. Monster’: Bigger than ‘Halloweentown’ says producer’, EW.com, 12^th October 2012.

[5] Credit: Disney Channel, ‘Girl vs Monster – Behind the Scenes – Special Effects’, Disney Channel UK YouTube Channel, 5^th November 2012.

[6] Credit: Patricia McNamara, ‘Behind-the-scenes scoop: Girl Vs. Monster has a Twilight connection – and more!’, GirlsLife.com, 1^st February 2016.

11th Oct 202429th Sep 2025 by The Disney Purist

Prom Pact (2023)

BACKGROUND

The 80s are having a bit of a moment right now. Whether that’s in movies, music, fashion, whatever, the 80s are back and people are loving it, both young and old-er.

I don’t know what caused this resurgence initially. Perhaps it was the series Stranger Things (2016-present). That’s set in the 80s, isn’t it? I wouldn’t know, I’ve never seen it. Much too scary for me. Or maybe it’s just the right time. Every decade seems to become fashionable again at one time or another.

I’ve had my own “journey through the 80s”. It started with music and my dad’s CDs, then I moved over to movies, starting with comedies like ¡Three Amigos! (1986) and Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987), before going over to some of the teen movies like The Breakfast Club (1985) and Pretty in Pink (1986). I’ll just ignore the fashion; it’s not for me.

Once there’s a new trend afoot, everyone wants a piece of the pie – and that includes Disney. Prom Pact is their tribute to the iconic movies of the 1980s.

Prom Pact was released to Disney+ just a day later than its Disney Channel premiere. It is labelled a Disney Original Movie, and not a Disney Channel Original Movie. Now that many international Disney Channels have since shut down, the humble DCOM title has become something a little bit different as the majority of us have to rely on Disney+ for all our Disney Channel content, making the DCOM name redundant and inaccurate.

Surprisingly, I did watch Prom Pact very soon after its Disney+ release, which is odd for me as most of the time new films just sit on my watchlist and are normally removed a few months later, unwatched. A big draw for me watching Prom Pact was the two lead actors: Milo Manheim and Peyton Elizabeth Lee; both Disney alumni that I know and like. But that wasn’t all. I was also taken in by its 80s references, hoping to see nods to some of the best 80s movies as well as hear some great music. I wasn’t disappointed. I also find the whole American concept of prom fascinating, so over-the-top and everyone’s way too over-excited about it. I’m probably jealous. My prom here in Britain was terrible. My school didn’t even organise it, so everyone ended up at a village hall and just got drunk. Such a waste of time.

Prom Pact happens to be a very funny movie too, and a more adult one from Disney, moving into rom-com territory at times, alongside the usual teenage coming-of-age material. It was so grown-up that two different versions of the film actually exist: one for Disney+, and one for its original Disney Channel premiere, which edits out some dialogue.

PLOT

Prom Pact begins like so many teen-centric movies: in a high school gym, at a pep rally. Except our main character is not at the pep rally. No, Mandy is sat outside, refreshing her college application status, hoping that Harvard, her top choice school, has accepted her. She is disheartened to find it has not changed and instead turns her attentions to helping those less fortunate, by attempting to take the contents of the Lost and Found bin to donate to the homeless. The school guidance counsellor, Ms. Chen, tells Mandy to stop what she’s doing and orders her to go to the pep rally. Begrudgingly, Mandy does as she’s told.

Inside, she attempts to vent to her best friend, Ben, about how all these basketball jocks are dumb and will never succeed in later life, but Ben actually wants to focus on the pep rally as they are about to announce the theme for their senior prom. Mandy isn’t at all bothered by this, but shuts up so Ben can listen. The theme is announced to be – drum roll, please – the 80s! Almost immediately after this, the student body hears the Ghostbusters theme start up. Oh yes, it’s time for the first promposal of the year. Mandy doesn’t find this at all sweet or cute and basically rolls her eyes at it. I am with you there, Mandy! I don’t like that sort of thing in marriage proposals, let alone promposals. Since when did all special life moments have to be so elaborate and public, full of props and prying eyes? Ugh.

Ben is struggling to accept that he and Mandy have spent so much of their time in high school missing out on big events and opportunities to mix with others who aren’t just each other, with the two of them spending every Friday at the bookstore, then the movies, then the waffle house. Sounds pretty good to me – apart from the waffles, I’m not much of a dessert person – so I don’t know what Ben is complaining about. Nor does Mandy but she can see how much missing out on parties is bothering Ben so she does something corny that she never expected to do. She writes “PROM?” in ketchup on the restaurant placemat and asks Ben to go to prom with her, as friends. There are some rules though: no limos, no slow dances, none of that naff stuff. Ben accepts the conditions of this “prom pact”.

The next day at school, disaster strikes. Mandy finds she has been waitlisted by Harvard. Distraught, she goes to Ms. Chen and declares that her life is over. Ms. Chen tells Mandy it’s time to think about back-up schools. This is answered with a flat “no”. So, the only other route is to get a really good letter of recommendation from someone. Mandy suddenly has an idea: the basketball captain’s father is a senator, and he also went to Harvard. If she can get a recommendation from him, then Harvard will have to accept her. The only problem is, she’s never actually talked to Graham Lansing before…

With their two friends, Zenobia and Charles, who are much more socially mobile than Ben and Mandy, they discuss how Mandy can get close to Graham. Mandy is told that Graham should be at a party tonight and is currently failing his psychology class, so a plan is enacted. Mandy and Ben go to this high school party to find Graham so Mandy can offer to tutor him, since she did that class last year. The two split up to find Graham, with Ben stumbling upon a conversation with cheerleaders. He happens to have a crush on one of them, LaToya Reynolds, and Ben being the socially awkward person he is tries to include himself in the conversation, only to get nervous and start cleaning up all the empty cups around them. Mandy doesn’t have any luck either, and only finds Graham standing behind her after she basically calls him a grunting neanderthal. They make a quick exit.

Luckily, Ben did overhear that Graham is meant to be going to a community garden project tomorrow so Mandy knows she’ll have to go too. At the community garden, Graham goes over to help Mandy use a nail gun, and she apologises for what she said to him. She then offers to tutor him in his class. Graham is uncertain why a girl he’s never spoken to would want to help him, but he agrees to tutoring sessions.

At their first session, Graham is five minutes late and is too distracted by more promposals going on around him to pay attention. Mandy’s normal teacher approach won’t work on Graham so she uses a language she knows he’ll understand: basketball. This works so well that Graham decides it’s time for him to teach Mandy how to play basketball, with a simple four-letter word: BEEF. Balance, Eyes, Elbows, Follow-Through. It actually works. Graham then takes Mandy to a youth team that he coaches and Mandy learns that she’s the only girl he’s ever brought there, making Mandy feel just a little bit special.

The next Friday night, Mandy tells Ben that she’ll be tutoring Graham at his house so she won’t be able to do their usual Friday night routine, but she’s determined to get there for the movie. However, at Graham’s house, Mandy is invited to stay for dinner and believing that Graham’s father will be there, she stays put, ditching Ben. Ben is about to return her movie ticket when he sees LaToya Reynolds in the queue ahead of him. Ben has recently learned that LaToya does know of his existence and awkwardly invites her to take the spare ticket and watch the movie with him. She happily accepts.

At dinner, Graham’s father is busy with work so isn’t there, but Mandy tells Graham’s mother all about her dreams of attending Harvard. Graham’s mother then invites Mandy to come to a fundraiser event next weekend, so that she can actually talk to Graham’s father about Harvard and get some tips.

But next Saturday starts to roll around and Mandy remembers that Saturday night is supposed to be the night she goes to dinner with Ben for his birthday. Ben is annoyed that Mandy is ditching him yet again, so to soften the blow, Mandy tells Ben he should ask LaToya to go with him. He isn’t sure about that, but he does ask, and she agrees to go out with him. Mandy also tries to make it up to Ben by giving him gifts and balloons whilst at his Saturday job at the grocery store. Everything is still good between them. For now.

At the fundraiser, Graham and Mandy slow dance together and they kiss. Mandy realises that she’s fallen for Graham, so when she gets the chance to talk to Graham’s father and learns that he is disappointed in Graham for being “dumb”, she tells him that Graham is a very special person and that actually she doesn’t need anything in return for her tutoring. But as she’s about to find Graham, she overhears his brothers talking about a girl who was over at their house earlier that day. Graham’s brothers think he’s only brought Mandy here to impress their dad. Mandy is humiliated and runs out of the room. She didn’t bring her phone though so uses the venue’s phone to call Ben, the only number she knows – you don’t know your home landline, Mandy? – and interrupts his date. As she sounds so upset, Ben rushes out of the restaurant, leaving LaToya with the bill and the humiliation of having her date run out on her. What Ben should’ve done here is ask to pay the bill now, and then offered to walk LaToya to her car or take her home first. Come on, Ben – use your brain, dude!

Ben picks Mandy up from the fundraiser and she apologises for ignoring him and missing his birthday. Ben’s ok with it and they still have prom anyway. The next day at school though, things aren’t ok between Mandy and Graham, or Ben and LaToya. Ben says sorry to LaToya and says he shouldn’t have just left her. She forgives him for that and then asks him to go to prom with her. Torn between friendship and the girl he likes, Ben has to refuse LaToya’s invitation and say he’s already going with Mandy. Unsurprisingly, that doesn’t go down too well. Mandy, meanwhile, is asked to prom by Graham, who says that the girl his brothers were talking about was just helping him plan his promposal to her. Mandy seemingly forgets all about her “prom pact” and says she’ll go to prom with Graham. Mandy excitedly tells Ben, but again, unsurprisingly, that news doesn’t go down well with him. Ben angrily calls Mandy out in the school car park, saying she was only using Graham to get that recommendation letter. This bust-up happens to have been recorded by some other student, so naturally, Graham sees the whole argument, and breaks up with Mandy – before handing her the letter of recommendation his dad wrote for her. Ouch.

Mandy doesn’t know what to do with this letter, as it’s exactly what she wanted but now she just feels guilty. She returns the letter back to Graham and knows she has to make things right with everyone. Luckily, it’s prom day. Mandy drives to see Ben first and does a poorly choreographed dance on his driveway, which makes Ben feel uncomfortable enough to accept her apology just to get her to stop! Mandy tells Ben to get dressed because they have some stops to make before prom: the bookstore, the movies, and the waffle house. They eventually make it to prom – and discover that no-one else is dressed in 80s-style prom outfits, making them feel awkward once again. They try to ignore that and enjoy the dancing regardless.

Soon, it’s time for Prom King and Queen to be announced. LaToya is announced as Prom Queen, and Prom King goes to – Ben?! The Prom King and Queen have to dance together but obviously with everything that went down between them, it’s a little awkward. Ben publicly apologises to LaToya once more and they finally kiss.

Mandy catches up with Ms. Chen at prom and thanks her for rigging the vote for Ben to win Prom King. She tells her to never speak of it again. LaToya and Ben then order Mandy to check her Harvard application. Mandy reluctantly does so and is surprised to find she’s been accepted! It turns out Ms. Chen wrote her a letter of recommendation; it might not have been from a fancy Senator but it still worked out.

At graduation, Mandy gives her Valedictorian speech – oh sorry, I mean, Salutatorian speech; Mandy only got a 94 in P.E. so I guess that’s not good enough for Valedictorian? I don’t know; I’m not American. That’s besides the point anyway. Mandy publicly says how much Graham helped her that year and then proceeds to give everyone the same piece of advice he gave her: BEEF. Make sure your life is balanced, you keep your eyes open, keep your elbows safe, and follow through with your actions and promises.

At the end of graduation, Mandy says goodbye to Ben as she will be spending the summer at Harvard, but that’s ok because him and LaToya are now an official couple. Graham also comes to talk to Mandy, telling her he’ll be attending a college chosen for him by his dad. The two leave on good terms.

Some time later, Mandy is in a bar on campus and surprisingly sees Graham there. He tells her he decided to take a year out to do some non-profit work in the city instead of going to college. Mandy is overjoyed to see him and they reconcile with a kiss.

CHARACTERS & CAST

Mandy Yang doesn’t care about high school and spends her senior year only thinking about getting into Harvard, the only college she’ll even think about going to. Mandy doesn’t care about prom, or sports games, or parties. Her focus is on Harvard and only Harvard. Although there’s obviously a determination to achieve a dream here, which is admirable, Mandy’s life is completely out of balance, forgetting that life doesn’t only start when you get to college and that she’s actually missing out on some big life moments during high school in her pursuit of Harvard. It’s not until she discovers that Graham, part of a group Mandy likes to call “The Everests” because their life has supposedly already peaked, is actually a good guy and much more ambitious and kind than she expected does Mandy let her guard down a bit and start to enjoy life. But she only fully accepts that she needs more in life than college after she’s lost all of her friends and has to spend her day at prom making amends with everyone. And then karma strikes in the best way and she gets accepted to Harvard anyway! Mandy’s a tough cookie, and she represents the pressure that so many high schoolers put on themselves to get accepted to “the best” colleges. It’s not worth the stress and there are so many other options. When you’re 17, 18, it’s never the end of the world; it just feels like it.

Peyton Elizabeth Lee was cast as Mandy. Lee said that, since she had been acting since the age of 10, she understood Mandy’s drive to succeed and her ambitious nature, but Lee tries to find a good balance in her life between her career and having fun, so she’s different from Mandy in that way. Lee is well-known for her portrayal of the titular character in the Disney Channel series Andi Mack (2017-19). She also voiced the recurring character of Rani in The Lion Guard (2016-19) and then starred in the Disney Channel-aligned movie Secret Society of Second-Born Royals (2020). Lee also starred as Lahela Kameāloha in the Disney+ series Doogie Kameāloha, M.D. (2021-23).

Ben Plunkett is a bit socially awkward and resentful of the fact he hasn’t been brave enough to experience all that high school has to offer. Ben has felt comfortable and happy in his friendship with Mandy but as the end of senior year approaches, he realises that Mandy will be going off to Harvard and he’ll be left in this town with the fellow high schoolers who either ignore him or vaguely pick on him – he was given the unfortunate nickname of “No Nuts” Plunkett after an allergic reaction on a school trip…Kids can be so cruel. Ben wants to experience the last few moments of high school with everyone else, by going to parties, going to prom, and maybe, just maybe, finally talking to his crush, the popular cheerleader LaToya Reynolds. Luckily, Mandy going off and tutoring Graham gives Ben just the push he needed to get out there and live his own life.

I can totally see Peyton Elizabeth Lee being similar to Mandy – ambitious, driven, strong, and opinionated, just perhaps a bit less judgemental! On the opposite side, Milo Manheim, who played Ben, does not strike me as the awkward and shy type. In fact, Manheim stated that he had first auditioned for Graham, which would have matched Manheim’s previous “leading man” roles, but was cast as the best friend[1]. This didn’t hold him back though, I don’t think, and Ben turned out to be a sweet guy and a loyal friend, as well as the funniest character in the film. I laughed out loud multiple times during Ben’s embarrassing interactions with LaToya. Milo Manheim is best known to Disney fans for playing Zed in the Disney Channel musical franchise ZOMBIES. He also competed in Dancing with the Stars (2005-present) in 2018 and came in second place. Recently, Manheim secured the role of Wally on the Paramount+ series School Spirits (2023-present) and was cast alongside Peyton Elizabeth Lee as Nico in Season 2 of Doogie Kameāloha, M.D. (2021-23), which arrived on Disney+ on the same day as Prom Pact.

Graham Lansing is the “dumb jock” who happens to not be so dumb after all. Mandy judges Graham based on his popularity and his basketball skills, but when she gets to know him properly as she tutors him in psychology, Mandy learns that there’s much more to him. He likes to do basketball coaching for one thing, and he actually struggles to fit in with his academically-focused family. Graham’s father is a senator, and he judges his sons on their academic abilities and nothing else, so for Graham to be the popular, sporty one in the family, that stands for nothing. Graham’s father doesn’t think his son is smart and thinks Mandy is doing a huge favour by taking time out of her day to tutor Graham, as it must be a tough job. This shows how difficult Graham’s home life must be, especially when we learn that Graham’s father has selected an “appropriate” college for Graham to go to, so as not to embarrass the family.

Graham was played by Australian actor Blake Draper in his first major film role, after having smaller roles in series like Clickbait (2021) and the Aussie soap Neighbours (1985-present) in 2018. Draper was recently announced as the star of the upcoming biopic A. Rimbaud about the French poet Arthur Rimbaud.

So that is the three main characters of Prom Pact, but there are definitely some more to mention. One is the school guidance counsellor Ms. Chen, who is less empathetic than you might expect a guidance counsellor to be, being quite direct and blunt with some of her advice! Ms Chen is also quite happy to rig the vote for Prom King just because Mandy asked her to do it to help fix Ben’s relationship with LaToya. Margaret Cho was cast as Ms. Chen. Cho started out her career in stand-up comedy before moving into acting roles. Some of these include All-American Girl (1994-95) as Margaret Kim; Drop Dead Diva (2009-14) as Teri Lee; 30 Rock (2006-13) as Kim Jong II, for which Cho was nominated for the Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series; Good on Paper (2021) as Margot; and as Charlie Utada in Season 2 of The Flight Attendant (2020-22).

For the students, LaToya Reynolds, the cheerleader who isn’t snobby and stuck-up like so many are on screen, was played by Monique A. Green. One of Green’s earliest roles was in An American Girl: Summer Camp, Friends for Life (2017) as Jordan. She went on to be cast as Olive Cooper in Season 1 of the Disney+ series Big Shot (2021-22) prior to her casting in Prom Pact. Green also appeared in a few episodes of Black-ish (2014-22) as Niecy. Mandy and Ben’s two other friends at school, Zenobia and Charles, were played by Arica Himmel and Jason Sakaki. Himmel is most known for her role as Rainbow “Bow” Johnson in the Black-ish spin-off Mixed-ish (2019-21).

Finally, I’ll briefly mention Mandy’s supportive but outspoken parents, Tom and Alyssa. David S. Jung was chosen for the part of Tom Yang. He had previously been cast as the recurring character Rip Tide in Doogie Kameāloha, M.D., alongside Peyton Elizabeth Lee. Wendi McLendon-Covey was cast as Alyssa. She is well-known for her roles as Rita in Bridesmaids (2011) and Beverly Goldberg in The Goldbergs (2013-23). I also know her from the sitcom Rules of Engagement (2007-13) where she played Liz, and McLendon-Covey also voices the character of Nancy Green in the Disney Channel series Big City Greens (2018-present) and its subsequent movie.

MUSIC

The soundtrack for Prom Pact consists of a lot of songs, some are modern hits, others are 80s songs and 80s movie themes.

Some of these 80s movie themes were easy to place as they were mostly used for the various promposals that took place throughout Prom Pact. These include the Ghostbusters theme by Ray Parker Jr.; “Old Time Rock and Roll” by Bob Seger from Risky Business (1983); and “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life” by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes from Dirty Dancing (1987).

At the prom, we also hear numerous well-known 80s songs, since it is an 80s-themed prom after all. A cover of “Love is a Battlefield” from Peyton Elizabeth Lee and Milo Manheim; “Let’s Dance” by David Bowie; “Mony Mony” by Billy Idol; “Only You” by Yazoo; and “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” by Whitney Houston are clearly heard during these scenes. Just before prom, to make amends, Mandy also does a promposal-redo for Ben, whilst dancing awkwardly on his driveway, to the song “Safety Dance” by Men Without Hats.

Another 80s song that is heard briefly is “Addicted to Love” by Robert Palmer. I think a student is singing it as part of a promposal whilst Mandy and Ben are at the waffle house. The final piece of 80s music to make its way into Prom Pact is “The Promise” by When in Rome, used in the final scene of Graham and Mandy reuniting at a bar near Harvard.

Of the more modern tunes, Ben and Mandy can be seen and heard rocking out to “Believer” by Imagine Dragons in Ben’s car. Milo Manheim has confirmed that he was not driving in this scene, but that the car was being towed[2]. That’s good because it’s quite clear that neither of these two are focusing on the road during this scene! Another contemporary music hit played during Prom Pact is “Bad Guy” by Billie Eilish which is used during a montage of Mandy’s tutoring sessions with Graham. Just after, when Graham takes Mandy to see the basketball team he coaches, “Shooting Star” by Michelle Lewis, Randall Cooke, and Mia Bojanic can be heard.

At the party that Mandy and Ben attend to try and talk to Graham so Mandy can offer to tutor him, a few modern songs are heard: “Art of the Strike” by Numbs; “Coincidance” by Handsome Dancer; and “Like Dat” performed by Marquise Butcher. The song “Reinvent Urself” by Robbie Nevil features as Mandy and Ben mess about looking for prom outfits. This song is also used in the End Credits of Prom Pact.

You’ll also hear “What Makes You Beautiful” by One Direction during Graham’s promposal to Mandy, along with the song from Risky Business, as Mandy was a childhood fan of One Direction, though she doesn’t like to admit it. The song “Fall on Me”, performed by Great Big World and Christina Aguilera is used as the slow dance song at Graham’s father’s fundraiser where Mandy and Graham have their first kiss. As Mandy is getting dressed for the fundraiser, “Feeling Butterflies”, by Meaghan Smith is playing. Mandy’s life soon starts to fall apart after the fundraiser, and the song heard as Ben drives her home is “Don’t Cry”, originally performed by Seal, but performed by Alice Lee here. As Mandy realises that Graham and Ben are both annoyed at her and she debates what to do about Harvard, Nazareth’s “Love Hurts” also performed by Alice Lee can be heard.

Then there is the song “Bulldogs United” by The Newton Brothers, which I can only assume is an original song, written to be the school song and used in their pep rally. Only four songs are credited in Prom Pact with “Bulldogs United” being one of those. The other three are the two Alice Lee songs mentioned above and Peyton Elizabeth Lee and Milo Manheim’s cover of Pat Benatar’s “Love is a Battlefield”.

There were apparently plans to have many more songs included in Prom Pact, however, there was not enough movie to fit them all in so compromises had to be made[3]. I have probably missed some because there were so many, or ones that I simply couldn’t place – like two pieces of jazz music playing at the fundraiser, for example – but this is the majority of the Prom Pact soundtrack. I am quite disappointed that “St. Elmo’s Fire (Man in Motion)” by John Parr from St. Elmo’s Fire (1985) didn’t make it though. I love that song.

PRODUCTION

The idea for Prom Pact came from a story written by Anthony Lombardo with input from Julie Bowen and Rachael Field, who were executive producers on this film.

Julie Bowen is well-known for starring as Claire Dunphy in the ABC sitcom Modern Family (2009-20), winning the Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in both 2011 and 2012 for this role. Bowen was also Adam Sandler’s “leading lady” in the Halloween comedy film Hubie Halloween (2020) and is set to appear in Happy Gilmore 2 (2025). Bowen had met both writer Lombardo and producer Field whilst working on Modern Family.

They all worked on the premise for Prom Pact together, wanting to make a modern twist on the 80s teen movies. Bowen stated that she had grown up watching John Hughes movies so wanted this to be a tribute to those, whilst also acknowledging the more outdated themes within them and find a way of correcting them in this new movie. Some of these are discussed in one scene where Ben, Mandy, Zenobia, and Charles are talking about the problems with certain 80s movies during lunch. For example, The Breakfast Club (1985) might be about being yourself, but suggests that you have to look a certain way to get a guy to like you, and Weird Science (1985) is about two guys creating the perfect woman on their computer who is basically a pin-up model, showing that 80s movies were very sexist at times. Mandy also mentions how disappointed she is that her parents treasure a picture of her dressed up as Tom Cruise’s character Joel in Risky Business (1983) when she was little, despite that movie being about a teenager running a brothel from his parents’ house, which isn’t exactly inspirational – or shouldn’t be anyway.

Lombardo pitched the idea of a feminist senior being more obsessed with Harvard than prom and parties, so this character would be pushing back against the common 80s movies tropes. It was also important to the group that they showed the importance of purely platonic friendships between girls and boys, instead of just focusing on romance, as many 80s teen movies do.

Prom Pact was first announced by Disney Branded Television in February 2022. Melvin Mar was named as one of the producers, having previously worked on Doogie Kameāloha, M.D. and Fresh Off the Boat (2015-20). Anya Adams was announced as the director, having also worked on Fresh Off the Boat. A brief description of the plot was given, and Peyton Elizabeth Lee and Milo Manheim were listed as the two leads[4].

Bowen stated that she had never been to a prom before, as she went to a small boarding school in Rhode Island which did not have a prom. She was obsessed with the idea of prom being this huge rite of passage because she had never experienced it[5]. But she was certainly not the only one on set who had never been to a “normal” high school prom. Peyton Elizabeth Lee, having worked on Disney projects for so much of her childhood, didn’t get the chance to go a normal prom either. During the premiere of Prom Pact, some of the cast did discuss the “Disney Prom”, which appears to be an annual event held for all those child and teen actors who work for the company. Lee said she went to three or four of these proms but never went to a real one. Milo Manheim said he first met Lee at one of these Disney Proms with the prom that year being named The Emerald Ball[6].

Prom Pact was filmed in Vancouver and there were a variety of different measures taken on set to make this production more sustainable, which would’ve matched Mandy’s environmentalist nature. These included reducing emissions and minimising waste to make a greener production. Electric vehicles were provided for crew and refillable water stations were available for use. Electric generators were used at times instead of just diesel-powered ones too. In catering, plant-based options were available and compostable food ware was provided. Signage across the set detailed small actions that anyone could take to reduce their environmental impact[7].

RECEPTION

After Prom Pact’s initial details and some cast and crew members were announced in February 2022, Peyton Elizabeth Lee and Milo Manheim then attended the 2022 D23 Expo in September of that year to give fans a closer look at the new movie.

The Hollywood premiere was held on 24^th March 2023, complete with a pink carpet – not red – to match the Prom Pact movie poster and the 80s movie Pretty in Pink (1986), I presume, before the first five minutes of Prom Pact were revealed on Disney Channel’s YouTube channel early on 30^th March.

This led to the official premiere of Prom Pact on Disney Channel on 30^th March 2023. 182,000 viewers are said to have tuned in for the actual premiere, which pales in comparison to some of Disney Channel’s other movies, but Prom Pact was still the highest-viewed kids’ television broadcast on that day. It’s likely that more and more people are moving away from cable TV and exclusively using streaming services now so that is potentially why the viewing figures may seem lower than usual.

Because of this, it made good business sense for Disney to release Prom Pact on to Disney+ just a day later on 31^st March 2023, to give the movie a much larger audience. However, this did require two different versions of the movie. For anyone who has watched Prom Pact on Disney+, you’ll have noticed that there are some comments made around sex, as well as some scenes of underage drinking and small uses of swear words. This isn’t a big deal for teenagers or adults, obviously, but it’s not exactly child-friendly in places. This is why the Disney Channel version edited out some scenes and dialogue to fit their usual target audience. This “other version” may have come as a surprise to parents who might have only had access to the Disney+ version of Prom Pact but had still expected to see a typical DCOM. Apparently, Prom Pact became Disney Channel’s first TV-14 rated original movie with this Disney+ edit of the film. It is unclear how well Prom Pact did on Disney+ in terms of viewing figures, although some media outlets have stated that Prom Pact was the fifth most-watched film across all platforms in the US during its first week of release. Prom Pact later aired on Freeform on 4^th May 2023.

Reviews for Prom Pact were generally positive, although the Disney+ version of the movie was a bit of a shock to some. I was surprised at some of the content, but it didn’t bother me. Prom Pact felt more like a Netflix teen coming-of-age movie, on the lines of To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before (2018) or The Kissing Booth (2018) rather than something like High School Musical (2006), which isn’t a bad thing but it did feel different.

Some of the more negative reviews focused on the fact that the character of Mandy was quite off-putting and unlikeable and that the movie itself felt a bit clichéd. Others also said it was odd to be aiming a movie at tweens and teenagers who have probably never seen any of the John Hughes movies it was trying to represent. I don’t think that necessarily matters because the nostalgia of the decade is not being aimed at them; it is being aimed at the adults or parents that may have chosen to watch it. The whole point of Prom Pact was to make a movie that is a tribute to 80s movies but felt contemporary and realistic.

Another big complaint was in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it shot. Quite close to the beginning of Prom Pact, during the pep rally, rows of students on bleachers can be seen. The front row are real human extras, however, in the row behind, a line of expressionless CGI characters can be spotted clapping. I personally did not see this whilst watching the movie, although looking at it online, these characters do look quite disturbed and some quite rightly likened their appearance to Sims 2 characters. It’s quite funny but probably not for the filmmakers. Many were quick to point the finger at Disney for using AI, but it is actually just low-quality CGI being used here[8]. The AI debate strengthened online though due to the SAG-AFTRA strikes that were ongoing at the time, with just one area of discussion being around the use of AI in the entertainment industry and the lack of protections for actors and writers. This caused many to label Disney as hypocritical. But they weren’t because, again, this was CGI, not AI. Bad CGI characters will always be a thing as long as the technology exists. I’d be more afraid of these CGI babies coming to the new live-action Rugrats film[9]…

On the positive side though, many felt Prom Pact was cute, entertaining, charming, and light-hearted fun. These viewers also liked this more mature movie from Disney. Looking at reviews of other teen-centric Disney Channel Original Movies, teenagers felt that those movies were too sanitised and did not reflect a true high-school experience. No doubt Prom Pact was at least a step closer to creating a more accurate account of school life in the US. The chemistry between the three lead characters also did not go unnoticed.

Prom Pact went on to be nominated for Outstanding Fiction Special at the 2^nd Children’s and Family Emmy Awards. It lost to The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special (2022), also from Disney. It’s a shame for Prom Pact but I don’t even like Marvel movies and I liked that Guardians Holiday Special a lot! Prom Pact did, however, win the Best One-Off, Special or TV Movie in the Tweens/Teens Programming category at the Kidscreen Awards.

LEGACY

Since Prom Pact was a standalone story that ended with a definitive conclusion, it should not be a surprise that a sequel has never been released.

But if viewers wanted more from Milo Manheim and Peyton Elizabeth Lee, they didn’t need to look far because they were both in Season 2 of Doogie Kameāloha, M.D., which will suit anyone who was hoping for those two to get together in Prom Pact.

Despite Prom Pact specifically being about platonic friendships and not romance between the two characters, because they arrived to prom looking like Duckie and Andie from Pretty in Pink (1986), some viewers might have been hoping for Mandy and Ben to suddenly end up together – though I accept that this was not the point and wouldn’t have made much sense given the events of Prom Pact.

But I did really want Duckie and Andie to get together in Pretty in Pink and I was so sad when they didn’t. And then I was even more sad when I found out that the original ending had the two together, but then test audiences booed and complained about it, wanting Andie to end up with Blane, so that’s what they got. Way to bow to peer pressure, John Hughes.

Anyway, what was I talking about?

FINAL THOUGHTS

Oh yeah, Prom Pact.

I liked Prom Pact even more the second time I watched it. It was funny, it was sweet, it had some very likeable characters, and everything was tied up nicely in a little bow by the end of the film. Mandy got the guy and the college, and Ben got his girl too.

I also enjoyed the references to 80s movies, which I had thankfully seen so I understood some of the Easter eggs and nods to these films. I don’t think I would’ve felt particularly out-of-the-loop if I hadn’t anyway.

The 80s as a trend are still not going away with many more television and film reboots in the works to keep the masses satisfied. I’m not a fan of reboots so Prom Pact was good because it was a love letter to the 80s without feeling like a rip-off of some other film.

This trend will likely dissipate soon enough, making way for some other decade, but as long as we have high school and prom, the quintessential teen movie will still be around.

REFERENCES

[1] Credit: Alex Reif, ‘The Making of Disney’s “Prom Pact”’, LaughingPlace.com, 30^th March 2023.

[2] Credit: Shine on Media, ‘PROM PACT Cast Share Favorite Memories & Dance Moves at Premiere I Interview’, Shine on Media YouTube Channel, 26^th March 2023.

[3] Credit: Rania Aniftos, ‘‘Prom Pact’ Soundtrack Jam-Packed with 80s Hits From David Bowie, Whitney Houston & More: Exclusive’, Billboard.com, 28^th March 2023.

[4] Credit: Nellia Andreeva, ‘Peyton Elizabeth Lee & Milo Manheim To Headline Disney+ Movie ‘Prom Pact’ From Julie Bowen & Melvin Mar’, Deadline.com, 6^th February 2022.

[5] Credit: Dana Rose Falcone, ‘Julie Bowen Says Disney’s ‘Prom Pact’ Is ‘Not a Movie About Dresses and Limos’ – See the First Trailer’, People.com, 24^th February 2023.

[6] Credit: Shelby Stivale, ‘Exclusive: Is Disney Channel Prom Real? Milo Manheim and Peyton Elizabeth Lee Spill the Tea on ‘Great’ Memories’, J-14.com, 28^th March 2023.

[7] Credit: Disney, ‘Sustainability on Set: Behind the Scenes with Disney Original Movie “Prom Pact”’, Disney.com, date unknown.

[8] Credit: Inga Parkel, ‘Disney Plus viewers notice ‘horrible CGI’ in new movie Prom Pact: ‘They look like Sims 2 characters’, Independent.co.uk, 5^th April 2023.

[9] Credit: Rebecca Rubin, ‘‘Rugrats’ Live-Action Movie in the Works at Paramount With CGI Babies’, Variety.com, 2^nd October 2024.

4th Oct 202429th Sep 2025 by The Disney Purist

Secret Society of Second-Born Royals (2020)

BACKGROUND

In 2020, something monumental happened in the world. Nobody likes talking about it, nobody likes thinking about it, but it was a shared experience for everyone. I am, of course, talking about the COVID-19 pandemic.

The pandemic shaped our lives in different ways, but I’m not about to get into how it affected people and the devastating consequences it had. What I’m talking about is how the pandemic shaped our viewing habits and what the consequence was for the media companies, and television and film industries.

We were all told to stay at home in 2020. Some people lost their jobs, children were being homeschooled, and there were no diversions outside, like cinemas, shopping centres, or restaurants, available to us. So, we all turned to our televisions and our phones, relying on technology to get us through the never-ending days inside.

The Walt Disney Company had, luckily, launched Disney+ in November 2019 in the US. It came to the UK in March 2020. Disney+ allowed a huge catalogue of Disney movies and series to be included on one app. It was popular from its very first day, but the time was about to come when it would be a vital part of keeping people sane, and to stop them climbing the walls or feeling trapped in their houses.

Having Disney+ as a platform to release the movies that Disney had been actively promoting for months or years, but now would not get to the cinemas, was very fortunate. Some of these movies included Mulan (2020) and Artemis Fowl (2020).

Secret Society of Second-Born Royals, however, was not going to be theatrically released. It was produced by Disney Channel. You’d think that these types of movies would not have been affected by the pandemic and should have just aired on the channel as normal. I would have expected that, but having a huge number of subscribers on Disney+ of a wide range of ages meant that releasing Secret Society of Second-Born Royals on to the streaming platform gave the movie a larger audience because we were all desperately seeking new content to enjoy.

I did add Secret Society of Second-Born Royals to my Disney+ watchlist in September 2020, when the movie first came to the service. This might suggest that I would’ve watched it at the time, but I did not. Unfortunately, my streaming watchlists is where things usually go to die, especially movies. I will always prioritise documentaries, especially Netflix ones – I love a good Netflix documentary – but rarely movies or series, especially if they are not based on a franchise I know or feature actors that I’m interested in.

Secret Society of Second-Born Royals happened to be just one of those, so after a few months of sitting in Disney+ watchlist limbo, it was removed from my list. I didn’t expect much when I watched the film this week, but, despite the negative reviews I’ve seen from others, I was pleasantly surprised. It’s not a new favourite or anything, but I quite liked it.

PLOT

We begin in Illyria, being told that what is to come is not the usual princess-falling-in-love-with-her-prince-type of story, although it is about a princess, Princess Sam. She is a bit of a rebel, and apparently an anti-monarchist, despite the fact her mother has dutifully ruled Illyria for the last ten years since Sam’s father and uncle both died in a plane accident when Sam was just five-years old. Queen Catherine has been teaching Sam’s older sister, Eleanor, the ways of being queen since she will be formally named as ruler during the Coronation Ceremony on her 18^th birthday, which is not far away.

Sam hates being a royal and despises being the second-born royal, “the spare”, as her future is supposed to be all about smiling, cutting ribbons, and hosting tea parties, nothing that Sam wants to do in her life. Instead, her and her friend, Mike, son of the castle groundskeeper, have a rock band, called Misfit Hemingways. On this day, they play their music in front of anti-royal protesters, are caught by the police, and are taken home.

Queen Catherine is exasperated with Sam’s constant resistance to royal life. Nevertheless, Sam is dragged to the Person of the Year event, with that person of the year just so happening to be Sam’s sister, Eleanor. Sam feigns illness and leaves, planning to attend a concert with Mike at the Velvet Underground Club. Since the two do not have IDs, they are turned away. However, Sam sees a back door into the club and the two head for it. The door is locked with a security code, but Sam manages to see what some guys keyed in from yards away. This confuses Mike but they go in anyway. As the band get playing though, Sam starts to feel strange, with her senses heightening and everything feeling weird. She pulls the fire alarm to get everything to stop, but once again, Sam and Mike are caught by the police and put in a jail cell overnight. Sam is worried about what could be wrong with her.

After a night in jail, Sam and Mike are free to go, with Sam furious that her mother would leave her in their overnight. Queen Catherine ignores Sam’s protests and tells her to pack for summer school as punishment for her behaviour.

Meanwhile, a dangerous prisoner has managed to escape his cell, though we don’t know his relevance yet, only that a secret operation took place to sneak a small pin into the cell by way of a red apple. This pin is used by the prisoner to create some sort of electronic device that unlocks the cell door. He flees the prison, and plots his revenge on Queen Catherine for putting him there, with Sam seeming to be the prisoner’s target.

At summer school, four other students, all royals, join Sam: January, Matteo, Tuma, and Roxana. January is an eager-to-please princess from Luxembourg; Roxana is a princess-turned-social media influencer; Tuma is the prince that is full of himself; and Matteo is the socially awkward royal. Soon, their teacher, Professor James Morrow, arrives and quickly informs them that they are not attending summer school for the reasons they think they are. In fact, this is a training programme, as these five are all second-born royals. Second-born royals all have superpowers and when the time is right, they are recruited to the Secret Society of Second-Born Royals, an operation that protects the kingdom. Queen Catherine is the head of this society, much to Sam’s shock, and has the power of teleportation. They are then told that, should they be unsuccessful in training, their memories will be wiped and their powers removed for ever. No pressure there, then.

The recruits are taken to a training course, complete with booby traps, laser beams, and uneven flooring. They are tasked with getting to the other side, where a small pyramid sits. The five jump right in, and some of them discover their powers. Roxana has the power of invisibility, which she figures out after her thumb randomly disappears; Tuma has the power of persuasion, making anyone follow his orders; and Sam has that heightened sense thing. Despite this, nobody makes it to the other end of the course. As they sit and wait for further instruction, Matteo learns that he can control bugs – woo – and January figures out she can take someone else’s powers for a period of time.

Their next stage of training is all about learning to control their powers. Tuma is tasked with training an unruly dog; January must learn to extend the length of time she can have someone’s power for, working alongside Princess Anna, who can breathe underwater; Sam has to listen to multiple conversations at once; and Matteo has to work with his bugs, obviously. Roxana is put on an exercise bike whilst simulated weather is thrown in her face. Whilst everyone else figures out their powers, Morrow learns this method is not working on Roxana and threatens her, saying he’s about to go live on social media and everyone will see her looking a mess. This threat instantly makes Roxana disappear. Seems a bit cruel, but I guess it worked! Sam is later taken to see the society’s headquarters by her mother and given the master code to any door or lock in the castle as a way of motivating her to continue with the training. Sam is also told that a former member once betrayed them, so in amongst all the portraits of famous previous recruits, including Prince Harry, the most famous royal second-born in the world, is a black space, to remind everyone of this.

As Sam is about to leave the training camp to attend her band’s gig with Mike, an emergency alarm goes off and the recruits are called to a break-in at the Royal Treasury, with thieves looking to steal the Crown Jewels. The five are left to stop the thieves. Sam runs off to find them, and tasks the others with guarding the jewels. All five end up following the thieves and although they catch one, the jewels are still stolen. It turns out this was all a test and the recruits failed. Morrow gives them a day off to think about that.

On this day off, instead of wallowing in misery, the five have a fun day together in Illyria, giving them a chance to bond. Sam invites the others to her sister’s Coronation which is happening that Saturday; they happily accept. Later that day, January says she wants to see the castle, so her and Sam sneak their way to Sam’s room. As January plays on the keyboard, Mike arrives and accuses Sam of starting another band without him. She says she isn’t but can’t tell him what’s been going on with her and the society. He walks away, angry. To make things worse, when Sam and January get back to camp, they are attacked by an intruder. The other three arrive to fight him off and the intruder flees. Morrow tells them to go to their rooms because this guy is dangerous. But Sam doesn’t listen and follows him into the forest. This guy really isn’t someone you want to mess with because he is telekinetic and begins using his mind to throw objects at Sam, with a tree branch pinning her to the floor. She learns that this man is the prisoner who escaped jail and that he is her uncle who she thought was dead. Morrow comes to rescue Sam, using his power of multiplying himself to fight Sam’s uncle, but he is knocked out. January then comes to the rescue.

As Morrow is taken to hospital and training is suspended, Sam confronts her mother about her uncle, Edmond. She tells Sam that Edmond murdered Sam’s father so that he could take over as King of Illyria; the Queen had no choice but to imprison him. Sam demands a chance to talk to Edmond herself. Reluctantly, she is allowed to, with Edmond saying all he wanted was to abolish the monarchy, something Sam agrees with. Sam has a heart-to-heart with Eleanor, who says it hurts her that Sam is so against the monarchy, this being something Eleanor and Catherine have sought to protect. Sam then goes to see Morrow in hospital to apologise for what happened; he tells her she’s meant for great things.

Then it’s Coronation Day. Tuma, Roxana, and Matteo all arrive but where is January? Oh yeah, it turns out January is a villain, working with Edmond to destroy all royals in Illyria so that he can help her murder her brother so January can be queen. What a twist! January has also stolen Tuma’s power so everyone has to do what she says. Edmond is freed from his cell, and January puts the three recruits in there. Luckily, thanks to Sam’s sense power and a spy fly from Matteo, she sees Edmond in the castle grounds and knows something is wrong. She runs to Mike’s house and begs him to help her, revealing the society to him in the process. As Sam is cornered in a barn by January, she finds she can’t fight back, having to listen to January’s orders. January reveals Edmond’s plan to Sam but before she can do anything else, Mike drops a bag of grain on January and knocks her unconscious.

Sam and Mike head to the society headquarters and free the others. They learn that Edmond has taken a DNA device from the base and will use it to wipe out all the royals at Eleanor’s Coronation. The ceremony is already going on, so there’s not much time. They plan to lure Edmond to a room and use power-dampening collars to trap him there.

Sam finds Edmond on the castle roof and with help from the others, manages to grab the device from him. She jumps off the building, being carried to safety by Matteo’s butterflies. She runs to her room, and Edmond follows her. Luckily, their power-dampening trap works and he has no access to his telekinetic power. It leaves him with Mike who holds the DNA device. The recruits have reprogrammed the device so that it will only go after Edmond, but instead of “wiping him out”, the device basically sucks Edmond into it. The Coronation goes on as planned and Eleanor is crowned as Queen. Illyria is safe.

Eleanor then talks to Sam, saying that their mother told her about the society and thanks Sam for what she did. Eleanor also says that she plans to set up a parliament to work alongside the monarchy, to make Illyria more democratic, which pleases Sam. Sam, Matteo, Tuma, and Roxana are inducted into the Secret Society formally, with Morrow having fully recovered. Their first official order of business is to fly to Geneva, where January, having escaped Illyria, has robbed a bank vault, seemingly to fund a coup against her brother. The four members fly off to stop her.

CHARACTERS & CAST

Sam, or Princess Sam as she should probably be known, is the daughter of Queen Catherine and sister of Queen-to-be Eleanor. Despite being royal, Sam does not enjoy her life, feeling that being a princess isn’t a fulfilling life and wants more for herself. I think she also feels some guilt for the privileged life that she’s had, and believes that the kingdom of Illyria should be monarchy-free, to make life fairer for everyone. Sam continues this rebellious nature by forming a rock band with her friend, Mike, played by Noah Lomax, where they express their anti-royal beliefs in public. As Sam starts to fear her future of shaking hands and hosting parties, she is called up to the Secret Society, after realising that her sudden heightened senses are actually her superpower. Sam is uncertain about joining the society, but soon realises that it gives her the self-worth and purpose she has needed, and learns to understand the importance of her family. It also allows her to meet a group of people who turn out to be great friends. Well, all but one, anyway.

Sam was played by Peyton Elizabeth Lee who was no stranger to Disney at this time. Lee is well-known for her portrayal of the titular character in the Disney Channel series Andi Mack (2017-19). She also voiced the recurring character of Rani in The Lion Guard (2016-19). After her role in Secret Society of Second-Born Royals, Lee went on to star as Lahela Kameāloha in the Disney+ series Doogie Kameāloha, M.D. (2021-23), and then as Mandy in the Disney Original Movie, Prom Pact (2023).

Sam is the odd one out in her family as Eleanor and Catherine have accepted their royal standings. Queen Catherine has had to rule Illyria for ten years in place of the rightful king Robert, her husband, who died in a plane crash. She has had to not only lead the kingdom but also train her daughter Eleanor in how to be queen so that she can be coronated and take over when she reaches the age of 18. Eleanor has not had the luxury of being a rebel like Sam, as she has had to take her future position very seriously ever since their father died. She can’t understand Sam’s hatred of the very monarchy that they were both born into and that Eleanor and Catherine have had to fight to keep steady. It’s frustrating for both of them, which is why Catherine, head of the Secret Society, decides that Sam must join sooner rather than later so that Sam can finally realise how important all of them are for Illyria – or Sam just happened to be the right age for it; I don’t know the rules.

Élodie Yung was chosen for the part of Queen Catherine, who was known at the time for her role as Elektra Natchios in the Marvel series Daredevil (2015-18) and The Defenders (2017), as well as appearing in The Hitman’s Bodyguard (2017) as Amelia Roussel. Yung is currently starring as Thony De La Rosa in the thriller series The Cleaning Lady (2022-present). Eleanor was played by Ashley Liao, who was cast in Fuller House (2016-20) as Lola Wong prior to this movie. Liao went on to appear in Season 1 of the AppleTV+ series Physical (2021-23) and voice the character Jun Wong in DreamWorks Dragons: The Nine Realms (2021-23). She was also recently cast as Clemensia Dovecote in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023).

Princess January of Luxembourg is the big traitor of the Secret Society of Second-Born Royals, in a twist that many saw coming, according to reviews and comments online, but I didn’t – I get so invested in movies that I rarely think ahead to try and guess the plot. Anyway, January seemed very kind, sweet, and earnest at the start of the society training. She wanted everyone to be friends, work together, and harness their powers. January’s power is all about stealing from others so that ought to have given me a clue about her intentions towards the group, but it didn’t register. January uses Sam to gain access to the society headquarters so that she can enact her evil plan with Edmond, to destroy all those of royal blood in Illyria, in return for Edmond destroying January’s twin brother, who was only born a minute or so before her and is apparently an incompetent leader. Although January might have a point there about her brother – we don’t know for certain as we never see him – she should’ve learnt to fight her own battles and stayed in her own realm. I generally like the villain in movies though, so I did quite like January as a character.

January was played by Isabella Blake-Thomas, who had previously played Young Zelena in a couple of episodes of the ABC series Once Upon a Time (2011-18) and played Ella in the mystery drama film Kepler’s Dream (2017) alongside Holland Taylor. Edmond, the uncle who “came back from the dead” after murdering his brother in order to usurp the throne, was played by Greg Bryk, who had previously portrayed Joseph Seed through motion capture in the game Far Cry 5 (2018) and two of its sequels, and been cast as Weston Field in the series ReGenesis (2004-08) and as Cobbs Pond in Frontier (2016-18).

For the rest of the society, the remaining three recruits in Sam and January’s intake are Princess Roxana, Prince Tuma, and Prince Matteo. Matteo is initially very shy and unsure of himself amongst this group as he admits that he struggles in social settings. He’s not too impressed with his powers of bug control either, because admittedly it is a bit lame, but he comes to embrace it and use it to his advantage. Tuma, on the other hand, is very sure of himself and quite cocky. He has one of the best powers in the group, basically being able to control other people, which only makes the arrogance stronger, at least initially. Tuma does learn to respect the others in the group and work as a team by the end of the movie though. Roxana is a typical pampered princess, caring about her looks, social media, and her phone more than anything else. Her skill of turning invisible is quite a contrast from her constant online presence, although it is clear that without her fame, Roxana feels like a bit of fraud and not sure of her purpose. The society is good for her for this reason, just like Sam.

Roxana was played by Australian actress Olivia Deeble, who had been cast in the Aussie soap Home and Away (1988-present) as Raffy Morrison prior to her casting here. Deeble went on to write and star in the drama series More Than This (2022). Niles Fitch, who played Tuma, was known at the time for his role as Randall in the acclaimed drama series This Is Us (2016-22). Fitch went on to be cast in The Fallout (2021), alongside Jenna Ortega and Maddie Ziegler. After having appeared in a few episodes of Raven’s Home (2017-23) as Miles, Faly Rakotohavana was chosen for the part of Matteo. He recently was cast in the series UnPrisoned (2023-24) as Finn Alexander.

The final member of the society to mention is Professor James Morrow, their teacher and trainer who has the power of multiplying himself. He’s a good mixture of fun and serious to make the training less tedious. But he is also capable of making the group feel guilty when they’ve done something wrong, like when they fail their mission to protect the Crown Jewels, or when he gets beaten up by Edmond in the woods because Sam didn’t listen to orders and ends up in hospital… Morrow was played by Skylar Astin who is well-known for his role as Jesse in Pitch Perfect (2012) and its 2015 sequel, having also originated the role of Georg in Spring Awakening on Broadway. Astin was cast as Max in Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist (2020-21) and went on to star as Todd in the series So Help Me Todd (2022-24).

MUSIC

When I learnt that Sam was in a band with her friend, Mike, I was suddenly concerned that Secret Society of Second-Born Royals was a musical. Not because I don’t like musicals – I do – but because I thought this film was already trying to be a comedy, science-fiction, and a spy thriller, and I felt that making it a musical was going to be a step too far!

Luckily, this movie is not a musical, and only features three original songs. One of these is “The Pressure”, performed by Peyton Elizabeth Lee as Sam on her electric guitar and Mike on drums. It’s not a bad song, but it’s a bit loud and shouty for me. I think it’s meant to be the ultimate show of teenage angst and of Sam’s anti-monarchist views. “The Pressure” is played early on in the movie, in front of a group of anti-royal protestors, so it’s a call to arms to them as well.

Then there are two songs by the in-movie band Bramblebone. At the concert that Sam and Mike attend, where she freaks out and pulls the fire alarm, they perform “Kickin’ In”, until they are rudely interrupted by the sprinklers going off. “Music is My Weapon” is the other, although it is an End Credits song, so Bramblebone are not seen here. Crista Russo is the credited performer of the Bramblebone songs, the lead singer of the band. All three of the movie’s original songs were also written by Crista Russo. None of the original songs in Secret Society of Second-Born Royals are to my taste as I’m not a huge fan of rock music.

I also found a few songs within the movie that are uncredited. One of these features during the scene of Sam attending the Person of the Year event. It is “I’m Good” by Australian singer Wafia. Shortly after that, the song “Deceptacon” by Le Tigre can be heard briefly as Sam rushes to the Bramblebone concert to meet Mike.

Another uncredited song is played during the recruits’ day off at the beach and that is “Worlds Collide” by NERVO, an Australian DJ duo. They co-wrote the David Guetta hit “When Love Takes Over” alongside Kelly Rowland, who also provided the song’s vocals. “When Love Takes Over” won the Grammy Award for Best Remixed Recording. January also plays a small section of Mozart’s “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik” on the keyboard in Sam’s room when they sneak up there after the day off.

Next, the song “Soldier”, written by Lauren Strahm and Tommee Profitt, performed by Strahm under her stage name Fleurie, can be heard as Sam exits the hospital after seeing Morrow in the hospital and as the sun rises on Coronation Day. Fleurie’s music has featured in series such as Pretty Little Liars (2010-17) and The Originals (2013-18) as well as her song “Hurricane” being used for the trailer of Disney’s Black Beauty (2020).

Finally, the chorus of the song “young” by Meekha is used as the Coronation is successfully completed and Queen Eleanor is presented to the people of Illyria. I probably would’ve liked to hear a bit more of that song in the film, to be honest.

The score for Secret Society of Second-Born Royals was composed by Leo Birenberg. As a full score was not released, I cannot name specifically which musical segments I liked, but I can say I liked the music that played during the recruits’ training sessions and montages, as well as the music during the Coronation and final battle. Birenberg worked alongside composer Christophe Beck on some of his projects including the Disney films Frozen (2013), The Muppets (2011) and Muppets Most Wanted (2014). Recently, Birenberg composed the score for the series Kung Fu Panda: The Paws of Destiny (2018-19) and co-composed the series Cobra Kai (2021-present) alongside Zach Robinson.

PRODUCTION

The story of Secret Society of Second-Born Royals, and presumably it’s oh-so-catchy and rolls-off-the-tongue title, is an original idea from Alex Litvak, Andrew Green, and Austin Winsberg, with the screenplay being written by Litvak and Green, and Winsberg coming on as a co-producer.

Anna Mastro, the director, was interested in this story as she felt it was a mixture of a coming-of-age story and an action movie. Action movies have had somewhat of a revival in recent years, for example with all the Marvel movies and series that Disney have been churning out. Secret Society of Second-Born Royals is clearly inspired by these sorts of movies, with many pointing out that this movie seemed to be taking some of its plot points from the X-Men. Mastro thought this project had a lot of potential and was excited to be working on an original IP for Disney. Mastro had previously directed episodes of series like Gossip Girl (2007-12) and Jane the Virgin (2014-19) before working on this film[1].

With Secret Society of Second-Born Royals wanting to throw itself into the action movie genre, stunts were going to be a necessity and the cast were eager to be involved, despite most of them having little to no experience with them. Skylar Astin was one of these people, who had to do a whole fight scene as different versions of himself. The teen actors were not discounted from stunt training either, with the training room sequence being a particularly fun scene to choreograph. It looked like a big playground to me[2].

Secret Society of Second-Born Royals is set in Illyria, the smallest country in Europe, situated between Denmark and Germany, according to the map at the opening of the movie. It was not filmed in Europe though, with Toronto, Canada being chosen as the filming location. Some viewers complained that Illyria didn’t look at all European, but as it’s a fictional place, I don’t think anyone should really be commenting on this. So many movies are filmed in Canada when their stories are set in Europe; it’s never really bothered me.

Specifically, the University of Toronto Mississauga was a regular location used during the production of Secret Society of Second-Born Royals, this being the setting for the Strathmore School scenes. The archway that is seen a couple of times in the movie was actually Princes’ Gate and areas of Downtown Toronto were used as well. Filming was still ongoing in the area as the Toronto Raptors won the 2019 NBA Finals in June which was exciting for the cast and crew to experience[3].

RECEPTION

Although Secret Society of Second-Born Royals feels like a typical Disney Channel Original Movie, it isn’t exactly labelled in that way.

The movie was produced by Disney Channel, and features one of its biggest stars, however, it did not premiere on Disney Channel; it premiered on Disney+. This has started to become the norm and I believe the simple reason for this is because many of the international Disney Channels have since shut down. Nowadays, it seems that Disney Channel-type movies premiere on Disney+ first and air at a later date on the US Disney Channel, making the label Disney Channel Original Movie inaccurate.

Secret Society of Second-Born Royals was originally set for a Disney+ release on 17^th July 2020, which would’ve been two weeks after the widely popular Hamilton (2020) hit the platform. However, Disney announced in June 2020 that the release of Secret Society of Second-Born Royals had been postponed until September, with the movie finally airing on 25^th September 2020. No reason for the postponement was given.

Secret Society of Second-Born Royals, since it was produced by Disney Channel, was always going to have a US Disney Channel premiere, yet this did not happen until 26^th February 2023. A reason for this was also not provided.

In terms of audience reaction, the movie received mixed reviews. Some felt that the movie was good for teens and children, who were probably needing something to watch to distract them from the upheaval that was going on in the world. The message of friendship and belonging was also perceived well by these viewers who went in to Secret Society of Second-Born Royals expecting a typical but enjoyable Disney movie.

But there were also negative reviews. Some felt that Secret Society of Second-Born Royals was trying too hard to be like X-Men and that it failed to do this. Many found numerous plot holes that were not addressed throughout the events of the movie, such as how did January meet Edmond as their paths were unlikely to have ever crossed? I can understand that, but a discussion on how the genetic-based powers work only on second-born royals is a little too much overthinking in my opinion. By 2020, Disney+ had already released some exciting projects and this did not measure up in some people’s opinions.

For me, I enjoyed Secret Society of Second-Born Royals enough not to be bored by it and actually found the whole battle between Edmond, January, and Sam to be quite good. As I was watching, I felt like the film was a mixture of ideas from Disney’s Sky High (2005) and Princess Protection Program (2009), both films I liked and about superheroes and royalty respectively. I didn’t think Secret Society of Second-Born Royals warranted the amount of negativity it received and if I’d been in the target age range for the film and had known more of the lead actors, I might have really loved it. The only thing I would say is that perhaps the balance between seriousness and comedy was not quite right; it did feel too serious at times. Disney Channel movies are meant to be light-hearted entertainment and not trying to be like blockbuster movies of the same genre.

Regardless of the audience’s comments, Secret Society of Second-Born Royals became the most-watched movie on Disney+ on its weekend release. It was the second-most watched content on the platform behind The Simpsons (1989-present)[4]. The film also received nominations at the inaugural Critics’ Choice Super Awards in 2021 in these categories: Best Superhero Movie; Best Actress, for Peyton Elizabeth Lee; and Best Actor, for Skylar Astin.

LEGACY

As the ending to Secret Society of Second-Born Royals left us on a bit of a cliffhanger, with January in Geneva trying to enact a coup over her brother, and the recruits being sent to stop her, it would seem that Disney had always intended for a sequel to be made.

Director Anna Mastro said herself in an interview that there were two more chapters to this story, and the whole idea of this being a new, original live-action IP for Disney should’ve meant that this was a definite plan of action[5]. The cast also said they wanted to continue with the story and were excited to see what would happen to their characters.

However, a sequel has never been ordered or greenlit. This is likely because of the negative reaction that the original film received, with some reviews being quite brutal in their commentaries, pointing out everything “wrong” with the movie.

It is a shame that this cast will seemingly never take part in a sequel to Secret Society of Second-Born Royals. Four years have since passed, so a continuation of the first movie story is not really possible with these same actors and they have moved on to other projects in recent years. I wouldn’t have been counting down the days or anything should Secret Society of Second-Born Royals 2 have happened but I would’ve happily watched it.

FINAL THOUGHTS

The reviews for Secret Society of Second-Born Royals were not so great but I disagree with them for the most part.

Secret Society of Second-Born Royals is exactly what I expected to see; it feels very Disney, and very much like a DCOM and there’s nothing wrong with that. It was never meant to compete with Marvel or DC Comics. It was meant to be a wholesome movie, about teenagers finding where they belong in this world, and coming together to defy expectations, and that’s what it did.

I think putting Secret Society of Second-Born Royals on Disney+ meant that more adults without children saw it, who potentially would never have found it had this only aired on Disney Channel, so they were going to be harder to please. This opened the movie up to a level of criticism it may never have received.

In my view, Secret Society of Second-Born Royals was simply a victim of pandemic boredom. If people don’t have much else to do other than watch television and streaming, then their expectations and viewing needs are higher than usual; they want something good to watch and they need it now. And if it’s not good, well, then they have all the time in the world to air their frustrations and spend hours picking holes in storylines.

REFERENCES

[1] Credit: Christina Radish, ‘‘Secret Society of Second-Born Royals’ Director Anna Mastro on the Possibility of Two Sequels’, Collider.com, 1^st October 2020.

[2] Credit: Disney, ‘Character Powers and Stunts Featurette I Secret Society of Second-Born Royals I Disney+’, Disney Plus YouTube Channel, 26^th September 2020.

[3] Credit: Brea Cubit, ‘Disney’s Secret Society of Second-Born Royals Found Its Fairy-Tale Location in Toronto’, PopSugar.com, 26^th September 2020.

[4] Credit: Scott Mendelson, ‘In ‘Secret Society Of Second-Born Royals’, The Disney Princesses Are Superheroes Too’, Forbes.com, 29^th September 2020.

[5] Credit: Christina Radish, ‘‘Secret Society of Second-Born Royals’ Director Anna Mastro on the Possibility of Two Sequels’, Collider.com, 1^st October 2020.