BACKGROUND
In the early 2010s, my favourite Disney Channel series and movies were all ending, like Sonny with a Chance (2009-11), Camp Rock, and Wizards of Waverly Place (2007-12). Disney Channel was moving away from the stars I’d grown up with, so I decided it was time I moved on from Disney Channel too.
For the most part, that was true, although Descendants and Liv and Maddie (2013-17) occasionally brought me back. But every time I watched trailers or adverts on Disney Channel at that time for new shows or DCOMs, I felt like the whole channel was changing and it was becoming something very different from what I’d known as a tween or teen.
If you talk to anyone who has watched Disney Channel, they will tell you that whatever was on when they were watching was the best, therefore, their era of Disney Channel was superior to any other. So, the 2010s are not “my era”, and they never will be. I will always prefer what was on in the 2000s to anything from the 2010s onwards. My stars were Selena Gomez, Miley Cyrus, and Demi Lovato.
But those watching in the 2010s had their own stars, many of whom became household names, like Zendaya, Dove Cameron, and China Anne McClain. The 2010s hold their breakout moments, thanks to a mixture of leading roles in series and star performances in Disney Channel Original Movies. Just one of these was 2014’s How to Build a Better Boy.
As we all know, Disney Channel like to put well-known Disney names front and centre of their movies. It’s good for viewership and good for business. In this case, they took China Anne McClain from A.N.T Farm (2011-14) and teamed her up with Kelli Berglund from Lab Rats (2012-16) for this film.
I had not seen How to Build a Better Boy before, apart from perhaps seeing a few clips. I also hadn’t seen Kelli Berglund in anything previously, although I did know McClain from various Disney and non-Disney projects beforehand. I’ve always liked her. That definitely helped me like this movie more than perhaps I would have had the two leads both been completely unknown to me.
How to Build a Better Boy was not the best DCOM I’ve ever seen, but it wasn’t the worst either. I found it was fairly entertaining and watchable, mostly because the premise was not unique to me, whereas this seems to have irritated others, who called it a “rip off”, as it is quite similar to a certain 1980s John Hughes comedy.
PLOT
How to Build a Better Boy begins with the US Army and Department of Defense pursuing two fugitives who have stolen a $3 billion weapon from the government. The fugitives are trapped and told by a general that they will be tried for treason and should show themselves to stop things getting worse. Another man says they definitely should – or they won’t be able to attend Homecoming… Um, what? It is revealed these fugitives are two teenage girls.
The story really begins two days earlier. At school, these two girls, Mae and Gabby, are sophomores but they are excelling in their academics, going to classes with the Seniors. They are seen as “nerds” who don’t fit in with the rest of their class. Mae spends time tutoring too, with one of those she tutors being Jaden, a jock who needs help in Math. Mae has a huge crush on Jaden, but Gabby continuously tells her that Jaden is not and will never be interested in someone like her, but Mae clings on to some hope that perhaps he does. Mae gets a text from Jaden, saying to meet him after football practice, which makes Mae wonder if he’s going to ask her to the Homecoming Dance. After all, he told her in tutoring that she ought to go to the dance… Gabby tells her that is not going to happen.
Popular girl Nevaeh approaches the two as they wait to see what Jaden wants to talk to Mae about. Nevaeh tells Mae that she will be going to Homecoming with Jaden because they’ve been going out for a whole 17 days! Jaden comes up to them after practice and says he was actually going to ask Mae for some extra help with his Math. Embarrassed, Mae tells them all that she already has a hot boyfriend, called Albert. He’s a genius, and sporty, and charitable, and just amazing. Nevaeh calls Mae’s bluff and says she wants to meet him. Mae and Gabby are picked up from school by Mae’s brother Bart. He says he saw Mae’s conversation with Nevaeh on the school’s website, humiliating Mae further.
That evening, Mae and Gabby discuss the fake boyfriend problem. Mae admits she’ll probably just have to tell the truth and say Albert was completely made-up. Gabby comes up with a better idea though: they’ll make Gabby a fake virtual boyfriend, using Mae’s father’s software from his video game company. It’s not like he works for the government.
Except it turns out Mae’s father actually does work for the US government, with the video game company being a cover. Mae’s father, Dr. James Hartley, has been working on the creation of a covert robotic operative, basically the perfect spy. He has just been given clearance to make this robot a reality.
Back at home, Gabby starts hacking into the software, known as X-17, causing all the technology at both Dr. Hartley’s laboratory and home office to switch on. Gabby gets Mae to answer the question prompts to build the boyfriend’s look and personality, covering areas like political allegiance, capabilities, personality, and even commander name. Once those have been answered, Gabby and Mae get their first look at “Albert”. A spark shocks them both from Gabby’s laptop screen, and the whole laboratory goes into overload as the “X-17” begins fabrication. Gabby says she can smell smoke, and thinks they may have fried some circuits. Going downstairs, the girls discover the mess is so much worse than that as all of Dr. Hartley’s home office equipment has been completely destroyed – and he’s on his way home! Gabby asks Mae’s brother Bart to stall him and keep him away from the office. Bart says he’ll only do that if Gabby agrees to be his date to the Homecoming dance. Under pressure, she says she will and goes about fixing the servers and equipment. When Bart and Mae’s father comes home, Bart distracts him with tea and jazz music, causing Dr. Hartley to fall asleep almost instantly. That buys them some time.
In the morning, Bart is left to continue fixing the equipment as Mae and Gabby head off to school. Dr. Hartley gets an urgent call from the lab and rushes over to work. At school, Nevaeh amusingly says that Mae’s boyfriend Albert added their classmates on social media last night, with Nevaeh obviously believing it was just Mae, having created a fake online profile for her fake boyfriend. As Mae is about to explain, Albert arrives to school in a bright orange Lamborghini, drawing everyone’s attention. Mae and Gabby are as shocked as everyone else at seeing that Albert is actually a real person!
At the lab, General McFee alerts Dr. Hartley to the fact this is a national emergency, as their robotic operative has gone. McFee thinks this was a hacking and a theft, and that they must find the X-17 and whoever took him. Unfortunately, the X-17 was built to be a covert spy, so no CCTV picks the robot up, neither leaving the room nor the building. The only piece of information they have is from a dogwalker who saw an attractive man leaving the building the night before – which isn’t much to go on.
Back at school, Albert is charming Mae and her classmates with his sensitivity, talent, and attractiveness. All except Gabby, who is annoyed that Mae is now spending all her time with Albert and ignoring her, as well as being very confused about why Albert is real. She believes he is an actor sent by the video game company to impersonate their virtual character and be a form of advertising, but Albert says he is very real – although his ability to read at lightning-fast speed would seem to suggest he is not exactly human, confusing Gabby further. Albert says he will kiss Mae at Homecoming, this being his mission. Bart calls Gabby to ask what is going on, since he’s seen pictures of Albert online and doesn’t like the idea of his little sister having an actual boyfriend.
Later, Albert is told to try out for football by the school’s coach who is impressed by his strength, endearing him to even more of the girls at school. Jaden is starting to feel a bit jealous of him though, especially as Mae forgets all about their tutoring session that afternoon to go to the park with Albert. Gabby also shows up at the park, not enjoying how nature is affecting her allergies, but she is soon told to leave Mae and Albert alone to talk. Fine, Gabby will just go and sneeze in a corner by herself then, yeah? Albert asks Mae to the Homecoming dance. She isn’t sure how to answer that and goes to talk to Gabby. Gabby tells Mae this wasn’t part of the plan, which was for them to graduate from school early and go to Harvard together, before becoming President and Vice President of the United States. Mae tells Gabby that wasn’t her plan, and says she likes Albert and having a boyfriend. Their conversation – or argument – is interrupted by Albert singing to Mae, drawing a crowd. They finish the song together, and Mae says she’ll go to Homecoming with Albert. Bart calls Gabby to say they need to get home now, because there is something very wrong with this situation. Gabby goes alone.
Meanwhile, at the lab, the government fear that the arms dealer group Black Sigma are behind the theft of the X-17 robot. They ask Dr. Hartley if the lab contains the only copy of the software. He tells them that actually there is a copy at his home office.
At the house, Black Sigma are scouting out the area, ready to go in. They are annoyed someone stole the X-17 before they could, so now they’ll have to find it. Also at the house, Gabby is told by Bart that, after fixing the computer, he learnt that Gabby has hacked into the Pentagon and tells her that his father works for the Department of Defense. Gabby is surprised that she managed to hack the Pentagon. On the computer, they find the manual for the X-17 robotic operative and this is where they learn that Albert is the X-17. At that moment, Black Sigma break into the office, so Bart and Gabby hide. Black Sigma take the X-17 files and destroy the servers. Government officials then arrive at the house and question Bart and Gabby. They pretend that they didn’t see anything and quickly make their excuses to leave the house. Black Sigma follow Bart and Gabby, hoping to be led to the X-17.
Gabby rushes to Mae and tells her she is the mission commander of Albert so is the only one who can shut Albert down. Mae refuses to do this, as she is now happy and popular, with her little group of fans wanting Gabby’s help with finding a perfect boyfriend too. Gabby tells Mae Albert is just a robot, but Mae ignores her, saying she loves him. At a loss what to do next, Gabby tells Bart that Mae wouldn’t let her explain the full story.
Albert has been tracked down by Black Sigma to the school and one of the men tries to attack Albert, but Albert fights him off and knocks him out. The other members of the group later find their guy in the storage room. They decide they need an electromagnetic pulse device to disable Albert.
Albert is put into the football game as the team are losing. He helps the team make a comeback with his insane speed and strength, simply running through opponents who cling on to Albert in the hopes of bringing him down. It doesn’t work. At the same time, the General is reporting the burglary at Dr. Hartley’s home to the police when one of them shows the General a video of the football game. The General sees that it is the X-17 playing. They go to the school.
As the game ends, Black Sigma use their device, and the Department of Defense arrive too to retrieve Albert. Albert is momentarily stunned by the pulse but makes an escape. The army’s arrival at the school causes everyone to scatter, with Gabby finally telling Mae everything she knows about Albert and what they’ve done. They go and hide. Nevaeh happens to overhear all this new information about Albert.
The government catch Black Sigma, but the X-17 is nowhere to be found, so they go after who stole him. The girls are tracked down, as per the opening scene. They are taken back to Dr. Hartley’s lab and are warned that what they’ve done could have had severe consequences for the world. However, they are told they are free to go as the General knows their intentions were nothing harmful. Mae asks where Albert is. The General says his system was temporarily taken down because of the electromagnetic pulse, but that he rebooted back to his default soldier mode, and is being tracked doing good all over the world. Mae is devastated that Albert won’t be with her anymore, but she believes he will come back for her, which frustrates Gabby who cannot get through to Mae.
At the Homecoming dance, Gabby arrives with Bart, and Jaden arrives with Nevaeh. He tries to talk to Mae, who arrives alone, but Nevaeh pulls him away. Suddenly, Mae sees a car pull up and who should come out of it but Albert. Dr. Hartley, who dropped Mae off at the dance, is also shocked but happy Mae gets to keep her date for Homecoming. But the General and the army arrive at the dance, knowing that this is where he would be. They plan to take the X-17 by force, but Dr. Hartley says if they let Albert finish his mission, which is to kiss Mae at the dance, then Albert will come peacefully. The General doesn’t want to do this, but when Dr. Hartley threatens to quit, the General reconsiders and orders everyone to prepare for “Operation Pucker Up”.
Inside, everyone is surprised to see Albert and Mae arrive together. Gabby tells Albert there is no way that he and Mae will ever be together, but he ignores her. Nevaeh and Jaden argue about how self-obsessed she is, and the two break up. As Homecoming Queen is announced, Mae is shocked to discover she was voted Homecoming Queen, which also horrifies Nevaeh who was sure it would be her. Dr. Hartley is so proud of his daughter – until he’s told by the General that they stuffed the ballot box to ensure she won! Nevaeh interrupts Mae’s Homecoming Queen speech and attempts to reveal Albert’s true identity. Instead, Jaden and others make out that Nevaeh is merely complimenting him, by calling him “dangerous” and a “machine”. She is ignored and the dance continues.
Jaden tells Bart and Gabby that he has spent too much time worrying about what people think. He admits he wanted to ask Mae to the dance but never had the guts to do so, and now she is with Albert. Gabby is annoyed at herself for always telling Mae that Jaden never liked her, when actually he did. She goes to find her and apologises for what she said about Jaden, saying she hasn’t been a very good friend to Mae recently, feeling like she’s been holding Mae back. The two reconcile.
Mae and Albert are given a slow dance together in front of everyone, which has been carefully manufactured with lights, rose petals, and a sparkly moon by the General to make sure this kiss happens. However, as Albert leans in, Mae pulls back, saying this isn’t how she wanted her first kiss to be because it is all too perfect and doesn’t feel real. Mae then sees that the army are all around them. Albert says he already knew but he had to make this the best night of Mae’s life. Now that it is over, he asks Mae to say the words. Mae tells him to initiate self-destruct. He says goodbye and his self-destruction begins, ripping a hole in the roof as he flies up and into the sky. To cover up the true reason for this, Bart tells everyone to appreciate the special effect display that the school put on for the dance!
The dance continues. Jaden talks to Mae and tells her that the line of smoke Albert left behind is a perfect logarithmic curve. He says he was never bad at Math and actually just liked spending time with his tutor. Jaden asks Mae to dance, but she says no, choosing to talk to Gabby instead. Mae tells Gabby she shouldn’t have let anything or anyone get in the way of their friendship, not even boys. Gabby then admits that she actually likes Mae’s brother. Mae takes this information quite well! The two dance the night away together.
CHARACTERS & CAST
Mae Hartley has spent much of her school life fully focused on academics, with the aim of graduating early and moving on to bigger and better opportunities. She is joined, or perhaps coaxed, into this journey by her best friend Gabby. However, Mae has started to think that they’ve missed out on the other social elements of high school, like having a large group of friends, and, of course, having boyfriends. Mae has a crush on football player Jaden, and really believes she has a chance with him. Since everyone, including her best friend, laughs at Mae for believing this, she makes up a whole fake boyfriend to cover her embarrassment, but when he miraculously comes to life, Mae turns out to be the one laughing. Albert, her new boyfriend, is as perfect as anyone can be. Although Mae likes Albert, and the newfound popularity his presence brings her, by the end of How to Build a Better Boy, Mae has realised that she’d much rather stick with her friend Gabby and actually try to find a boyfriend who may not be perfect but is at least real. That may’ve ended up being Jaden, but for now, Mae is trying to work out who she is and what she wants from life.
Kelli Berglund was cast as Mae, also starring as Bree Davenport in the Disney XD series Lab Rats (2012-16) at the time of filming How to Build a Better Boy. After her time on Disney, Berglund went on to appear as Madison in the movie Cherry (2021), starring Tom Holland, and appeared as Ren in Seasons 7 and 9 of the sitcom The Goldbergs (2013-23). She was also cast as Crystal Tyler in the Starz series Heels (2021-23) and more recently was cast as Nell Stewart in Queen of the Ring (2024).
Albert Banks is a robotic operative, officially known as X-17. Albert was meant to be a soldier, completing operations around the globe on behalf of the US government, however, when Mae and Gabby hack into the software, which they believe is just for a computer game company and would create them a virtual boyfriend, the X-17 comes to life as Albert, Mae’s perfect boyfriend. Albert is tall, blond, and athletic. He is sensitive, caring, and always knows the right thing to say. All the girls at school are jealous of Mae for having such a perfect boyfriend and they all want to find someone just like that. Albert also makes all the guys at school jealous, because they want to be as skilled a football player as him. Albert is devoted to Mae, and not embarrassed about showing his feelings one bit. Because of this, Mae instantly becomes attached to Albert, to the point she won’t listen to reason: that he is basically a robot spy and only cares about whatever he is programmed to care about; he doesn’t like Mae for her. But Mae was right to think he did actually like her, because Albert returns to school just to take her to Homecoming and to kiss her, which would complete his “mission”, despite the fact he knows the army are there to capture him. Albert even understands when Mae can’t go through with their kiss, and tells Mae to initiate his self-destruct so they can move on, showing Albert is the perfect boyfriend even in a break-up!
Marshall Williams was cast as Albert, going on to be cast in the recurring role of Spencer Porter in the final series of Glee (2009-15). Williams later appeared as Sam Tremblay in the first two seasons of the drama When Hope Calls (2019-present).
Gabby is Mae’s best friend; however, Gabby and Mae have differing opinions on one thing in particular: boys. Gabby doesn’t have time for boys. She just wants to graduate high school, go to Harvard, and then become the first female President of the United States, all with Mae by her side throughout, potentially even being her Vice President. Wow, how kind of you, Gabby! Gabby doesn’t think Mae should be thinking about boys like Jaden, but not wanting her friend to be embarrassed, and probably wanting to prove she can hack an IT system, Gabby helps Mae create her virtual boyfriend. Gabby never expected Albert to turn up as a real person though, nor did she expect Mae to become so obsessed with Albert that she ignores Gabby. Gabby discovers from Mae’s brother, Bart, that she accidentally hacked the Pentagon, not realising that they were building a robotic boyfriend, not a virtual one. But when Gabby tries to tell Mae the truth about this, Mae doesn’t listen, creating a major divide between the two. Eventually, this rift is healed at Homecoming as they both apologise for their behaviour, Gabby for not caring about Mae’s feelings for Jaden, and Mae for not listening to Gabby. It all works out in the end, and Gabby even starts to realise that boys aren’t so bad, after she starts dating Mae’s brother! The dynamic between Gabby and Mae reminded me a lot of Ben and Mandy’s friendship in Disney’s Prom Pact (2023), where the bossier friend, in this case Gabby, believes that their friend, in this case Mae, is happy with things being just the way they are, when in actual fact, they want something different.
Gabby Harrison was played by China Anne McClain. McClain’s acting career began at a young age when she chose to star as Jazmine Payne in Tyler Perry’s House of Payne (2007-present), a role which she returned to in 2020. McClain also starred alongside Cameron Boyce in the Adam Sandler films Grown Ups (2010) and Grown Ups 2 (2013). For Disney, McClain first appeared on the channel in the recurring role of Kiara in Jonas (2009-10), before securing a major role as Chyna Parks in the series A.N.T. Farm (2011-14), where she won the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Performance in a Youth/Children’s Program. McClain was later cast as Freddie, daughter of Dr. Facilier, in the animated series Descendants: Wicked World (2015-17). When McClain was cast as Uma in Descendants 2 (2017), returning for the films that followed, her sister, Lauryn, took over this voice role. More recently, McClain was cast as Chantal Taylor in Adam Sandler’s Hubie Halloween (2020), and as Jennifer Pierce/Lightning in the superhero series Black Lightning (2018-21) on The CW. She also starred as Morgan Brewster in Brewster’s Millions: Christmas (2024), a Christmas-themed sequel to the 1985 comedy film Brewster’s Millions.
Mae’s brother Bart is immediately seen to be interested in Gabby, his sister’s best friend, although we are not sure how or why his feelings have evolved in this way. Bart shows Gabby that he likes her by basically blackmailing her to go to Homecoming with him; he says he’ll distract his father whilst Gabby and Mae attempt to fix all the technology in Dr. Hartley’s home office after they destroy it. Bart and Gabby do end up going to Homecoming, but not before they become united in their determination to stop Mae and Albert being together after learning he is an important weapon to the US government. Bart is actually quite panicky when he learns this fact, whereas Gabby takes this new information in her stride and is mostly just annoyed that Mae won’t listen to her, whereas Bart is clearly concerned about the consequences they’ll face when they are discovered to be the hackers… Well, Bart is just an accomplice to hacking, I guess, but I’m sure that’s still a criminal offence.
Matt Shively was cast as Bart Hartley, having previously starred as Ryan Laserbeam in the Nickelodeon series True Jackson, VP (2008-11) and voiced the character of Sky in the animated series Winx Club (2011-19) and its 2012 and 2013 movies. After Nickelodeon, and Disney, Shively later appeared as Damo in Power Rangers (2017); Larry in Father of the Year (2018); and Alex in The Wedding Year (2019). More recently, Shively starred as Quinten Mark Van Bryan in the sitcom Lopez vs Lopez (2022-25).
As with any teen comedy, although the “nerdy ones” might be the leads, there has to be some popular people to create conflict. In this case, we have the popular girl who is set to be Homecoming Queen, Nevaeh, whose name, as Albert points out, is “heaven” spelt backwards – although what the significance is of that, I don’t know; it’s not like she acts like an angel. Nevaeh is the one to alert the whole school to the fact that Mae has a crush on Jaden, something that would never be reciprocated, as everyone continues to tell Mae. Nevaeh calls Mae out on her fake boyfriend Albert, thinking Mae has just created an online profile, so she is very surprised when Albert turns out to be real – and she doesn’t like how much more popular Albert is than her own boyfriend, Jaden, or how much more popular Mae becomes by being with him. This makes Nevaeh jealous and wanting ammunition against Mae – and she finds it, because she overhears Gabby explaining who Albert is to Mae when the army gatecrash their football game. Nevaeh is then made even more angry when she loses out on Homecoming Queen to Mae so she attempts to warn everyone about the fact Albert is a robot, who could be dangerous. But nobody actually listens, as her speech is interrupted by Jaden. Jaden is the jock that Mae has been tutoring, but he is scared about what people would think if he dated a smart girl, so he keeps his mouth shut about his feelings and lets Nevaeh push him around. Eventually, Jaden stands up to Nevaeh and breaks up with her at Homecoming and then lets Mae know that he does like her, and actually only wanted to be tutored by her so he could spend time with her. Although Mae is clearly touched by this, she won’t let Jaden win her that easily. He’ll just have to try harder.
Nevaeh was played by Ashley Argota, who also played a character in Nickelodeon’s True Jackson, VP (2008-11), Lulu, before joining Kelli Berglund in Lab Rats (2012-16) with her role as Taylor. Argota was later cast as Lou Chan in the sitcom The Fosters (2013-18). Noah Centineo was cast as Jaden Stark, and his career has sky-rocketed since How to Build a Better Boy and his recurring role as Dallas on Disney’s Austin & Ally (2011-16). After this, Centineo went on to replace Jake T. Austin as Jesus Adams Foster in The Fosters (2013-18) from Season 3. He was then cast in a selection of Netflix romantic comedies, such as the To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before trilogy where he played Peter; Swiped (2018) being cast as Lance; and The Perfect Date (2019), starring as Brooks. He starred as Owen Hendricks in the Netflix series The Recruit (2022-25) and is set to play Ken Masters in Street Fighter, the 2026 movie adaptation of the video game series of the same name.
Alongside this main plot taking place at the school, the side plot involves Dr. Hartley and General McFee trying to work out who hacked into Dr. Hartley’s laboratory and stole the X-17 robotic operative. Obviously, this is important to the security of the US, and the General initially fears it is the arms dealer group Black Sigma who has done this. They are after the X-17 but they were not the culprits. Dr. Hartley and the General couldn’t have been more surprised that it was two silly teenage girls who did this, with one of them being Dr. Hartley’s daughter. General McFee is clearly mostly interested in getting the X-17 back in the hands of the US government, which is exactly what he should be doing, but Dr. Hartley is concerned about his daughter’s feelings after X-17, known to Mae and the others as Albert, is swiftly taken away from her. He doesn’t want Mae to be upset about this, which is why, when Albert does return to take Mae to Homecoming, he convinces the General to let Albert finish his mission, and then Albert will peacefully go with the army. So, the General sets about making this the most romantic Homecoming dance ever, except Albert tricks him and actually self-destructs on Mae’s order, leaving the General with nothing and Dr. Hartley with a feeling of pride that his daughter got one over on them! Dr. Hartley can always make another robot.
Ron Lea was cast as General McFee. Lea had previously been cast as Brian Malony in the Canadian legal drama Street Legal (1987-1994) and as Dr. Oliver Crane in the medical drama Doc (2001-04) which starred Billy Ray Cyrus. Around the time of How to Build a Better Boy, Lea was appearing as Gavin Hardcastle in the sci-fi thriller Orphan Black (2013-17). Dr. James Hartley was played by stage and screen actor Roger Bart. On stage, Bart won a Tony for his role as Snoopy in the 1999 production of You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, before starring as both Carmen Ghia and Leo Bloom in various productions of The Producers in the 2000s. Recently, Bart originated the role of Dr. Emmett Brown in Back to the Future: The Musical, starring on the West End in London from 2021 to 2023, before moving over to Broadway from 2023 to 2025. On screen, Bart reprised his role as Carmen Ghia in the 2005 movie version of The Producers (2005) and appeared in the recurring role of George Williams in Desperate Housewives (2004-12). He was also cast as Mason Treadwell in Revenge (2011-15), and more recently, as Judge Wilson in Good Trouble (2019-24). Bart also provided the singing voice of Hercules in Disney Animation’s Hercules (1997) and played the role of Hades in the Off-Broadway 2019 stage production of the film at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park.
MUSIC
The soundtrack for How to Build a Better Boy contains a mixture of songs made famous by Disney Channel’s own singers and actors, as well as a selection of pop music.
From the Disney category, we have “Stand Out” performed by pop princess Sabrina Carpenter. At the time, Carpenter was starring on the channel in their series Girl Meets World (2014-17) as Maya Hart, alongside releasing music for Disney’s label Hollywood Records. She has since had various No. 1 singles like “Espresso”, “Please Please Please”, and “Nonsense”. Her song “Stand Out” is used for both the Opening and End Credits in How to Build a Better Boy. It was written by Carpenter, Rune Westberg, and Stevie Scott.
Following that we have a cover of Selena Gomez & the Scene’s 2011 song “Love You Like a Love Song” from their third and final album When the Sun Goes Down. In 2014, Gomez was no longer a fixture on Disney Channel screens, and she was releasing music as a solo artist. But the use of this song in How to Build a Better Boy shows how popular her music still was, especially amongst Disney Channel viewers. In the movie, “Love You Like a Love Song” is performed by Marshall Williams and Kelli Berglund, as Albert and Mae, during the sequence of them in the park after school. Albert begins singing alone with only a ukulele as accompaniment and is then joined by Mae to make it a duet. “Love You Like a Love Song” was written by Antonina Armato, Tim James, and Adam Schmalholz.
The final song used in How to Build a Better Boy to feature a Disney Channel star is “Something Real”. This is used for the final scene at Homecoming, and is performed by China Anne McClain and Kelli Berglund. It was written by Antonina Armato, Tim James, IN-Q, and Thomas Sturges. The song details Gabby and Mae’s journey throughout the movie, however, it is only used as background music, so they do not perform it in the film as their characters.
Outside of this, when Albert first arrives at school, much to the surprise of everyone, “Is That All You Got” by BossHouse is used. After that, we have the song that plays during the montage sequence of Mae and Albert at school together, where he plans a lunch date for her on the football field and frees the frogs that were meant to be used in Biology class. This song is “Higher”, by Scott Stallone, Steven Stern, Cristi Vaughan, Matt Todd Naylor, and David Wade. During the football game, the song playing as Albert outruns everyone on the field was not a song that I managed to find.
For Mae and Albert’s slow dance at Homecoming, the song “Your Ways / I Love Your Ways” by Chuckie Perez is used. There were a few others at the dance that were more difficult to figure out. I believe one song briefly playing during this dance is “Come On Now” by Miss Amani. This is closely followed by “Today’s the Day”, performed by Michelle Lewis, as Mae is voted Homecoming Queen. The other two songs used at Homecoming I have not been able to work out, despite some lyrics being more audible than most background music.
The score for How to Build a Better Boy was composed by Kenneth Burgomaster, who has composed the score for numerous DCOMs, including Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie (2009) and The Swap (2016). He also composed music for Disney Channel series like Dog with a Blog (2012-15) and A.N.T. Farm (2011-14). The full score has been uploaded as a playlist on Burgomaster’s official YouTube Channel.
PRODUCTION
Production on How to Build a Better Boy was announced in the summer of 2013, with filming completed between July and August of that year. Much of the cast was announced, alongside a brief plot, and a potential premiere date of 2014.
This new movie was seen to be a part of the Disney Channel’s changing of direction as some beloved shows like Shake It Up (2010-13) and Good Luck Charlie (2010-14) were coming to end, and new series like Girl Meets World (2014-17), I Didn’t Do It (2014-15), and Liv and Maddie (2013-17) were coming in, bringing in a new cast of Disney Channel stars[1].
The director was confirmed to be Paul Hoen, who has directed numerous Disney Channel Original Movies during his career, both musical and non-musical. In the non-musical category, some of his credits include directing Read It and Weep (2006), Eddie’s Million Dollar Cook-Off (2003), and The Luck of the Irish (2001). In the world of musicals, he directed Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam (2010), The Cheetah Girls: One World (2008), and the entire ZOMBIES movie franchise. Jason Mayland was the screenwriter for How to Build a Better Boy, having previously worked on the animated movie Space Chimps (2008) as well as writing episodes of the animated Disney Junior series Eureka! (2022-23).
How to Build a Better Boy was filmed in Toronto, Canada, with one specific location being the Ron Joyce football stadium at McMaster University campus, obviously used for the football game in the film. Filming took place at this location in early August 2013 for a few days. Production liked the McMaster name and their eagle logo so much that they sought permission to use it, and rewrote their script to make the movie’s school the fictional McMaster High School[2]. North Toronto Collegiate Institute was used for the high school.
There are elements of stunts in How to Build a Better Boy, to match Albert’s spy capabilities. Director Hoen worked together with stunt coordinator Branko Racki, who had previously worked on Pacific Rim (2013), Disney’s The Pacifier (2005), and Pompeii (2014) just to name a few, to work out some of these sequences. One of these includes a fight scene between Albert and a member of Black Sigma. To suit the teen movie genre, instead of this being an action-packed scene with lots of kicks and punches, it was lessened to include mostly blocking motions and no hits to the face.
Another difficult stunt sequence was the football game, which required Albert to run down the pitch at speed. Marshall Williams, who was cast as Albert, first read for the part of Jaden, but Hoen suggested he read for Albert instead, as they were struggling to find someone who fit the character. Williams had the physicality, was a football player, and a model. Hoen and Racki said Williams was a good athlete and very capable with his stunts, although stunt doubles were also used. The shot of Albert having four or five players clinging on to him was not actually done as it appears, with some “movie magic” achieving this. Players actually ran at a padded vehicle as it moved down the field, with camera trickery, CGI, and editing producing the final shot[3].
RECEPTION
How to Build a Better Boy premiered in the US on Disney Channel on 15th August 2014, with the movie being promoted on the channel throughout Summer 2014.
This movie followed Cloud 9, which premiered in January 2014 and starred Dove Cameron from Liv and Maddie (2013-17), and Zapped, which was led by Zendaya and premiered in June 2014, bridging the gap between her role as Rocky in Shake It Up (2010-13) and her leading role as K.C. Cooper in K.C. Undercover (2015-18).
How to Build a Better Boy attracted an average of 4.6 million viewers on its premiere date, this being the most-watched program of the day for kids 2-11, and tweens 9-14. It also generated over 1 million views over seven days on the WATCH Disney Channel app. The overall viewing figures for How to Build a Better Boy were lower than those of either Cloud 9 or Zapped, however, only marginally. Cloud 9 had an average of 5 million on its premiere, and Zapped had 5.7 million. Anything from 4 to 6 million was standard for Disney Channel in the 2010s. With their three DCOMs of 2014, Disney Channel aired three of the year’s six most-watched original television movies[4].
Some viewers enjoyed How to Build a Better Boy for its message about self-acceptance and not conforming. High schoolers find it particularly difficult to stand out from the crowd and not give in to peer pressure, so to see Gabby be comfortable with her intellect, and Mae happy to wait for the right guy to come in to her life, was seen as a positive move from Disney. Many also praised the performances by China Anne McClain and Kelli Berglund; I enjoyed watching their friendship evolve and change during the movie.
However, there were some comments around the unrealistic elements of the movie, such as the US government not punishing the girls for as serious an offence as hacking is. Although How to Build a Better Boy perhaps doesn’t comment enough on the severity of hacking, in a time where we have an increased number of cyber-attacks happening in the world, sometimes from teenagers, I’d say the whole concept of this movie is pretty unrealistic and leans towards science-fiction so it’s not really fair to comment on its realism! Others felt that the battle between nerdy and popular girls was also an overused theme in teen movies.
But the complaint that came up the most was that many have said How to Build a Better Boy is basically a gender-swapped version of the 1980s John Hughes teen comedy Weird Science (1985), so they claim Disney Channel ripped off this film. The overall storyline is very similar; that two teenage boys who are outcasts at school create what they think will be a virtual perfect woman but she accidentally comes to life after they hack into a government computer system. Weird Science is less “family-friendly” than How to Build a Better Boy and Disney’s version is about teenage girls, because it’s much more acceptable in this day and age to have two teenage girls make themselves a perfect boyfriend, instead of two teenage boys making their dream woman. Hypocritical or not, you decide.
For me, since I haven’t seen Weird Science, How to Build a Better Boy was very similar to an episode of Sabrina, the Teenage Witch (1996-2003), the Season 1 episode “Dream Date”, where Sabrina’s aunts make her a date to her school dance out of “Man Dough”. Chad Corey Dylan is made to be a great dancer, a daredevil, a musician, and seriously enthusiastic, although one of his arms is shorter than the other. But his perfection can’t match up to Sabrina’s true love for Harvey Kinkle. This is like Mae accepting that, although Albert is great, she’d be happier with someone more real.
How to Build a Better Boy might not have been the most original concept, but it was seen to be enjoyable, although not amazing, by the general Disney Channel viewership. Plus, it was still nominated for a couple of awards. One was at the NAACP Image Awards, where China Anne McClain was nominated for her role as Gabby in the category of Outstanding Performance by a Youth in a Youth/Children’s Program, but lost out to the voice of Dora the Explorer, Fatima Ptacek, in Nickelodeon’s Dora and Friends: Into the City! (2014-17). Paul Hoen was also nominated at the Directors Guild of America Awards for his directing of How to Build a Better Boy but he lost out to Jonathan Judge, the director of the pilot episode of Nickelodeon’s 100 Things to Do Before High School (2014-16).
LEGACY
There was no sequel to How to Build a Better Boy, although China Anne McClain and Kelli Berglund did continue to appear in Disney series and movies after its air date.
You could consider Bad Hair Day (2015) as following in the footsteps of How to Build a Better Boy, by having two main story points. One is about high school life, so for How to Build a Better Boy it’s about boyfriends as well as Homecoming, and for Bad Hair Day it’s about prom, and a second storyline where the leads are being chased for unknowingly contributing to criminal activity. For How to Build a Better Boy, the army and the government want their X-17 back in their possession and away from groups like Black Sigma, and in Bad Hair Day, the two leads try to stop diamond thief Pierce from escaping the authorities. From my point of view though, How to Build a Better Boy balanced these two differing movie themes the best; Bad Hair Day felt very random at times as it switched between the two.
Disney Channel Original Movies explored numerous different genres across the 2000s and 2010s, so How to Build a Better Boy continued in that experimental nature. However, it has to be said that DCOMs are now reverting back to their favoured slate of sequels and musicals once again. More unique films don’t seem to be getting a look-in at the moment, as we have a fifth Descendants film, a third Camp Rock film, and potentially a fifth ZOMBIES film listed as the channel’s upcoming movies.
FINAL THOUGHTS
How to Build a Better Boy did what Disney Channel tend to do with its movies. They made a tween and teen-friendly flick featuring two of the channel’s stars, one from one series, and one from a different series. Combined, they brought in their own fans.
The 2010s on Disney Channel were made for a different generation to my generation of watchers from the 2000s, but the series and movies of the 2010s proved that Disney were still very capable of making television movies, even if they were zanier than the DCOMs of the 2000s. How to Build a Better Boy was a different type of film compared to High School Musical, Camp Rock, and The Cheetah Girls, for example.
But those who grew up around that time probably like How to Build a Better Boy for that reason. How to Build a Better Boy may not have been particularly original, but it had humour, it tackled high school anxieties, and once again, Disney Channel showed they could make stars, showcasing the talented actors they’ve become well-known for casting.
REFERENCES
[1] Credit: Philiana Ng, ‘‘A.N.T. Farm’, ‘Lab Rats’ Stars to Topline Disney Channel TV Movie’, HollywoodReporter.com, 31st July 2013.
[2] Credit: Jemma Wolfe, ‘Disney Channel filming teen movie on Mac campus’, TheSil.ca, 8th August 2013.
[3] Credit: LA 411 Blog, ‘“How To Build A Better Boy” – Creating Stunts with Director Paul Hoen and Stunt Coordinator Branko Racki’, LA411.com, 15th August 2014.
[4] Credit: Rick Kissell, ‘‘How to Build a Better Boy’ Draws 4.6 Million for Disney Channel on Friday Night’, Variety.com, 18th August 2014.
The Disney Purist 