BACKGROUND
What was growing in popularity in the 2010s? Smartphones. And what do people put on their smartphones, sometimes in the dozens, or even hundreds? Apps.
So, what’s the natural thing to do with this information? Nothing. It’s just a thing.
But apparently, not for everyone. Someone decided they could combine both smartphones and their apps to create a new family-friendly movie for Disney. Uh, ok. Not exactly ground-breaking, and not something anyone really needs to learn about, especially the kids, tweens, and teenagers constantly on their phones.
But this film has a message? Well, that’s alright then. What’s the message? Oh, that girls rule, and boys drool. Right… Surely that’s not all.
I’m talking about the movie Zapped, starring Zendaya, which was a movie released on Disney Channel in 2014. Zendaya was going places, and Disney Channel wanted to ensure she remained committed to, and front and centre of, their brand for as long as possible before her fame and career really took off.
Zapped was the perfect vehicle for this. Disney Channel like to really milk their stars’ popularity for as long as they can, even if it does mean that their films end up being built around these actors with very little consideration for anything else, because, after all, it’s the fans that will be watching these films; they’re not gunning for Oscars or anything.
Zapped is actually based on a book, Boys are Dogs by Leslie Margolis, but the DCOM story switched some elements around and turned Zapped into a morality tale about the dangers of smartphones and their potential to contribute to societal collapse. Here, the lead character, Zoey, finds that all the boys in and around her life are absolutely disgusting, and through a strange twist of fate, her phone decides that an app meant to be used to train dogs can now be used to train boys – because boys are gross and girls are perfect, right?
I’m probably making it quite obvious that I was not a fan of Zapped with all this sarcasm. The overall look of the film was fine, and I’m quite capable of looking past the cringier lines and clunky moments of Disney Channel films, but I just can’t get over the premise of Zapped. This whole “boys against girls” battle is pointless. Don’t teenagers have enough to deal with already without pitting them against each other? No-one is better than anyone else – and everyone can be annoying or gross at times, not just boys.
This film just wasn’t it, and I’m not in the minority for thinking that.
PLOT
Zapped begins at a wedding. This is the wedding of lead character Zoey’s mother to her new stepfather, Ted. Zoey is trying to make a toast to her mum and her new husband’s happiness, also making jokes about her much she is not looking forward to sharing a house with four boys – her stepdad and his three sons. To prove her point, the sons, Adam, Zach, and Ben, ruin Zoey’s speech by running after their dog, who has bolted from the table he was tied to. In the chaos, Zoey saves the wedding cake from being tipped over, but is unable to stop the chocolate fondue from falling right on to her. Zoey tries her best to stay calm as she tells all the guests to raise a glass to her new family.
One week later, Zoey is still adjusting to her new life, and sharing a house with boys. She is woken up early by her stepdad using an air horn to wake up her stepbrothers as part of their routine before school. Her youngest stepbrother, Ben, barges into the bathroom whilst she’s trying to get ready and starts commenting on all her makeup, and the middle brother, Zach, keeps using all of Zoey’s food to make his weird food creations. Zoey’s morning gets even worse when Zach attempts to use a blender, sending pancake mixture all over Zoey and stuff. Her mother tries to calm her down, by finding Zoey’s music box, which was a gift from her dad who has passed away. It works momentarily.
At school, her older stepbrother, Adam, who attends the same school as her, is just too busy and scatterbrained to be able to help Zoey find her classes, leaving her to wander aimlessly amongst the groups of students outside. Zoey starts to categorise these groups of boys and can’t find one to speak to. Eventually, she tries to ask one boy, Tripp, the way to her classroom, but he ends up just farting at her, being no help whatsoever.
Having seen all this unfold, fellow girl Rachel comes up to Zoey and offers to show her the way to her class. Rachel notices that Zoey is very focused on her phone, with Zoey saying her whole life is on that device. Zoey then starts to vent about how gross all the boys are here, but Rachel doesn’t care; she is happy to admit she is boy crazy, with her most recent crush being on a boy called Charlie. Zoey starts to discuss how she’s going to try out for the school’s Varsity dance squad that day, as she’s a brilliant dancer and was part of the team at her old school. Rachel says she’ll try out too, just as they arrive at Zoey’s class.
However, Zoey walks into a room that is dark with a slideshow about insects playing. This is not her class. The teacher, annoyed at his class being interrupted, tells Zoey although this is the right number for her classroom, it is in the wrong area of the school; she needs West Room 242. Rebel boy Jackson, who smart-mouthed the teacher, is told to take off his sunglasses and take Zoey to the right room. On the way, Zoey tells Jackson she’s already hating this school and the boys within it, and can understand why he tries to be the silent, mysterious type. Jackson is surprised that Zoey thinks she’s figured him out, before telling her he can tell she likes things organised, is a dancer, and is addicted to her phone. Spot on.
Later that day, Rachel and Zoey attend the Varsity dance squad try-outs, and Rachel awkwardly asks Zoey if they can be friends. Zoey says they can. Then, leader of the squad Taylor comes out to begin try-outs, saying there isn’t any room in the squad for new people, so if they want a place, they’ll have to be exceptional. Zoey wants to audition a solo performance she has prepared, but Taylor says she can’t do that, and will have to join the routine she has prepared instead. Zoey relents, but is shocked to find her dance shoes are covered in the pancake goo from the morning. She puts them on any way, and watches Taylor perform the routine, not bothering to slow it down for anyone. Despite this and the unfortunate state of her shoes, Zoey is the only one to perfectly copy the dance, that is until she slips up due to the stuff on her shoes. Rachel tries to catch her but fails. Taylor mocks Zoey for falling and says they have all been rejected. Zoey tries to explain her shoe situation, and Taylor is told her and Rachel can join the Junior Varsity squad instead, a team consisting of uncoordinated nerd types. It turns out Taylor has rejected Zoey simply because she saw her talking to Jackson, Taylor’s ex-boyfriend, and is jealous of her.
Back at home, Zoey is told by little brother Ben that their dog Humphrey has been in her room, “helping her unpack”. Zoey rushes in to see many of her things destroyed, including her music box which is broken. Humphrey comes in to the room, but does not respond to any of Zoey’s commands. She starts scrolling through her phone’s app store to see if there is an app to control dogs. She sees one that costs $9.99 but she’s desperate so she downloads it. Zoey is satisfied to find that Humphrey is now following her commands. However, the dog then steals Zoey’s phone and drops it in the full bath tub, with Ben accidentally tossing it out of the window as he tries to dry it. The phone tumbles down the roof, ending up in Humphrey’s dog bowl outside. Zoey’s mother puts the phone into some rice, and tells Zoey everyone is just getting used to their new situation and that they’ll figure it out eventually. Zoey isn’t at all convinced.
The next morning, Zoey is woken up by the air horn once again, and yet is still happy as she finds her phone is working again and all her apps are still there. She tries to use the dog control app on Humphrey, but it doesn’t work. What Zoey doesn’t realise is that the commands are actually working on the mailman outside. Zoey then accidentally discovers that her commands are working on her brothers, as she tells muddy Ben to stay away from her, and for Zach to put his latest gross food creation down.
At school, Zoey tells Rachel that all the boys are acting weird, as in weirder than usual. Student Tripp farts at her again, so Zoey tells Tripp to stop – and he does. Zoey tries the app out on him and he does everything she says! Zoey and Rachel discuss this new discovery further in the girls’ bathroom, with Rachel saying this is great and Zoey believing it will help make her life easier. When Taylor comes into the room though, they discover the app does not work on girls, only boys. Zoey and Rachel have fun trying out the app on other boys around the school, getting the skaters to act like gentlemen, the “ogre” boys to clean themselves up, and the gym buffs to put their shirts on – before Rachel decides she prefers them with their shirts off. Because that’s not objectifying at all! Zoey also gets Charlie to talk to Rachel about his feelings for her.
At home, Zoey decides to use this newfound power on her new family. She gets Adam to focus more, actually making him too fascinated by random things, like lampshades. She tells Zach to make good food, and for Ben to be cleaner, and also tells her stepfather to be quieter. Zoey then decides to walk Humphrey, where she attempts to rationalise her behaviour, telling herself it was good to do all that. Zoey comes across Jackson in the park, where they find they have some things in common, and Zoey realises Jackson isn’t just the stereotypical cool guy; she’s starting to like him.
The next day, Zoey is happy with her new morning routine, as she gets a nice breakfast, a clean bathroom, and no air horn wake-up calls. It’s the same at school, as she doesn’t have to walk past all those gross boys anymore – although Rachel is finding Charlie’s constant hugs a little bit annoying! The app has basically fixed everything else though – and it can only get better. At dance rehearsals with the Junior Varsity squad, Zoey is elected leader and begins to lead the group in a new routine, discovering that the boys aren’t very good. Taylor sees all of this as the Varsity squad is also practising, on the other side of the gym, and the two begin a dance battle. Zoey uses her app to ensure the boys follow her moves exactly. Taylor is shocked to find Zoey’s group is so good despite the lack of rehearsal time. She is getting suspicious about Zoey’s constant use of her phone too…
Not wanting her dance squad to be sidelined in favour of Taylor’s, Zoey goes with Taylor to the principal to ask for a dance battle between the Varsity and the Junior Varsity squads, with the winner being named the Varsity group, the best in school. Zoey reiterates that she felt Taylor was biased in her team selection and didn’t give her or any of the other dancers a chance so this would simply right that wrong. The principal agrees to the dance-off, and says it will happen during half-time of the first basketball game of the season.
As the two girls leave the principal’s office, they run into Jackson, who wants to talk to Zoey, annoying Taylor more. Jackson confirms he is not with Taylor, although she seems to think they still are, before asking Zoey to hang out with him sometime. Zoey accepts, before telling Rachel the good news as they watch basketball practice. During the practice, the two realise that the whole team is acting weird, as the coach, Zoey’s stepfather, can no longer yell, and Adam is incapable of focusing on the game. Rachel and Zoey start to wonder if there could be potential consequences to using their app, but they dismiss that, as that type of thing only happens in movies – and only to boys. Wow…
Later, Zoey meets up with Jackson at a diner to hang out. She walks in to see him playing chess with a group, surprising Zoey, who didn’t have him down as a chess player. Zoey starts to complain about how boys need competition as an excuse to hang out, but Jackson reminds her that girls use hanging out as an excuse to be competitive. Zoey doesn’t have an answer to that, so she starts talking about the menu. She then makes things awkward by referring to this as a date, and Jackson does nothing to help her out. Zoey excuses herself from the table and calls Rachel, getting the idea to make other guys flirt with her using the app to get Jackson’s attention. It works to a point – but the guys then don’t go away. At the end of the evening, Jackson walks Zoey home. They pause before saying goodbye to each other, with Zoey hoping for a kiss. She doesn’t get one. Zoey then talks to Adam outside, who tells her Jackson is probably confused about his feelings, because it’s not only girls who have feelings. He reminds Zoey that him and his brothers have also been getting used to having a sister around. Boys might be a pain but they aren’t all bad is the basic takeaway from this conversation. Before she goes to sleep, Zoey’s stepfather returns her music box to her, all fixed, saying that the boys helped too. Zoey starts to wonder if she has misjudged her new family. No duh.
The next day, Zoey wakes up late, because her stepfather is no longer waking them up, and finds that her commands to the boys are not working the way she wanted, with her “fixes” actually making things worse. At school, the boys are creating new turf wars, and Adam is running around too much, as Zoey told him to hurry up. Zoey then tells everyone to stop, alerting all the girls in school to the fact something weird is going on as the boys all stop what they were doing, and she orders Adam to slow down, freaking him out.
To top it all off, Zoey finds that all the boys in her Junior Varsity squad want to quit, as they don’t feel happy dancing anymore. Zoey refuses to accept their resignation as it is the day of the dance-off, and tells them to practise, however, she realises that the boys might be doing the moves but their hearts are not in it. Taylor comes over and tells Zoey she should just give up now, infuriating Zoey, who uses her app to mess up all the boys in the Varsity squad, by having them mix up their left from their right. Rachel is horrified to see Zoey using her app “for evil”, getting too involved in the contest with Taylor. Zoey tells Taylor she belongs with her squad full of dogs. Jackson sees all this and is also horrified by Zoey’s behaviour. She tries to explain what happened, saying Taylor deserved all of that. Jackson tells Zoey she isn’t acting like the girl he thought she was, but Zoey snaps back that Jackson won’t be honest with his feelings for her. She orders Jackson to kiss her and the app gets him too – but it is a lacklustre kiss on the cheek, which disappoints Zoey and confuses Jackson, who says he needs space because this is all feeling wrong now.
Seeing how the phone has messed up everyone’s lives, including her own, Zoey turns her phone off and tosses it in her bag. Taylor then comes in and steals Zoey’s phone without her noticing. Zoey apologises to Rachel and asks for her help to fix everything, especially as a college scout is coming to watch Adam in the basketball game later.
At the basketball game, the team is struggling to communicate. Zoey gets her mother, stepfather, and stepbrothers to listen as she explains that she’s been controlling the boys through an app. Her mother doesn’t believe her, whilst the boys kind of do believe it. They start brainstorming ideas to fix this, when Ben reminds them all that the way to get a dog to stop doing something is to say “Release”. Zoey needs to say that into her app. However, Zoey discovers that her phone has gone. Taylor then comes into the room, being brought in on a chair by a group of boys, and starts using the app on the two teams, making them dance. Next, Taylor grabs a loudspeaker, ordering all the boys to bow down to her…
Zoey tells Taylor to stop, reminding Taylor that everyone has the right to be themselves. Taylor accuses Zoey of using the app on Jackson, with Zoey having to admit that she only used it for the kiss. Taylor starts to use the app on Zoey’s family, embarrassing them. Zoey begs Taylor to stop, saying she’ll do whatever she asks to get Taylor to stop it. Zoey agrees to follow Taylor’s orders, making her act like a dog. This makes her family snap out of the app’s control and they join her in acting like a dog in front of Taylor. This happens because a dog cannot turn against its own pack. Jackson joins in too. The school mascot is then revealed to be Rachel who tackles Taylor, making her drop the phone. Zoey catches it and shouts “Release”. Everything goes back to normal, even if everyone is confused!
Taylor says Zoey will never be anything without her phone. Zoey refuses to believe that, stamping on it and throwing it in the bin so nobody can use the app again. Now, back to the basketball game. As the game goes on, Zoey explains everything to Jackson and apologises, admitting that she likes him. Jackson says he feels the same, and asks her out on a real date. But now it is time to dance. At the dance-off, Taylor and her Varsity squad do well. When it is time for the Junior Varsity squad to go on, Zoey tells her teammates to just have fun. Zoey’s team win and will represent the school at the State Competition.
The movie ends with Zoey’s stepfather, mother, and brothers waiting for her to get ready for a run. Adam tries to say girls need more time to get ready, before Zoey arrives, saying girls are not slower than boys – and she’ll prove it, before running off down the street.
In a post-credits scene, two teenage students are seen in detention cleaning up the gym. One of them picks Zoey’s phone out of the bin and inspects it, as the phone sparks and is shown to still be open on the app…OMG.
CHARACTERS & CAST
Zoey is a serious, mature teenage girl. She loves dancing, organisation, and her smartphone, and hates gross boys, finding it too stressful to adjust to her new life of sharing a house with four boys – and a male dog – when she was used to just living with her mother for so long. With this app, Zoey thinks she can make her life infinitely better by controlling all the boys around her. The boys stop farting at her, her brothers stop annoying her, and her teammates become talented dancers. It’s perfect. That is until Zoey realises that you should be careful what you wish for, as the boys are start acting weird and Zoey trying to fix her previous commands only makes things worse. She knows now the only way to really fix things is to undo everything, as she starts to realise boys aren’t so bad once you get used to them. Once all the boys go back to “normal”, Zoey is seen to be accepting of her new life with her stepbrothers and stepfather, becoming one happy family.
Zendaya was cast as Zoey here. Zendaya was already a well-known face on the Disney Channel, thanks to her leading role as Rocky Blue in their series Shake It Up (2010-13) alongside Bella Thorne, reuniting with Thorne to star in the DCOM Frenemies (2012). She went on to dance in Season 16 of Dancing with the Stars (2005-present) in 2013, ending up in second place, before starring in Zapped. After this, Zendaya stuck around Disney Channel to co-produce and star as K.C. Cooper in their series K.C. Undercover (2015-18), with Zendaya’s career taking off soon after that, with her roles as Rue Bennett in the teen drama series Euphoria (2019-26), and as MJ in the Spider-Man film series, starring Tom Holland as the title character. She won numerous awards for her performance in Euphoria, including a Critics’ Choice, Golden Globe, and Primetime Emmy, and for her role in Spider-Man, including a Saturn Award. Zendaya was also cast as Anne Wheeler in the smash-hit musical The Greatest Showman (2017), starring alongside Hugh Jackman and Zac Efron. More recently, Zendaya was cast as Chani Kynes in the Dune film franchise, with the third film set to be released in 2026, and played Tashi Duncan in the film Challengers (2024). Other upcoming projects for Zendaya include playing Pallas Athena in Christopher Nolan’s much-anticipated film The Odyssey, and voicing Felicia in the upcoming Shrek 5.
Rachel is Zoey’s best friend at her new school, and is a self-described boy addict. Rachel doesn’t really agree with Zoey that all the boys in school are gross because she thinks they’re cute, especially Charlie who she has a crush on. Rachel goes along with Zoey’s app and its controlling nature because she likes the effect it has on the boys, although it starts to put her off Charlie…However, Rachel starts to worry about the consequences of the app much earlier than Zoey, and sees the app making Zoey power-hungry and not herself. But being the good friend she is, instead of giving Zoey a lecture about it, or just outright shunning her, Rachel helps Zoey retrieve her phone and fix things.
Rachel was played by Chanelle Peloso, who had previously been cast in a minor role in the DCOM Radio Rebel (2012), and was part of the Cartoon Network sketch comedy series Incredible Crew (2012-13) before working on Zapped. She went on to be cast as Hailey Yarner in the series The Bletchley Circle: San Francisco (2018), a spin-off of the British series The Bletchley Circle, before being cast in the recurring role of Petra Smith in Season 1 of the Netflix series Another Life (2019-21). Peloso also played Rose Matthews in the series Sacred Lies (2018-20), which was later bought by streaming service Peacock.
Jackson is Zoey’s love interest in Zapped, and is also the mean girl’s ex-boyfriend. How cliché! Jackson is first introduced as a quiet, rebel type, however, he is soon seen to be thoughtful, opinionated, and intelligent, surprising Zoey who seemed to think he was some sort of tough guy, judging him before she really got to know him – a recurring problem for Zoey in this film. Jackson likes Zoey but struggles to understand how he feels initially. He later sees Zoey acting just like Taylor, his ex, and doesn’t like it at all, this being completely at odds with Zoey’s usual behaviour. He says he needs some space while he thinks things through but later comes to Zoey’s aid as she stands up to Taylor and demands she stops using the app to control the boys. Jackson ends up revealing his true feelings for Zoey and is set to take Zoey on their first date together.
Spencer Boldman was cast as Jackson, having previously appeared as French Samuels in the action-comedy film 21 Jump Street (2012), starring Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum, as well as being cast in the recurring role of Bryce Johnson in the Disney Channel series I’m in the Band (2009-11). At the time of Zapped, Boldman was starring as Adam in the DisneyXD series Lab Rats (2012-16). More recently, Boldman was cast as Lance McCrae in Welcome to Chippendales (2022-23) for Hulu.
Taylor is the mean girl in Zapped and is Zoey’s enemy. Taylor does not like the fact that her ex-boyfriend, Jackson, seems to like Zoey, and to make it even worse, Zoey is actually a good dancer, even better than her! This causes Taylor to refuse to allow Zoey on the Varsity dance squad, purely out of spite. The two then begin a war between their two squads, which Zoey is determined to win, just to finally have someone show Taylor up. Taylor becomes suspicious of Zoey always using her phone for something, and discovers that her phone can control boys. Not wanting to pass up the opportunity to rule the school again, Taylor steals the phone and uses it to embarrass people and make them adore her. Zoey tells Taylor to stop but she refuses, letting the power go to head. In the end, Zoey and her family are able to stop Taylor and retrieve the phone. Taylor’s squad then loses the dance-off just to top off the terrible day for her. I think Taylor lost the war with Zoey – and has learnt absolutely nothing in the process.
Emilia McCarthy was cast as Taylor. Around this time, McCarthy had been cast as Abby Ackerman in the Nickelodeon series Max & Shred (2014-16). She later returned to Disney to play Lacey, one of the cheerleaders, in the ZOMBIES musical franchise for Disney Channel, appearing in the first three films. She went on to be cast as Madison Van Camp in the first three seasons of Canadian medical drama SkyMed (2022-present).
Then, we have Zoey’s stepbrothers. The oldest one is Adam. Zoey finds Adam irritating, not because he’s messy or disgusting, but simply because he struggles to focus on completing one task before starting the next; he’s just always on the go. This does not make sense to Zoey with her super organised life, although I don’t think it’s a reason to be irritated by him. She could always have offered to help him get organised with his school work and commitments. Zoey’s control of Adam has the most effect on any of her family, as Adam becomes too focused and fascinated by the smallest things in life, causing him not to focus on basketball, when a college scout is coming to the game to consider him for a scholarship. This is really the catalyst for Zoey wanting to fix things for all the boys, so her app doesn’t destroy Adam’s college future.
Adam was played by Adam DiMarco, who had previously played Gavin in the DCOM Radio Rebel (2012). DiMarco went on to be cast in the recurring role of Todd in The Magicians (2016-19) for Syfy, as well as playing Randall Carpio in the Netflix series The Order (2019-20). DiMarco was later cast as Albie DiGrasso in Season 2 of the successful anthology series The White Lotus (2021-present). Most recently, DiMarco was cast as Peter Whitney in the Prime Video series Overcompensating (2025-present) and as Nicky in the Netflix miniseries Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen (2026).
We also have Zoey’s other stepbrothers, Ben, the youngest one, who likes getting messy, and Zach, the middle child, who enjoys cooking, making strange and mostly unappetising concoctions in his spare time. Zoey orders Ben to be cleaner, turning him into a neat freak, determined to clean up everything in his path, including the oven which is getting messier due to Zach’s cooking habits. Zach is no longer making pancakes with cottage cheese, but has been turned into a gourmet chef by Zoey’s app.
Ben was played by William Ainscough, who had been cast as Billy Jones-Krasnoff in the Canadian sitcom Seed (2013-14) prior to his role in Zapped. He later voiced the character Sean Rafferty in the PBS Kids animated series Ready Jet Go! (2016-19). Zach was played by Connor Cowie.
Zoey’s parents, her mother Jeannie and stepfather Ted, have recently married, so Zoey now has to live alongside her new stepfamily for the first time. Zoey’s mother understands that this will be very different to their previous living situation but asks Zoey to give it a chance and know that it will all work out. Zoey just can’t accept it though, and does not like how loud her stepfather is. As the basketball coach at school, Ted likes to shout, get excited by things, and encourages his boys to be the same. He doesn’t run the household like a military boot camp, and just wants to have fun with his sons, who don’t seem to mind being woken up by an air horn each morning. But Zoey is just not used to it, and orders Ted to be quieter and calmer, making his job as a coach very difficult. When Ted returns Zoey’s music box to her, Zoey starts to realise that her stepfather and his sons aren’t so bad after all, and realises that she was wrong to try and change them. In the end, once the control effect had been removed, no doubt Ted and Jeannie worked harder to ensure the new situation was working for all their children.
Ted was played by Aleks Paunovic. He had previously been cast in the recurring role of Marine Sgt. Omar Fischer in the sci-fi series Battlestar: Galactica (2003-09), and later was cast as Gustus in Season 2 of The 100 (2014-20) on The CW. Paunovic was also cast in the recurring role of Julien Dupont in Season 1 of iZombie (2015-19) also on The CW. He later appeared as Julius Romanski in Van Helsing (2016-21) for Syfy, and was cast in the recurring role of Bojan Boscovic in the series Snowpiercer (2020-24). Lucia Walters was cast as Zoey’s mother. Prior to Zapped, Walters had been cast as Fern Redmund in the teen drama series Life Unexpected (2010-11), before going on to play Detective Charlene Montgomery in the Hailey Dean Mysteries (2016-19) series of television films for Hallmark. Walters played Julia in Seasons 3 to 5 in the Netflix series Virgin River (2019-present).
Then, there are a few other students to mention. One is Yuki, Taylor’s peppy sidekick, who is there to encourage Taylor in her mission to make Zoey’s life miserable, not to give her opinion. Yuki is the typical mean girl’s friend, who isn’t actually a bad person but is just too scared to go against the leader, in case they become – oh, no! – unpopular! Yuki was played by Louriza Tronco, who went on to play Jodi in the Nickelodeon series Make It Pop (2015-16), before going on to be cast as Gabrielle Dupres in Netflix’s The Order (2019-20).
Charlie is Rachel’s love interest, who is a little bit awkward and doesn’t know how to speak about his feelings. Zoey ends up using her app on him to get Charlie to reveal how he feels about Rachel. For some reason, all this does is culminate in Charlie hugging Rachel randomly throughout the school day, which starts to grate on Rachel. Needless to say, I don’t think Rachel and Charlie ending up being together for long. Charlie was played by Samuel Patrick Chu, who had first appeared on Disney Channel in a minor role in their film Radio Rebel (2012). He had also been cast as Philbert in the Cartoon Network series Level Up (2012-13), prior to Zapped, before going on to play the recurring role of Curtis in the final two seasons of the series iZombie (2015-19).
Then, there is Tripp, the boy that Zoey first talks to at her new school. Tripp is not the smartest kid in school and yet thinks he’s the coolest, referring to himself in the third person, because he’s just that amazing. Tripp instantly irks Zoey and her dislike for him is only proven when he farts, not in her face, but in her general direction. He does this again later on, causing Zoey to test out her app on him. I don’t know what teenage boy Tripp was based on, because I’ve never met any boy that has farted at me, but I don’t want to meet him! Tripp was played by Jedidiah Goodacre, who went on to play Chad Charming in the original three Descendants films for Disney Channel. He later played the role of Dorian Gray in Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (2018-20) for Netflix, before being cast as Captain Perfect in the Nickelodeon series The Thundermans: Undercover (2025-present).
Finally, another cast member to mention is Zachary Gibson, who is one of the dancers in Zoey’s Junior Varsity squad, specifically the one who wants to do a routine inspired by the traditional Māori ceremonial dance the haka. Gibson will be familiar to Descendants fans, as he played Doug, Dopey’s son, and Evie’s love interest, in the original Descendants trilogy of films.
MUSIC
Most of the music within Zapped is linked to its various dance routines and rehearsals.
The movie opens with a brief excerpt of a song, whilst at the wedding of Zoey’s mother and stepfather, just before she is about to begin her toast to the happy couple. This song is “My Life” performed and written by the Canadian singing duo, and sisters, Dani and Lizzy. They released their debut album Work of Heart in 2016.
Later, as Zoey and Rachel notice that the dog control app works on Tripp, they start to test it out on all the boys and their groups around the school. During this scene, the song “Do It” by musical group Hipjoint, featuring singer Sherry St. Germain, is playing.
Then, we get a dance battle between the Junior Varsity squad, Zoey’s team, and the Varsity dance squad, Taylor’s team. Both teams are rehearsing in the gym at the same time. Taylor’s team dance to the song “The Way You Move”, written by singer Renald Francoeur, and performed by Francoeur and singer Megan Oliver. This is followed by “Go For It”, also written and performed by Francoeur. This song is used for Zoey’s team’s rehearsal.
On a different day, there is another dance battle between Zoey and Taylor’s dancers during rehearsals in the gym. The song used here is the hip hop song “She Know How” by St. John, but there is little information on this song online.
Then, during the basketball dance-off, Taylor’s Varsity team dance to their earlier rehearsal song “The Way You Move”. The song “Too Much” is used for the final dance routine of the Junior Varsity dance squad here. “Too Much” was written by Alex Cantrell, Jeff Hoeppner, Dwight Watson. It was performed by the movie’s lead Zendaya, which makes sense as many of Disney Channel’s stars were both acting and recording music for the channel; Zendaya was no exception. “Too Much” is the most memorable of all the songs in Zapped, and is the only one credited.
Finally, the song “Are You Ready For This”, by Josh Mobley, was used for the End Credits of Zapped, where there is a mixture of clips of the cast and crew dancing, as well as some bloopers from filming.
There are also a few pieces of music I could not find. When Zoey arrives at the diner to meet Jackson, a few notes of a doo-wop-style song are playing, but I’ve been unable to work out what song this is. It’s possible this was written for the film, to match the 50s-themed diner the characters are in. At try-outs for the Varsity dance squad, Zoey and the other hopeful dancers perform a routine to a song, however, I have been unable to find it, despite trying many different apps that search for songs. Also, during the basketball game, when Taylor arrives to the game being carried in on a chair by boys that she has controlled using Zoey’s app, all I know about the song playing is that it must be titled “Super Bad Girl”, or “Super Super Bad Girl” as those are the lyrics that we can hear during this scene, but I haven’t been able to figure out what song it is.
James Jandrisch is credited with composing the score for Zapped. He would go on to compose the music for Radio Rebel (2012) and 16 Wishes (2010) for Disney. Jandrisch is also the composer for some television film series including Signed, Sealed, Delivered (2014-present), and Gourmet Detective (2015-20). More recently, Jandrisch composed the music for the Netflix series’ Tiny Pretty Things (2020) and Sweet Magnolias (2020-present).
PRODUCTION
Disney Channel discovered early on that it was best to involve stars from their television series in their original movies if they wanted some real audience engagement.
In the case of Zapped, Disney Channel obviously knew that Zendaya, one half of the duo fronting their series Shake It Up, was going to go far in life, and with that show ending in 2013, the best way to keep Zendaya linked to the channel was to have her star in a new Disney Channel Original Movie.
Zapped should not be confused as a remake of the 1982 teen comedy film of the same name since they are two very different films with very different target audiences. Zapped was actually based on the novel Boys are Dogs by Leslie Margolis. Boys are Dogs is the first of a five-part book series titled Annabelle Unleashed, with the first novel being published in 2008 and the final one in 2014. Disney Channel did not faithfully adapt this novel, but used it as inspiration. For example, the main character’s name was changed from Annabelle to Zoey, and Annabelle is using a manual to try and train a new puppy, before finding that this manual works on boys as well. The lead character does not have stepbrothers in the book and the characters Rachel and Jackson are actually siblings and neighbours of Annabelle’s, not unrelated students at the same school as they are in Zapped. The characters have also been aged up for Zapped, as the book is not set in high school. Disney Channel films tend to revolve around teenagers and high-schoolers so this made sense for their target audience.
Those tasked with writing Zapped and adapting this source material were Rachelle Skoretz, Matt Eddy, and Billy Eddy. Matt and Billy Eddy went on to co-write the teleplays for other DCOMs, including Bad Hair Day (2015), Teen Beach 2 (2015), and Invisible Sister (2015). More recently, the duo wrote for the Nickelodeon and Paramount+ productions Monster High (2022) and Monster High 2 (2023).
Zapped was first announced as being in production around August 2013, just as Zendaya’s series Shake It Up was about to air its final episodes[1]. Director Peter DeLuise signed up to direct Zapped, having already directed another film that premiered on Disney Channel, 16 Wishes. DeLuise had directed some episodes of the series Kyle XY (2006-09); Stargate Atlantis (2004-09); Stargate SG-1 (1997-2007); and Stargate Universe (2009-11) prior to this new film. DeLuise also starred as Officer Doug Penhall in the series 21 Jump Street (1987-91). DeLuise has some famous family with links to Disney too. His brother David DeLuise was cast as Jerry Russo in the Disney Channel series Wizards of Waverly Place (2007-12) and its 2009 movie. They are sons of comedian Dom DeLuise, who voiced the character of Fagin in Disney Animation’s Oliver & Company (1988).
Zapped was filmed in Canada, specifically in British Columbia in Summer 2013. Instead of filming within the city of Vancouver itself, the shoot actually took place in and around locations within Vancouver Island and Cowichan Valley. For the high school in Zapped, two locations were used. One was George Bonner Elementary School in Mill Bay, which seems to have been used for the exterior shots, and Frances Kelsey Secondary School, also in Mill Bay, with the school gym being used specifically as the location for the dance routines. Another more obvious filming location was the RnR Diner in Saanichton in British Columbia. This was the location of the Pit Stop diner in the film[2].
Zendaya stated in interviews that, ironically for a film about a girl’s addiction to her phone, she had basically no phone reception whilst filming on Vancouver Island and there wasn’t an awful lot for the actors to do on their downtime. However, Zendaya did say they found some activities to do, like kayaking, whale watching, and bowling at a local bowling alley. She also said there was one movie theatre but it was very small and was only showing the Disney film Planes (2013) and Despicable Me 2 (2013) whilst they were shooting[3].
But that doesn’t matter because most of the cast were kept busy with their dance routines for the film. Aakomon Jones, also known as AJ, was selected as the choreographer on Zapped. Jones had previously choreographed for such projects as the Pitch Perfect films, the Black Panther films, and Dancing with the Stars, where he worked with Zendaya that same year, in 2013. Jones chose to predominantly use hip hop as the basis for his choreography as he felt it matched what teenagers would be dancing at high school. This style also matched what Zendaya was known for doing on Shake It Up. Jones had rehearsals with the cast and dancers for a week or so, depending on their individual schedules to have them ready for filming, as well as putting on a mini boot camp to ensure everyone was comfortable with what they’d be doing[4]. The cast found the dance rehearsals intense, with even Zendaya saying some of the breakdancing elements included in some of the routines were moves she was unfamiliar with, but that they all had fun and enjoyed working with their choreographer on this film[5].
RECEPTION
Zapped was released on Disney Channel in the US on 27th June 2014, also premiering on the Family Channel in Canada on this same date. It later came to Disney Channel in the UK and Ireland in July, reaching other international channels in the months that followed.
The premiere of Zapped was followed by the premiere of a new series Girl Meets World (2014-17), a spin-off of the ABC series Boy Meets World (1993-2000). Girl Meets World’s first episode was viewed by 5.2 million on this date.
On its Friday night premiere in the US, Zapped was watched by 5.7 million viewers, becoming the No. 1 cable TV telecast among kids 2-11 and tweens 9-14 at the time. Included in that 5.7 million figure were also 1.3 million adults between the ages of 18 and 49 who watched the premiere[6]. Zapped was the top-performing DCOM premiere of 2014, having outperformed the January film, Cloud 9, which had around 5 million viewers, and How to Build a Better Boy, which was August’s premiere and was watched by 4.6 million viewers. Zapped’s viewing figures were quite average for this time, and were nothing outstanding, compared to some of the biggest DCOM premieres of the 2000s.
In terms of reviews, Zapped was felt to be a cute story by those that liked the film. It had some fairly impressive dance routines and was a must-see for any Zendaya fan, of which there will have been many watching Disney Channel at the time. Although it was considered to be pretty similar to other DCOMs that came before it, in regards to the overall story and feel of the film, some did very much enjoy it.
However, there were also plenty of negative comments aimed at Zapped, with most of them aimed at the plot. Some felt that the story was demeaning to boys, and could potentially lead to them feeling ashamed or embarrassed to be themselves, due to the fact the main plot point of Zapped is Zoey’s “need” to change the behaviour of all the boys in and around her life because they don’t fit her requirements. I must say this bothered me as well, mostly because I felt that the actions of all the “gross” boys in the film were over-exaggerated, but also because it wasn’t the boys’ problem that Zoey couldn’t get on with them; that was her problem, something the character did acknowledge by the end of the film, admittedly. Others said the film was full of cliched characters, like the mean girl, the rebel boy being the ex-boyfriend of that mean girl, and a nerd girl being scared to talk to boys. It’s very typical of a teen movie to have these characters, so I can’t blame Disney Channel for running with that idea, in order to appeal to their target audience.
Zapped did win some awards, such as at the Leo Awards, to honour those within the British Columbia film and television industry, seeing as this is where Zapped was filmed. Zapped won three awards here, including Best Direction in a Television Movie for Peter DeLuise; Best Picture Editing in a Television Movie for Richard Schwadel; and Best Television Movie. At the Young Artist Awards, some of the stars of Zapped won awards. These were Samuel Patrick Chu, who played Charlie, and Emilia McCarthy, who played Tayor, winning for Best Performance in a TV Movie, Miniseries, Special or Pilot – Young Actor and Young Actress respectively.
LEGACY
Despite Zapped ending with a scene after the credits that showed two teenagers finding Zoey’s phone open on the dog control app, potentially trying to lead audiences into believing there was more to come from this story, Zapped was never followed up with a sequel. This shouldn’t surprise anyone because it felt like Zapped’s story concluded in that one film; I don’t know how they could’ve pushed the boundaries with that same app in a second film.
This does mean though that, outside of Zendaya’s star continuing to be on the rise after Zapped, first within the Disney circle and then away from it, Zapped has not had much of a legacy. It continued in Disney Channel’s trend of making mostly girl-centric original movies. After Zapped, we got films like How to Build a Better Boy, another science-fiction-inspired film, about a girl having the perfect robot boyfriend; Bad Hair Day, following a girl’s very bad day ahead of her prom; and Adventures in Babysitting (2016), which looked at two very different girls dealing with some tough babysitting conundrums.
After premiering on Disney Channel, Zapped has since been made available to watch on streaming services in this ever-changing world of television. I actually first watched Zapped on the now-defunct service DisneyLife, which was first made available in the UK around 2015. DisneyLife was the best, but was then replaced by Disney+. Disney+ might have more content in general, as it has absorbed other streaming services, like Hulu, than DisneyLife, but it certainly struggles to keep its own properties on there. For example, Zapped was actually removed from Disney+ in the US in mid-2024. The reason for this is unclear, but it was apparently made available to stream on Amazon Prime Video and Peacock in the US instead, but whether that is still the case, I don’t know[7]. Zapped is still on Disney+ in the UK, and therefore, likely to be on some other international versions too.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Although Zoey eventually learns that controlling people isn’t a good thing – no kidding – and learns to accept the boys in her life for how they are, I just find the whole film stereotypical.
Zapped is meant to be a bit of fun, and I get that, but it’s probably not the best idea to be pitting girls against boys on screen, especially when Zapped is aimed at younger kids. Yeah, sure, the boys in Zapped are pretty gross, but they still have their good moments. Zoey doesn’t need to be teaching them a lesson, because teenage boys generally grow out of that sort of stuff, and if they don’t – well, that’s their problem.
My biggest issue with Zapped though was that I never encountered boys this gross whilst at high school. What teenage boy farts directly at a girl at that age? Is this an accurate representation or have I just been lucky not to have experienced this?
REFERENCES
[1] Credit: Michael Ausiello, ‘Exclusive: Shake It Up! Star Zendaya Set to Get Zapped By Disney Channel in 2014’, Yahoo.com, 23rd August 2013.
[2] Credit: Michael D. Reid, ‘Big Picture: Disney role brings Zendaya to Mill Bay’, TimesColonist.com, 26th June 2014.
[3] Credit: Popstar! ‘Zendaya and Spencer Boldman Spill ZAPPED Set Stories!’, Popstar! Official YouTube Channel, 26th June 2014.
[4] Credit: Marjorie Galas, ‘Director and Choreographer Get “Zapped” – An Interview with Peter DeLuise And Aakomon “AJ” Jones’, LA411.com, 20th June 2014.
[5] Credit: Disney Channel, ‘Zapped – Behind-the-Scenes – Dance – Disney Channel Official’, Disney Channel Official YouTube Channel, 13th June 2014.
[6] Credit: Deadline, ‘Disney Channel’s Friday Night ‘Zapped’ & ‘Girl Meets World’ Each Draw Over 5M Viewers’, Deadline.com, 28th June 2014.
[7] Credit: Roger Palmer, ‘“Zapped” Removed From Disney+ (US)’, WhatsOnDisneyPlus.com, 31st July 2024.