13th Jun 202527th Feb 2026 by The Disney Purist

Rip Girls (2000)

BACKGROUND

Back before Disney Channel elevated the idea of what a television movie could be with their surprise success High School Musical (2006), Disney Channel Original Movies used to be low-budget events, more about teenage and family life, and not the over-the-top, show-stopping musicals that Disney Channel seem to favour now.

It’s a well-known fact that the most memorable DCOMs tend to be those musical movies, with many gaining one, two, or even three sequels. Other non-musical DCOMs that are still remembered by the majority of viewers years after their release tend to feature a rising star of the time, like Hilary Duff in Cadet Kelly (2002).

Unless you are a die-hard Disney Channel fan, if you look at a list of all the DCOMs that have been released since 1997, when they were officially named that, there will likely be plenty of films that you’ve never heard of. For me, those films tended to be anything released before 2003, probably because 2003 was about when I started watching Disney Channel.

Rip Girls was just one of many pre-2003 DCOMs that I had never heard of until I perused the ever-growing Disney Channel Movie list, and I’d like to think that I’m not the only one who didn’t even know about it, let alone hadn’t seen it.

Released in 2000, along with eleven other DCOMs, Rip Girls is a movie set in Hawaii, and featuring a thirteen-year-old girl as she learns about her family heritage, whilst also learning how to surf. Yes, Rip Girls is yet another one of those earlier “sports movies” from Disney Channel, following in the footsteps of Brink! (1998), a movie about skating, and Johnny Tsunami (1999), another surfing movie, although it also focuses on snowboarding.

I can’t say I enjoyed Rip Girls particularly. I’ve never been that excited about surfing, or sports in general, with very few of Disney Channel’s sports films interesting me, and I felt like the story was something I’d already seen before. Rip Girls is mostly meant to be centred around the teenage girl, Sydney, and her family heritage, but linked to that is a whole subplot about the family deciding whether or not to sell their inherited family home to realtors so that a huge resort can be developed in the area, something the locals obviously don’t like.

Rip Girls tries to include details about Hawaiian culture, but these become lost in amongst some of Sydney’s teenage angst and her tense relationship with her father. But I’ve seen online that Rip Girls is an underrated gem for many Disney Channel fans, so I’ll try to go easy on it. It wasn’t all bad; I’ve probably just been spoilt by the DCOMs of my childhood.

PLOT

At the beginning of Rip Girls, teenager Sydney is on a flight just about to land in Hawaii. She tells the audience that she was born in Hawaii so this is like her returning home. She left Hawaii with her father, Ben, at a very young age after her mother died. Sydney and her father now live on the US Mainland, with her father’s new wife, Elizabeth.

After landing, the three arrive at a big house. It is an old plantation called Makai that Sydney has recently inherited. The future of this land is why Sydney, Ben, and Elizabeth are here. Sydney takes the opportunity to explore the area and take photographs, with photography being a hobby of hers. She eventually ends up at the beach and watches people surfing. Sydney would love to learn how to surf, but her overprotective father doesn’t allow her to do “risky” things like that. Sydney doesn’t feel brave enough anyway.

Sydney then goes inside the house to explore. It is old and dusty – and she is soon spooked by a random black cat! Elizabeth finds she likes the place, especially some of the pillow fabrics, but Ben reminds her that they agreed not to take anything home with them. Their Hawaiian lawyer, Bo, then arrives to welcome them to the island. He tells the family they must stay on the island for two weeks, as a pre-requisite of Sydney inheriting the land. We also learn she is the sole heir. The plantation is rundown, but the locals are hoping that Sydney and the family might be willing to start it back up again. Ben is adamant that neither he nor Sydney want to do that, preferring to simply renovate the house and sell it.

Sydney later finds an old family photo album in the house and starts flicking through it. She finds a photo of her mother with a surfboard. Sydney tries to ask her father about her mother, but he won’t talk about it; he never talks about her. Sydney likes the picture though, and decides to stick it to the mirror in her room. She has little to no memories of her mother, but at least she now has a photograph.

The next day, Sydney sees that black cat again and follows it to an old shed. It is seemingly full of old equipment for the plantation, but Sydney finds a surfboard at the back, with the word “Naniloa” painted it on. She is headed to the beach with the board when she knocks over a girl on a bicycle. This girl is initially annoyed with Sydney, but her attention is then drawn to the cool surfboard. The girl introduces herself as Gia. Gia knows all about her family history and why Sydney is on the island, which makes Sydney feel a bit insecure… Sydney invites Gia back to the house, and starts showing Gia some of the photographs she’s taken since they arrived here. Gia thinks they are really cool and says she should take some photos of the surfers whilst in the water. Sydney isn’t so sure her dad would want her to do something like that though.

However, Sydney chooses to go to the beach the following day, despite her father wanting the three of them to have a family day together. He isn’t happy about her walking to the beach alone, and meeting up with people he doesn’t know. But he allows her to go, as long as she promises not to go in the water, because she doesn’t understand how dangerous the rip tides and currents can be. Sydney promises not to go in the water.

Sydney pretends to leave for the beach with only her camera, but once Ben and Elizabeth have gone inside, with two real estate agents, Sydney sneaks back to grab the surfboard she found yesterday and goes to the beach. There, she meets up with Gia, who introduces her to some of her friends. One of these friends is a boy called Kona, who is not able to surf at the moment because one of his arms is in plaster after a skateboarding accident. He stands on the beach and talks to Sydney about different surfboards, before realising that Sydney has never surfed before. Gia, Kona, and the others say they have to teach her how to surf.

After some practice on the board on sand, Gia thinks Sydney is ready to go in the water. Despite Sydney feeling scared, as well as her promise to her father, she follows Gia in to the ocean. Tut-tut; your dad is going to be so mad at you, Sydney! Unsurprisingly, Sydney wipes out almost immediately, but she’s fine. However, we then see that someone is higher up the beach watching Sydney and Gia through binoculars…Creepy… When Sydney comes home, she lies to Elizabeth about the surfing she did that day, and then changes the subject by asking about why her dad seems so stressed out right now. Elizabeth tells Sydney not to worry about it; it’s just “grown-up stuff”.

It soon becomes clear why Sydney’s father is stressed out and that’s because of Sydney’s inherited land. The real estate agents from the day before invite the family to their office to discuss plans. It turns out these realtors are only too excited to have a teenager inherit the land with a father who has no desire to stay in Hawaii and actually needs money from the sale. Prime targets for a scam. Well, to be fair, the realtors aren’t con artists, but they don’t care about this community. It turns out they want to use Sydney’s land to build a huge resort complex, something they’ve wanted to do for a while but the previous owner, Sydney’s great-aunt, would never sell, so they were unable to. The realtors show off their grand plans, but Sydney isn’t interested and leaves the adults to talk. Sydney just wants to practise her surfing.

Once the meeting is over, Sydney goes down to the beach to meet up with Gia. Sydney finds that her surfing is definitely improving as she manages to stand up on the board for the first time! Gia and Sydney then watch Kona skateboarding, where Sydney tells Gia she likes Kona. Gia plans to tell Kona immediately, but Sydney begs her not to say anything. The girls then go back out in the water, but Sydney catches a bad wave and struggles under the water. Gia can’t get to her quick enough. Luckily, Kona has seen Sydney struggling and runs into the water to save her. Together, Kona and Gia get her to the shore.

Sydney is alright but has a small cut on her head. Gia says they should take her to her mother, Malia. Sydney must’ve passed out or something because she later wakes up in Malia’s house. She tells Malia that it was like she had an out-of-body experience. Malia gives her a herbal drink to make her feel better. Sydney still feels scared to go back in the water though, so Malia tells Sydney that she knew Sydney’s mother. They both loved to surf, and that board Sydney has, which got damaged in the near-drowning-incident, was Sydney’s mother’s, with “Naniloa” being her mother’s nickname. Sydney wants to know more about her mother, so Malia takes her to a mountaintop overlooking a sacred beach. Malia tells her that this is where she used to go with Sydney’s mother, as this is where the whales come sometimes and when they do, there is a ceremony for the event. Sydney hopes to be able to experience that during her stay in Hawaii.

Sydney then returns home to find that Elizabeth and Sydney’s father have been incredibly worried about her since she hadn’t come home on time. Sydney’s dad was out looking for her, but comes back to see she has returned home, but he is not at all happy. Sydney tells her father she hurt herself surfing, causing her dad to freak out and start shouting at Malia who brought Sydney home. It’s clear there is bad blood between the two of them, but Sydney has no idea why, making it even more obvious to her that her dad is keeping secrets.

The next day, Sydney talks to Gia on the beach about what happened the night before with Gia’s mother and her father. Gia lets it slip that Sydney’s mother was in a surfing accident, but when she sees that Sydney didn’t know, Gia backtracks, saying she probably has gotten it all wrong and that’s not even what happened. This leads Sydney to do some research. She finds an old article about her mother and goes to tell Gia about it, but she’s busy praying for better waves. This is soon interrupted by a group of boys starting a water fight… Sydney goes to Kona to talk instead. First, Kona shows Sydney a picture he drew of her surfing; Sydney loves it. Then, Sydney asks if he can take her to Kaala Loa, which was mentioned in the article. He says it’s abandoned and they’ll have to get there on horseback but they can definitely go. Sydney walks around Kaala Loa and feels like she remembers being in one of the bedrooms; it turns out this was Sydney’s mother’s childhood home.

Later, Sydney and her family find that the realtors have agreed plans for their new resort and promise a good price for the land. They will need an answer about the sale soon. Back home that night, Sydney isn’t sure what to do about the sale, when Kona and Gia come to take her to that sacred beach for a luau as the whales are coming back. At the party, Kona and Sydney kiss for the first time, but the evening takes a turn, when, whilst watching the whales, Sydney asks Malia to tell her about her mother’s accident. Malia isn’t sure whether she should be the one to tell Sydney but does so anyway. One day, Malia and Sydney’s mother went out surfing together, and the waves were great; everything was fine. As they headed back to the beach though, Sydney’s mother was struck by multiple huge waves and nobody was able to save her from drowning… Instead of getting closure, learning about the accident makes Sydney angry, angry with her mother for leaving her, and angry at her father for keeping her mother’s death a secret for so long. Sydney has a heart-to-heart with her father when Sydney has calmed down a bit, and says he doesn’t like to talk about it because he feels guilty that he wasn’t at the beach that day and wasn’t able to save her. He then felt even more guilty when he found love with Elizabeth so struggled to talk about it. They then talk about the sale of the land. Her father says it is Sydney’s decision on the house, and not his, but he can’t lie; the money from the sale would be good for the family.

Sydney goes to meet up with her friends again, but she cannot find Gia anywhere, and Sydney learns that the whole community is mad at her because the local paper has printed a story saying that the resort is coming. Sydney tries to tell them that nothing has been decided yet, but she is ignored. Sydney then goes to speak with Malia, but only finds Kona there. Kona is helping Malia fix up Sydney’s surfboard, by putting his drawing of Sydney on to it. Kona tells Sydney that Gia stood up for her in front of the others, and lets Sydney know where Gia might be.

She finds Gia on a small stretch of beach; this is Gia’s hiding place, somewhere she goes when she’s trying to work things out in her mind, like why her father doesn’t visit her more often. Talk soon turns to the resort complex, and the fact part of the beach is going to be designated for tourists only. Sydney says the lagoon with the whales will be preserved, but Gia reminds her the whales won’t come with all the increased tourism. Gia says she hoped that by showing Sydney the island she wouldn’t want to sell the land. Gia says that her mother wanted her to do that. Sydney then accuses Gia of only being her friend to stop the sale of the land. Gia tries to say that she really is her friend, but the conversation turns into an argument, and Sydney walks off, saying she’s definitely selling the land now and can’t wait to get off this island. At the realtors’ office, paperwork is laid out in front of Sydney. She only has to sign on the dotted line. Sydney sees her former friends outside and wonders if she’s doing the right thing.

After the meeting, Sydney heads to Gia’s house and talks with Malia, who says it was probably unfair to expect this of someone who left the island so young, but that she’d hoped Sydney would have felt at home here and wouldn’t have wanted to sell. Malia gives Sydney a locket, which contains a photo of Sydney and her mother together. Sydney then tries to find Gia, but Kona doesn’t know where she is. Sydney then has a horrible thought: that Gia has gone surfing alone. Sydney runs to the place where she found Gia the other day, and finds all her stuff on the beach and her board in the water. Sydney grabs Gia’s board and swims out in to the sea, where she sees Gia struggling in the water. She manages to get Gia on to the board and paddles back to the beach with her. Gia has hurt her arm but she’s mostly alright. The two apologise for their fight, and Sydney tells her the good news: that she didn’t sign the contract and that her and her family are going to live here now! Malia and Ben, Sydney’s father, also make amends for the past.

The movie ends with Sydney out in the ocean, where she drops a lei into the water. She says this is a memorial to her mother, and hopes that by staying in Hawaii, she’ll continue to learn about her and feel closer to her.

CHARACTERS & CAST

Sydney Miller is only thirteen-years-old, but she’s found herself in the position of owning a former plantation in Hawaii, thanks to family connections on her mother’s side. Sydney is excited to be back in Hawaii, as she left when she was very young and hopes to be able to feel closer to her mother by being there. But instead of being involved in boring property discussions, Sydney wants to hang out with people her own age and learn how to surf, something her father would never let her do normally. This is Sydney being rebellious, I guess! Sydney soon learns that inheriting land here comes with quite a responsibility. Sydney is already aware of the community’s thoughts on the situation, and knows about the dangers of destroying natural environments, so she realises that she doesn’t want to sell, and would rather stay in Hawaii, wanting to learn more about her mother. When Sydney realises that she was being manipulated by Gia and her mother to get her to reconsider selling the land though, she feels betrayed and wants to sell out of spite – but she just can’t do it. She loves life on the island, and luckily, her father and stepmother are happy to stay.

Camilla Belle was cast as Sydney, having already acted in a few small roles prior to Rip Girls. One of these was appearing as Jane in A Little Princess, the 1995 adaptation of the Frances Hodgson Burnett novel, directed by Alfonso Cuarón. She was then cast as Cathy Bowman in The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997), the first (of many) Jurassic Park sequels. Around the time of Rip Girls, she also starred as Lizzie in the television movie Back to the Secret Garden (2000). Belle may also be known for her role as Nora in the film From Prada to Nada (2011), which starred former Spy Kids actress Alexa Vega as her sister, Mary. More recently, Belle appeared as Melyssa in the comedy series Dollface (2019-22), and in the recurring role of Pearl Serrano in Law & Order: Organized Crime (2021-present).

Ben Miller is Sydney’s father. He does not want to be in Hawaii with all those bad memories of his wife’s death, and only wants to be there for the required two weeks. In that time, he seemingly pushes for the sale of the land, despite their lawyer’s attempts to get them to consider starting up the plantation again, or at least stay in the house permanently. It doesn’t work, and that is partly due to financial concerns. Although Ben tells his daughter that the decision on whether to sell the land or not is up to her, Ben is certainly the one calling the shots with all the realtor meetings, and clearly doesn’t expect Sydney to consider staying in Hawaii. He probably hoped that if he never told Sydney about her mother and their life on the island, then she’d have no ties to the area and wouldn’t want to stay, but it’s because of his secrecy and overprotective nature that Sydney starts to dig deeper in to learning about her mother. When the truth is revealed, Ben tells Sydney he never told her about her mother because he felt guilt that he couldn’t save her on that day. He does also say that the choice of selling the land is solely up to her, and that they could talk about staying if that’s what she wanted. Well, she did want to stay, so Ben had to learn to get through the difficult moments of the past and move forward!

Ben was played by Dwier Brown. He was cast as John Kinsella in the movie Field of Dreams (1989), which starred Kevin Costner and James Earl Jones. He later appeared as Dr. David Herlihy in Season 3 of ER (1994-2009) and guest starred in many other series.

Elizabeth Miller is Ben’s second wife and Sydney’s stepmother. She is the only mother that Sydney has ever really known, however, the three of them are not a particularly close family unit. It seems like Elizabeth is quite wary of not acting too much like Sydney’s mother, and she tries to explain away some of Ben’s overprotectiveness. Elizabeth also states during Rip Girls that she has always felt like the ghost of Sydney’s mother has been following them around, because Ben is so determined to keep the circumstances of Sydney’s mother’s passing a secret. In the end, Ben manages to move past this and they both seem happy with Sydney’s decision to stay in Hawaii.

Elizabeth was played by Lauren Sinclair. Sinclair had previously been cast as Agent Winters in the movie Face/Off (1997), starring John Travolta and Nicolas Cage, and starred as Emma in the thriller The Mystery of Spoon River (2000).

Soon after arriving on the island, Sydney literally bumps into Gia, knocking her off her bike. It looks like these two have a real friendship, bonding over surfing and Gia showing Sydney around the island, however, it later is revealed that actually Gia was initially pretending to be Sydney’s friend in the hopes that Sydney might decide not to sell her family’s land, not wanting further development on the island. This causes an argument between them as Gia tries to say it started off that way, but now she knows Sydney, they have become friends. Sydney doesn’t believe her and storms off, threatening to go ahead with the sale. Knowing that Gia has upset her friend, she decides to go surfing alone to clear her head, but this turns out to be a big mistake as she is knocked off her board and injured. Luckily, Sydney shows she is still Gia’s friend by coming to her rescue, and the two reconcile, apologising for their fight. Gia was played by Stacie Hess.

Gia “pretending” to be friends with Sydney was her mother, Malia’s, idea. But Malia wasn’t doing this to be mean or even doing this solely to protect the community. She actually did this because she wanted Sydney to learn about her family heritage, because if she knew more about it, then she might feel connected to the area and would want to stay. This probably wasn’t the way to go about it, and this causes friction between Sydney and Gia, as well as friction between Malia and Ben, who accuses Malia of putting Sydney’s life in danger when Malia brings her home after Sydney’s surfing incident. In the end, Malia and Ben put the past behind them, and decide to be friends again now that Sydney and her family are planning to stay on the island. There is also something that was never resolved in Rip Girls and that is the identity of the person watching Sydney surfing with Gia on the beach early on in the film. We’re led to believe that this is a big mystery that will be revealed later – but then it’s not. It’s not really known who this person is, but I believe it is most likely to be Malia, checking that Gia was doing as she was told.

Jeanne Mori was cast as Malia. She had previously guest starred in episodes of series, such as Night Court (1984-92); Sister, Sister (1994-99); and ER (1994-2009). She was also cast as Helm in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984).

Sydney’s love interest in Rip Girls is skateboarder Kona. Kona clearly likes Sydney, as he dives into the ocean to save her from drowning, despite his arm being in plaster, which was completely ruined afterwards. No doubt Kona’s doctor was not happy with him about that! The two also kiss at the luau, however, we don’t see very much between them after this point, with the plot’s focus moving to Sydney’s mother and the sale of the land. I’m sure with Sydney choosing to stay in Hawaii, they managed to rekindle their teenage romance! Kona was played by Brian Christopher Stark, who went on to be cast as Zack in Season 5 of the MTV anthology series Undressed (1999-2002).

We also have Bo, the Miller’s lawyer on the island. Bo makes it obvious that he doesn’t agree with the Miller’s plan to sell, or with the realtors’ plans to build a huge resort complex on the land, but he is not paid to give his opinion so he doesn’t actually say very much in the movie after his initial introduction. I guess he was glad that they decided not to sell. The reason I mention Bo is because actor Keone Young appeared in another DCOM: Return to Halloweentown (2006), where he was cast as Silas Sinister. Young also has links to other Disney projects, including voicing Lord Qin in the direct-to-video Disney sequel Mulan II (2004); voicing additional characters in Disney Animation’s Wish (2023); voicing the character of Luong Lao Shi in Disney Channel’s animated series American Dragon: Jake Long (2005-07); and voicing characters in Disney XD’s Star Wars Rebels (2014-18).

PRODUCTION

Despite being set in Hawaii, strangely, Rip Girls was filmed in Queensland, Australia.

I’m not sure why this would be, especially as other Disney productions have filmed in Hawaii before. Johnny Tsunami (1999) is just one of those. Although not set or filmed entirely in Hawaii – some of the film is set in the snowy mountains of Vermont – the portions of the movie that are set in Hawaii were filmed there[1]. This was just one year prior to Rip Girls. Hawaii is closer to the USA than Australia too, so it seems an odd decision. I can only assume it was a budgetary reason. The good news is Disney now do tend to use Hawaii for their Hawaiian-set movies and television series, including the Disney+ series Doogie Kameāloha, M.D. (2021-23), and the 2025 live-action remake of Lilo & Stitch.

In terms of specific filming locations in Queensland that Rip Girls used, these details are hard to come by, with only Cabarita Beach being specifically mentioned[2].

Rip Girls was directed by Joyce Chopra. Chopra is known for directing the movie Smooth Talk (1985), which starred Laura Dern and Treat Williams and won the Grand Jury Prize (Dramatic) at the 1986 Sundance Film Festival. The screenplay was written by her husband, screenwriter and playwright Tom Cole. Chopra then directed The Lemon Sisters (1990), starring Diane Keaton. Chopra went on to also direct some episodes of television series, such as Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2001-11) and Everwood (2002-06).

Rip Girls was written by Jeanne Rosenberg, who had previously co-written the screenplay for the Disney live-action film White Fang (1991). Rosenberg was later credited with working on the story for Bambi II, the direct-to-video sequel of Disney Animation’s Bambi (1942), alongside director of the film Brian Pimental.

MUSIC

Much like many Disney Channel movies, Rip Girls’ soundtrack consists of mostly pop music.

This film’s most famous song was actually removed from the Disney+ version of the film. This song was “Rev It Up”, performed by Irish girl group B*Witched, known for their 1998 single “C’est la Vie” amongst others. They even performed “Rev It Up” at a 1999 concert filmed at Disneyland, as well as some of their biggest hits – as did UK boy band Five. However, probably due to copyright issues, the song has been removed from Rip Girls, as it appears on Disney’s streaming service. It was played during the scene when Sydney manages to stand up on her surfboard for the first time. The song that replaced “Rev It Up” was “I Know You Can Do It” performed by Tyler van den Berg. I think this song is just as much fun as “Rev It Up” and suits the scene.

Another piece of pop music used in Rip Girls, when Sydney is at the beach with Gia and she introduces Sydney to her surfer friends, is apparently called “Girltoy” and performed by the band Girltoy. Randomly, it comes from the 1988 album titled Seeking the Death Penalty; not exactly a song you’d expect to hear in a Disney film!

There is also the song “It’s Like That” performed by The Sha Shees, featuring Doc One, and written by Stanley A. Smith and Michael Layne. This song plays as Sydney finds Kona working to fix Sydney’s surfboard at Malia’s house. “It’s Like That” was credited in the End Credits of Rip Girls.

The only other song actually credited in this movie is the song “No Ke Ano Ahiahi”, performed by Moe Keale from “South Sea Island Magic”. This is a traditional piece of Hawaiian music, which is being played as Sydney, Gia, and Kona arrive at the luau ceremony. “Hukia Mai A”, another traditional Hawaiian piece, is used when Sydney meets up with Gia and her friends again after the initial meeting at the realtors’ office, discussing plans for this new resort. It was performed by Kapono Beamer & Mac Prindy.

Then, there is background music playing when Sydney approaches Gia’s friends and they confront her about the news article stating her and her family are selling their land. This song is not easily audible over the dialogue, so I’ve been unable to find it.

Phil Marshall is credited as being the composer for Rip Girls. He worked on the music for multiple 1990s and early 2000s Disney Channel Original Movies, including Zenon: Girl of the 21^st Century (1999) and its 2001 sequel; Johnny Tsunami (1999); Stepsister from the Planet Weird (2000); The Ultimate Christmas Present (2000); and Pixel Perfect (2004).

RECEPTION

Rip Girls first aired on Disney Channel on 22^nd April 2000.

It is not known how well Rip Girls did in terms of viewing figures on its premiere date. This is the case with many of the older Disney Channel Original Movies from the late 1990s and early 2000s. It looks like around 3 million was around the average for this time.

Judging by the audience reviews I’ve read for Rip Girls, the majority of them are positive. It seems that few people know about Rip Girls, but those that do love it.

Many said it was a decent movie from Disney Channel, showcasing Hawaiian culture and its great scenery. Yes, all that great Australian scenery… I guess it’s not that obvious if you haven’t been to either place, like me; I wasn’t able to tell it wasn’t filmed in Hawaii. Others also said it handled some mature themes well, such as the death of a family member, and the responsibility we all have to understand and appreciate our heritage, as well as environmental concerns about staying connected to the land and nature. Many say that Rip Girls is an underrated DCOM.

On the other hand, though, some didn’t like the predictable plot and felt that the communication issues between Sydney and her father were unbelievable, saying that Sydney’s father was written poorly.

I personally did not enjoy much of Rip Girls, finding that the storyline was a little overly dramatic, like why would Gia go out surfing alone when she knew the risks? Or, how could Sydney have let her father keep secrets about her mother for this long, only for chance encounters with strangers to have them all come out? I also didn’t like Sydney’s father much; he was really pushy with the sale of the land, only to then say “it’s completely your decision – but we really do need the money”.

Camilla Belle and Stacie Hess were both nominated at the 22^nd Young Artist Awards for their performances in Rip Girls, in the categories of Best Performance in a TV Movie (Drama): Leading Young Actress and Supporting Young Actress. Belle actually lost out to Shadia Simmons for her role in another 2000 Disney Channel film, The Color of Friendship.

LEGACY

Rip Girls is regularly compared with fellow DCOM Johnny Tsunami (1999), which happened to be released only a year before and also features a young teenage surfer, only in this case, the main character is a teenage boy, and in Johnny Tsunami, the lead character moves away from Hawaii, whereas Sydney moves to Hawaii in Rip Girls.

Others have said that Universal’s movie Blue Crush (2002) was a failed copy of Rip Girls. Although Blue Crush is about a group of female friends learning to surf in Hawaii, it does seem quite different to Rip Girls, with its maturity level being a big differentiator. Another is that it was based on a 1998 article by Susan Orlean about young surfer girls in Maui, and therefore could not have taken ideas from Rip Girls’ story.

Now, there are over 100 Disney Channel movies, of all different genres. Yet, despite Rip Girls premiering in a time when Disney Channel seemed to favour quantity over quality, at least in terms of production value, not necessarily story, Rip Girls has managed to make it onto lists ranking some of the top 50 or even top 40 DCOMs. For example, it was ranked at No. 39 in a Top 40 list for Entertainment Weekly, with other Disney Channel “sports movies” like Brink! (1998) and Johnny Tsunami being favoured ahead of it. Rip Girls was said to be forgettable but enjoyable; not the best review tagline, but it’s still good for Rip Girls to make it onto this Top 40 list[3]. Rip Girls was also included on a Teen Vogue list without a particular order of the best 48 Disney Channel movies[4].

Rip Girls recently celebrated its 25^th anniversary in 2025, however, as not too many people have heard of it, there wasn’t much fanfare around the milestone date, apart from the odd comment on social media and online.

FINAL THOUGHTS

It would seem that I began watching Disney Channel just as the tide was turning around their original movies. Their movies became high budget affairs, with more star quality, from around 2003/2004.

Rip Girls was from a different era of DCOM, and one that I don’t particularly like. It’s not the movie’s fault; it’s just not the type of movie I’m used to seeing from Disney Channel.

But if you did watch Rip Girls or Disney Channel movies in the late 1990s and early 2000s, then chances are you remember this movie, or others similar to it. It tells a story about family and heritage, which is important; encourages kids to listen to their own intuition; as well as touches on the necessity of respecting our natural environment.

I’m sure Rip Girls encouraged a generation to try out surfing too!

REFERENCES

[1] Credit: Revealed Travel Guides, ‘Lesser-Known Hawaii Movies and TV Shows’, RevealedTravelGuides.com, date unknown.

[2] Credit: D23, ‘Ask Archives’, D23.com/ask-dave, date unknown.

[3] Credit: EW Staff and James Mercadente, ‘The 40 best Disney Channel Original Movies, ranked’, EW.com, 1^st July 2024.

[4] Credit: Kristi Kellogg and Liv McConnell, ‘The 48 Best Disney Channel Original Movies We’ll Never Outgrow’, TeenVogue.com, 20^th February 2023.

30th May 20256th Feb 2026 by The Disney Purist

Geek Charming (2011)

BACKGROUND

How many high school movies base their whole story around prom, or someone wanting to be Prom Queen? I’ll give you a hint: A LOT.

Disney Channel’s Geek Charming is no different, although instead of wanting to be Prom Queen, the main character wants to be Blossom Queen, seemingly the springtime equivalent. It’s either completely different or exactly the same, depending on how cynical you are. Regardless, we’re supposed to think that being Blossom Queen is super important.

I’m very cynical about prom and that’s probably got something to do with the fact I’m British and prom here is not the same as prom in the US, so this emphasis on how exciting prom is and how crucial it is to be crowned Prom Queen means very little to me. I was also not one of the popular girls at school so I would’ve had little to no chance of being voted Prom Queen even if it had been a thing at my school.

Maybe all this combined is why I didn’t like Geek Charming. The whole story revolves around “Queen Bee” Dylan’s drive to become Blossom Queen but when she invites a “geeky” boy into her social circle, she slowly changes and becomes unpopular. That sounds like a very tame version of Mean Girls (2004), doesn’t it? Perhaps more like Mean Girls 2 (2011), its sequel that was led by Disney Channel stars and lacked all the bite of the original.

That’s how I felt watching Geek Charming. This wasn’t even the first time I’d watched it. I didn’t watch it the year it was released, because I was drifting away from Disney Channel around that time, but I watched it a few years later on Disney Life, that UK and Europe streaming app that turned out to be a precursor to Disney+. I don’t remember liking the film, but I didn’t think I hated it. That just shows how much things can change over the years, because I actually really didn’t like Geek Charming and couldn’t wait for it to be over.

It dragged on and on, taking ages to get to an ending we’d already managed to play out in our heads before it was confirmed on screen. The story was predictable, the characters were not particularly likeable – I didn’t even manage to figure out the names of most of the minor characters – and I didn’t laugh once, not even out of awkwardness or embarrassment, as I have watching plenty of other DCOMs I didn’t like. This movie didn’t make me feel much at all to be perfectly honest. I understand that Geek Charming is not aimed at adults, and I could see it trying to have a deeper meaning to it, by giving Dylan a less shallow side to her, but that wasn’t enough for me to get on board with it.

PLOT

Dylan is a popular teenage girl, who is dreaming of becoming her school’s Blossom Queen, so much so she is literally daydreaming about that moment of winning the crown when we first meet her.

We then find that Dylan is at school, being asked if she would like to sign up to run for Blossom Queen. She most definitely does and adds her name to the list. Dylan and her two friends, Hannah and Lola, head to the lunchroom where they survey the area, although they know exactly where they’ll be sitting: up on a ramp with all the other populars, so they can literally feel mightier than the lowly crowd below them. Dylan spots her closest competition for Blossom Queen – Nicole, a cheerleader – on her way to her table.

But as Dylan and her friends discuss this, some “geek” spills his lunch all over Dylan – how dare he! Dylan proceeds to scream at him in front of everyone, with this “geek”, Josh, struggling to defend himself. The movie cuts to show Josh and Dylan talking about how they reacted to this incident. These little cuts happen quite frequently; it’ll all make sense at the end. We then see what really happened. Josh was walking behind Dylan and her friends with his lunch tray when Dylan sprayed her perfume all around herself, with some getting into Josh’s eyes, causing him to bump in to them, so it was all an accident. Dylan storms off to her table.

Josh meets up with his three friends, who are all part of Film Club, and Josh is their president. Josh starts to wonder about the world of the populars, but is quickly distracted by his crush, cool girl Amy, walking past. His friends tell him Amy is way out of Josh’s league. Josh basically agrees with this and turns the conversation to a film competition Josh wants to enter so he can win a spot at Hollywood Film Camp. Josh goes to his teacher, Mr. F, with his initial idea: to make a documentary on robot voices. Mr. F doesn’t think this is challenging enough and thinks Josh should do a documentary on something human.

Later that day, Dylan is with her dad, a real estate owner, at the mall where he is talking about a potential new store. Dylan waits for a gap in the conversation to ask if she can have some help with marketing for her Blossom Queen campaign. Her father refuses to do this and rushes off to a meeting. Dylan talks to her friends instead, but soon drops her very expensive handbag in the mall fountain. Dylan cries for security to turn off the fountain and retrieve it, but nobody cares enough to listen. You know, First World problems and all that. Luckily, Josh was working at a phone store nearby and hears the commotion. Josh comes to the rescue by striding into the fountain and returning Dylan’s bag to her. Dylan takes it and walks away without even a “thank you”, leading Josh to go after her. Josh snatches “Mr. Sanchez” back – yes, Dylan names her bags – and asks for a favour instead. He pitches the idea of Dylan starring in his documentary film which will be all about popularity. Dylan decides that if this film is good, it’ll be even better publicity for her Blossom Queen campaign than anything Nicole cab come up with, so she agrees – with some strict rules, for example, Josh can only be around her during filming times. Nice.

At home, we learn that, although Dylan lives in a big, fancy house, her life is very lonely. It’s even worse today because their housekeeper, Marta, is out at the dentist. Dylan throws her soaked handbag into the dryer and eats her dinner alone, before going to her room. In her room, she looks at a photo of herself and Amy. It turns out those two used to be best friends before high school. It’s also revealed that Dylan’s mum has died, as we see Dylan look over some of her old things, including a dress. In contrast, Josh comes home to a loving dog and a doting mother, who might have some wacky culinary skills but is there for him nonetheless. Josh tells his mother about his new documentary and how the subject will be popular girl Dylan. She is excited for him. Mr. F also approves the idea so it goes ahead.

The next day at school, Josh sits with Dylan and her friends at lunch, up on that ramp, though his way to the table is almost blocked by jocks who don’t understand why a geek would be sitting in their sacred area. Josh begins filming. Dylan tells the camera that being popular is not easy, and that she has a lot of things she has to keep up with, like making sure she’s looking pretty and fashionable at all times, as well as doing “charity work”, which, for Dylan, involves helping tragic “fashion victims”. Dylan introduces her boyfriend, Asher, who is a volleyball player. Dylan adores Asher, but he doesn’t seem all that in to her…

After school, Josh continues filming Dylan as she goes shopping, which is crucial to helping the country’s economy, of course! Dylan trashes cheerleader Nicole on camera too, saying how she is only “cheerleader popular”, whatever that means. She later trashes her friends, Lola and Hannah, saying that her popularity is contagious and that is why they hang out with her, in the hope that some of that popularity will rub off on them. When Dylan goes into the changing rooms, Josh takes the opportunity to talk to Lola and Hannah about Dylan. They tell Josh that Asher only likes Dylan because she worships him and that Dylan is a total drama queen. I’m pretty sure Josh had already worked that one out for himself! As they leave the store and head to a diner, Dylan is asked what her life goals are. She says becoming Blossom Queen is her only goal because if she doesn’t achieve that, then her life is over. She also talks about how people have to stay in their correct social circles and cannot mix outside of them, otherwise terrible misunderstandings could happen, like how Josh might think that he can ask Dylan out just because he is hanging out with her, leading to potential embarrassment for him. Wow.

Josh reviews his footage that evening and tells his mum how he is struggling to get anything deeper from Dylan, believing her to just be as shallow as she appears. Josh’s mum tells him that probably isn’t the case and the only way to get Dylan to reveal her true self is to dig deeper, like all good filmmakers do.

The next day, Josh is invited to film Dylan at a beach party. Josh brings along his Film Club friends, Steven and Ari, to help with the documentary, by shooting some “B-roll”. Josh sees Amy litter-picking around the beach and stars to talk to her, but Dylan sees the attention is not being focused on her and throws a ball at Josh, telling him to return to her so they can get back to the documentary. Dylan talks about Amy with Josh, saying how she isn’t popular enough for Dylan to hang out with anymore. Asher’s volleyball team, although losing initially causing Asher to be rude and moody with Dylan, end up winning their match and announce they are going out to get pizza, despite the fact Dylan has already booked for everyone to go to a sushi restaurant. Nobody wants sushi so they all leave to get pizza.

As Dylan heads back to her car, she sees it is being towed for unpaid driving tickets. Josh says he’ll give her a ride home. Dylan doesn’t want to get into his old, rundown car but has little choice, however, as they try to leave, Josh finds his car battery is dead and they’ll need to walk to a gas station. Josh tells Dylan she’s welcome to wait in the car but she doesn’t want to be seen by anyone in his car, so she walks with Josh. On the way though, Dylan hurts her ankle and makes Josh carry her. They then get into an argument as Josh calls Dylan a diva. Josh quits the documentary, as does Dylan.

Josh talks to his teacher back at school, wanting to change his documentary subject but he is told it is too late to change subject. Also at school, Dylan is canvassing for votes to be Blossom Queen but her speech is interrupted by Nicole who starts doing cheers and handing out free cupcakes. This seems to work as girls who Dylan was sure would vote for her now seem to be planning on voting for Nicole. Dylan realises she needs Josh’s documentary or she has no chance of winning. Dylan finds a leaflet for a Film Night in the bag of one of Josh’s friends, Caitlin. She decides to go there and apologise to Josh.

At the movie, Dylan surprises Josh by making an appearance. She pretends to like science-fiction films and shocks Josh and his friends by actually liking the movie they watched and even has some smart comments about it. Dylan is about to catch the bus home, since she still doesn’t have her car, but Josh says he can drive her home. They talk about restarting filming on the documentary since they both need each other. Josh agrees as long as Dylan stops acting like a diva.

Josh is invited into Dylan’s house and he learns that Dylan’s mum died and the real reason Dylan wants to be Blossom Queen so badly is because her mum was one too. Josh says his dad lives in San Diego so he kind of understands what it’s like to not have a parent around. Dylan decides to show Josh how to make the best ice-cream sundae and they mess around making those. Talk soon turns to each other’s love lives, with both of them disapproving of the others choices. Dylan changes the subject by saying she thinks Josh needs a makeover. He agrees to her plan. They go out shopping and to the salon, and turn Josh into a cooler version of himself. Josh takes Dylan to his house for dinner where his mother believes the two of them are dating. Dylan says they are not, although she thinks Josh is a good guy, but she has a boyfriend.

Dylan walks to school with Josh the next day so he can debut his new look. The girls all seem to love it, although Josh’s friends don’t like who is becoming. He continues to ditch his friends to eat lunch with Dylan and the populars, creating a divide between them. Dylan spending so much time with Josh is irritating her friends and Asher too. Dylan convinces Josh to ask Amy out on a date, proving that Dylan does not have a crush on Josh, nor does he on her, like everyone thinks. Amy agrees to a date on Saturday.

At work that day, Josh meets Dylan’s father who invites him to dinner at their house as he also believes the two of them are dating. Dylan comes home to find her father watching sci-fi films and eating junk food with Josh. They again reiterate that they are not together. Dylan’s dad is a bit disappointed as he likes Josh much better than Asher, and Dylan is much more herself around Josh as is proven by her competing in a burping contest with both of them, something Josh caught on camera, along with other silly antics. A rough cut of Josh’s documentary is needed soon but is progressing well.

On Saturday, Josh tries to figure out where to take Amy but it turns out they don’t have much in common. Josh takes her to Asher’s party, where Dylan suggested they went. At the party, Amy tries to get Josh to dance with her but he seems more interested in spending time with Dylan so she tells him to talk to her. Dylan, meanwhile, is upset after Nicole calls her a loser, believing she’ll lose out on Blossom Queen. Josh finds Dylan sat alone and they talk about Amy. It turns out Dylan ditched Amy when they were younger, believing Dylan would forever be in Amy’s shadow. Dylan then tells Josh he needs to flirt with Amy, and starts to show him how to do that. Who should come in and see them both sat so close together but Asher and Amy. Dylan rushes after Asher, and Josh leaves with Amy. He asks her to the dance but Amy says no, since it’s quite clear he likes Dylan.

The next day, Dylan oversleeps and loses a contact lens. She decides to try her luck at school without wearing her glasses, because they’re so uncool, but when she gets a note from Asher, she puts her glasses on to read it, shocking her friends. It’s a note breaking up with her. Asher tells Dylan she’s changed and should just go to the dance with Josh. Dylan tries to talk to Josh at lunch but he has a strict film deadline to meet so he says he can’t spend time with her right now. Josh goes back to sitting with his friends who tell him that they voted in Caitlin as Film Club President because Josh hadn’t had time for them. Dylan also learns she has lost her seat at the cool table. To make things worse, Dylan sees Lola and Hannah shopping for the dance without her after school. They tell her they didn’t invite her because she’s always with Josh. Dylan goes home and has a quiet dinner with her father and his girlfriend. She believes that Josh’s film will be worth all this.

At the Film Festival, the whole school, including Dylan, is there to watch Josh’s movie, titled “The Popularity Project”. Dylan starts watching and is horrified to learn that Josh has made her look like a mean, bitchy bimbo and everyone is laughing at her. Dylan walks out before the movie ends. Josh goes after her but Dylan is too annoyed at him to listen. She hates her old self and all he has done is embarrass her in front of everyone.

Amy, who did watch the whole film, goes to Dylan’s house the next day with a DVD of the film. She tells Dylan to watch it all, to understand what Josh was trying to do. It turns out everyone loved seeing the vulnerable, smart, goofy side of Dylan. Dylan apologises to Amy for ignoring her for all these years. Amy says she understands and that even though Dylan stopped being her friend, Amy didn’t stop being hers.

At Spring Formal, Dylan shows up wearing her mother’s dress. All her old friends, like Hannah, Lola, and Asher, who dropped her so quickly just a couple of days ago, are now desperate to be her friend again after Josh’s documentary turned out to be a hit. Blossom Queen is soon announced and Dylan has won it. She makes a speech talking about how it’s better to be yourself and not to change to please others. Dylan appreciates having true friends, like Amy and Josh now. Dylan then finds Josh and apologises to him for what she said about his movie. She actually really liked it and appreciated it. The two kiss and dance together, becoming an official couple.

The end of the movie shows Dylan and Josh talking to the camera, saying how that was the story of how the “princess” and the “film geek” met. So, now all the weird reaction cuts make sense; this whole film was meant to be a documentary. Josh and Dylan apologise for the names they called each other, and the two walk off together.

CHARACTERS & CAST

Dylan initially comes across as a snobby, entitlement little rich girl at the start of Geek Charming. All she cares about is being popular and pretty, so that she can become Blossom Queen at her school’s Spring Formal. She has her two sidekicks, Lola and Hannah, and her jock boyfriend Asher to complete the cliché. Dylan is completely self-centred and quite bitchy to those she feels are lesser than her – which is pretty much everyone, even her two friends. Gradually, we learn that this is just a façade that Dylan has put on because she never felt her actual self would get anywhere in life. Dylan is actually intelligent, thoughtful, and has her geeky moments, like everyone. She also lost her mother at a young age, and the only reason she wants to be Blossom Queen is because it’ll make her feel closer to her. I wish she had a different way of feeling closer to her mother which wasn’t about winning a popularity contest, like trying to get into the same college as her mum or something; that might’ve made me feel some empathy towards Dylan. The message of the movie just doesn’t work with this goal, because Dylan figured out that having true friends is better than being popular by winning a contest that’s all about who is the most popular! It would have been better for Dylan not to win Blossom Queen, so she could learn you don’t always get what you want. Although Dylan as a character has grown by the end of the movie, I still find her difficult to understand and like.

Sarah Hyland was cast as Dylan. She is most known for her role as Haley Dunphy in the ABC sitcom Modern Family (2009-20). She has also had roles in romantic comedy films, like playing Ava in Date and Switch (2014); Mara in The Wedding Year (2019); and Kelly in My Fake Boyfriend (2022), which also starred Disney Channel alum Dylan Sprouse. More recently, Hyland appeared as Heidi in Peacock’s Pitch Perfect: Bumper in Berlin (2022), a spin-off to the film series, and is currently starring as Daisy Buchanan in The Great Gatsby on Broadway, alongside Ryan McCartan from Disney Channel’s Liv and Maddie (2013-17).

Then we have “geek” Josh. Josh’s first encounter with Dylan in this movie is when he spills his lunch over her. It isn’t actually his fault; it is Dylan’s erratic perfume spraying that caused it, but Dylan certainly makes him suffer, by screaming at him in the middle of the cafeteria. Josh doesn’t care though. He doesn’t even like Dylan. He has his Film Club friends and his crush on Amy. Josh is only focused on making his documentary, so he can achieve his dream of making movies on Hollywood. Josh later manages to convince Dylan to show her true self, which helps her self-confidence and proves to be more likeable than her diva routine, but his documentary could be seen as being a bit exploitative and mean-spirited, especially as he films Dylan burping, which doesn’t seem like something most girls would want broadcast to the world, or worse, their whole school.

Josh was played by Matt Prokop. He guest starred in some episodes of Disney Channel series, such as Hannah Montana (2006-11) and Good Luck Charlie (2010-14), but is best known for his role as Jimmie “Rocket Man” Zara in High School Musical 3: Senior Year (2008).

Dylan’s “friends” are Hannah and Lola, who, according to Dylan, hang out with her in the hopes that they might become popular. It’s quite clear Hannah and Lola don’t like Dylan, as they talk about her behind her back to Josh and his camera. Dylan orders them about all the time, so I don’t really blame them, but if they had some self-respect and didn’t care about being popular, then they would’ve ditched her, so it’s kind of their own fault. They also aren’t nice people either since they do ditch Dylan, but only after they’ve decided she’s “uncool” for spending so much time with Josh. Hannah and Lola then try to suck up to Dylan once again at the Spring Formal as they discover that Dylan is popular once again – only to find that Dylan doesn’t want their fake friendship anymore. That’s karma for you.

Hannah was played by Vanessa Morgan, who was cast in the role of Marion in the Disney Channel-affiliated movie Harriet the Spy: Blog Wars (2010). She had previously appeared in the teen sitcom The Latest Buzz (2007-10) as Amanda Pierce, going on to star as Sarah in the 2010 movie My Babysitter’s a Vampire, and its subsequent series, which ran from 2011 to 2012. More recently, Morgan was cast in the role of Toni Topaz in Riverdale (2017-23) and stars as Max Mitchell in the Canadian series Wild Cards (2024-present). Lola was played by Lili Simmons, who went on to appear as Rebecca Bowman in the action series Banshee (2013-16), and Lila Stanton in the horror series The Purge (2018-19). More recently, she starred as Claudia Flynn in the Starz series Power Book IV: Force (2022-25).

For Josh’s friends, there are three in his Film Club: Ari, Steven, and Caitlin. We don’t get to see too much of Josh’s friends in the film and they aren’t overly important to the story, apart from them being annoyed at how much time Josh is spending with Dylan instead of them. Caitlin was probably the more interesting of the characters, since she had a crush on Josh, but this was resolved quickly at the end of the film with Caitlin choosing to dance with Steven, the more “uncool” of the three, who is a bit clumsy and acts and speaks without thinking first. Ari is the more serious one of the group, and is very focused.

Kacey Rohl was cast as Caitlin. Rohl went on to appear in the recurring roles of Abigail Hobbs in Hannibal (2013-15) and Marina Andrieski in the Syfy series The Magicians (2015-20). She was also cast as Alena Whitlock in Arrow (2012-20) from Season 5 to Season 7. Steven was played by Jimmy Bellinger, who later appeared in the recurring roles of Edwin in the ABC sitcom The Middle (2009-18), and Artie Smalls in Disney Channel’s Liv and Maddie (2013-17). Recently, he was cast as Mason in Not Dead Yet (2023-24). Ari was played by David Del Rio, who was cast as Manny in A California Christmas (2020) and its 2021 sequel A California Christmas: City Lights for Netflix. He currently stars as Billy Martinez in Matlock (2024-present).

Josh’s crush, Amy, is a former best friend of Dylan’s. Amy is a musician in a band, and is kind to everyone. She doesn’t seem to believe in labels or popularity, talking to anyone who wants to talk to her, including Josh. Though Dylan does help Josh pluck up the courage to ask Amy on a date after giving him a makeover, I don’t think the makeover had anything to do with Amy saying yes to this date; she probably would’ve said yes anyway because she seems to like talking to Josh. Amy later proves to be a good friend to Dylan when she explains how Josh’s documentary hasn’t ruined Dylan’s life. Dylan showed no kindness to Amy for years, and yet, Amy decided she should continue to be a friend to her.

Amy was played by Sasha Pieterse, who was best known for her role as Alison DiLaurentis in Pretty Little Liars (2010-17) at the time of Geek Charming’s release. Pieterse reprised her role in the short-lived spin-off Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists (2019). Prior to Geek Charming, she appeared in the recurring role of Amanda Strazzulla in Season 4 of Heroes (2006-10). In recent years, she was cast in the dual role of Anna and Zoe in the thriller film The Image of You (2024).

Finally, let’s talk about the mean characters in Geek Charming. One of these is Asher, Dylan’s boyfriend, then ex, who was never much of a boyfriend to Dylan, only taking her praise and affection and never giving any in return. Dylan is shocked when Asher breaks up with her for spending time with Josh, but it was for the best. Asher is a complete jerk. Jordan Nichols was cast in this role, having previously guest starred in a few episodes of the Disney Channel series Shake It Up (2010-13) and Good Luck Charlie (2010-14). He also appeared in a few episodes of Supah Ninjas (2011-13) for Nickelodeon.

The other mean character to mention is Nicole, a cheerleader and Dylan’s toughest competition for Blossom Queen. She clearly despises Dylan, calling her a loser at Asher’s party and interrupts Dylan’s campaign trail with her free cupcakes, essentially buying votes, but hey, all’s fair in love and high school popularity contests! She also later goes out with Asher after he dumps Dylan. Nicole was played by Andrea Brooks, who went on to be cast as Eve Teschmacher in the superhero series Supergirl (2015-21). Brooks is currently playing Faith Carter in the drama series When Calls the Heart (2014-present).

MUSIC

Geek Charming’s soundtrack features a mix of music styles.

During the montage of Dylan making over Josh, the song “Hey, Princess” performed by Allstar Weekend is played. It’s an upbeat song that is relatively catchy. The song was written by Zachary Porter, Nathan Darmody, Sam Hollander, and Dave Katz and was originally released as part of Allstar Weekend’s debut extended play Suddenly in 2010.

After Dylan gives her speech as Blossom Queen, the song playing is “Words” by indie rock band Doves. This song then plays throughout the ending of the film, all the way to the End Credits. It is a pleasant piece of music to wrap up the movie. “Words” was part of the Doves’ album The Last Broadcast, released in 2002. The song was written by band members Jimi Goodwin, Andy Williams, and Jez Williams.

There are some excerpts of classical music that appear in Geek Charming too. One is “The William Tell Overture”, composed by Rossini, which is used for the life-or-death situation where Dylan’s handbag has fallen into the mall fountain and Josh gallantly wades in to the water to retrieve it for her. I’m assuming this music was used as a contrast between the expressiveness of the music, and the comical rescue of the purse.

Another use of classical music is “Ride of the Valkyries” by Richard Wagner, which is used as the soundtrack for the in-movie film that precedes Josh’s at the Film Competition. The movie is about a vicious hamster so I guess that music works with that idea!

Those are the most obvious songs within the film, but there are a few others, used mostly for background noise. One that I managed to work out was the song “Come On Now” by Miss Anami, which is the second song heard at Asher’s party. But despite having audible lyrics, I’ve been unable to figure out what is the first song playing, when Amy and Josh first arrive. This was a similar problem I had to the song that is playing when Dylan is home alone early on in the film, and the first song at Spring Formal. None of these songs are credited in the End Credits of the movie. Online, some sites claim to have found songs matching these scenes, however, I don’t believe they do match.

Nathan Wang is credited as the composer for the score of Geek Charming. Wang composed the music for other DCOMs including Hatching Pete (2009); Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior (2006); and Christmas…Again? (2021), amongst many other non-Disney projects.

PRODUCTION

Geek Charming is another case of a Disney Channel Original Movie being based on a book.

This book is the young adult novel Geek Charming by Robin Palmer, published in 2009. I have not read the book and there isn’t a huge amount of information online comparing the movie and the book’s plot and story; however, it would appear that one major change is that the book appears to be set in Los Angeles, however, the DCOM is supposedly set in Seattle, Washington. The school’s name is different as well, changing from the novel’s Castle Heights High, to Woodlands Academy[1].

Although Geek Charming the film is said to be set in Washington, it was actually filmed in Vancouver, Canada, as so many productions seem to be, especially Disney ones. Some specific filming locations include a house on Celtic Avenue in Southland, Vancouver, used as Dylan’s house, and Aberdeen Centre in Richmond, Vancouver being the location of the mall with that fountain that Dylan’s poor designer handbag ended up. The beach scene was filmed at Kitsilano Beach in Vancouver.

Another story change is that the character of Amy was quite different between the novel and the film. In the book, Amy and Dylan apparently stopped being friends as Amy started dating a boy that Dylan had a crush on. Amy does still prove herself to be a good friend to Dylan by helping her deal with the fallout from Josh’s documentary, but instead of Amy accepting that Dylan and Josh should be together, Amy goes to the dance with Josh and those two are dating by the end of the book[2].

Apparently, Robin Palmer, author of Geek Charming, wanted nothing to do with the production of Disney Channel’s Geek Charming and didn’t even read the script. Of course, Palmer was still credited in the Opening Credits though.

Elizabeth Hackett and Hilary Galanoy adapted Palmer’s novel for the screen. The two continued to collaborate on the screenplays for other movies after Geek Charming, including the Netflix movies La Dolce Villa (2025) and Falling Inn Love (2019).

Jeffrey Hornaday directed Geek Charming. Hornaday is both a director and choreographer. His choreography credits include the Disney Parks attraction Captain EO, a 3D short film which starred Michael Jackson; the 1983 movie Flashdance; and the 1985 film adaptation of the musical A Chorus Line. After Geek Charming, Hornaday directed both Teen Beach Movie (2013) and Teen Beach 2 (2015) for Disney Channel, as well as being on hand as the movies’ choreographer.

Hornaday was nominated at the Directors Guild of America Awards for Outstanding Directing – Children’s Program for Geek Charming. He lost out to Amy Schatz who directed HBO’s A Child’s Garden of Poetry. The directors of both Lemonade Mouth and Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure, two 2011 Disney Channel movies, were also nominated in this category.

RECEPTION

Geek Charming premiered on Disney Channel in the US on 11^th November 2011.

The DCOM’s premiere was preceded by something called “Geek Chic Week”, which was a Disney Channel event, going from Monday 7^th November up to Geek Charming’s premiere on 11^th November. The event focused on showing movies and episodes of series celebrating “geeks”, such as episodes of Phineas and Ferb (2007-15), and movies like Lemonade Mouth (2011) and Princess Protection Program (2009). Behind-the-scenes clips of Geek Charming were also shown during this week[3]. I’m not sure how much I agree that their choice of programming was really focused on “geeks”.

On its premiere, Geek Charming apparently achieved viewership of 4.9 million viewers. In 2011, Disney Channel released six DCOMs, with Geek Charming being their second-to-last one of the year. Its viewing figures matched that of Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure, the High School Musical spin-off movie, however, 4.9 million was actually the lowest viewership for Disney Channel movies that year, although not by much, and this was an average figure for Disney Channel at the time, before their numbers would drop off in the late 2010s. Disney Channel’s highest figure of 2011 for a movie was 7.6 million, achieved by Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Across the 2^nd Dimension.

In terms of reviews, as is pretty typical for Disney Channel movies, Geek Charming received some highly positive reviews and some more negative ones.

On the positive side, Geek Charming was seen to be a fun, cute movie, perfect for its target age range of kids and tweens. These comments also stated that it had some heartfelt moments, some laughs, and a positive message of being yourself and not caring about being popular. Its two leads were generally considered to have done a good job with the material they were given. Having a star of Modern Family and a star of Pretty Little Liars also helped to bring in the target audience.

However, Geek Charming did not avoid the general negativity that these television movies tend to receive, about being cheesy and cringey. Alongside this though, the story was criticised for being unoriginal, shallow, and clichéd, which I would have to agree with. I feel like the whole “wanting to be Prom Queen” dream has been done to death in teen movies, and even with the attempt to make this dream seem less shallow, by having Dylan want to become Blossom Queen because her mother was, it didn’t work for me.

LEGACY

Although at the end of Geek Charming, Josh says that him and Dylan should think about doing a sequel, there was never a sequel to Geek Charming. Dylan didn’t want to do one anyway, stating that sequels are never as good as the original, which isn’t always true, but I see her point. Not many non-musical Disney Channel movies get sequels, so really, it was not a surprise that the Geek Charming story ended here.

Something that is a bit surprising is that neither of the two leads, Sarah Hyland or Matt Prokop, became big Disney Channel stars, not going on to appear in multiple DCOMs or in series after Geek Charming premiered. This doesn’t always happen with the leads of DCOMs but for the most part, it would. Hyland did, however, become a major name thanks to her role in the ABC sitcom Modern Family, with ABC being a Disney-owned channel.

Prokop, on the other hand, has not acted since 2014, and there is a reason for this. Hyland and Prokop were in a relationship when they were making Geek Charming, reportedly being together from 2009. In September 2014, it came to light that Hyland had gone to court to secure a restraining order against boyfriend Prokop for abusive behaviour. Prokop had apparently attended rehab prior to the restraining order being granted[4].

I’m not about to go into details about what was alleged to have happened as that is a private matter and not relevant to this movie review; this isn’t a gossip column after all. The only reason I have chosen to mention this is because I read so many comments online when looking for an overview of opinions on Geek Charming that mentioned this incident. These comments were from people who said they used to love the movie, but now they know about the alleged abuse, they cannot like Geek Charming anymore, signalling that the two will forever be linked.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Much like any other Disney Channel Original Movie, Geek Charming has its die-hard fans; others who thought it was just alright; and those who hate it. I will say that on the whole though, I did read more positive than negative comments about the film itself.

Disney Channel movies are looked back on with a feeling of nostalgia. They help us remember simpler, happier times in our lives, since these memories and feelings can be tightly linked with whatever we watched at the time.

Sadly, we also have to remember that the people we see in these movies are actually real people who perhaps did not enjoy the DCOM or series they were in, or who did at the time but now cannot look back on it fondly, for whatever reason.

It just goes to show that Disney Channel, although wanting to help you navigate life, cannot shield you, its viewers, or even its young stars, from the troubles of this world forever.

REFERENCES

[1] Credit: Goodreads, ‘Geek Charming’, Goodreads.com, date unknown.

[2] Credit: Author Unknown, ‘Amy Loubalu’, GeekCharming.Fandom.com, date unknown.

[3] Credit: Pinch Raccoon and Milady Lover, ‘Disney Channel Geek Chic Week Promo (November 2011) (4:3)’, Pinch Raccoon and Milady Lover 2002 YouTube Channel, 15^th March 2025.

[4] Credit: Esther Kang, ‘Julie Bowen Recalls Supporting Modern Family daughter Sarah Hyland During Previous Allegedly Abusive Relationship’, People.com, 4^th June 2024.

9th May 202516th Jan 2026 by The Disney Purist

Sneakerella (2022)

BACKGROUND

The story of Cinderella is incredibly well-known and has become one of the most adapted stories of all time, with new versions popping up every few years.

Disney has created three popular versions of the tale of Cinderella alone, with their 1950 animated version still being watched decades after its release. We also have the 1997 version starring Brandy, based on the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, along with the 2015 live-action remake, with Lily James in the title role.

Outside of that, there are various other studios who have adapted the story of Cinderella in both modern and traditional ways, such as Ever After (1998), Amazon Studios’ Cinderella (2021), Hilary Duff’s A Cinderella Story (2004), which spanned a film series of five other movies, and even Maid in Manhattan (2002) starring Jennifer Lopez.

Versions of Cinderella have to have some sort of twist now to keep the viewer interested because it’s been done so many times before. In the case of Sneakerella, Disney once again looked at adapting Cinderella, but this time, they were going to do something different: a gender swap. You’ve got it; Cinderella became a boy named El – not Sneakerella, that would be too random a name for audiences to get on board with – who is an aspiring sneaker designer and stock boy at his mother’s shoe store, and Prince Charming turned into Kira King, the daughter of a basketball legend with his own business empire.

There haven’t been many versions of a gender-swapped Cinderella movie before, with one being Cinderfella from 1960, starring Jerry Lewis in the lead role. You could also technically look at the story of Aladdin, at least Disney’s version of it anyway, as being a take on Cinderella with the gender roles reversed.

Sneakerella promised to do things differently though, by being a modern version of the story. There are no royals here, not in the literal sense, nor do we have talking animals and pumpkin carriages. All those iconic moments of Cinderella are instead grounded in reality, to make Sneakerella feel real. And I think it worked. Although I don’t know much at all about “sneaker culture” – people who have a deep love of sneakers – outside of watching Air (2023), the movie all about the original Air Jordans and how they came to be, I liked the gender swap in Sneakerella and I felt that it was an appropriate retelling of the story for young people of today.

As an adult though, with little to no interest in shoes, especially sneakers, or trainers as I call them, Sneakerella was just ok for me. I like the story of Cinderella, having watching numerous versions of the story on screen, and I was pleasantly surprised to find Sneakerella was a musical. My biggest issue was just how long Sneakerella was. I wasn’t particularly looking forward to watching it, and if I have to watch a movie I’m not sure about, I want it to be 90 minutes or less. Sneakerella was closer to two hours, which made the story drag, especially in the last half an hour or so, sadly.

PLOT

Sneakerella begins in the Queens borough of New York City, where El, now living with his stepfather and two stepbrothers after his mother died, works as a stock boy in his mother’s old shoe store, Laces. El’s stepfather, Trey, has taken over the running of the business, but finds it very stressful balancing that along with regular family life. Trey prioritises the needs of his children, Zelly and Stacy, over El, making El work extra shifts should those two not feel like working that day or have other plans, even if El may have plans of his own.

On a day just like that, El does have plans, to go to a sneaker launch with his friend Sami, but he is told to work in the store, making sure it is clean and tidy, ready for Trey to have a meeting there at 7pm that night. El pretends to start work, but as soon as Trey, Zelly, and Stacy have left to go about their days, El simply switches the sign on the shop door to say “Closed” and catches the train into Manhattan with Sami, almost missing it as El couldn’t not help neighbour Gustavo carry soil to the community garden.

On the train, El and Sami discuss their excitement at buying this exclusive pair of sneakers, with the two seemingly planning to share them as they are pricey. Sami then talks about the sneakers she’s wearing, which have a fingerprint stain on them. El starts to customise her sneakers on the train. El wants to be a sneaker designer, even drawing designs in his spare time. Sami is overjoyed with her new shoes, and the two head to the sneaker launch. There, the two see a huge line to get into the store to purchase the shoes, and are accused of cutting in line when they mistakenly believe they are at the end of the line and in fact are not. The girl stood by them lets them in the queue next to her, pretending that El is her cousin. The girl introduces herself as Kira and the three talk about their love of sneakers, with Sami mentioning that El has a “superpower”: he can know details about people just from looking at their shoes. Kira demands to see the “sneaker psychic” in action and El manages to correctly deduce information about two people. Kira is impressed.

However, the group soon find that these limited-edition sneakers are all sold out, and to make things worse, El and Sami are rumbled by people further back in the queue, as they notice that Kira and El are not cousins so they did cut in the queue. The three split up, with Sami heading away from the group of chasing guys on her skateboard, and El taking Kira to the nearest train. They all manage to get away safely. El then decides to show Kira around Queens, taking her to restaurants and to meet his neighbours. They end up at a huge spray-painted mural which has been added to over the years. El encourages Kira to paint something on there. Kira sprays a simple white frame and takes a photo of the two of them inside it, so she can remember this day. As the two talk about El losing his mum and their connection through a shared love of shoes, Kira asks El to do a “reading” of her from her shoes. El says, to be honest, her shoes are quite basic and don’t say much about her at all. Although most people would probably be offended by being called “basic”, Kira laughs it off. As El and Kira lean in for a kiss, Kira’s phone starts ringing, and El realises it’s 7:25pm – he’s late and never cleaned up the shop! El rushes away to get home.

At the store, Trey is naturally furious with El for shirking his responsibilities, and for ignoring the fact Trey had an important person coming for a meeting there. He is given all next week’s shifts and is grounded as punishment, much to the delight of Zelly and Stacy. The stepbrothers then show El that they’ve left the store room in complete disarray for him to clean up too! As El tidies up, he remembers all the memories with his mother in the store, from the positives of his mother teaching him all about shoes, to the negatives of his mother’s illness and eventual death… El really misses his mum right now.

Kira returns home late as well, having missed dinner and a meeting about “gala prep”. Kira is the daughter of former basketball player, now sneaker entrepreneur Darius King. Kira’s sister, Liv, starts discussing how they need to get their sales figures up and believes the way to do that is by releasing a whole new design at Sneaker Con. Liv believes sleeks, a thinner, cleaner design of sneaker, are the way to do this, having done copious amounts of research on the market. Kira, however, thinks they need to find a new designer, someone who will push boundaries, to design their new shoe. Darius isn’t so sure, but tells Kira if she can find an experienced designer by the night of the gala, they will go with that.

The next day, El and Sami realise that the girl from yesterday was in fact Kira King, after seeing a photo of the King family on the front of the newspaper. El is horrified at learning he dissed the shoes of someone so famous! Sami tells him not to worry and starts planning a way for them to get into the King gala so the two can meet up again. Sami says they can sneak in through the service entrance, disguised as waiters, since she knows two people who will be working there that night. Before El can get excited about this plan, he realises something is going on with Trey. Trey says he’s tried everything to make the store a success, bringing in new styles, but it hasn’t worked so he’s planning on selling the store, potentially to Foot Locker. El is devastated, as this is his mother’s store and wants to keep it open, but Trey tells El this is the real world, and hard decisions have to be made sometimes.

Later that night, El discovers old tools in the store, along with his old sneaker designs. He begins to design and make his own pair of sneakers, planning to wear them at the gala. On the night of the gala, El inadvertently makes his stepbrothers suspicious by making dinner for them and generally being overly nice. They spot El trying to leave the store and lock him in the store room. El tries to leave through the back shutters, but his brothers lock those too; El is trapped. El knows he’s running out of time to get to the gala but doesn’t know what to do. As he sits up against a drawer, and whacks his head against it in frustration, lines from his designs magically fall off the piece of paper and float across the street. Suddenly, Gustavo appears and opens the shutters to let him out. He knows El has somewhere important to be, and tells him to put on his new sneakers. Sami then arrives to tell El they’ve missed their lift to the gala. Gustavo offers them the use of his orange classic car and tells them to go to the gala, but to return by midnight. El and Sami head off.

At the gala, El and Sami are asked for tickets and magically El realises he has two in his jacket. They are allowed inside. El says he has to find Kira, leaving Sami to enjoy all the hors d’oeuvres that waiters bring by her! Sami is then approached by two guests, who ask about El and his fancy sneakers. Sami lies and says El is a very famous designer but can’t possibly give them any more details about his career, which leads to the guests asking everyone else at the gala if they know anything about this designer. Word gets around quickly. El eventually finds Kira, who is happy to see him again. Kira takes El to the King “Sneaker Hall of Fame”, and El geeks out over all the exclusive sneakers. El then shows Kira his sneakers and she realises he must be the designer everyone is talking about at the party. El pretends to be a famous designer like they all say. Thinking El can be the King brand’s new designer with all his experience, Kira wants to introduce El to her father, but he notices it is already midnight, meaning him and Sami have to leave. Confused, Kira tries to run after him, but after a chaotic escape, all El leaves behind is one of his shoes, which became stuck on an escalator. Kira shows the sneaker to her father, who wants to chat with this designer. Kira tells her sister that she doesn’t have his number. Liv decides to help her find him, via a huge social media campaign, dubbed #wheresmyprince.

Outside the gala, El and Sami see their car being towed away; they were too late leaving. El then gets angry at Sami for feeding those rumours about him being a famous designer. Sami simply says it’ll all work out and personally, she thinks he could be a famous designer anyway. The next day, Sami chastises El for not responding to Kira’s social media campaign. He says he’s scared about his lies getting out and hurting her. Sami says he shouldn’t be scared, and the two take a photo of El’s other sneaker at the mural where Kira painted that frame all those days ago. They send it to Kira, who calls them, asking if El will have a meeting with Kira’s father. El agrees to it.

What El doesn’t realise is that his stepbrothers have heard El and Sami talking about how El is going to be the next big designer for Darius King out on the street. They can’t let that happen, and search El’s room for the shoe. They can’t find it, but soon discover it in the secret closet with all the old tools. The two steal it and take it to Darius King, telling him that El isn’t a designer at all, but just a stock boy at his mother’s shoe store.

On the morning of El’s meeting with Darius, he oversleeps and finds his sneaker has gone. Sami tells him to go without the shoe and to bring his new designs instead. However, as El arrives at the King office building, he sees Zelly and Stacy leaving; he knows something’s wrong. When El gets to the meeting room, he sees that Kira is upset, knowing that El lied to her about his design experience. Darius King talks to him and says he is simply a scammer, trying to use Kira and the family brand for fame. El is warned to stay away from all of them. El then learns back home that the store has sold and they will be moving away, back to New Jersey where Trey and his family previously lived. As El throws out all his designs, the design that he had created for a potential Sneaker Con shoe blows out of a bin and makes its way over to Gustavo.

On the day of Sneaker Con, El wakes up to see his design is now an actual pair of sneakers. How did that happen?! El sees his stepbrothers loading up the removal van as they are moving that day. El sees Sami on the street and asks her to stall his brothers so he can get out of the house without being seen. Sami happily obliges, giving El a head start to the King Sneaker Con launch, but it’s not long before Kelly and Stacy realise that El has left the house and know where he must’ve gone. They commandeer the moving van, telling their father not to worry. Trey is confused and annoyed at his sons for doing this. Sami tells Trey that he needs to see El as the talented kid he really is and tells him where they’ve gone.

El arrives at the King sneaker launch just as Darius is doing a musical performance. El shows Kira his newly designed shoes and apologises to her for what happened. Kira apologises for putting pressure on El to lie about his design experience. Kira then convinces her father to let El tell his story to the crowd. As El starts to talk about what happened, Zelly and Stacy arrive, once again reiterating that El is nothing but a fraud, however, they are stopped by Trey. Trey apologises to El for being so hard on him since his mother’s death and for not understanding how much the store and designing meant to him. He asks for a second chance at being a father to El. El accepts. Darius King then announces that El will be the new designer for the King sneaker brand.

The movie ends one year later, where we see that El and Kira are now a couple and El has been able to keep his mother’s shoe store, renaming it “El-evate”. He sees that he is now inspiring others with his shoe designs and is happy that he finally fulfilled his dream, as well as continued his mother’s legacy.

CHARACTERS & CAST

El is struggling with his family life, now that his mother has died and he’s been left to fend for himself, with a stepfather and two stepbrothers who don’t seem to care at all about him. El is forced to work exceedingly long hours at his mother’s shoe store, but in actual fact, he doesn’t want to be selling shoes; he wants to be making them. Although he has had some experience in customising his own sneakers, and Sami’s, El has no real design experience and doesn’t seem to have ever made his own pair of sneakers. It’s not until he meets Kira King that he wants to show off his talent, whether to impress her or to make some use of her father’s connections – or a bit of both – I’m not sure. But El does design a pair of sneakers that gets people talking and he starts to think this might be the making of him. Sadly, his stepbrothers come in to ruin his opportunity, and El starts to lose faith in his ability. Thanks to friend Sami and neighbour Gustavo, who push him to take advantage of his talent, El plucks up the courage to apologise to Kira and Darius King, revealing that he is a good person with genuine talent and belief, allowing El to get his dream of being a real sneaker designer.

Chosen Jacobs was cast as El. Jacobs had previously appeared as Will Grover in a few episodes of Hawaii Five-0 (2010-20) before landing the role of Mike Hanlon in horror movie It (2017), reprising his role in It Chapter Two (2019). After Sneakerella, Jacobs went on to be cast as Frankie in the Netflix film Purple Hearts (2022) and Alex in the Hulu original film Darby and the Dead (2022).

Helping El overcome a lack of confidence is his best friend Sami. Sami is a very loyal friend who is always there for El and has his best interests at heart, even if that means pushing him to do something difficult or uncomfortable, such as planning to attend the King gala and making El respond to Kira’s social media campaign, despite El’s worries about how his lies may backfire on him. Those lies did in fact backfire on El, but Sami was there to tell him how much she believed in him and his talent, making him think that he could go to the King Sneaker Con launch to make things right, even providing the diversion to get him there.

Sami was played by Devyn Nekoda, who had previously been cast as Mackenzie in the DCOM The Swap (2016). Outside of Disney, Nekoda was cast as Anika in Scream VI (2023) and as Sage 5 in sci-fi series Utopia Falls (2020). She also appeared as Riley in Season 1 of Netflix’s Ginny & Georgia (2021-present).

Also there to help El, in some quite magical ways, is Gustavo, El’s neighbour. Gustavo is El’s “fairy godfather”. It’s not specifically shown that Gustavo has magic, as in he doesn’t cast spells or anything, but he always shows up at just the right moment, like when El is trapped in the store on the night of the gala. Apparently, some drawings leapt off their page and flew across the street, alerting Gustavo to the fact El was stuck and needed help. Gustavo also happens to have a car to give to El and Sami, tells El to put on his fancy shoes for the gala, and then seems to make El’s Sneaker Con design a reality at the end of the film. Having seen El’s mother succumb to illness, Gustavo clearly has some sort of feeling of responsibility to look after El and keep him safe and happy in his difficult family situation, however, he doesn’t make this too obvious and it’s not entirely clear whether El is aware of Gustavo’s “influence” or whether he thinks everything is purely coincidental!

Juan Chioran was cast as Gustavo. Although Chioran has primarily acted on stage and not on screen, with roles in many productions over the years at the Stratford Festival, held in Stratford, Ontario in Canada, winning a Gemini Award for his 2000 performance as Count Dracula in Dracula: A Chamber Musical, Chioran may be familiar to Disney Channel fans from playing the role of Francobollo Garibaldi, Galleria’s father, in The Cheetah Girls (2003). He also has experience in voice acting, recently voicing the recurring role of Señor Tapir in the PBS Kids series Elinor Wonders Why (2020-present).

Then we have El’s love interest, Kira King. Kira doesn’t seem to fit in well with her superstar family, as we see when Kira is stood in line like an ordinary person to try and buy sneakers from her own father’s brand. She doesn’t want handouts and she’d rather not have people know she is the daughter of Darius King in case it changes someone’s opinion of her. This is why she doesn’t reveal this to El when they first meet. Kira wants her father’s sneaker brand to be more about sneakers that tell a story instead of just being plain ones that can make a lot of money, whereas her sister, Liz, is focused on finding a style that will sell. Kira is ecstatic when she “discovers” that El is an experienced sneaker design, because not only does she like him, but he’s just the type of person she promised her father she could find before Sneaker Con, to give them a better design than Liv’s boring sleeks. Kira is devastated to learn that El lied about his sneaker experience, but she soon realises that the pressure she felt to find a great designer for the company led to her putting pressure on El to lie about who he was. Kira takes some responsibility for what happened between her and El, so when they make up, she convinces her father to listen to El’s apology and his story.

Kira was played by Lexi Underwood. Prior to Sneakerella, Underwood was cast as Pearl Warren in the Hulu series Little Fires Everywhere (2020), which starred Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington. She went on to portray Malia Obama in the series The First Lady (2020). More recently, Underwood starred as Isabella LaRue in Season 2 of the series Cruel Summer (2021-23). Kira’s sister, Liv, was played by Robyn Alomar, who had previously been cast as Aliyah 5 in Utopia Falls (2020).

Kira’s father is Darius King. Darius was a former basketball player and has now started a sneaker “empire”, creating a huge brand which is popular with many sneaker fans, with El and Sami being two of these fans. Darius isn’t shown to be a money-crazed entrepreneur, and instead, encourages his business to be run as a family enterprise, with everyone having equal say, which is why he allows Kira the opportunity to find a designer to come and work with the brand, to give their sneakers some much-needed expression. After being informed that El, Kira’s chosen designer, lied about his experience, due to Darius’ protective nature, he tells El to stay away from his family, not wanting them to be duped by a “scammer” and a fraud. Darius is, quite rightly, sceptical of El’s motives for getting close to his daughter, believing that El wants fame, but by the end of the film, Darius learns that is not the case and sees El for the talented designer he is.

Darius King was played by former professional basketball player John Salley, whose career ran from 1986, when he was drafted by the Detroit Pistons, and ended in 2000, retiring after a spell with the Los Angeles Lakers. During his basketball career, Salley became a four-time NBA champion, being the first player in NBA history to win championships with three different teams. After basketball, Salley turned to the screen, as other basketball players have also done, being cast as Fletcher in the movie Bad Boys (1995), reprising the role in 2024 for Bad Boys: Ride or Die. He also came in third place in the US version of the reality series I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! back in 2009.

For El’s stepfamily, we have Trey, the stepfather, and Zelly and Stacy, the stepbrothers. Trey doesn’t mean to be cruel to El with his work in the shoe store; he is simply stressed and overworked trying to keep the store afloat now that he is running it single-handedly without El’s mother. He tells El that his sneaker designing dreams are just a folly and that El needs to start living in the real world. Things between the two of them really hit rock bottom when Trey says he is selling the store and moving all of them back to New Jersey, much to the delight of Zelly and Stacy who apparently hate living in Queens. Zelly and Stacy don’t initially seem to be “wicked” stepbrothers, however, their villainy progresses beyond just messing up the store room for El to clean up and generally seeming to ignore El and his needs. Instead, they go out of their way to ruin El’s chance of being a designer for King just to make him miserable. Stacy seems to be the mastermind behind these schemes, being the brother with the brain, whereas Zelly is the “less smart” one who goes along with whatever Stacy says. In the end though, Trey learns of El’s talent and stops his sons from ruining El’s opportunity. It’s not clear whether the four of them become “one big, happy family” because we don’t see it, but I’m sure Trey now keeps his sons in line.

Trey was played by Bryan Terrell Clark, who has been cast in the recurring roles of Pastor Logan in Season 2 of Snowpiercer (2020-24) and as Dr. Dermatologist in Hulu’s Saint X (2023). He also appears as Mr. Tea in the series Diarra from Detroit (2024-present). Hayward Leach was cast as Stacy. Leach played Freddie in Season 2 of Love Life (2020-21) and went on to appear as Roy in Elsbeth (2024-present). Kolton Steward was cast as Zelly. He had previously played Jarvis in the Canadian sitcom Some Assembly Required (2014-16), and appeared as Owen in the DCOM The Swap (2016), going on to play the role of Tyson in the Disney sequel Disenchanted (2022). Steward currently voices Rory in the animated Netflix series Unicorn Academy (2023-present).

PRODUCTION

The start of production on Sneakerella was announced in October 2020, where the three main actors, of Chosen Jacobs as El, Lexi Underwood as Kira, and John Salley as Darius King, were announced. A brief plot of the film was also described, and an expected premiere date was set to be sometime in 2021[1].

Because filming began at the end of 2020, although clearly the film industry was back at work by then, the cast and crew would’ve been required to comply with certain restrictions due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. This included crew members wearing masks and face coverings, and cast having to do so when not on camera. Social distancing and ways of restricting contact with those outside of production were likely enforced too. It was also the case that cast and crew could not explore the surrounding areas properly either. Devyn Nekoda is from Ontario and she stated that she was disappointed that she was unable to show her American castmates the area properly whilst they were filming there, meaning they spent their downtime mostly hanging out in their apartments together[2].

Specific filming locations in Canada used for Sneakerella include the Hamilton International Village District, with its shops and city blocks being repurposed to look like the Astoria neighbour in Queens, New York City, where El and his stepfamily live. King Street East in Hamilton, Ontario was reportedly used as the location of the big street art mural that El takes Kira to on their afternoon in Queens together[3]. The Bay Adelaide Centre in Toronto appears to have been used as the location of Darius King’s business headquarters[4]. Due to the fact that Sneakerella’s production took place in Canada, but the story is set in New York City, some CGI enhancement was likely used to represent certain areas of the famous city. To be honest, when watching Sneakerella, I quite easily believed it was filmed in New York, although admittedly I have never been to either New York City or any part of Canada. I’m sure anyone familiar with either place would’ve easily known the truth of its filming locations.

Sneakerella was directed by Elizabeth Allen Rosenbaum, who had previously directed the movie Ramona and Beezus (2010), which starred former Disney Channel actress Selena Gomez, and some episodes of Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists (2019), which featured Descendants star Sofia Carson. Rosenbaum and Carson worked together again for Netflix’s 2022 movie Purple Hearts.

The writers of Sneakerella came from a variety of places. Two of these were from the world of the DCOM, these being David Light and Joseph Raso who worked on the first three ZOMBIES films. Another screenwriter was Tamara Chestna, who had previously co-written the screenplay for After (2019), the first in a series of movies based on the novels by Anna Todd. Chestna is also set to be a writer for the upcoming fifth instalment of Disney Channel’s Descendants franchise. The other writers on Sneakerella were Mindy Stern, and George Gore II, who is perhaps best known for his role as Michael Kyle Jr., or just Junior, in the sitcom My Wife and Kids (2001-05).

Continuing in the pattern of having crew that have history with either Disney Channel or teen dramas, Jane Startz, who produced the film Ella Enchanted (2004), itself a take on the traditional Cinderella tale, was a producer on Sneakerella, as was Rachel Watanabe-Batton, a producer on the Mr. T series I Pity the Fool (2006). From the world of musicals, Christopher Scott was another credited producer, who was a choreographer on In the Heights (2021) and even Wicked (2024). Scott was also a choreographer on ZOMBIES (2018) for Disney Channel. The choreographers on Sneakerella were Emilio Dosal and Ebony Williams, who both worked on In the Heights, the film adaptation of the stage show.

Although Disney and musicals were a key part of Sneakerella’s production, another important feature of the movie is, of course, “sneaker culture”. I had very little prior knowledge of sneaker culture before watching Sneakerella, other than the fact I knew exclusive, limited-edition sneakers were bought and sold, and that Nike fought to have Michael Jordan sign with them to create the famous Air Jordans. I had to do some research.

The origin of the sneaker goes back to the 1860s where in England, they were used for the sports of tennis and croquet. Their use was entirely functional and had nothing to do with fashion. Sneaker culture likely began with the rise of athlete-endorsed shoes in the 1970s and 1980s, with the most popular designs on the basketball courts being Puma, Adidas, and Converse around this time. In 1985, the public release of Nike and Michael Jordan’s sneaker collaboration, the Air Jordans, was the biggest thing to transform sneakers. Despite only being a rookie on the basketball scene at this time, Nike and Adidas fought for Jordan to sign with them. Eventually, Nike won and Jordan signed a five-year, $2.5 million endorsement deal with them. Nike were incredibly radical with their design because NBA guidelines stated that sneakers had to be 51% white to be used on the court for games. The Air Jordans were actually “illegal” shoes, with mostly red and black colouring. Nike chose to pay the $5,000 fine that was set for any players that came on to court with shoes that went against the guidelines rather than change their design. Luckily, it paid off for everyone involved, because Michael Jordan became one of the best and most famous basketball players in the world, with his sneakers following suit.

It wasn’t only basketball and sports stars that contributed to this culture either. Hip-hop was a contributor as well. Hip-hop group Run-D.M.C. released the single “My Adidas” in 1986, which led to them having an endorsement deal with the brand. Kurt Cobain of Nirvana later made Converse a symbol of youth and rebellion. Other celebrity and luxury brand sneaker collaborators led to further hype with their limited-edition releases. By the mid-2010s, sneakers had become a status symbol. Singer Drake even commissioned a one-of-a-kind pair of Air Jordans in 2016 that were wrapped in 24-carat solid gold[5].

Sneakers aren’t only about collections now; they are supposed to tell a story about yourself, this being something that El is a clear believer in, as is his friend Sami. El even likes to guess people’s personalities from their shoes. Sneaker culture has also built a community for some sneaker lovers, and I learnt that Sneaker Con is a real thing, not something that was made up for Sneakerella. Sneaker Con was founded in August 2008, by Alan and Barris Vinogradov and Yu-Ming Wu. Its inaugural event took place in Times Square Arts Center in New York City, hosting over 3,000 people in March 2009. Sneaker Con now goes all over the world, having had events in cities outside the US, like London and Sydney[6].

Even with all that talk of sneakers, Sneakerella doesn’t forget to honour its fairy-tale source material. During the opening song of Sneakerella, “Kicks”, bubbles appear during the sequence. This a nod to the song “Sing Sweet Nightingale” from Disney Animation’s Cinderella (1950) where Cinderella sings whilst cleaning, and bubbles form around her, showing her image inside of them. The orange convertible that El and Sami are given by Gustavo to get to the gala has this license plate: PMPKN XPRS, as in “pumpkin express”, which is a clear reference to Cinderella’s famous pumpkin carriage. There is also a brief glimpse of graffiti art versions of two of the bluebirds from Cinderella as El is making his “glass” sneakers for the gala. Speaking of these sneakers, with their plastic soles meant to resemble the original glass slippers, they were designed by Eske Schiralli, a designer who founded his own footwear and garment design house, Mad M.F.G. in 2017 and has collaborated with Adidas and Nike, as well as Disney now[7]. The famous clip from Cinderella of the glass slipper being placed on Cinderella’s foot in the animated movie can also be seen during Kira’s social media campaign to find her prince. Finally, some of the character names reference the 1950 movie, such as Trey being a shortening of Tremaine, like Lady Tremaine, Cinderella’s stepmother; and Zelly and Stacy being shortened versions of Drizella and Anastasia, Cinderella’s stepsisters[8].

MUSIC

Much like other versions of the Cinderella story on screen, Sneakerella was a musical, although due to its modern setting, its music is heavily based in R&B, hip-hop, and rap, unlike the majority of other Cinderella movie musicals. Many of these songs go alongside big dance numbers, featuring dance styles like hip-hop and breakdancing, which is quite different to most other Cinderella adaptations too.

The opening song of Sneakerella is “Kicks”, which introduces us to the character of El, as well as his neighbourhood, and the collective love of sneakers within the community. I liked “Kicks” in terms of it being a good opener for the audience. A brief snippet of “Kicks” is also used in the End Credits. I did find that it sounded kind of similar to the music in Disney Channel’s ZOMBIES and Descendants movies. This was a thought I kept returning to throughout Sneakerella. “Kicks” was performed by Chosen Jacobs as El, and was written by Antonina Armato, Tim James Price, Thomas Armato Sturges, and Adam Schmalholz.

Following on from that, we have “Best Ever”, which is performed by Jacobs as El and Lexi Underwood as Kira. “Best Ever” is the song used when El takes Kira to Queens and shows her around his neighbourhood, before ending their day at the street art mural. This is the first hint that Kira and El are falling for each other. There is a reprise of this song just a bit later, as they sit by the mural. “Best Ever” and its reprise were written by Clyde Lawrence, Gracie Lawrence and Jordan Cohen.

After that great day with Kira, El comes back to find that his stepfather is angry at him for not cleaning up the shoe store. At this point, El sings the song “In Your Shoes” as he thinks about all the memories he had in this store with his mother, going from happy moments to the saddest, most painful ones as his mother succumbs to illness. This song was quite moving, in part for the music itself, as well as for the flashbacks that are shown on screen of El’s life with his mother. “In Your Shoes” was written by William Behlendorf, Jason Mater, and Brandon C. Rogers.

A more positive song, “Work Up”, also performed by Jacobs as El, follows this a few scenes later, as El makes his own pair of sneakers for the King gala. This was an upbeat, hip-hop-style piece, showing that El finally has some confidence in himself and he’s going to achieve his dream of being a sneaker designer. A brief snippet of “Work Up” is used in the End Credits. “Work Up” was written by Anthony Ferrari, Sean Turk, and Dewain Whitmore.

One of the most well-known songs from Disney Animation’s Cinderella is “Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo”, where Cinderella’s Fairy Godmother gets her ready for the ball. Sneakerella has its own version of this, “Life Is What You Make It”, where Gustavo, El’s “Fairy Godfather”, helps him and Sami get ready for the gala, giving them new clothes and even a car to get them there. To be honest, I didn’t like this song much, feeling that it went on a bit long and took away from some of the urgency about getting to the gala. It was performed by Juan Chioran as Gustavo, Devyn Nekoda as Sami, and Jacobs as El. “Life Is What You Make It” was reprised at the very end of Sneakerella as we see how everything ended up for El, as well as being used for the beginning of the End Credits. It’s another big dance number here too. This song was written by Tora Litvin and Doug Rockwell.

There was actually a song from Disney’s 1950 Cinderella that was adjusted to fit into Sneakerella. This is “A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes”, which was originally written by Al Hoffman, Jerry Livingston, and Mack David. It is used for the scene where El and Kira see each other at the gala, and there is even a contemporary dance that the two do together, although this is seemingly shown to be a daydream. Personally, I prefer the original version of “A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes”, but it was an interesting, modern update to it. This song was also remixed, although this does not feature in the movie, only on the soundtrack.

After the gala, where El left Kira without an explanation or talking to her father about his sneakers, Kira and her sister have a plan to launch a social media campaign to “find” El and get him to meet her to discuss his sneaker designs. The song used for this scene is “Perfect Fit”. Again, this wasn’t the best song from the movie for me. It was performed by Lexi Underwood as Kira, and Robyn Alomar as her sister, and it was written by Greg Bonnick and Hayden Chapman.

Following on from that, El’s stepbrothers Zelly and Stacy learn that El is close to becoming a famous sneaker designer, and out of jealously and a desperate need to get their father to move them back to New Jersey, the brothers launch a plan to ruin El’s life by stealing his “glass” sneaker and telling Darius King that El is a fraud, and not a designer at all. The song Hayward Leach and Kolton Stewart perform here as Stacy and Kelly is “Shut It Down”. I actually quite liked this song, probably because it was the “villains’ song”. “Shut It Down” was written by Farrah King.

The final song to appear in Sneakerella is a rap battle simply titled “Finale”. This shows El trying to convince Darius King about his potential to be a great designer for his business. There is a bit of back-and-forth between the two, before Kelly and Stacy burst in to call him a fraud, with Trey, El’s stepfather, telling them to back off as he apologises for not paying enough attention to El’s life and wanting to be a better father figure to him. I probably would’ve preferred this whole tie-up of the storyline to have taken place through dialogue and not a rap battle, but that’s just me. The rap battle suits the musical styling of the movie. “Finale” was written by Theron “Neff-U” Feemster, Jordan Power, and Frankie “Rank” Wood.

Theron “Neff-U” Feemster also wrote another song for the Sneakerella soundtrack, and performed it alongside Julia Pratt. This song is “Fly Higher”, which was not used in the film.

The score was composed by Elvin Ross, who has collaborated with Tyler Perry on the music for some of Perry’s projects, including the sitcoms Tyler Perry’s House of Payne (2006-25) and Meet the Browns (2009-11).

Sneakerella did win an award for its music: a Children’s and Family Emmy award for Outstanding Music Direction and Composition for a Live-Action program. Two of the movie’s songs were also nominated at the same ceremony for Outstanding Original Song. These were “In Your Shoes” and “Kicks”.

RECEPTION

Although production on Sneakerella took place during the last few months of 2020, with many news outlets listing a 2021 Disney+ premiere for the movie, for some reason or another, the release of Sneakerella was delayed a few times.

The first trailer for Sneakerella dropped on 12^th November 2021, with a release date listed as 18^th February 2022[9]. However, February 2022 came and went; there was no Sneakerella on Disney+. It seems that a new trailer was then released on 8^th April 2022, with a release date of 13^th May 2022. This time, the trailer was correct and Sneakerella did come to Disney+ on this date. It’s been said these delays were due to the COVID-19 pandemic, despite filming already being completed by 2021. Perhaps Disney were just trying to find the best time in their schedule to release Sneakerella, so that it wasn’t overshadowed by some other Disney+ release coming in the days or weeks around it.

Sneakerella received mostly positive reviews from critics after its release, although the audience reaction was more mixed.

On the positive side, Sneakerella was seen as a modern take on Cinderella which was appreciated for its fun spin on the story and its diversity. Others liked the musical soundtrack, likening it to other Disney Channel hits like ZOMBIES and Descendants. The leads of Chosen Jacobs and Lexi Underwood, as El and Kira, were generally well-received, as was Devyn Nekoda as Sami. It was also considered better than the average Disney Channel movie by some.

On the other hand, a further adaptation of Cinderella, so soon after Amazon Prime’s 2021 version with Camila Cabello in the title role, was considered unnecessary. Some criticised certain story aspects, such as Kira’s social media campaign to “find” El. In the original story, Prince Charming doesn’t really know what Cinderella looks like and certainly doesn’t know where she lives, making his journey to find her seem realistic, whereas in Sneakerella, Kira already knows what El looks like and knows that he lives in Queens, since he took her there on the day that met. It was queried why Kira didn’t just go to Queens and ask around for him. I thought this too when I watched it, but obviously, in the movies, everything needs a level of tension and drama or there is no point to it. Some also picked up on the fact that a gender-swapped Cinderella is really just a version of Aladdin, which made Sneakerella less unique than originally advertised. Another comment was simply that Sneakerella was just too long and dragged in places. I agree with this, as I was relatively focused on the movie up until they got to the gala and then I found myself getting bored and wondering why the ending was being dragged out so much. Sneakerella was about twenty minutes longer than the average DCOM so that’s probably why it bothered me. I am capable of watching movies longer than 90 minutes, I swear.

As Disney don’t release viewing figures for every Disney+ release, unless it has done exceptionally well, like the premieres of their new animated movies or those of Pixar, it is unclear how many people watched Sneakerella on its release.

Although Sneakerella feels like a typical Disney Channel Original Movie, being produced by Disney Channel and being a musical reminiscent of the ZOMBIES or High School Musical franchise, it wasn’t labelled as a DCOM.

That is because Sneakerella 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 most “Disney Channel movies” premiere on Disney+ and the US Disney Channel within a few days of each other, making the label Disney Channel Original Movie inaccurate. Sneakerella was in a similar situation to Secret Society of Second-Born Royals (2020) which premiered on Disney+ in 2020 but did not come to Disney Channel until 2023. Sneakerella apparently premiered on Disney Channel on 13^th August 2022, three months after its Disney+ date. Viewing figures for its Disney Channel premiere were also unavailable.

Despite not having viewing data to judge the popularity of Sneakerella, the movie itself did win numerous awards at the 1^st Children’s and Family Emmy Awards, held on 10^th and 11^th December 2022, proving that it was appreciation by industry professionals. The awards won were in the categories of: Outstanding Fiction Special; Outstanding Music Direction and Composition for a Live-Action Program; Outstanding Editing for a Single Camera Program; and Outstanding Choreography.

Sneakerella was also nominated for other awards here, including Outstanding Art Direction; Outstanding Cinematography for a Single Camera Program; and Outstanding Directing for a Single Camera Program. In total, Sneakerella won four awards, and was nominated for eleven in total. These eleven nominations meant that Sneakerella tied with The Mysterious Benedict Society (2021-22), a Disney+ series, for most total nominations at this event. Production designer Elisa Sauvé won the award for Outstanding Achievement in Production Design for a Television Movie at the Directors Guild of Canada Awards.

LEGACY

Although Disney Animation’s Cinderella was followed by two direct-to-video sequels with varying levels of success, there was no sequel for Sneakerella. This isn’t a surprise since Sneakerella tied up its story neatly just like any other adaptation of Cinderella. “Sneakerella” met his “princess” and started his dream career as a sneaker designer. Everything worked out for him and we are led to believe that El and Kira lived “happily ever after”.

Instead, Sneakerella continued the legacy of the Disney musical, more specifically the Disney Channel musical. The first Disney Channel musical was The Cheetah Girls, released in 2003, two decades prior to Sneakerella. After Sneakerella, the DCOM musicals that followed it were ZOMBIES 3 (2022) and Descendants: The Rise of Red (2024), with further movies from these franchises coming over the next few months and years.

Sneakerella did also become another movie in a long list of screen adaptations of the classic fairy tale of Cinderella. But with so many of these over the years, potentially Sneakerella did not do enough to be remembered in the years and decades to come.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I can’t say I disliked Sneakerella. It had its moments where it was quite clever and it did feel new and fresh, not a scene-by-scene repeat of Disney’s 1950 animated film.

I think I am, however, too old and “uncool” to fully appreciate Sneakerella. For one thing, I don’t have a love of sneakers. If El looked at my shoes, I don’t think he’d have much to say about them, which would basically mean he thought I was “boring”. Probably fair. I’m also not a fan of hip-hop or rap so the soundtrack wasn’t something I found overly memorable or enjoyable.

But I appreciated the attempt by Disney Channel to do a gender-swap of Cinderella for the young people of today. Many parents claim that they won’t let their children watch some of Disney Animation’s older movies, including Cinderella, due to their “outdated” views on society, including the role of women.

Sneakerella tries to represent the culture of young people today, giving them more of an accurate view of their lives compared to some of the more traditional Cinderella stories we see on screen. I think putting Sneakerella on Disney+, a platform with so much more variety than that of Disney Channel, meant it may’ve struggled to find its audience. But it only came out a couple of years ago; maybe it can be found again.

REFERENCES

[1] Credit: Denise Petski, ‘‘Sneakerella’: Chosen Jacobs, Lexi Underwood & John Salley To Star In Disney+ Movie’, Deadline.com, 21^st October 2020.

[2] Credit: Elisabetta Bianchini, ‘Canadian cast of Disney+ ‘Sneakerella’ welcomed Americans ‘with open arms’ during COVID-19’, News.Yahoo.com, 13^th May 2022.

[3] Credit: Michael Kras, ‘This new movie musical on Disney Plus was filmed all over Hamilton’, Cekan.ca, 27^th May 2022.

[4] Credit: Cormac O’Brien, ‘The First ‘Sneakerella’ Trailer Just Dropped & The Ontario Is Fully Showing Throughout’, Narcity.com, 13^th November 2021.

[5] Credit: Starlight Williams, ‘How sneaker culture took over the world’, NationalGeographic.com, 27^th April 2023.

[6] Credit: ‘About’, Sneakercon.com.

[7] Credit: Noel Ransome, ‘Eske Schiralli on Building the Sneaker for Disney’s ‘Sneakerella’ and Drake Rocking His Clothes’, Complex.com, 13^th May 2022.

[8] Credit: Sarah Sterling, ‘5 Dreamy Animated Cinderella References in Sneakerella’, D23.com, 13^th May 2022.

[9] Credit: Cormac O’Brien, ‘The First ‘Sneakerella’ Trailer Just Dropped & The Ontario Is Fully Showing Throughout’, Narcity.com, 13^th November 2021.

2nd May 202527th Oct 2025 by The Disney Purist

The Swap (2016)

BACKGROUND

Most of us are familiar with the concept of “body swapping” on screen. A popular example of this is Freaky Friday, which was originally a children’s novel written by Mary Rodgers and published in 1972. The story sees a teenage girl swap bodies with her mother. It has been adapted by Disney four times – so far – in 1976, 1995, 2003, and 2018.

Disney Channel’s The Swap has a very similar premise to Freaky Friday, although in this case, the two people swapping bodies are two teenagers at the same school, but one is a boy, and one is a girl, making for some awkward moments if you think about it too much… The two swap bodies thanks to a “text wish”, where they claim to be able to fix each other’s lives because the guy thinks girls have easier lives, and the girl thinks the exact opposite.

I wasn’t watching Disney Channel in 2016, so I didn’t watch The Swap at the time it first premiered. Instead, I found it randomly on the channel a few years later, at a point where I was probably “too old” to be interested in watching a Disney Channel Original Movie that was new to me. But I went ahead and watched it and surprisingly, I found I actually really liked it, and it is one of very few DCOMs that make me cry.

In fact, I liked The Swap so much that I was desperate to own it on DVD, because I’m weird like that and don’t trust streaming services, who take your favourite things away with very little notice or can’t put them on there because of rights issues, or whatever. I’d rather own something so I know I can watch it as long as I have a DVD player. I searched for The Swap and found it on the website of a reputable company that sell pre-owned technology and media in the UK. However, I ordered the film, which was advertised as the DCOM, only to receive the 1979 film The Swap which starred Robert De Niro – two very different films! I’ve had back-and-forth communication with this company a few times about The Swap, because it keeps being listed as available to order online but the film never comes. I’ve since done my research and concluded that Disney’s The Swap likely wasn’t released on Region 2 so this company cannot have it and will never have it, as the items they sell must be viewable via normal devices in the UK which is limited to Region 2. I’ve told them to update their systems, but you never know, if it appears again, I might order it, just to see what happens.

Anyway, I was in my mid-20s when I found The Swap, so how could I possibly like it that much? Well, I’ve always liked Freaky Friday, the 2003 version specifically, with Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis, and the premise of The Swap is very similar to Freaky Friday. The other reason is that The Swap is quite moving for a “kids’ movie”, because it tackles the subject of absent parents, one through loss, the other through divorce, which felt like quite difficult, but important, topics to be bringing to a channel that is mostly aimed at children and teenagers. It was touching to see that.

PLOT

The Swap begins with two teenagers. Jack Malloy plays hockey, his dad is the strict, tough hockey coach, and he wants to make the varsity team this year. Jack is also being pressured by “bully” Porter, who wants that last spot on varsity too, despite trying to make the team four years in a row and failing every time. Ellie O’ Brien is a rhythmic gymnast and is currently struggling with the fact her best friend Sassy has suddenly become close to new girl Aspen, so Ellie and Sassy are drifting apart. Ellie and her rhythmic gymnastics team have also just been told by their coach that if they don’t perform well at their competition this weekend, their sports team will be downgraded – to a club!

The next day, on Friday, after Jack smashed his phone screen playing hockey with his brothers, he is given their mother’s sparkly pink phone to use because their father likes to send motivational quotes over text throughout the day. Their mother died recently. Meanwhile, Ellie is getting ready for school and sees a message to her rhythmic gymnastics group chat from Aspen, saying all the girls should wear skirts today. Ellie is wearing her team tracksuit since it’s the day before a competition and they always wear tracksuits that day. On the way to school, Ellie’s mother asks Ellie if she wants a new phone. Ellie is using her dad’s old phone, which isn’t exactly the technological advancement of the day. Ellie’s parents are now divorced and her father has a new family now, but Ellie likes to use his old phone. Ellie’s mum says she is risk attaching too much emotion on to this phone and making it a “totem”. She likes meditation, yoga, crystals, that sort of thing. Ellie ignores her comment.

At school, Ellie is the only one of her team in her tracksuit but, not to worry, because she has a skirt she can wear over the top of it. This only adds to Aspen’s list of reasons why Ellie is “uncool” and makes a point of telling Sassy that Ellie needs to be un-invited from teammate Claire’s party this weekend. Aspen then sees Jack Malloy and convinces Sassy to go and talk to him because Sassy has a – very recent – crush on him. Jack doesn’t find it easy to talk to girls though so the conversation is awkward…

Later, Porter baits Jack into fighting him. It’s not a particularly good fight and Jack loses out with only a bloody nose to show for it, but it’s enough for Porter who has filmed their “altercation” and plans to show Coach Malloy so Jack cannot get that last spot on the varsity team. Back with Ellie, she overhears Sassy and Aspen gossiping about her, with Aspen being particularly mean, saying Sassy needs to take Ellie off “social life support”, whatever that means. Sassy says she doesn’t want to upset Ellie, so Aspen allows Ellie until Claire’s party to prove she’s cool enough to still be friends with her. Devastated, Ellie heads to the nurse’s office in tears, and finds Jack there with his nosebleed.

Jack and Ellie begin arguing over whether girls or boys have it harder in life, with Jack saying being beaten up isn’t exactly easy, and Ellie stating that the politics of female friendships are so much more difficult to cope with. Eventually, the nurse gets fed up with listening to the two of them debating and tells them to have this conversation over text instead, to give her some peace! They continue through text messages, getting to the point when they say they’d like to take each other’s lives because they’d easily get through a day being the other person. When they text “deal”, Ellie and Jack start to feel strange and are thrown out of their seats by some sort of force. Getting up, they soon realise that Jack is now in Ellie’s body, and Ellie is in Jack’s! They try slapping each other to snap themselves out of it but it doesn’t work. They try taking their “text wish” back but that doesn’t work either. Ellie then remembers the conversation she had with her mother about totems and emotional connections to their phones and asks Jack if his phone is special to him. Because it was his mother’s and she’s now gone, that is definitely the case. Ellie says her mother has a book about this so maybe that’ll give them something to help swap them back, but they’ll have to wait until “Ellie” is back home to get it. Ellie and Jack say they’ll just have to get through the day acting like each other.

Their first testing encounter happens shortly after, as Porter confronts “Jack” about the video of their fight. Jack, but in Ellie’s body, tells Porter to stop threatening him with this video, saying it’s not right. Porter, impressed by this Ellie girl, invites “her” to have doughnuts with him on Saturday. “She” accepts, but only because Jack hopes that him being Ellie will be able to convince Porter to delete that video forever. Sassy and Aspen then approach “Jack”, so Ellie as Jack talks to Sassy. However, Jack in Ellie’s body is still unable to talk to girls so “Ellie” babbles incoherently in front of Sassy and Aspen, giving them further ammunition for Sassy to end her friendship with Ellie. Jack and Ellie then give each other a brief rundown of their lives and home situations before being picked up at the end of the day. Ellie tells Jack her mum is the textbook example of an overprotective “helicopter parent” and Jack says to Ellie that his dad is the hockey coach and is quite tough on them, plus he has two older brothers, Gunner and Stryker. It turns out Jack’s father named his older brothers, but Jack’s mother picked out his name which is why Jack’s name is so different. Jack will call Ellie once he’s found the book at Ellie’s house.

“Jack” is picked up by his brother, but strangely enough, they don’t seem to use their car doors so Ellie as Jack has to jump in to the car through the open window… Jack, as Ellie, then does the same in Ellie’s mother’s car, shocking her. Ellie’s mother takes “Ellie” to rhythmic gymnastics practice, where unsurprisingly, “Ellie” is terrible. Jack also refuses to undress in Ellie’s body so wears her leotard over the top of her tracksuit, making “Ellie” seem even weirder today. Ellie as Jack accidentally agrees to have Jack’s brothers cut his hair, because they used the term “chopping the salad”, which Ellie obviously didn’t understand. Jack didn’t want his hair cut, but it’s a varsity tradition apparently.

After practice, Ellie texts Jack about the haircut. Jack calls Ellie back saying he is mad, but can’t live without him, meaning he can’t live without his body. However, Aspen overhears this conversation and, hearing Ellie saying those things, believes Ellie is interested in Jack, going completely against “girl code” since Sassy has made it only too obvious she likes Jack. Aspen goes to tell Sassy about this immediately. Jack then gets back in Ellie’s mother’s car so she can take “Ellie” to her team physical. Ellie’s mother lets slip that Ellie’s phone’s data plan will be ending on Sunday at noon. This only gives Ellie and Jack less than two days to switch back! At Ellie’s physical, Jack wears a mask throughout so he doesn’t see any of Ellie’s body, but the doctor perceives this as strange behaviour coming from the fact Ellie’s father recently left her and her mother, and she tries to talk to “Ellie” about it. Meanwhile, Ellie as Jack is at hockey practice and plays badly, disappointing Coach Malloy, Jack’s father, who says Jack needs to play much better on Sunday for varsity try-outs because they’ll be dedicating a bleacher seat to Jack’s mother on that day and it would look really bad if he missed out on varsity that day.

Back at home, Jack finds Ellie’s mother’s book on totems and calls Ellie. Jack’s brothers actually answer the phone and tease him about having a girl on the phone. Ellie tells Jack about the dedication for his mother, and Jack tells Ellie that her doctor wanted to talk to her about her father leaving. The two briefly bond over the shared connection of both having an absent parent. They then get back to their switching back situation. It says in the book that the quest they must accomplish is in the original wish, and they need to complete this to undo the swap. Jack and Ellie decide they have to make each other’s lives better, like they said. Firstly, Ellie’s phone contract needs to be extended to give them more time, and Porter needs to delete the fight video. Sadly, although Porter is expecting Ellie’s body, Jack will have to go, as Ellie’s body will be needed at the phone store to talk about the contract.

On Saturday morning, Ellie is woken up at 5am by Coach Malloy and Jack’s brothers for early morning training, whereas Jack gets to sleep in. Sassy comes to Ellie’s house later that morning though to confront “Ellie” about her crush on Jack. Sassy eventually sees what Ellie looks like in childish pyjamas and doesn’t perceive her as any sort of threat so Sassy simply tells Ellie to be “less her” at Claire’s party tonight. Jack as Ellie is taken for a spa day by Ellie’s mother, where he manages to sneak away for a few minutes from the torture of leg waxing to go to the phone store across the street. The store clerk cannot help with extending the contract since Ellie’s father actually cancelled the plan, something Ellie is not aware of…

Ellie as Jack meets up with Porter and the two have a talk about varsity. Porter doesn’t actually seem to like hockey all that much, so “Jack” takes him to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Maths) club at school since Porter likes making fun gadgets. He has a good time there and deletes the video. Ellie also sees her friend Mackenzie there and talks to her, but Mackenzie is confused about why Jack Malloy is talking to her. Oops.

Ellie and Jack update each other on their mornings, but Jack doesn’t tell Ellie the real reason her phone contract cannot be extended, just saying it couldn’t be done. Ellie then tells Jack he has to help her get Sassy to be her best friend again. Jack agrees to do this and asks Ellie’s mum if Ellie’s body can have a complete makeover that afternoon. Ellie’s mum is happy to help. But just before that, Jack decides to get payback on Aspen, by pretending to be her hairdresser when Aspen’s eyes are covered and spreading random dyes into her hair! Ellie decides to help Jack at home and decorates his room with some of Jack’s mother’s belongings which were being kept in a closet that nobody wanted to look at.

That night, Jack’s phone gets a text from friend Owen, telling him to take a break from varsity preparations and come to a game night. Coach Malloy would never allow that so Ellie calls on Porter to help “Jack” get out of the house. Using a makeshift zip wire, Porter gets “Jack” out of his room and the two go to Owen’s game night. Once there, Ellie as Jack starts to panic that Porter wouldn’t be welcome here, but is surprised to find that guys are much more accepting of new additions to friendship groups than girls are.

“Ellie” shows up at Claire’s party, but Aspen and Sassy are not impressed with Ellie’s new look, believing she’s done all this to impress Jack. Jack in Ellie’s body tries to convince Sassy to be friends with Ellie like they used to be, but Sassy says the two of them have grown apart and they can’t be friends anymore. Mackenzie then helps “Ellie” get into the party spirit. At some point, Aspen and Sassy get bored and start messing about with the photos on the photo booth, so Jack as Ellie stands up to them, saying that they are being uncool and that Jack Malloy wouldn’t find it funny and “she’d” know that because they’re very close. Aspen decides she must mean that the two of them are together and tells all the guys at game night to meet the girls at the river to see if “Ellie” is telling the truth.

At the river, Jack and Ellie walk away from the group but they argue about how Jack has messed things up between Ellie and Sassy for good now. Ellie as Jack starts to cry in front of everyone, and to make it worse, Coach Malloy shows up to take Jack home. Jack as Ellie sees Aspen looking smug and reveals her terribly dyed hair in front of everyone, which Aspen had been hiding under at hat. Back home, Ellie is devastated about losing Sassy, whilst Jack as Ellie looks through old photos in Ellie’s room. He sees photos of Sassy, Ellie, and Ellie’s dad, and realises Ellie doesn’t want to lose both of those people. Jack and Ellie make up and decide they have to be good at their respective sports on Sunday, so with help from Owen, who has now been told all about their swap, opens up the sports centre and they have an all-night training session.

On Sunday, Ellie as Jack meets Jack’s brothers and father for an early morning run as usual. Jack as Ellie gets to the rhythmic gymnastics competition and is sad to see that Ellie’s father didn’t show up. However, apart from one minor slip up with the ribbon, Jack does well for Ellie at the competition and their sports team will be staying a team, with badminton being demoted to club status instead. At the hockey rink, Ellie as Jack watches the bleacher seat dedication for Jack’s mother and then plays well enough to get that spot on the varsity team. Ellie and Jack catch up with each other afterwards and at 11:15, with only 45 minutes to go until Ellie’s phone contract expires, they try a text to switch themselves back. It doesn’t work. Ellie says they need to get it extended, but Jack reveals that actually her father cancelled it, because he wanted a new family plan… “Jack” is then taken home by his father who tells him he didn’t play well today. Ellie as Jack stands up to him, asking if he is actually proud of Jack at all, and saying this isn’t how he should be treating his sons, and that boys can cry and in fact they should sometimes. It would seem that Ellie is finally having the conversation she needs to have with her father with Jack’s instead. Jack as Ellie takes a walk with Ellie’s mother and they discuss Ellie’s dad not being at the competition. Jack says that he misses his mother and Ellie’s mother tells “Ellie” she’ll always be there for her.

Feeling better about their lives, Ellie and Jack text each other to meet at the river with only five minutes until noon. Ellie as Jack gets a ride from Porter to make it in time. With one minute to spare, they text to say their lives are much better now and – it works! The two swap back to their normal selves. Ellie tells her mother that she’s going to be alright and that her mum should start doing more things for herself. Jack’s dad then says “Jack” was right with the things he said and that he’s been tough on the boys thinking it would stop them from feeling the pain of losing their mother. He loves his sons so much. They have a group hug.

At school the next day, Ellie and Mackenzie talk about how Mackenzie likes Jack, and Owen is given “permission” by Porter to ask out Ellie, with Ellie and Jack remaining good friends. They introduce their parents to each other, and see that Coach Malloy is awkward in front of women, just like Jack was. Ellie and Jack text about the situation, wondering if they should help them out. They soon realise they’ve texted another wish and quickly delete it, before putting their phones away!

CHARACTERS & CAST

Disney Channel like to have their stars lead Disney Channel movies, something they’ve managed to do for a wide variety of their films, although they do not always do this. The Swap is no exception to this preference, with its two leads coming from Disney series.

Ellie O’Brien is not feeling very confident in her life at the beginning of The Swap. Her father has left her and her mother, though it’s not clear how long ago this was, and she’s starting to lose her best friend, Sassy, to another girl, Aspen, who isn’t even nice. Ellie has been trying to stay close to Sassy but the more she tries, the more Sassy pulls away. Ellie has also been trying to stay close to her father by keeping his old phone, despite the fact Ellie’s dad has clearly moved on and can’t even be bothered to show up to her rhythmic gymnastics competitions. Ellie thinks Jack Malloy’s life must be so much easier, but little does she know, Jack’s life is just as difficult as hers. Eventually, Ellie learns that she can let go of Sassy, with Jack realising Sassy isn’t a good enough friend for Ellie, that she can have other friends, like her friend Mackenzie, and that she still has her mother even if her father didn’t want to stay with them.

Peyton List was cast as Ellie. Some of List’s very early acting roles include being cast as Young Jane in 27 Dresses (2008) and Young Becky in The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (2010). She made her Disney Channel debut as Emma Ross in the Disney Channel series Jessie (2011-15). List reprised this role for the first three seasons of Bunk’d (2015-24). More recently, List was cast as Tory Nichols in Netflix’s Cobra Kai (2018-25) and stars as Maddie in School Spirits (2023-present) for Paramount+.

Jack Malloy is having a difficult time too. His mother has recently died, although again, we don’t actually know how long ago this was, leaving Jack with his older brothers and his father, who is also their hockey coach. Jack has been training for years to get on the varsity team and knows his father will be very disappointed in him if he doesn’t make it. When Porter threatens that chance with the video of them “fighting”, Jack knows he has to get it deleted or his father won’t let him on the team. This is Jack’s primary issue at the start of The Swap, however, when him and Ellie swap bodies, Ellie also helps Jack learn to have a balance in life between hockey and friends, after getting “Jack” to Owen’s game night, as well as standing up to Jack’s dad, telling him to be more supportive.

Jack Malloy was played by Jacob Bertrand, who, at the time of The Swap, was playing the title role in Kirby Buckets (2014-17) on DisneyXD. Like Peyton List, Bertrand was also cast in Netflix’s Cobra Kai (2018-25), in the role of Eli “Hawk” Moskowitz. Bertrand currently voices the role of Bam / Batmobile in the animated series Batwheels (2022-present) for Cartoon Network.

For Jack’s friends, we have Porter, who starts off as a bit of a bully to Jack, picking on Jack because he’s smaller and is big competition for the varsity team, which Porter has been trying to get on for years. Thanks to Ellie being in Jack’s body, she is able to convince him that his strengths lie elsewhere, in science, and takes him to STEM club where Porter learns to let go of hockey. From this point, Porter is grateful to “Jack” and they become friends. Porter was played by James Godfrey, who went on to be cast as Bonzo in the Disney Channel musical franchise ZOMBIES, appearing in the first three movies. Godfrey also voices the character in Zombies: The Re-Animated Series (2024-present).

Owen helps Jack with his hockey training, having lots of tips and tricks for him to ensure he makes varsity, but Owen also believes in a healthy balance, so invites Jack to his game night the night before the varsity try-outs. He almost doesn’t expect to see Jack there, because Jack takes hockey so seriously, but Ellie as Jack made sure Jack’s body showed up. Here, Ellie learnt that Jack takes hockey too seriously and has to learn to have fun with friends sometimes. It’s also at this game night that Ellie learns that both Porter and Owen have a crush on her, since she hears this whilst in Jack’s body, which was clearly quite awkward for her to hear! Owen says he’s going to ask Ellie out at the end of the film but we never get to see what transpired there.

Kolton Steward was cast as Owen. He had previously played Jarvis in the Canadian sitcom Some Assembly Required (2014-16). Steward went on to appear as Zelly in the sort-of-DCOM Sneakerella (2022) and as Tyson in the Disney sequel Disenchanted (2022). Steward voices Rory in the animated Netflix series Unicorn Academy (2023-present).

For Ellie’s “friends”, we have Sassy and Aspen, who are quite mean to Ellie, talking about her behind her back and generally making it seem like Ellie isn’t good enough to hang out with. Sassy was best friends with Ellie, but Aspen seems to have warped Sassy’s mind, by telling her that Aspen is a much better friend, being more mature than Ellie for a start. Sassy stupidly listens to Aspen and drops Ellie, although she does apologise to Ellie for being a jerk to her at the end of the movie. Ellie accepts that they can move on as best friends now though. Ellie becomes closer to her friend Mackenzie, who is a member of STEM club, because of this. Mackenzie is a much kinder person than Sassy.

Sassy was played by Kiana Madeira, who had earlier been cast as Rachel in the Disney Channel-affiliated movie Harriet the Spy: Blog Wars (2010) and as Sierra in the DCOM Bad Hair Day (2015). More recently, Madeira appeared as Nora in the After film series. Aspen was played by Eliana Jones. Around the time of The Swap, Jones appeared in the recurring role of Summer in the live-action/animated series The Stanley Dynamic (2015-17). Jones was later cast as Peyton Westfield in Season 11 of Heartland (2007-present) and as Gwen in Northern Rescue (2019). Mackenzie was played by Devyn Nekoda, going on to be cast as Sami in Disney’s Sneakerella (2022). Outside of Disney, Nekoda was cast as Anika in Scream VI (2023) and as Sage 5 in the sci-fi series Utopia Falls (2020). She also appeared as Riley in Season 1 of Netflix’s Ginny & Georgia (2021-present).

For the adults, we have Coach Malloy, Jack’s strict hockey coach father, who seems to struggle to have a balance between his personal life and his work, making it seem to his sons that they are only worthy if they are good hockey players. It’s clear that Coach Malloy is not coping well with the grief of losing his wife, but instead of talking about it, he’d rather just ignore it and try to block out the pain as much as he can, making sure his sons focus on other pursuits as well. After Ellie as Jack tells Coach Malloy this isn’t the right way to deal with things because he’s hurting his youngest son by doing so, Jack’s father turns things around and tells his sons he does love them and wants to do better by them. Coach Malloy was played by Darrin Rose, who played Bill in the sitcom Mr. D (2012-18).

Summer O’Brien, Ellie’s mother, is quite protective of Ellie, although she is always upbeat and positive, no doubt due to her yoga teacher mindset. Summer wants to do everything for Ellie, like run her bubble baths and take her out on spa days, probably because she has some guilt that Ellie isn’t coping well with her father not living with them anymore. Summer does all this because she cares and loves Ellie so much, but at the end of The Swap, Ellie tells her mother she knows that but that Summer needs to do more for herself now and stop worrying about Ellie so much. Claire Rankin was cast as Summer. Rankin played Miranda in Syfy’s Halcyon (2016), and was recently cast as Mary Critch in the sitcom Son of a Critch (2022-present).

Finally, I just want to mention Coach Carol, the rhythmic gymnastics coach. Coach Carol has an on-going rivalry with the coach of the badminton team, since one of their teams has to be demoted to club status. Coach Carol is a funny side character in The Swap because of this, as the two coaches trade barbs with each other. She may be familiar to Disney Channel fans as she was played by Naomi Snieckus, who was cast as Principal Lee in the first three ZOMBIES films and voices the character in Zombies: The Re-Animated Series (2024-present).

MUSIC

The score for The Swap was composed by Kenneth Burgomaster, who has composed the score for other DCOMs including How to Build a Better Boy (2014) and Frenemies (2012), as well as the Disney Channel series Stuck in the Middle (2016-18) and The Villains of Valley View (2022-23). The rest of the music comes from contemporary artists, with some well-known songs and singers in the mix.

The opening of The Swap begins with scenes of Jack playing ice hockey, and Ellie practising her gymnastics. The song playing here is “Me Too” performed by Meghan Trainor, who shot to fame with her debut single “All About That Bass” back in 2014. “Me Too” was written by Trainor, as well as Jason Derulo, Peter Svensson, Ricky Reed, and Jacob Kasher Hindlin. It is a catchy song, all about confidence, which is strange since neither of the main characters have much confidence in themselves or their abilities at the start of the movie!

A sadder song is played shortly after: “Nowhere Fast”, performed by Polarcode and Lauren Ruth Ward. This piece plays in the scene where Ellie has just heard Sassy and Aspen talking about her in the bathroom, and she heads to the nurse’s office in tears. I quite like this song, despite only hearing it for a few seconds.

Another piece of popular music used in The Swap is Olly Anna’s song “Write My Story”. This song plays as “Ellie” has a makeover, and “Jack” is putting some of his mum’s stuff in his bedroom. Following on from that, the song “Sax”, performed by 2014 X Factor runner-up Fleur East, plays at the party when “Ellie” is dancing with Mackenzie after having been dumped by Sassy. I had heard both of these songs before seeing The Swap.

There are also songs used for some of the sports montages. When Jack as Ellie is at his first rhythmic gymnastics practice, and doing terribly, the song “Body Double” by Roeland Ruijsch is used. It’s another peppy song to feature in the film. Then, as Ellie and Jack compete in each other’s respective sports towards the end of the film, “DJ Blow the Speakers” is heard. This song was performed by Photronique, Ms. Triniti, and JP Castillo.

Sadly, but not uncommon for Disney Channel movies, there are numerous other pieces of music used in The Swap that I have been unable to trace, because neither Google nor Shazam have the answers. If Disney Channel listed every piece of music they used in their movies, I would be able to match them up to the song and the scene, however, I have been unable to do that here, even with audible lyrics, leaving five songs unaccounted for.

These are: the song that is used for when Ellie as Jack has to go for early morning training with Jack’s brothers and father on Saturday morning; the first song heard at Claire’s party when “Ellie” walks in; the sad song playing when Ellie and Jack go home after they argue on the Saturday night; the music playing when Ellie and Jack are training late with Owen to prepare them for their competition and try-outs the next day; and finally, the song playing at the phone store that Jack as Ellie goes to when trying to get the phone contract extended, though this song was not particularly audible anyway.

I also don’t know the End Credits song. Initially, I thought it was “Until the Sun Comes Up”, sung by Drew Seeley, because this is listed online as being part of The Swap’s soundtrack on some websites, but listening to the song, I don’t think it is, so again, I’m not sure what the music is.

PRODUCTION

Production on The Swap began in early 2016, with announcements being made around April of that year that The Swap was set for an autumn premiere date. Peyton List and Jacob Bertrand were announced as the movie’s two leads at this time as well.

2016 was an important time for Disney Channel, as they unveiled plans for the 100^th DCOM Celebration around this time. A marathon where all 100 official Disney Channel Original Movies aired began on 27^th May 2016, with a four-day marathon of 51 DCOMs, followed by the remaining 49, including the premiere of Adventures in Babysitting (2016), the official 100^th DCOM, in June 2016. Adventures in Babysitting was the only other new DCOM release in 2016 other than The Swap[1].

The story of Disney’s The Swap was not actually an original idea, nor was it specifically based on the Freaky Friday novel. The movie was in fact based on the novel The Swap by young adult author Megan Shull. The novel was published in 2014. Apparently, Disney Channel “aged up” the main characters so that they are high schoolers, whereas the novel is set in middle school, with the characters around 12 or 13, I suppose, not closer to 16 like they appear in Disney’s The Swap. This meant there was more opportunities for awkward discussions about puberty that Disney avoided[2]! Shull went on to write the novel Bounce, published in 2016, which was set to be adapted into a movie by Paramount Pictures. The movie adaptation was first announced in Summer 2020 with Nickelodeon star Jojo Siwa cast as the lead. However, by 2022, the movie had apparently been removed from Paramount Pictures’ upcoming film listings[3].

Shari Simpson and Charlie Shahnaian were tasked with adapting Shull’s novel into the Disney Channel movie. Simpson is both a screenwriter, co-writer of the movie Sweet Sweet Summertime (2017), and an author, having written Sam Saves The Night and Sam Lights The Dark, part of the Sleepwakers series of books, published in 2019 and 2020 respectively, as well as being the author of the more recent 2023 Sugar Rush Racers series, based on the Sugar Rush racers in Disney Animation’s Wreck-It Ralph (2012). Charlie Shahnaian later collaborated with Simpson after The Swap, along with Pamela Wallace, to write Color My World with Love (2022), having also co-written The Redemption of Henry Myers (2014) prior to The Swap’s release date.

The Swap was directed by Jay Karas. Karas had previously directed episodes of DisneyXD’s Kirby Buckets (2014-17), which starred Jacob Bertrand, prior to directing The Swap. He went on to direct episodes of comedy series such as the US adaptation of Ghosts (2021-present) and Abbott Elementary (2021-present). Karas also directed the movie Break Point in 2014[4]. The Swap was seemingly a co-production with MarVista Entertainment.

Disney’s The Swap was filmed in Toronto, Ontario, Canada throughout Spring 2016. One specific filming location for The Swap was Erindale Park in Mississauga. I believe the park can be seen in two parts of the movie: the bridge where Ellie and Jack talk on the night of their respective parties, and again near the end of the movie, with the park being the location where Ellie and Jack finally swap back.

Since ice hockey and rhythmic gymnastics are key aspects of Jack and Ellie’s lives, it’s important that Jacob Bertrand and Peyton List looked like natural athletes in The Swap. List had intensive training to learn to do rhythmic gymnastics and found it a fun experience. Bertrand couldn’t even ice skate, let alone play hockey, before the movie, so he was given a two-week crash course in ice skating and then taught how to play hockey, although he did also have a stunt double to help him. Bertrand said that most of the actors who play hockey in The Swap – apart from Darrin Rose who played Coach Malloy – couldn’t actually skate before filming[5].

Another important part of The Swap is the body swap between Jack and Ellie, with List and Bertrand having to learn how to be like the other person for the majority of the film. This required them to do some research on each other, looking at their posture, for example, with List being quite elegant and Bertrand slouchier; their speech, with Bertrand learning that boys speak more staccato than girls; and learning each other’s mannerisms[6].

RECEPTION

Despite The Swap not being remotely scary or even spooky, it premiered on Disney Channel on 7^th October 2016, as part of Disney Channel’s “Monstober” event for the Halloween season. Strange choice. Why didn’t they just wait until after Halloween to release it?

Anyway, The Swap was reportedly viewed by just over 2.5 million viewers on its premiere date, although it was said to have reached 7.2 million total viewers by the time figures from both the premiere and “encores” from its first weekend were combined[7].

In terms of reviews, The Swap was seen to be funny and appealing for a young audience, without being too cheesy. It was also appreciated that the film attempted to tackle deep family issues, like divorce and grief. Peyton List and Jacob Bertrand were praised for their performances as Ellie and Jack – as was James Godfrey as Porter – making the audience genuinely care about their characters. The lack of romantic interest between the two lead characters was a different direction for Disney Channel as well.

On the other hand, some said that The Swap was nowhere near as good as Freaky Friday, specifically the 2003 version, and found it too similar in concept, making it a predictable story. There were further mixed reviews relating to the opposite gender swap and the jokes made about it in the script. Some found these to be very awkward whereas others liked the clear but not too obvious references to consent and the objectification of women.

For me, The Swap was a familiar storyline, granted, but I enjoyed it for that reason, because it was easy to follow and concentrate on as a form of light entertainment. I also thought that the acting in The Swap was above average in terms of Disney Channel Original Movies – not to be mean to other actors who have starred in these sorts of films – and I liked that the movie was quite profound in its messaging.

LEGACY

The story of Freaky Friday has been adapted so many times, with other “body swap” movies such as She’s the Man (2006) and It’s a Boy Girl Thing (2006) following the same type of plot. The 2003 Freaky Friday even got its own sequel, this being Freakier Friday, released in August 2025.

However, The Swap did not ever get a sequel, likely because its viewing figures were simply not high enough. It is worth noting that, although 2.5 million doesn’t sound like a lot – and it probably isn’t – DCOMs had been struggling to match the viewing figures of the 2000s since the mid-2010s, with the Descendants franchise being the only exception.

There was also no sequel novel from author Megan Shull, although a possible storyline could’ve revolved around the potential romance between Ellie’s mum and Jack’s dad, which is mentioned at the end of the movie. This means a sequel movie to The Swap from Disney Channel was made even less likely.

Another reason for there not being a sequel movie could be that Peyton List and Jacob Bertrand both left Disney Channel productions shortly after The Swap, with Bertrand’s DisneyXD series ending in 2017, and List leaving Bunk’d in 2018 to pursue other projects away from the company.

But if you wanted something more to come out of The Swap, you can always watch Cobra Kai which List and Bertrand both feature in.

FINAL THOUGHTS

The DCOMs you watched in childhood tend to be the ones that stick with you the most.

Is it the nostalgia that does that, or is it that DCOMs were genuinely better when you were younger? This is a topic open for debate, with everyone having a different favourite DCOM. I watched the most DCOMs in the 2000s and early 2010s, so generally, my favourite Disney Channel movies come from that era.

However, that doesn’t mean I’m not open to liking more recent ones, and that is exactly why I randomly watched multiple DCOMs over the summer months one year, finding a re-run of The Swap in the process. It was funny, it was sweet, it was moving, and it was led by two talented, likeable Disney actors. The Swap surprised me, and I would count it as one of my favourite DCOMs, despite it not being one from my childhood.

REFERENCES

[1] Credit: Patrick Hipes, ‘Disney Channel Original Movie ‘The Swap’ Set As Network Plans 100-Pic Celebration’, Deadline.com, 20^th April 2016.

[2] Credit: Michelle I. Mason, ‘MMGM: THE SWAP by Megan Shull’, MichelleIMason.com, 6^th February 2017.

[3] Credit: Matt Donnelly, ‘Jojo Siwa Exits Will Smith-Backed YA Movie ‘Bounce’, Paramount Players No Longer Involved’, Variety.com, 6^th April 2022.

[4] Credit: Original Pictures Inc., ‘The Swap’, OriginalPicturesInc.com, date unknown.

[5] Credit: Shine on Media, ‘THE SWAP Interview w/ Jacob Bertrand I Interview’, Shine On Media YouTube Channel, 8^th October 2016.

[6] Credit: Young Hollywood, ‘Peyton List & Jacob Bertrand Switch Places in THE SWAP’, Young Hollywood YouTube Channel, 6^th October 2016.

[7] Credit: Caryn Robbins, ‘Premiere of Disney Channel’s Original Movie THE SWAP is Ratings Hit in Key Youth Demos’, BroadwayWorld.com, 13^th October 2016.

28th Mar 202529th Sep 2025 by The Disney Purist

Bad Hair Day (2015)

BACKGROUND

Not to brag or anything but I’ve never had a bad hair day. That’s not necessarily something I’m proud of because it’s more my hair isn’t capable of doing much at all. It’s just straight, nothing very exciting.

However, having a bad hair day can cause others some real anxiety and panic, especially if you’re a teenager and have to go out or go to school that day. This is the focus of the 2015 Disney Channel Original Movie Bad Hair Day, and, because it’s a DCOM, this girl’s very bad hair day just happens to be on the same day as prom. Oh, say it ain’t so!

But this movie isn’t just about a trip to the hair salon. That would be too simple and much too easy. Bad Hair Day also manages to include a whole other storyline about a jewel thief and a stolen necklace in amongst the usual prom-themed activities.

It’s a pretty random story and not one I was mad about, though many do like Bad Hair Day, this being seen as a return to DCOMs after a few years without many at all. 2013 only had one, Teen Beach Movie, and there were only three new movies in 2014.

Bad Hair Day features well-known names from two different Disney Channel series in the leading roles, a pretty typical move from the company. But instead of this being just a movie for teenage actors, this DCOM is the first to feature an adult lead.

Bad Hair Day would later be overshadowed by none other than Descendants (2015), the first instalment in what would become another smash-hit musical, and later franchise, for Disney Channel. Descendants premiered in October 2015, a few months after Bad Hair Day.

Yet Bad Hair Day remains as a more interesting DCOM, full of action and comedy, not just high school troubles, something that those who watched it in childhood still remember today. That was not me, which is probably why I didn’t like it so much.

PLOT

Bad Hair Day begins with Monica, a teenage girl, looking to get everything organised for her prom. As well as wanting to be prom queen, Monica is also a tech whizz, so she has devised a way of tracking the most likely candidates to be prom queen, and has a blog where she allows people to vote on different aspects of her prom outfit. The dress has been agreed, as have the shoes. Now for the hair. Monica styles her hair in a variety of ways, putting photos online, and waits for the votes to come in. The side ponytail wins, completing her prom look. It’s time for a good night sleep ready for prom day tomorrow.

When Monica wakes up the next morning, to a call from her friend Sierra, she is horrified to find that her hair is an absolute mess, sticking up all over the place, and is so crispy that pieces of it start breaking off! It turns out Monica did not read or follow the instructions on all her hair products carefully so the combination of chemicals has caused this disaster. To make this day even worse, Monica finds that her prom dress has melted after being steamed; her shoes are broken; and she is now no longer on track to become prom queen. A girl called Ashley is in line for the crown. Monica then gets a call from the DMV saying there is no availability for a driving test until April next year. She needs to pass her test soon so Monica pleads for an earlier time. The only time available is 2pm that same day. Monica isn’t happy, but agrees to it.

To get to the DMV for her afternoon test, Monica will have to get a ride there. She calls her boyfriend, Kyle, who claims to be busy today, doing charity work with orphans, but he’ll see her later for prom. Monica then talks to her dad, who is an ER nurse but says he’ll take the day off to help Monica fix her hair and get her driving test done. Monica tells her father not to worry and that she’ll figure something else out. Luckily, one part of Monica’s prom outfit is still ok; a necklace she bought from a pawn shop, something she did not get anyone to vote on. As Monica figures out what to do about her plans for the day, there is a knock at the door. Monica goes to answer it, wondering how her day can get any worse.

At the door is a woman called Liz claiming to be an FBI agent. But Monica is smarter than that; she won’t just let anyone walk into her house. Monica asks to see a warrant. There isn’t one so Monica says the “agent” cannot come into her house. Liz then shows Monica a photo of a necklace, which just so happens to be the one she bought from the pawn shop. Monica lies, claiming to have never seen it before. Liz then says she is actually a private investigator, looking for the necklace on behalf of a client. Monica sees that the woman has a car, which gives her an idea. She allows her to come inside to talk further. As Monica gets dressed, Liz walks around the house, taking in all the details. When Monica returns downstairs, Liz has already deduced lots of information about Monica: like how she lives here with only her father, because her mother left them. She also knows Monica does have the necklace. Monica admits to this, and says she’ll hand the necklace over, only if Liz drives her to all of her appointments today. Liz reluctantly agrees.

In the car, which is full of surveillance equipment, Monica tries to figure out just what Liz actually does, but she gets few answers, only learning that there is a signal jammer in the car, meaning Monica cannot campaign online for prom queen votes, and that Liz has named her car Brando, after Marlon Brando. The two pull up next to a car full of young boys, blasting loud music out of the window. Liz uses a megaphone to tell them to turn the music down, but the boys ignore her – before realising Monica, who goes to school with them, is also in the car. The boys drive off, throwing litter out of the window. Liz chases after them, putting a siren on the roof of the car to get them to pull over. She says she’ll report them if they don’t go back and pick up their trash. Liz and Monica drive away, leaving the boys confused, and Monica embarrassed.

In town, Liz sees Monica acting weird with other students, seeing that Monica is desperate for prom queen votes. She also overhears Monica talking to Sierra about college. It turns out her friends are all going to the same college, but Monica got in to MIT, though she doesn’t know whether she’ll go there because she doesn’t want to be away from her friends and her father. Liz doesn’t understand Monica’s obsession with how she looks to people – but her focus is on the necklace, not Monica’s prom.

At the salon, Monica is a few minutes late and is told her appointment was given to someone else. She is given a beeper by the rude receptionist and told to return when the beeper goes off. Monica and Liz head to the store where she bought her prom dress instead. They discuss the point of super expensive sunglasses before talking to a shop assistant. Monica asks to return her dress; however, it is quite clear Monica has ruined the dress herself, by steaming it, something Liz makes only too clear to the assistant. The assistant refuses to refund Monica. Monica angrily tells Liz to stop interfering. The beeper then goes off for the salon, so the two rush out of the store. Since Liz has been dragged out of the store, she still has those expensive sunglasses on her head. She is about to be taken away by a security guard until Monica says it was just a mistake, not a deliberate action. Liz is given a warning. Liz then tells Monica that she is not an FBI agent or a private investigator – no duh. She is an ex-police officer looking for the necklace because it is actually very valuable. At the same time as all this, a man has been looking all over town for this same necklace, trying the pawn shop and then breaking into Monica’s house to search for it.

Back at the salon, Monica is once again late for the appointment and is turned away. Monica plans to wallow in self-pity in the food court. She gets a call from her father, saying one of his colleagues has dresses she could look at, and that there is a sale going on at a shoe store. Monica isn’t happy with either of those options, and then to top it all off, she sees that she is continuing to lose ground in the prom queen votes to Ashley. But once again, things have to get even worse when Liz points out that Monica’s boyfriend is sat just behind them, flirting with another girl – and that girl happens to be Ashley. Monica confronts him and learns the truth. She retreats to the restroom to talk with Sierra about it. Liz instead wants to really humiliate this kid, as payback for embarrassing Monica. Liz pretends to be mall security, accusing him of behaving lewdly in a public place. She opens up his bag, telling everyone about the embarrassing stuff he has in there, like back hair removal cream, before the real mall security stop her. She is taken to the local police station, with Monica following.

At the station, Monica learns that this was Liz’s police station. Liz’s former police partner, Ed, manages to get the charges dropped but tells Liz the Chief wants to speak with her. After Monica and Liz are allowed to leave, Liz says she was actually fired. It was her job to protect a museum exhibit of a 21-carat diamond necklace worth $7 million, the very same necklace Monica has in her possession. It was stolen by a well-known jewel thief called Pierce. Liz’s work began to suffer as she obsessed over getting the necklace back and arresting Pierce so she was fired. But that didn’t stop Liz working on the case. She discovered that Pierce had mistakenly given the necklace to a random passer-by instead of his buyer. The necklace was traced from place to place before making its way to the pawn shop and then to Monica, where Liz tracked it down. Monica then tells Liz that she tries so hard to be perfect all the time because she believes she was a disappointment to her mother and that must be why she left her and her father….

But there’s no time for more heart-to-hearts, because Monica is about to be late to her driver’s test, which she’ll have to take in Liz’s car, much to Liz’s dismay. The test soon takes a disastrous turn as Liz finds that Pierce is following them. She uses the nitro boost that she’s had fitted on her car, still with Monica in the driving seat and the examiner next to her, to get away from Pierce. They eventually get away, but Monica has failed her test. The car is also impounded. Monica is furious with Liz for ruining her day and walks away.

Shortly after the two separate, Monica gets a call from Pierce, who sends a photo to prove he has abducted her father. Pierce orders her to come to an abandoned warehouse with the necklace or something bad will happen to him. Monica jumps in a taxi and picks up Liz for help, who is struggling to order her own cab, not having a smart phone because she “doesn’t trust them”. First things first, they’ll need to get Liz’s car back because the necklace is in Monica’s bag which she left in there.

At the lot, Monica and Liz are simply told to fill out forms and wait their turn, but there’s no time for that. Monica wants to hack into their IT system, but she can’t get to a computer without the man on the desk seeing. Liz says she’ll distract him, by attempting to flirt. Despite Liz’s flirting being awful, the man responds to it, giving Monica enough time to guess his password – the name of his dog, which is proudly displayed in a photo on the wall – and hack into the system to get the car immediately released. The man apologises for the delay and asks Liz to give him a call sometime. Yeah, I’m sure that’s top of her list…

Back in the car, Monica sees that the necklace is not where she left it – and that is because she has mixed up her make-up box with Sierra’s when they were still in town. She locates Sierra to the park, using a locator app, but the park is huge. Liz and Monica rent a bicycle to find her. Monica then runs into her ex-boyfriend, Kyle, who asks to still be her date for prom, seemingly not having a nice time with Ashley, who is right next to him, having their prom photos taken! Monica refuses and Liz manages to intimidate Ashley and Kyle so much that they stumble backwards into the pond. Monica rushes over to Sierra to swap make-up boxes back. Great, she has the necklace. They go to the warehouse to meet Pierce.

Here, Monica learns that the Chief is actually Liz’s mother, giving her additional pressure with her job. She tells Monica that it is always better to be yourself than to be perfect, and that those who are worth being around are the ones who are always there. The two enter the warehouse and come face-to-face with Pierce. Liz tells Monica to hand over the necklace, with Pierce saying once he is safely away, he’ll let Monica know the location of her father. Except Monica already knows where her father is, thanks to locator apps. She walks up to a store room and frees him. Pierce is about to make a quick exit when Monica tells him that this time, Liz called for back-up so there’s no way he can escape now. Pierce tries to escape through the roof but Liz uses a taser on him. Liz exits the warehouse with an apprehended Pierce and the necklace. The Chief returns her badge to her, saying she can have her job back. Monica then has a conversation with her father, who tells her she should go to MIT if that’s what she wants to do; he’ll be fine while she’s away.

To top off this bad-day-turned-good, Monica realises that she doesn’t even care about her hair or about prom anymore, ignoring the latest beeper from the hair salon. Liz tells her that she should go to prom and she can even help with the dress. Liz takes Monica to the evidence room at the station, telling her to take her pick. Liz even allows Monica to wear the necklace – providing she has a police escort. Really, Liz just wants to go to prom too! The two get all dressed up and go to prom, with Liz having cut Monica’s hair to fix the bad hair situation. At prom, Monica discovers she was voted prom queen, after Ashley and Kyle’s secret affair came to light. In her speech, Monica talks about her day with Liz and how she’s learnt to be herself. She also announces to her class that she’ll be going to MIT. As music starts up, Liz tries her bad flirting skills on her ex-police partner Ed, who doesn’t seem to mind, and they all dance at prom together.

CHARACTERS & CAST

Monica Reeves is the teen lead of Bad Hair Day. Although she starts the day obsessed with prom and her appearance, she soon realises that the reason she is desperate to please people is because her mother left her and her father. She just wants to be perfect all the time to avoid disappointing anyone. After meeting Liz, she learns that being perfect is exhausting and that it’s much better to just be yourself and do what makes you happy, not anyone else. Instead of Monica being the typical ditzy prom queen that might’ve been normal in earlier teen movies, Monica is incredibly intelligent as well, especially when it comes to technology, with her place at MIT evidence of that. It’s good to see a teen lead in a DCOM being not just pretty and friendly, but also smart and driven.

Laura Marano was cast in the role of Monica. At the time of Bad Hair Day, Marano was already a leading figure on Disney Channel, having played the part of Ally in Austin & Ally (2011-16) since 2011. I never actually watched Austin & Ally but I know it was a popular series; it was the number one series for tweens in 2013 and 2014[1]. Since Marano’s departure from Disney, she has been frequently seen in Netflix productions, such as The Perfect Date (2019), playing Celia, opposite Noah Centineo; The Royal Treatment (2022), as Izzy; and as Cami in the “choose your own adventure” film Choose Love (2023).

Instead of being a teenager, the other half of this DCOM duo is Liz Morgan, an adult former police officer, trying to make things right again after she failed in a key security role. Liz tries to use her surveillance and interrogation skills on Monica to make it an easy task to simply get the diamond necklace back, but Monica isn’t having any of it. She wants to make the day work to her advantage as well, so she uses Liz to give her a ride to all her prom-related appointments. Liz only wants to do this as a means to an end, but eventually, her and Monica start to bond during their strange day together. Liz becomes a sort of maternal figure to Monica, telling her to not worry about what other people think too much.

Liz was played by Leigh-Allyn Baker, known on the channel at the time for playing Amy Duncan in the series Good Luck Charlie (2010-14) and its DCOM Good Luck Charlie, It’s Christmas! (2011). Prior to her Disney Channel roles, Baker appeared in the recurring roles of Hannah Webster in Charmed (1998-2006) and Ellen in Will & Grace (1998-2020). Baker later voiced characters in Disney animated series like The 7D (2014-16) and Mickey Mouse Mixed-Up Adventures (2017-21). Baker was also an executive producer on this film.

Then there is the jewel thief, Pierce, who apparently, as this is a villainous role, had to adopt a British accent and walk around in a suit like he was an evil James Bond… It was a strange choice for the character; I don’t know why any of that was necessary. Although Pierce seems to be skilled at the whole Mission Impossible thing, of using harnesses and wires to get in and out of buildings, he isn’t so good at the exchanging of his stolen goods as he mistakenly gives a $7 million necklace to a random person. This sets Pierce on the same task as Liz: to track this necklace down. Pierce is even so “bad”, he breaks into a teenage girl’s house, chases her during her driving test, and ties up her father in a store room just to get it back! In another circumstance, like a real thriller or action film, Pierce might have been a scary guy, but for Disney, it just felt odd.

Christian Campbell was cast as Pierce. Also in 2015, Campbell appeared in the recurring role of Richard Brune in Season 2 of True Detective (2014-present). He also appeared as Greg Ivey in the HBO series Big Love (2006-11) prior to his casting in Bad Hair Day. On stage, Campbell starred as Jon in the 2003 US Tour and 2005 London production of the musical tick, tick…BOOM! and workshopped the part of J.D. during the development of Heathers: The Musical in the late 2000s.

Apart from these three characters, which most of the movie revolves around, there are some supporting characters, like Monica’s kind and caring father. He works as an ER nurse, clearly working long hours, but it is clear his daughter is his priority, especially now that it is just the two of them. Monica’s dad strangely enough doesn’t even seem too concerned about what his daughter has got herself mixed up in on her prom day, only caring that she is happy and that she makes a decision about college, making sure she chooses MIT, because it’s a great opportunity for her. Monica’s father was played by Alain Goulem who appeared in Canadian series such as 18 to Life (2010-11) and The Tournament (2005-06). Goulem has also voiced the character of Willis Huntley for the Far Cry game series.

In the police department, we have Liz’s colleagues, who she hasn’t been speaking to much since her departure from the force, obviously. Ed is Liz’s former police partner, who she has a jokey/flirty relationship, which makes it only too obvious to Monica the first time she sees them together that the two like each other. Ed and Liz seemingly get together at the very end of the movie. Ed was played by Christian Paul. Paul was the narrator for the true crime series Broken Trust (2018) and voiced some characters in the Assassin’s Creed game series. There is also Liz’s mother and police chief, Chief Morgan, who seems quite harsh on Liz initially, however, when Liz apprehends Pierce at last, the Chief is proud of her and returns her badge. Susan Almgren played Chief Morgan. Almgren was cast as Dr. Karen Cabot in the 1990s Canadian series Lassie (1997-99). More recently, Almgren made appearances in the movies Moonfall (2022) and Best Sellers (2021).

Finally, we have Monica’s friends and classmates, who we don’t get to see too much of. Sierra is Monica’s best friend, who is around to deal with the fall out from her hair and her boyfriend’s cheating, but she doesn’t spend much time with Monica during the events of the film. Sierra was played by Kiana Madeira, who previously was cast as Rachel in the Disney Channel-affiliated movie Harriet the Spy: Blog Wars (2010) and as Sassy in the DCOM The Swap (2016). More recently, Madeira appeared as Nora in the After film series.

Kyle is Monica’s lying boyfriend, who pretended to be doing charity work when he was actually spending the day with mean girl Ashley. Later in the day, Kyle wishes he hadn’t been caught out because Ashley is too full-on for him, but Monica does the right thing and refuses to go back to him. Kyle was played by Jake Manley. Manley went on to be cast in movies like Infamous (2020), alongside former Disney star Bella Thorne, playing Dean, and as York in the Netflix movie Holidate (2022). He also appeared in the recurring role of Brad in the spin-off series Heroes Reborn (2015-16). Ashley was played by Zoé De Grand Maison, who went on to appear as Evelyn in Riverdale (2017-23).

PRODUCTION

Bad Hair Day began development in the usual way. The story was pitched to Disney and they decided to go ahead with the project. Leigh-Allyn Baker acted as an executive producer for Bad Hair Day so she was able to see the full creative process.

Initially, the reason that Bad Hair Day was so interesting to her specifically was because it featured an adult lead, something that DCOMs had never really done before. Sure, there are roles in those movies to be parents or bad guys, but they are not normally leading roles. Those roles would always go to a teen star, usually from the channel.

In the case of Bad Hair Day, the original story reportedly was meant to star a male adult lead, however, it was eventually decided to make the character female[2]. I feel like this was a good choice, as it meant that the comedic back-and-forth between the female adult and teen characters was more natural, and it allowed them to have deeper chats like a mother and daughter would. It’s also good that they chose to have the female adult character be a police officer, as it is still more normal to see male actors playing police officers on screen. Bad Hair Day ended up as more of a buddy action-comedy than a typical Disney teen comedy-drama, although some aspects of teen life were still included.

Bad Hair Day was filmed in Montréal, Quebec around July and August 2014. The movie was directed by Canadian director Érik Canuel, who also directed the 2011 movie Barrymore, which starred Christopher Plummer. The story was written by Matt Eddy, Billy Eddy, Eric M. Gardner, and Steven H. Wilson. Matt and Billy Eddy have both co-written the teleplays for other DCOMs, including Zapped (2014), 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).

In behind-the-scenes footage, Marano displayed her “bad hair” wig that she has to wear for the majority of the film. The wig was all tangled and even had pipe cleaners inside of it to make it a real mess. The technology within Liz’s car, Brando, included all real technology, like the video surveillance and 16-channel radio[3]. Laura Marano was very excited to be in her first DCOM, saying that the shoots were long and crazy, but fun. Marano and Baker enjoyed working together as well[4].

MUSIC

Bad Hair Day features quite a lot of pop music, although during the main portion of the story, this is limited to background music in shops and in cars, with the opening sequence and ending scenes having the most recognisable songs.

The song used for the opening sequence of Bad Hair Day is “Rooftop”, performed by Skylar Stecker, or Skylar Simone as she is also known professionally. Skylar also appeared in a couple of episodes of Austin & Ally (2011-16) around this time. This song is from her debut album This Is Me, released in 2015. In this first scene, we see Monica’s room and her chosen prom outfit, before she moves on to what prom hairstyle she should have, using an online vote to decide. It’s a pretty good pop song, matching Monica’s happy, carefree mood.

The next piece of music used is the one playing in Monica’s classmates’ car when they pull up beside her and Liz. Liz proceeds to harass them about their loud music and littering with a megaphone. I believe the song that was used in a “sneak peek” of the movie, using this same clip, was “Nuthin’” by rapper Lecrae, which featured on Lecrae’s seventh album Anomaly, released in 2014[5]. However, it would appear that at some point during post-production, this song was switched out for another rap song. I couldn’t find this song though.

There actually isn’t another obvious “song break” until after Pierce has been arrested. This next song is “Colorful World” performed by Shayna Rose, which can be heard briefly as Liz and Monica go “dress shopping” in the police station’s evidence room, and then again as Monica gets to prom with her police escort. I actually really liked this song when I found it again after watching the film. It’s another upbeat, pop song. Shayna Rose is both a singer and an actress, having appeared as Stephanie Johnson in the soap opera Days of Our Lives (1965-present) in 2006 and 2007, and as Marina the drummer in Seasons 1 and 2 of the Nickelodeon series The Fresh Beat Band (2009-13).

As the final scene of Bad Hair Day takes place at Monica’s school prom, there has to be more dance music. The first of these songs is “All Over the World” by the Swedish pop band the Fooo Conspiracy, as they were known at the time, but they have since changed their band name to FO&O. This song is played during the final scene in the movie where everyone, including Liz and Ed, dance with Monica and her school friends. This scene then moves straight into the End Credits where the song playing is actually performed by Laura Marano, the star of the movie in a typical Disney move. This song is “For the Ride”, written by Dan Book, Shelly Peiken, and Laura Marano. This is the only credited song.

The composer for Bad Hair Day was Michel Corriveau, who had worked with the director of Bad Hair Day, Érik Canuel, on Canuel’s other movies, like Barrymore (2011) and Bon Cop, Bad Cop (2006). Corriveau also won Gémeaux Awards for his music in the French-Canadian series Les Pays d’en Haut (2016-21), also known as True North.

RECEPTION

Bad Hair Day premiered on Disney Channel on 13^th February 2015. It was also made available a whole week early on the WATCH Disney Channel app on 6^th February.

From only the app views, Bad Hair Day amassed 435,000 viewers. On its Disney Channel premiere, it averaged around 4 million viewers[6]. This was slightly below average for what you might expect from a new DCOM premiere, and it would easily be beaten later in the year when other DCOMs were released. Teen Beach 2 (2015) was released in June that year, reaching around 5.8 million viewers, and then in October 2015, Descendants reached an even bigger audience, of 6.6 million.

Outside of viewing figures, Bad Hair Day surprisingly had fairly positive reviews for the most part. Many felt that Laura Marano and Leigh-Allyn Baker were cast well and that they had good chemistry, bouncing off each other well. Others also felt Monica was a good role model for tweens of the day. It was a fun, entertaining action-comedy film that Disney Channel weren’t always making.

On the negative side, some felt the characters were annoying and that the story was boring. I did agree with this in part. I didn’t particularly like either Liz or Monica. They were slightly better towards the end as they started to get along and I felt sorry for Monica not having her mother around, but I never really warmed to them. I also felt the story was boring, at least in places. The initial premise of Monica needing to run errands was quite boring and not all that funny. The whole diamond heist plot was slightly more interesting but I didn’t feel like it mixed well with the overall prom plot of the film. Some viewers were harsher in their reviews than I was. They felt the whole concept of someone pawning a multi-million-dollar necklace was implausible and that any pawn shop owner would know if they’d been given something valuable. Some felt the ending was bad too, though I’m not sure why as it was not mentioned specifically. The movie had to end with the prom scene and it did, so I don’t know what more needed to be done. There were comments about the particularly bad hair cut that Monica was given at the end though. It didn’t suit her but I wasn’t going to mention it!

LEGACY

Bad Hair Day was one of four DCOMs released in 2015 and it was not the biggest in terms of popularity or viewership, which means it did not get a sequel. Not that I know where they could go with Bad Hair Day, apart from have Liz and Monica solve more crimes together, but Monica is meant to be heading off to MIT so I doubt she would’ve had time for that! Musical DCOMs are much more likely to get sequels, and that was the fate of Descendants (2015).

Laura Marano wanted to be involved in another DCOM after Bad Hair Day, but after one more series of Austin & Ally, and a couple of guest star roles on other Disney Channel series, Marano moved away from the channel and did not star in a further DCOM. Leigh-Allyn Baker also did not return to film another DCOM, however, she did voice characters animated Disney series after Bad Hair Day was released.

Bad Hair Day did recently celebrate its 10^th anniversary, something that Disney Channel’s official social media accounts referenced, allowing those who watched it when they were younger to revel in the nostalgia.

Although Disney Channel’s Bad Hair Day didn’t span much of a legacy, bad hair days will continue to be a thing as long as people have hair, and there are many sites, and no doubt many TikTok videos – though I wouldn’t know, I’m not on TikTok – that tell the public how to fix their own bad hair days! Bad hair days were also featured in other Disney Channel series, including the Season 2 episode of Recess (1997-2001) where Mikey gets gum in his hair and Vinny cuts most of it off, creating a new playground trend, or the Bizaardvark (2016-19) song “Bad Hair Day”. I’d probably advise you turn to social media in this case for once; all TV seems to tell you is that you have to cut most of your hair off…

FINAL THOUGHTS

So, what did I take away from watching Bad Hair Day? Well, I learnt that some people take prom incredibly seriously, and that jewel thieves really ought to be more careful when exchanging stolen goods. Rookie error.

The message that came out of Bad Hair Day, about being yourself and not trying to be perfect all the time, is a great one, and something that children and tweens probably responded well to. DCOMs always like to teach kids some sort of lesson.

For me, though, I was not the target audience for Bad Hair Day so I didn’t take much from the movie. I didn’t like it at all, because the comedy and prom aspects of the story were completely at odds with the whole diamond theft. It was strange, and to be honest, having the adult lead actually made me less interested in the film, not more, despite Liz being closer in age to me than Monica. I didn’t like Liz’s character particularly and I was never close to being prom queen – not that we really have that in the UK – so I couldn’t relate much to Monica either. Bad Hair Day just wasn’t for me.

But I know that many people found Bad Hair Day to be better than the average DCOM and liked the different take on the usual plot of a Disney Channel movie. If you need a family-friendly action-comedy movie, this is probably one for you.

REFERENCES

[1] Credit: Variety, ‘‘Bad Hair Day’: Laura Marano, Leigh-Allyn Baker to Star in Disney Channel Original Movie’, Variety.com, 8^th July 2014.

[2] Credit: Ruth V, ‘An interview with Leigh-Allyn Baker from Disney Channel’s Bad Hair Day’, VivaVeltoro.com, 11^th February 2015.

[3] Credit: Disney, ‘Behind the Scenes Bad Hair Day 1 and 2’, Disney411Vids YouTube Channel, 11^th January 2015.

[4] Credit: Elizabeth Wagmeister, ‘Laura Marano & Leigh-Allyn Baker Preview Disney Movie ‘Bad Hair Day (Exclusive Clip)’, Variety.com, 2^nd February 2015.

[5] Credit: David Daniels, ‘Video: Lecrae’s ‘Nuthin’ to be featured in Disney movie ‘Bad Hair Day’’, Rapzilla.com, 29^th January 2015.

[6] Credit: Rick Kissell and Variety, ‘Disney Channel’s ‘Bad Hair Day’ Has Good Ratings Night’, Yahoo.com, 18^th February 2015.

14th Mar 20256th Feb 2026 by The Disney Purist

The Suite Life Movie (2011)

BACKGROUND

Surprisingly, in 2011, Disney Channel aired three Disney Channel Original Movies all based on Disney Channel television series.

This isn’t anything new for Disney Channel as they’ve made DCOMs based on their series since the 2000s, with The Even Stevens Movie (2003) being one of the first, and Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie (2009) being the most recent one before 2011.

Disney Channel’s first DCOM of 2011 was The Suite Life Movie, in a year that saw six other brand new DCOMs being released on the channel, including the High School Musical spin-off Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure; Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Across the 2nd Dimension; and Good Luck Charlie, It’s Christmas!

The Suite Life franchise was a popular and successful commodity for Disney Channel, having first premiered as The Suite Life of Zack & Cody in 2005. The never-ending, always extreme, antics of two twin boys running around a posh hotel, where they lived thanks to the fact their mother happened to be the hotel’s singer, kept viewers interested, to the point that Zack and Cody earned themselves a spin-off series, The Suite Life on Deck, which premiered in 2008, pretty much straight after the original show ended. This time, their craziness was moved to a cruise ship where the twins would be attending “school at sea”.

I really liked The Suite Life of Zack & Cody when it first came to Disney Channel. It was not my absolute favourite series but I think I watched every episode of the original show. It was always on and the mid-2000s was prime Disney Channel viewing time for me. However, when The Suite Life on Deck came about, I just didn’t like it. Maybe it was the fact all the original characters weren’t there, or because I’m not a fan of cruise ships. Something just wasn’t right, so I only watched a few episodes of that series, normally if I was bored and there was nothing else on. I can’t remember much of it at all.

Because of this lack of interest in The Suite Life on Deck, plus by 2011, I was starting to move away from Disney Channel as my favourite series ended and stars departed, I never even knew The Suite Life Movie existed. After watching it for the first time this week, I am pleased to say… I didn’t miss out on anything.

The whole premise of The Suite Life Movie is just odd, with a science-fiction theme and a weird evil scientist plot that the twins get mixed up in. I did not enjoy watching it and its only redeeming factors were: 1) Mr. Moseby was still there, even if only for a few scenes but on top form as usual; 2) the fact one of the actors had been in Sabrina the Teenage Witch; and 3) it was less than 90 minutes long.

PLOT

The Suite Life Movie opens on board the SS Tipton, where Zack and Cody have been living and going to school for the past couple of years. Cody is busy preparing a special dinner for his girlfriend Bailey on one of the cruise ship’s decks. He clearly has something important to say to her, because he has written her a letter.

But as usual, Cody’s twin brother Zack shows up, with their friend, Woody, to mess with Cody’s plan. It turns out Cody needs to tell Bailey that he’s going to be doing an internship at a biology centre over spring break, something he hopes will lead to a scholarship to Yale University. Zack says he’ll break the news to Bailey in exchange for Cody giving him the car that Cody was given by their parents for college. Cody refuses and the two fight over the letter for Bailey. It is dropped, seemingly into the ocean. Unbeknownst to the boys though, the letter is caught by the wind and lands underneath a chair on deck.

That evening, Cody waits for the right time to tell Bailey about his internship, however, she continues to talk about all the plans and places they’ll go together over spring break, this being their last spring break before college. Just as Cody finds a moment to tell Bailey, Zack shows up, dangling alongside them in a life ring. Zack then proceeds to bluntly tell Bailey that Cody won’t be around for spring break because of his internship. Bailey is furious with Cody for ditching her wonderful spring break plans for work. She storms off before Cody can explain that he has to do this to get into Yale.

The next day, Mr. Moseby takes Cody to the Biology Reserve so he can begin his internship and meet his supervisor. However, Zack also tags along, as does London Tipton, the ditzy hotel heiress whose father owns the cruise ship. London mostly just wants to look at the dolphins, which she believes are fish, not mammals, because “they don’t have any humps”. This is a recurring joke throughout the movie… The important thing to notice here is that London eats some of the food meant for the dolphins and freaks out, leaving the area.

Moseby, Cody, and Zack go inside the centre where they meet Dr. Donald Spaulding. Dr. Spaulding shows them to his lab where he talks to Cody. He says that he was very impressed with Cody’s essay on twins, saying he has a twin brother too. Dr. Spaulding then tells Cody about his current research. Spaulding believes that, using a rare fruit, telepathy will be possible between dolphins and humans, something that Cody finds fascinating. Mr. Moseby realises that Zack is missing and goes to look for him. It turns out Zack has followed a pretty lab technician, Nellie, through an unauthorised area, where he proceeds to tell her that he is incredibly smart and can mostly definitely pilot that submersible nearby. Zack gets inside the submersible and descends into the dolphin tank.

Since Cody and Dr. Spaulding are looking right into that tank from the lab, they soon spot Zack messing about in there, but instead of waiting for security or one of the scientists to get Zack out of the submersible, Cody decides to get into the other submersible and follow him through the tank, shouting at him for ruining his first day on the internship. The two fight in their boats as Cody tries to get Zack to return to the surface but in doing so, one of their boats breaks the glass of the seawall. Both eject from the boats before they are sucked out into the ocean. Needless to say, this incident causes Cody to be fired from his internship. It also looks like this wasn’t an accident; a janitor and Nellie seem to have planned this…

Back on the cruise ship, Cody wallows in self-pity, since he’s lost his internship and Bailey still won’t talk to him. Luckily, Zack brings Dr. Spaulding to him, who tells Cody that he won’t be working for him anymore but that Dr. Olsen would love to have Cody’s assistance on a new project, something called the Gemini Project, which is all about twins. But that does mean that both Zack and Cody will have to attend. They both agree to go.

The twins later arrive at the Gemini Project, a facility located by a lake, where an old sawmill sits abandoned opposite. The facility is full of twins wandering about the area, looking happy. Zack and Cody are met by Dr. Olsen who takes them to his basement lab. Here, he tells them that he plans to use the same rare fruit that Dr. Spaulding is using on his dolphin research on twins instead, believing that it can grow empathy within humans, meaning that there will be less conflict in the world. They are then shown the Mind Transference Facilitator, which is where Zack and Cody will have their first tests. Zack is strapped to the machine and told to look at the screen. Different names of colours come up on the screen, but the words may be in a different colour. Zack must correctly identify the word, not the colour of it – we all know this game, right? Zack, not being as smart as Cody, plus the fact Cody keeps giving him an electric shock every time he gets the answer wrong, fails this test, and the two fight, proving that Dr. Olsen has two perfect research subjects.

Meanwhile, Bailey is walking around the city with London and Woody, debating how she should deal with the “Cody situation”. Should she call him? Should she ignore his calls? In the end, Cody stops calling her – because his phone was taken from him at the Gemini Project because radiation affects the delicate machinery – so Bailey deletes his number. London is also exhibiting some strange behaviour, seemingly being able to hear what different marine creatures are “saying”. She talks to a dolphin about her outfit, and then hears the escape plan of a crate of crabs in the market, for example. Weird.

Back at the Gemini Project, Zack and Cody eat lunch with some other twins on the project, including Nellie, that “assistant” from Dr. Spaulding’s lab, and her twin sister Kellie. The girls explain how all twins must get along and be nice and kind to each other because that’s just the way it should be, which is completely at odds with Zack and Cody’s dynamic, where they fight about everything and anything! At lunch, they are fed this rare fruit for the first time and then led out to take part in some sports tasks. This involves a high ropes course, complete with nets, bridges, and zip wires. Cody is already nervous since he isn’t the most athletic of people, but the two soon notice that all the twins are moving perfectly in sync. That’s not exactly the case for Zack and Cody, although they do soon notice that each of them is feeling the same physical pain that the other is feeling, a sign that the fruit is working on them. Dr. Olsen gets them to do the colour-word test again and sure enough, when Zack is shocked, Cody feels it too. Dr. Olsen is delighted with their progress.

Zack starts to think this place is too weird and wants to leave. Cody gets angry at him for ruining things for him yet again. Zack then talks to Nellie who convinces Zack to stay, saying that “The Merge” will fix everything. Zack doesn’t know what that means but agrees to stay at the Gemini Project anyway. Just as Cody is about to be removed from the project by Dr. Olsen, as one twin is no use to him, Zack returns and the two are moved onto Stage 2. They are given the fruit to eat again and soon start to experience the other one’s feelings. This leads to a heart-to-heart between the boys as they learn something new about each other, like how Cody feels like Zack has messed up his chances of going to Yale, and how Zack wants Cody’s car so he can go and find himself whilst everyone else is at college. But then, they overhear Dr. Olsen talking about “The Merge” and how they must enact it soon, even though it will mean that Cody “loses his brain”. Cody and Zack are horrified by this, with Zack wanting to leave, but Cody wanting to save all the other twins.

The two sneak into Dr. Olsen’s lab where they manage to access his computer. On it, they discover the full programme of the Gemini Project. Stage 1 involves matching physical sensations; Stage 2 is about emotional feelings; and Stage 3 is The Merge, which sees the twins literally merge to become one person. The twins then discover a Stage 4, which will allow the merged twins to be controlled. Dr. Olsen discovers Zack and Cody in his lab and know his grand scheme has been uncovered. But he also sees that, because Zack continued to eat the fruit, the two have begun a “half-merge”, where Zack finishes Cody’s sentences and the two have a level of telepathy between them. Dr. Olsen unveils a beacon which begins to control the other twins and he orders them to capture Zack and Cody. Zack and Cody try everything to get away from them, even going on a zip wire across the lake to the abandoned sawmill, but they are chased every step of the way. Just when they think they’ve gotten away, by jumping into the lake, they find themselves surrounded….

Back on the cruise ship, Mr. Moseby has discovered Cody’s letter to Bailey on deck and gives it to her. Bailey reads it and learns that Cody’s internship was important to him because it would give him the chance to go to Yale. He was torn between getting into the “school of his dreams” and spending time with the “girl of his dreams”. Bailey is touched by this and realises she’s been selfish about spring break – uh, no duh. Bailey has to fix things with Cody. However, when Bailey, London, and Woody speak to Dr. Spaulding, he says that Cody was fired from the project and banned from the site. He hasn’t seen them since. London then speaks to a dolphin who says to her that the twins are about fifty miles from here. Dr. Spaulding thinks the boys are in trouble. Bailey calls Mr. Moseby to tell him Zack and Cody are in danger, and the group set off to the Gemini Project site.

When they arrive, they find they are too late. Zack and Cody are strapped to a machine with a forcefield protecting them from outside interference. Dr. Spaulding confronts Dr. Olsen, who is revealed to be Dr. Spaulding’s twin, Ronald – gasp! He’s been wearing a mask this whole time! And he was the one to invite the boys to the Gemini Project, not Dr. Donald Spaulding! Ronald had been spying on the boys as he knew they were vital to his research. Ronald then turns on the machine and The Merge begins. The twins’ souls are released; however, the souls fight each other. Bailey realises this is causing The Merge to fail so encourages them to fight more. This fighting creates a power surge and when Cody taunts Zack about their parents’ car, Zack’s reaction causes the machine to explode. The Gemini Project is over once and for all, freeing the other twins from Ronald’s control. Cody then has an idea to stop Ronald from restarting the project. He hands both Donald and Ronald some of the fruit. After eating it, they both begin to realise how the other has felt their whole life and discover that they were both jealous of each other. But there’s no time for reconciliation because Moseby is here with the police who promptly arrest Ronald / Dr. Olsen. Zack and Cody realise that they actually make a great team – if they work together.

Back on the ship, Bailey and Cody are back together and have had a great spring break. It’s also revealed that Cody did give Zack the car to use, however, as he parks it in the shipping area as he returns to the ship, the car is crushed by a huge crate. Zack looks round in horror to see that the car he so desperately wanted is destroyed. London is happy though; that crate is full of her summer clothes!

CHARACTERS & CAST

Cody Martin has always been the studious, responsible twin, and that is still the case in The Suite Life Movie. Cody is making decisions about college, his dream college being Yale. Cody believes that doing the internship at Dr. Spaulding’s lab will help him get a scholarship to go there, but that doesn’t work out. When Cody gets another opportunity to complete an internship, this time with Dr. Olsen, he is eager to get going, wanting to be part of a major scientific breakthrough, and since he is a twin and not a dolphin, he’ll actually be an integral part of the research there. Cody is completely dedicated to the Gemini Project, but when it is revealed that this project is a ruse for an evil scheme, instead of just leaving, he wants to help save the other twins. To do that, he needs that twin brother who he doesn’t see eye-to-eye with, but who has always been beside him, to help.

Cody Martin was played by Cole Sprouse throughout The Suite Life franchise. Alongside his twin brother, the two both played Julian McGrath in the Adam Sandler movie Big Daddy (1999). During their time on Disney Channel, the two also appeared in the movie A Modern Twain Story: The Prince and the Pauper (2007) where Cole played Eddie Tudor. Since the end of The Suite Life, Cole Sprouse was part of the cast of Riverdale (2017-23), where he played Forsythe “Jughead” Jones III throughout the show’s run, and starred as Walt in the HBO Max movie Moonshot (2022) alongside Lana Condor.

Zack Martin is the chaotic, disorganised twin, usually the one who is the cause of all the problems that the twins get themselves in. Zack isn’t looking at going to college, so he is still feeling quite carefree about life, not stressing himself about internships and good grades. However, we do learn that Zack is feeling quite uncertain about his future, not knowing what he wants to do, or who he wants to be. Even at the Gemini Project, Zack is more bothered about girls than scientific research, soon wanting to quit but he knows he can’t because if he does leave, then he has ruined two internships for Cody in just a few days! When things go wrong for them at the facility, Zack and Cody end up working together to stop Dr. Olsen’s evil plan, finding that they can be a good team, despite their different personalities.

Zack Martin was played by Dylan Sprouse throughout The Suite Life franchise. Alongside his twin brother, Cole, Dylan played the part of Tom Canty in A Modern Twain Story: The Prince and the Pauper. Since Disney, Dylan has been cast in movies such as After We Collided (2020), the second instalment in the After film series, where he played Trevor; and Beautiful Disaster (2023), where he was cast as Travis Maddox. He reprised this role in the film’s sequel Beautiful Wedding (2024).

The Gemini Project is run by Dr. Olsen, who is actually Dr. Spaulding’s twin, Ronald. Dr. Olsen covers his identity with a mask through much of the movie, only revealing his true self at the very end. Dr. Olsen initially seems dedicated to his research and he gets on with Cody as they bond over their love of science. Nothing seems to be strange about Dr. Olsen until the boys overhear him talking about wanting to “merge” the twins. Then they know something is up, but nothing could have prepared them for getting mixed up in an evil plan to control the whole world! It turns out Dr. Olsen only wanted to do this because of childhood jealous that he felt towards his brother. Once they work that out, thanks to the weird fruit, Dr. Olsen happily goes off to jail…

Dr. Olsen – perhaps named after two of the most famous twins in the world, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen – was played by Matthew Glave. Glave appeared in the recurring role of Dr. Dale Edson on ER (1994-2009) in its earlier seasons. More recently, Glave portrayed Chuck Yeager in the movie First Man (2018). He was also cast as Coach Tommy Bowden in the Disney+ film Safety (2020) and has appeared as Oscar Hutchinson in the ABC series The Rookie (2018-present).

Dr. Spaulding is a scientist like his brother, and he came up with the initial research of using this rare fruit to create a telepathic connection, except in Dr. Spaulding’s case, he wants to use this to allow dolphins to communicate with humans. Dr. Olsen stole this research to use on twins with seemingly decent results, however, Dr. Spaulding had not reached a breakthrough with his, until London Tipton shows up, being able to speak to dolphins, thanks to that tiny piece of fruit she mistakenly ate! After this revelation from the dolphin of where the twins are, Dr. Spaulding seems to instantly know that his twin is working on some evil scheme and using Zack and Cody to implement it. Dr. Spaulding locates him and manages to briefly reconcile with his estranged brother before he is arrested.

John Ducey was cast as Dr. Donald Spaulding – and Dr. Ronald Spaulding, when Dr. Olsen lifts his mask. Ducey already had some history with Disney Channel prior to The Suite Life Movie as he was cast as Tom Lucas, the father in Jonas (2009-10), which, obviously, starred the Jonas Brothers. For any fans of Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996-2003), you should also recognise Ducey from Season 7 of the programme, as he played Leonard, one of Sabrina’s work colleagues at Scorch magazine. I always loved Leonard; he was my favourite of the characters introduced in that season. Recently, Ducey also wrote and starred in the 2022 festive film I Believe in Santa, playing Tom.

In my opinion, these four characters make up the main plot of The Suite Life Movie, which is a shame, as there are four other characters who were hugely important to The Suite Life on Deck series, but were not used well in the movie.

One of these is London Tipton, the ditzy hotel heiress who came with Zack, Cody, and Mr. Moseby on board the SS Tipton for school. During The Suite Life Movie, London’s main roles are to be a sounding board to Bailey’s complaints about Cody, as well as to be the “missing link” of Dr. Spaulding’s research, showing that this fruit can produce telepathic communication between humans and animals. It’s an important part of the fictional science project, but isn’t particularly useful in the movie, apart from the fact London learns from a dolphin about where Zack and Cody are being held captive. It’s a real pity that London couldn’t have had a better side plot as she was always a brilliant character in the series.

London Tipton was played by Brenda Song, who was no stranger to Disney Channel even before her casting in The Suite Life of Zack & Cody. Song has actually been in five separate Disney Channel Original Movies: The Ultimate Christmas Present (2000) as Samantha; Get a Clue (2002) as Jennifer; Stuck in the Suburbs (2004) as Natasha; Wendy Wu in Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior (2006), and of course, London in The Suite Life Movie. Song managed to break out of Disney with her casting as Christy in The Social Network (2010). In recent years, Song has also been the voice of Princess Akemi in Blue Eye Samurai (2023-present) and was cast as Mary-Anne in The Last Showgirl (2024). In 2025, Song was also cast as Ali Lee in the Netflix series Running Point (2025-present).

Mr. Moseby is another fan-favourite character from the original series. Mr. Moseby was the hotel manager of the Tipton Hotel and is now the manager of the SS Tipton. He also seems to be the guardian of London, and Zack and Cody, whilst onboard the ship, which would explain why he takes Cody to his internship at the research centre. Outside of the chaos that ensues there, we don’t really see Mr. Moseby until the end, when he is relieved to find Zack and Cody safe, having brought the police to the facility to arrest Dr. Olsen.

Phill Lewis was cast as Mr. Moseby. Prior to The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, Lewis appeared as Principal Tweedy in some episodes of Lizzie McGuire (2001-04). Still on the channel, Lewis was cast as Maurice in the DCOM Dadnapped (2009) and directed many episodes of Disney Channel series, including The Suite Life on Deck; Jessie (2011-15); and Bunk’d (2015-24). Lewis has also directed episodes of the revival series of iCarly (2021-23). Lewis appeared as ‘Crazy’ Hooch in the popular medical sitcom Scrubs (2001-10).

Then there is Bailey Pickett, a character introduced in The Suite Life on Deck. Bailey is Cody’s girlfriend, but all we get to see of her in The Suite Life Movie is her moaning about Cody’s disrespect of her spring break plans, and her debates about whether she should or shouldn’t call him or answer his calls. It’s not a particularly good plotline for the character and it mostly just makes her look selfish and childish. When Bailey is given Cody’s original letter by Mr. Moseby, explaining his reasons for taking the internship, she realises she’s made a mistake and has to find him to make it right. It’s a good thing she does really, otherwise who knows whether Zack and Cody would’ve been saved from The Merge…

Bailey Pickett was played by Debby Ryan. Ryan began her Disney Channel career on The Suite Life on Deck, which led to many more roles for her. One of these was a starring role in the sort-of DCOM 16 Wishes (2010), playing Abby Jensen. After The Suite Life on Deck ended, Ryan continued to feature on Disney Channel by starring in the series Jessie (2011-15). During this time, she was also cast in the leading role of Tara Adams in the DCOM Radio Rebel (2012). Outside of Disney, Ryan’s most famous role is perhaps as Patty Bladell in the controversial Netflix series Insatiable (2018-19). More recently, she voiced the character of Krista in the animated series Velma (2023-24), a spin-off of the Scooby-Doo franchise, and is set to appear in the thriller film Famous, which will star Zac Efron.

Finally, we have Woody Fink, a classmate on the SS Tipton and also Cody’s cabinmate, introduced in The Suite Life on Deck. He’s the complete opposite of Cody, being messy and not very studious, so he gets on better with Zack. Woody is part of the gang of friends that feature Zack, Cody, London, and Bailey. Woody doesn’t have much to do in The Suite Life Movie, much like the other characters I mentioned, just standing next to Zack as he reveals Cody’s internship to Bailey and then standing next to Bailey as she complains about Cody, and then going to find Zack and Cody at the Gemini Project.

Woody Fink was played by Matthew Timmons, who stopped acting in 2013, once The Suite Life on Deck had ended and after making a guest appearance on Debby Ryan’s series Jessie. Timmons has since stated that he was typecast into playing “big characters” with “big personalities” because of his weight and that he had difficulties with his mental health at times because of this. Many of the gags that revolved around Woody on the show focused on his weight and physical appearance so I can see how that would affect your mental state, especially at a young age. Timmons has since come to a place where he feels more comfortable in himself and encourages others via his social media accounts[1].

MUSIC

There aren’t many songs in The Suite Life Movie at all, not even as background noise. There are only two recognisable songs, one for the opening sequence and another for the ending.

During the opening sequence, as Cody is preparing his dinner date for him and Bailey where he plans to tell her about his internship, the song “Uptown, Get Around” is played, performed by Stereo Skyline. I actually quite liked this song; it was just an upbeat pop song. Stereo Skyline was an American pop band, formed in 2006, who stopped making music around 2012, coming back in 2019 to release the single “Runaway’s”.

At the end of the movie, as the End Credits roll, the song “Such a Colorful World”, performed by Max & Simon, written by Mark Rosas, Blake Healy, and Kevin Bard, is used. It would appear that Kevin Bard, the lead vocalist of the band Stereo Skyline, co-created the music project Max & Simon. Again, it was an inoffensive, upbeat song that I didn’t mind.

There is another song that is played briefly as Cody and Zack start their time on the high ropes course. This song was not something I was able to find. The lyrics that I could hear were talking about “turning up the music”, which doesn’t narrow it down much when you’re looking for these background songs in movies… It was not credited either.

The score of The Suite Life Movie was composed by John Van Tongeren, who had previously worked on the music for other DCOMs, including Twitches (2005) and Twitches Too (2007); Princess Protection Program (2009); and Den Brother (2010).

PRODUCTION

The Suite Life Movie could never have existed had it not been for two twins terrorising their mother with their antics in a fancy, upmarket hotel.

The first episode of The Suite Life of Zack & Cody aired on Disney Channel on 18^th March 2005. This pilot introduced audiences to Zack and Cody, and their reasons for living in the Tipton Hotel in Boston. This is because their mother, Carey, was the hotel’s lounge singer. We were also introduced to other main characters, like London Tipton, the hotel heiress; Maddie, the hotel’s candy counter girl; Esteban, the hotel bellhop; Arwin, the hotel’s janitor; and of course, Mr. Moseby, the hotel manager.

Season 1 of The Suite Life of Zack & Cody ran from 18^th March 2005 to 27^th January 2006. A second season began almost immediately afterwards, on 3^rd February 2006, running until 2^nd June 2007. The third season of The Suite Life of Zack & Cody was their last, commencing on 23^rd June 2007 and ending on 1^st September 2008.

The Suite Life of Zack & Cody is still remembered today for specific moments from its episodes. Who can forget that episode from Season 3, “Lip Synchin’ in the Rain”, which saw Disney Channel mess with their own canon, by having Maddie, played by Ashley Tisdale, not get the part of Sharpay Evans in a school production of High School Musical, despite Ashley Tisdale playing the role in real life! Instead, London got the part and Maddie had to lip sync for her. There was also the episode, “Commercial Breaks”, from Season 1 which ended with an all-singing, all-dancing fictional commercial for the Tipton Hotel. And last but not least, London’s driving lesson where she taught us all about “the PRNDL”, something that even Camila Cabello referenced on The Kelly Clarkson Show. Brenda Song said she even had her driving examiner say to her to make sure she put the PRNDL in park at the end of her test[2]! There was also the crossover episode “That’s So Suite Life of Hannah Montana”.

The reviews for the show were great across all three seasons. The programme received accolades such as winning a Young Artist Award in 2007 for Best Family TV Series (Comedy). Back in 2006, Brenda Song won the Superstar of Tomorrow and Role Model awards at the Young Hollywood Awards for her role as London Tipton. Dylan Sprouse won a Kids’ Choice award for Favorite TV Actor in 2009 too. The Suite Life of Zack & Cody was nominated for a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Children’s Program in 2007 and nominated for Favorite TV Show at the Kids’ Choice Awards in 2007, 2008, and 2009.

Technically, in terms of air date, the final episode of The Suite Life of Zack & Cody was “Mr. Tipton Comes to Visit”. The storyline was that Mr. Tipton was coming to the hotel, seemingly to give a huge bonus to one lucky employee. This led to many flashback moments from the series as the team reminisced about the good moments they’d had working in the hotel. However, when Mr. Tipton arrives he is in a bad mood and plans to fire someone. It looks like Carey is going to be fired because of the twins, but instead, the boys bribe Muriel, the now-retired hotel maid, into coming back for Mr. Tipton’s visit. She refuses to clean up a broken vase and is promptly fired – but since she’s retired, it doesn’t matter!

But the actual final episode of the series is really “Let Us Entertain You”. In this episode, the boys and Carey go on the SS Tipton cruise ship for a “vacation”, although Zack and Cody have managed to get them on the ship only if Carey sings as part of the cruise entertainment. Carey refuses to sing, wanting a proper vacation, but when she discovers that her experience on the cruise will be seriously downgraded if she does not, she relents and says she will sing. However, Carey becomes seriously sun burnt after falling asleep in the sun and is now unable to sing. Zack and Cody go on for her instead.

The events from “Let Us Entertain You” set the scene for the spin-off series, The Suite Life on Deck, which premiered on Disney Channel on 26^th September 2008, just a few weeks after The Suite Life of Zack & Cody officially ended. The pilot episode of this new series is “The Suite Life Sets Sail”. Here, Mr. Moseby is revealed to be the cruise ship manager, and London Tipton is coming on board to attend Seven Seas High School, to stop her from skipping classes like she did at regular high school. Zack and Cody are joining her, much to Moseby’s dismay, with Carey not staying on board to look after them. Other characters were introduced during the show, as Zack, Cody, London, and Mr. Moseby were the only main characters to return, such as fellow students of Seven Seas High: Bailey Pickett, Woody Fink, and Marcus Little.

Throughout the lifetime of the show, the characters got to travel all over the world, with one episode focusing on the Bermuda Triangle, and another seeing the group travel over the International Dateline. They also visited Greece, Sweden, Morocco, and Paris. There was also another Disney Channel crossover episode, called “Wizards on Deck with Hannah Montana”. Season 1 of The Suite Life of Deck ran from 26^th September 2008 to 17^th July 2009. Season 2 began on 7^th August 2009, running until 18^th June 2010. The third and final season ran from 2^nd July 2010 to 6^th May 2011. The Suite Life on Deck received generally favourable reviews, however, many viewers felt it was not quite as good as the original show. It received a nomination for Favorite TV Show at both the 2010 and 2011 Kids’ Choice Awards, with Dylan Sprouse picking up the award for Favorite TV Actor in 2010.

Danny Kallis and Jim Geoghan created both shows, with the concept for The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, of two boys living in a posh hotel, originating back in the mid-1980s, when Kallis and Geoghan were working as writers on the sitcom Silver Spoons (1982-87), about a wealthy man whose son, who he has never met before, moves in to his mansion[3].

The Suite Life Movie began production in September 2010, being referred to as the seventh Disney Channel series to get its own Disney Channel Original Movie – this number seems to include Phineas and Ferb: Across the 2^nd Dimension, and Good Luck Charlie, It’s Christmas! despite both of these airing months after The Suite Life Movie in 2011. The most recent one prior to The Suite Life Movie to air on Disney Channel was Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie (2009), which had done exceptionally well in terms of viewing figures, securing 11.4 million on its premiere, and ranking as 2009’s No. 1 scripted cable TV telecast.

The Suite Life Movie was directed by Sean McNamara. For Disney Channel, McNamara had previously directed some episodes of The Even Stevens (2000-03) and went on to direct The Even Stevens Movie (2003). McNamara also directed episodes of other Disney series such as That’s So Raven (2003-07) and Zeke and Luther (2009-12). The writers of The Suite Life Movie were Michael Saltzman, who worked on the story of the 2006 The Pink Panther Movie, and Robert Horn, who co-wrote the Broadway musical 13, and wrote the High School Musical spin-off movie Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure (2011)[4].

The Suite Life Movie was filmed in British Columbia, Canada, with many of the locations being in Vancouver. The Vancouver Aquarium was used as the setting of the biology research facility where Cody, Zack, and Mr. Moseby visit Dr. Spaulding early on in the film. The setting of the Gemini Project was reportedly Camp Howdy in Vancouver[5]. Around this area, Dylan and Cole Sprouse were required to film some “stunts” which involved them on a high ropes course, tackling obstacles like nets and zip wires. Because at this point in the movie, Zack and Cody have not been a part of the research group for long, they are not moving in perfect unison on this course like the other sets of twins are, so this meant lots of slamming into nets and struggling on different parts of the course[6]. It all looked very fun to me. What appeared to be less fun was Dylan and Cole’s jump into a freezing cold lake at 9 o’clock at night, for the scene where they are trying to avoid capture by all the twins. The twins said they had wetsuits on and multiple layers of clothing which kept them warm, but it seemed some of the other actors – as the twins are surrounded by others in the lake – didn’t keep quite as warm and struggled with the cold[7].

The Suite Life Movie kept mentioning the fact that the boys and their friends would be graduating from Seven Seas High soon. This meant that one further episode was needed to wrap up The Suite Life on Deck, which is why the finale episode, “Graduation on Deck”, was the very last episode of the franchise to air on Disney Channel on 6^th May 2011, just over a month after the movie had premiered.

In “Graduation on Deck”, the students of Seven Seas High learn that Mr. Tipton is going to dismantle the SS Tipton as they prepare for final exams and graduation. Cody discovers he was rejected from Yale, throwing his college plans into disarray, especially as girlfriend Bailey did get accepted. Zack and Cody’s mother and father both arrive for graduation, where Bailey says that Cody didn’t get into Yale and won’t leave his cabin. Zack is also upset that his girlfriend, Maya, is going off to Chad in Africa for a Peace Core assignment, so neither Zack nor Cody want to attend graduation. The boys then convince the other to go to the ceremony. During the speeches, construction workers begin dismantling parts of the deck. Mr. Moseby calls Mr. Tipton, ordering him to stop the destruction of the ship as he is destroying his daughter’s graduation. Soon, the SS Tipton docks and the students prepare to depart the ship. Mr. Moseby also proposes to the Seven Seas High teacher, Ms. Tutweiller, and she accepts. There are some tearful goodbyes as everyone goes their separate ways. Many felt this was a fitting ending for the show and the franchise as a whole, which is not exactly how they felt about the movie…

RECEPTION

The Suite Life Movie premiered on Disney Channel in the US on 25^th March 2011.

The movie pulled in 5.2 million total viewers on its premiere, making it the top scripted programme of the day across all TV[8]. By the end of 2011, The Suite Life Movie’s viewership was beaten by three other DCOMs: Lemonade Mouth, with 5.7 million; Good Luck Charlie, It’s Christmas!; with 6.9 million; and Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Across the 2^nd Dimension with 7.6 million, which was the top viewed DCOM of the year.

Reviews of The Suite Life Movie have been very mixed, with slightly more negative comments than positive. DCOMs generally receive quite mixed reviews, so this was not unusual, however, even fans of The Suite Life of Zack & Cody and The Suite Life on Deck were quite disappointed with The Suite Life Movie, especially as it followed on from a pretty good series. Many said The Suite Life Movie felt out of place, very unlike the series, and was mostly forgettable. Many also said The Suite Life Movie was not as good as the other science-fiction-based DCOM of 2011 Phineas and Ferb: Across the 2^nd Dimension, which I would agree with. There were others as well who were annoyed that seemingly some of The Suite Life on Deck plot points had been forgotten or ignored in the film, like the fact Zack was in a relationship with a girl called Maya in the series but in the movie, Zack is chasing after Nellie. I just thought that was very much how Zack always was! There was also annoyance that London, Bailey, Woody, and Mr. Moseby didn’t have anything to do in The Suite Life Movie and should’ve had a better side plot written for them. This is something I have already said I agree with.

On the more positive side, some felt the movie was fun and entertaining, with a nice message about empathy and getting on with your siblings. Others enjoyed the “twist” ending too, with the reveal that Dr. Olsen was in fact Dr. Spaulding’s twin brother. I didn’t guess that until a few minutes before it happened, although I’m sure some might’ve guessed it much earlier on in the film, making the “twist” less exciting. It was also thought that The Suite Life Movie might as well be watched because it was quite a short movie, only around 80 minutes long, and if you’d watched both the previous series, you may as well have seen it to be a “completist”. The general consensus seemed to be that viewers either saw The Suite Life Movie as just average, or just bad. I’m afraid I’m in the latter group.

LEGACY

After The Suite Life on Deck had ended in May 2011, there would be no further projects for Zack and Cody on the Disney Channel. The actors were all moving on to new things.

Apparently, Dylan and Cole Sprouse had in fact pitched a fourth season of The Suite Life on Deck. This concept would’ve seen Zack and Cody return to Boston, where they would mentor a young boy living in the hotel, setting up this other character to have their own show. Disney passed on this idea, but later came back to the twins to pitch a similar idea. This time, the new show was going to be set in Miami with Selena Gomez reportedly attached to the project. The Sprouse twins were the ones to pass this time round.

There was also a spin-off that was meant to happen, surrounding hotel engineer Arwin, with Selena Gomez set to play his niece, but this never happened either. I’m going to assume this spin-off would’ve taken place after The Suite Life of Zack & Cody had finished airing or around that time, and not after the whole The Suite Life franchise had ended[9].

But there was one further screen production that did come to be after The Suite Life on Deck: The Suite Life of Karan & Kabir, an Indian adaptation of The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, which ran for two seasons on Disney Channel India. The first season ran from 8^th April 2012 to 1^st July 2012, with the second running from 27^th January 2013 to 18^th August 2013.

Now that Disney Channel has made successes of rebooting and reviving some of their old programmes, such as Raven’s Home (2017-23) and Wizards Beyond Waverly Place (2024-present), many have begun speculating about whether there will be a reboot of The Suite Life. Not to be the bearer of bad news, but recently, Dylan Sprouse confirmed his disinterest in being part of a The Suite Life revival, stating that this trend risks removing the nostalgia and magic of the original series, so it is best to just move on with your life and keep those memories untainted. I completely agree with Dylan Sprouse’s take on revivals, however, Dylan did also say you can “never say never”[10]. On the contrary, Brenda Song said that she would reprise her role as London Tipton if ever the opportunity did arise, since she loved playing the character[11]. Regardless of whether a reboot does or does not happen, the actors seem to keep in touch with each other, which is always good to see.

Outside of any screen adaptations, there was one other thing from The Suite Life on Deck which was remembered over ten years later. This was a moment in the Season 1 episode “When In Rome” where Zack and Cody are trying to get a reservation at a fancy Italian restaurant. They are told they can have a reservation – for 16^th November 2023. So, on that date, there were many references to this moment online. Disney Parks even released a short video to their social media where a waitress tells Zack and Cody their table is ready – but obviously they do not show up. This video seems to have been recorded at Mama Melrose’s Ristorante Italiano at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Walt Disney World.

Also at the Disney Parks, but this time at Disneyland, there was a small photo op at Disneyland After Dark: Disney Channel Nite in March 2024 featuring a backdrop of one of the corridors of the Tipton Hotel with a luggage trolley that guests could hang on to for a picture. There was also a The Suite Life of Zack & Cody Disney pin being sold a while ago.

FINAL THOUGHTS

The Suite Life Movie may not have been my cup of tea, but I can’t really say I’ve ever been a die-hard fan of the series, and I certainly was not a big fan of The Suite Life on Deck, so my criticism of the movie might seem a bit harsh, especially if you were a longtime childhood fan of the series and remember the DCOM fondly. But there were also many fans of the show who were disappointed in The Suite Life Movie for multiple reasons. For me, it was the strange sci-fi plot. It was just too random and not very “Suite Life”.

Despite the message about getting on with your siblings and having empathy for others, even if you are very different people, I didn’t come away from The Suite Life Movie thinking about it much. The concept of someone trying to merge people together and then control them forever, under the guise of creating world peace, was too disturbing that it took away from the overall message.

Some reviews said this movie was forgettable. Unfortunately, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forget it, no matter how hard I try…

REFERENCES

[1] Credit: Kayleigh Banks, ‘Woody Fink From The Suite Life On Deck Explained’, ScreenRant.com, 11^th June 2023.

[2] Credit: The Kelly Clarkson Show, ‘Brenda Song Reacts To Camila Cabello ‘PRNDL’ Story’, The Kelly Clarkson Show YouTube Channel, 3^rd March 2025.

[3] Credit: Tierney Bricker, ’15 Secrets About The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, Including the “Worst” Kiss With Zac Efron’, EOnline.com, 18^th March 2020.

[4] Credit: Author Unknown, ‘Production to Begin on “The Suite Life Movie” for Disney Channel’, TheFutonCritic.com, 20^th September 2010.

[5] Credit: TigerBeat TV, ‘EXCLUSIVE: We’re on The Suite Life Movie Set!’, TigerBeat TV YouTube Channel, 18^th February 2011.

[6] Credit: Disney Channel, ‘DCOM Extra: The Zip Line – The Suite Life Movie – Disney Channel Official’, Disney Channel YouTube Channel, 11^th March 2011.

[7] Credit: Popstar!, ‘DYLAN SPROUSE On Filming the Water Scene in “The Suite Life on Deck” Movie!’, Popstar! YouTube Channel, 22^nd December 2010.

[8] Credit: Scott Collins, ‘‘The Suite Life Movie’ on Disney was Friday’s most-watched scripted TV show’, LATimes.com, 28^th March 2011.

[9] Credit: Tierney Bricker, ’15 Secrets About The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, Including the “Worst” Kiss With Zac Efron’, EOnline.com, 18^th March 2020.

[10] Credit: Kristen Maldonado, ‘This Is Why Dylan Sprouse Is Not Interested In A Suite Life Reboot’, Kristen Maldonado YouTube Channel, 12^th February 2024.

[11] Credit: Liz Foster, ‘The Suite Life Of Zack & Cody Revival Addressed By London Tipton Actor: “She’s My Literal Dream Character”’, ScreenRant.com, 28^th February 2025.

28th Feb 202516th Jan 2026 by The Disney Purist

Go Figure (2005)

BACKGROUND

My childhood television watching can be split into three stages. The first was Cartoon Network; the second was Nickelodeon, where I watched mostly re-runs of Saved by the Bell (1989-93), and Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996-2003); and the third was Disney Channel, which I started watching when I was about 11 or 12, and then watched pretty much exclusively from the age of 13.

I was there for some of Disney Channel’s best programming, like Lizzie McGuire (2001-04); That’s So Raven (2003-07); and The Suite Life of Zack & Cody (2005-08). From this point, I also found Disney Channel Original Movies. I know I watched a few in the early 2000s, but not many. I’m not actually convinced I watched them on their premiere either. The earliest one I’m fairly sure I watched “live” was Go Figure in 2005.

Go Figure was part of the pre-High School Musical era of Disney Channel. It’s a well-known fact that after High School Musical was released in 2006, Disney Channel began to really focus on their movies, making them higher budget, bigger productions, but that doesn’t mean that the ones that came before weren’t worth seeing.

I loved Go Figure, and I think I can credit it with my love of figure skating. Not actually skating myself, but watching it. Since Go Figure, I’ve seen many films all about figure skating, with Ice Princess (2005); I, Tonya (2017); and Blades of Glory (2007) being my favourites. In another life, I’d like to think I could’ve been a figure skater, or a ballet dancer, or a gymnast. But in this life, I’m too old, not flexible enough, and much too worried about breaking all the bones in my body, or breaking my face.

But Go Figure isn’t just about pretty, little figure skaters. It’s also about a girls’ ice hockey team. Disney had previously made movies like Miracle (2004) and The Mighty Ducks trilogy about hockey teams, but these were not solely for women, with ice hockey primarily being seen as a “man’s sport”. Go Figure explores sexism in sport, showing that just because you’re a girl doesn’t mean you have to “skate around in frilly dresses”. You can compete in a different kind of sport, that requires physical strength as well as intelligence.

I’m not a fan of ice hockey, and wasn’t a sporty person at school, however, I have always liked Go Figure, having seen it many times. Although I like the scenes of figure skating the most, I have always enjoyed the overall message, about teamwork, resilience, and determination in achieving your dreams, whatever they may be.

PLOT

Go Figure begins at a figure skating competition where Katelin Kingsford is competing. She tells the audience she has dreams of being one of the best, with a gold medal and her face on a cereal box. Although Katelin loves her current coaching team, Bob and Ginger, she knows they can’t make her a star. For that, she’ll need a Russian: Natasha Goberman.

In this competition, which Natasha happens to be watching, Katelin does not win and actually falls during her routine. Katelin had hoped for some karma points by giving her “lucky” scrunchie to a younger competitor, choosing to tie her hair up with a rubber band in place of the scrunchie, but the rubber band snaps during one of Katelin’s tricks and that is what caused her to lose balance. But it doesn’t matter, because Natasha saw enough potential in Katelin to talk to her, telling her she wants to train her, to make her a star.

To do that though, Katelin has to go to Buckston Academy, where Natasha trains figure skaters. This is an expensive boarding school, and despite Katelin’s begging and pleading, her parents tell her they cannot afford to send her there. Katelin then asks her brother, Bradley, for his signed hockey puck collection so she can sell them to pay for her tuition, but he angrily tells her to get out, having no respect for Katelin’s dream of being a professional “twirl girl”, the name ice hockey players apparently give to figure skaters.

Katelin tells Natasha she can’t afford to train at Buckston, which is disappointing to Natasha who really wants to coach Katelin, but without a scholarship, there is no chance – and Buckston doesn’t have a scholarship for figure skating. No problem, because Natasha has an idea. She goes to the girls’ hockey team coach, Coach Reynolds, and says if he lets Katelin take his final scholarship spot, then he can take Natasha out on a date. Coach Reynolds doesn’t think it’s a good idea since Katelin doesn’t have any experience of playing ice hockey, but he agrees anyway. The man is weak to Natasha’s charms…Katelin is ecstatic to be going to Buckston Academy, but Bradley, a real hockey player, is furious that Katelin can get a scholarship for “his” sport without even knowing how to play. Bradley then gives up hockey and instead starts building robots with one of his friends.

Meanwhile, at school, Katelin is immediately thrown into hockey training and it’s quite clear to the other coaching staff, and the rest of the team, that something is not right here. Katelin is small, weak, and lacks any balance or speed on the ice; she’ll make this team a disaster. Coach Reynolds tries to convince the others that Katelin is their “secret weapon”. Yeah, they’re not buying it! Katelin finds her new roommate is one of her fellow hockey players, Amy Henderson, but everyone calls her Hollywood. The team captain, Ronnie, and another player, Mojo, come in to their room, saying how the team is unlikely to be winning anything this season yet again. Katelin starts to unpack her stuff, but soon learns that the hockey girls hate “twirl girls”, so she hides her figure skating gear in the janitor’s closet and pretends to be somewhere else when she is out at figure skating training. Katelin finds her new school schedule of regular classes, hockey training, and figure skating coaching to be a difficult balance. She isn’t doing well in her classes; the hockey girls don’t like her; and the figure skating girls see her as major competition since it’s obvious to them she is Natasha’s new favourite, this season’s “Sputnik” as Natasha likes to call her.

During the first hockey game of the season, Katelin hopes she’ll remain on the bench because she’s not very good so there’s no point making her play, something Coach Reynolds agrees with. Natasha also doesn’t want her to get injured. However, one of the other coaches, Spencer, reminds Coach Reynolds that Katelin is a scholarship student so she has to play. Spencer does this in the hopes that Katelin will quit the team. Sure enough, Katelin does not do well on the ice, letting Captain Ronnie get pulled to the ground by the opposition team. Ronnie is fuming and goes to fight her. The rest of the team pull her off Katelin, however, Hollywood storms into their room later, telling Katelin she got off easy, considering what Ronnie should’ve done to her would’ve been a lot worse. Hollywood then knocks over a cup of juice on the floor and says she needs to get a mop. Knowing all her figure skating stuff is in the janitor’s closet, Katelin quickly says she’ll go instead. But she must’ve taken too long because Hollywood comes into the closet and sees all of Katelin’s figure skating gear. Hollywood says she knew it all along, but promises to keep it secret.

The hockey girls, apart from Hollywood, continue to view Katelin with scepticism. The only good thing to come from hockey is that Spencer has stopped bothering her after Katelin made a deal with him whilst doing solo training that if she can get the puck past him, he won’t talk to her again. She manages to do so by using one of figure skating tricks to jump over him. Spencer is impressed. However, the figure skating girls are still an issue. Pamela, seeing Katelin getting private coaching with Natasha, wants to ruin all Katelin’s chances of being better than her, so Pamela invites Katelin to a party. Katelin has training at 9pm on Saturday nights but she turns up for a little while. On her arrival, Katelin is asked to go to the supply closet to get more cups. When she gets in there, Katelin picks up the cups, only for purple paint to spill all over her. Pamela then locks her in the closet. At 9:45pm, the janitor opens up the closet, freeing Katelin. Knowing she’s late, Katelin rushes over to see Natasha and is devastated to find Pamela has taken her spot – and what’s worse is that gold medallist figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi is there. Natasha tells Katelin she brought Kristi here as a reward for Katelin’s hard work, but tells Katelin she obviously doesn’t care enough about skating to show up on time, and sends her away. Katelin sadly sits in the stands watching over Pamela’s session with Kristi as she tries to get the paint off her. Just before Kristi leaves, she has a conversation with Katelin, telling her that Natasha thinks she will go far, something that Natasha doesn’t just say about anyone, but that Katelin needs to decide if she wants to put the extra effort in to make it.

After all this, plus her failing school grades, and her struggles with hockey, one night Katelin gets on a bus and goes home, telling her parents she has quit. At home, Katelin is horrified to find that her mother expected her to quit and that her bed has even been moved out of her room while her mother starts up an online business. Katelin then sees a box with her plushies in there labelled as junk. Katelin carries the box outside and sits on a street bench. Inside, Katelin discovers old medals and photos of her mother, showing that her mother was a brilliant figure skater years ago. Katelin’s mother sits beside her and says how her weak ankles stopped her going far, and that she decided having a family was more important than figure skating. This gives Katelin a renewed energy to achieve the dream her mother couldn’t. She decides she’s going back to Buckston.

Back at school, Katelin puts all her effort in to every aspect of her school experience: classes, hockey, and figure skating. She starts to excel in all areas, and even manages to help the hockey team win their first game of the season. Apparently, the girls’ hockey team hadn’t won a game in three years… That’s a terrible statistic. Katelin motivates the others to aim for the championship win, and starts to help them, by giving them ballet lessons to improve their balance and agility; coming up with tactical ideas using geometry, something Bradley told her about before even getting to Buckston; and by using “colourology”, finding the girls’ power colours, to help them mentally. The team keep on winning.

Within figure skating, Katelin still struggles with competitive girls, but one of them, Shelby, is having a hard time trying to keep up with the younger girls. Katelin goes for a walk with Shelby and tells her that there’s more to life than figure skating, so if she no longer loves doing it, then perhaps it’s time to find something else.

The girls’ hockey team wins their next game and gets to the Championship game; however, Katelin finds that it is on the exact same day as the Senior Nationals for her skating. Hollywood and Natasha try to convince Katelin to choose the Nationals over the Championships, since the team could win without her, but it’s up to her and her alone to compete in Nationals. Katelin doesn’t know what to do, and her parents won’t decide for her. As she ponders what to do, Katelin sees one of her mother’s old skating costumes online and decides to buy it.

On the day of the Championships, Spencer, who has remained fascinated by Katelin’s skills on the ice, is shocked to find Katelin at the hockey game, having worked out that she is a figure skater a few weeks ago and wanting her to go to the Nationals competition instead, because that is where they select the Olympic Team. Katelin ignores everyone trying to tell her she shouldn’t be there and focuses on winning this game. It’s not looking good though as the team are already three goals behind. Katelin gives the team a pep talk during half-time and the team go back out with some motivation to win. They try their best but unfortunately, they do not win. Great, Katelin gave up Nationals for nothing.

Except Spencer answered Katelin’s phone during the game. It was a call from Bradley saying he was going to delay the competition. After hearing his mother say that both him and his sister can be good hockey players, he realises he was being silly giving up hockey and choosing robotics instead. So, Bradley uses his robot to delay the competition, letting the stewards run all over the ice trying to stop it. Eventually, the Zamboni is brought out and it crushes it. But the delay was enough, because Spencer has packed all Katelin’s figure skating belongings and told Katelin they can make it if they go right now.

The hockey girls discover Katelin is a “twirl girl” after her stuff spills out in the hurry to leave, but she rushes off without explaining. In the car, Katelin gets herself together, with Spencer telling her that Pamela destroyed all Katelin’s costumes so he had to grab the one that was in the box. This turns out to be a good move because that costume is her mother’s old one that she ordered. Disaster strikes soon after though as Katelin realises she only has one of her skates. Katelin tells Natasha, who plans to steal a pair from another girl, but Katelin tells her not to do that. Katelin chooses to skate in her hockey boots – which are apparently very different to figure skates, as hockey ones do not have a toe pick.

Katelin begins her routine – and promptly falls down since those skates were not suitable. The hockey girls rush to the ice at that point with her other skate, but it’s too late. The competition has ended and the judges are tallying their final scores. Natasha tries to convince the judges to let her skate again, but they will not. Ronnie then begins a chant of “Let her skate”, which is picked up by the hockey team, then Katelin’s parents, then Natasha, and then the crowd. The noise is overwhelming and the judges allow Katelin another try.

Katelin changes into her proper skates and begins. Her routine is amazing, almost flawless, and the girls rush onto the ice to lift her up in celebration. The judges then name the skaters who made it into the Olympic Team… Katelin’s name is there! All that hard work paid off. Katelin is on her way to getting her face on that cereal box. What a dream…

CHARACTERS & CAST

Katelin Kingsford is a hard worker, wanting to be the best figure skater in the world. She dreams of winning a gold medal. Thankfully, Katelin is spotted by a great coach who wants to get her to the Olympics and hopefully to winning that medal. But the only way to do that is to play ice hockey, something Katelin has never played and isn’t exactly a sport she’s built for. Although Katelin has her struggles at Buckston, finding it wasn’t as easy as she’d hoped, she pushes herself to be the best in all areas. In the end, Katelin finds that she likes the camaraderie of being in a team, whereas with her skating, Katelin has only herself to rely on and has to do that with all the bitchiness of the jealous competitors. Having friends is a new concept for Katelin. Katelin does get the opportunity to fight for that gold medal and the best part is she gets to have her team around her, supporting her all the way.

Jordan Hinson was cast as Katelin. Hinson went on to be cast as Zoe Carter in Eureka (2006-12) and appear as Roxy Daly in the ABC series Kevin from Work (2015). She also wrote and starred in Breaking & Exiting (2018). Apparently, Hinson could not skate prior to her casting in Go Figure, so she had to spend time training. However, Hinson did not do all the skating in the film herself and had skating doubles, which are very obvious at times. One of these was Stephanie Rosenthal, who went on to have a breakout competition at the 2006 Nationals. Another was BreAnn Brown who went on to portray Tinker Bell in Disney on Ice around 2010, with Brown crediting her performance in Go Figure as being a factor in getting her an audition with Disney on Ice[1].

Katelin is pushed hard by her coach, Natasha Goberman. Natasha comes across as being very strict and harsh, coaching Katelin late into that night because her schedule is so full with all that hockey training. Natasha is disappointed with Katelin after she doesn’t show up to her 9pm training because, you know, she was trapped in a closet, so missed the opportunity to train with Kristi Yamaguchi. Natasha did tell Kristi that Katelin was going to be one of the best though, so she has seen the drive and talent in Katelin to believe she’ll achieve. It’s clear from the moment when Katelin gets on to the Olympic team that Natasha is incredibly proud and glad to be on this journey with Katelin.

Natasha Goberman was played by Cristine Rose. Rose is perhaps best known for her role as Angela Petrelli in Heroes (2006-10) and its spin-offs, as well as for her recurring role as Virginia Mosby in How I Met Your Mother (2005-14).

Then, there is Katelin’s primary competition in the figure skating team at Buckston Academy, Pamela. She wants nothing more than to either get Katelin to leave the school, or get her to fall out of favour with Natasha. Pamela’s dirtiest trick is to lock Katelin in a closet and take her place at training with Natasha that evening. Pamela doesn’t actually do all that much after that. I guess she realises that Katelin’s newfound positive attitude after she almost quit is too difficult to try and break down. Pamela appears at the Nationals competition and tries to get the judges to not let Katelin skate, but she is thwarted by Katelin’s hockey teammate, Mojo, who spills marbles all over the floor, tripping Pamela and embarrassing her so much that she leaves. Pamela did not get a place on the Olympic team either, just to make it even worse for her.

Brittany Curran was cast as Pamela. Around the same time as Go Figure, Curran appeared in the recurring role of Chelsea in the Disney Channel series The Suite Life of Zack & Cody (2005-08). She went on to be cast as Lucy Tranelli in the series Men of a Certain Age (2009-11). Curran later was cast as Fen in the Syfy series The Magicians (2015-20), and as Katie Nolan in Chicago Fire (2012-present).

For Katelin’s hockey teammates, three of them are the most important to the story. One is Hollywood, Katelin’s roommate as well as teammate. Hollywood is the first one to discover that Katelin is a figure skater, and, although she finds it funny, she isn’t overly surprised and doesn’t decide to tell any of the other hockey players, who wouldn’t have been as understanding. Ronnie, for example, wouldn’t have been very understanding, at least not at the start of Katelin’s time on their team. Ronnie doesn’t think much of Katelin as a hockey player, and, when she tries to give Katelin a chance to prove herself during a game, Katelin doesn’t do what was asked of her and causes Ronnie to be blocked and fall on the ice. This makes Ronnie angry and it takes a while for Katelin to win her trust again. She eventually does so when Katelin helps the team get to the Championships and she thanks Katelin for all her hard work in getting them that far. Then, there is Mary Johnson, also known as Mojo, because she believes in magic, holistic treatments, that sort of thing, and thinks they can help the team win. I’m not sure Mojo’s lucky powder had much to do with it.

Whitney Sloan was cast as Hollywood. Sloan went on to star in stage musicals like West Side Story and Fiddler on the Roof. Ronnie was played by Amy Halloran, who went on to star as Heather Posen in the series Unleashed (2011). Mojo was played by Tania Gunadi, who was cast as Cindy in the DCOM Pixel Perfect (2004) prior to Go Figure. Gunadi went on to be cast as Emma Lau in Aaron Stone (2009-10) and voiced Miko Nakadai in the animated series Transformers: Prime (2010-13).

Then there is Spencer, a member of the hockey team’s coaching staff, but also a student at Buckston Academy. Spencer is very sceptical of Katelin’s scholarship to the hockey team and he suspects there is something not right there. Spencer learns that Coach Reynolds agreed to Katelin being on the team only because Natasha agreed to go to dinner with him if he did. Spencer then uses this to, surprisingly, blackmail Coach Reynolds in to letting Katelin play in one of their games. This is after Spencer has been impressed with Katelin’s dedication to the hockey team and seen her incredible improvement in the sport. Spencer seems to be obsessed with Katelin and how she is managing to balance her busy schedule because he follows her – not creepy at all – and sees her skating at one point, so he knows all about her figure skating. This means that Katelin has someone else on her side for when she has to make the quick exit from the Hockey Championships to the Nationals. There is also a blossoming romance between Katelin and Spencer, but it’s a bit awkward with their age gap and lack of chemistry, to be honest…

Jake Abel was cast as Spencer. He went on to be cast as Luke Castella in Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (2010), reprising the role in Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters (2013). More recently, Abel appeared as Sasha Harrison in Season 1 of Netflix’s Another Life (2019-21), and as Kevin Golden in Season 3 of Walker (2021-24).

Finally, we have Katelin’s family. Her brother, Bradley, is having a difficult time adjusting to the fact that his sister is, all of a sudden, a brilliant hockey player, making his success in hockey pale in comparison. Because of that, he feels he has to quit hockey and find something else. His father, Ed, doesn’t seem to notice any of this, choosing to spend much of the movie either watching TV or betting on his daughter about whether she’ll quit school or go to the Hockey Championships, but his mother, Linda, does. She tells Bradley that he doesn’t need to give up hockey just because Katelin is playing it.

Katelyn’s parents, Ed and Linda, were played by Jodi Russell and Curt Doussett. Bradley was played by Ryan Malgarini who was cast as Harry Coleman in Disney’s Freaky Friday (2003) alongside Lindsey Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis. He is set to reprise this role in the upcoming sequel Freakier Friday (2025). Malgarini also appeared in a couple of television series, including as Tom Brooks in the sitcom Gary Unmarried (2008-10), for which he won a Young Artist Award in the Supporting Young Actor category.

MUSIC

There is a mix of music within Go Figure, with these being mostly either pop music or classical music, with the classical music featuring during the figure skating scenes, and the pop numbers being used during montages or as background music.

I’ll start with the music that is used for the montages as these were the most obvious and recognisable. Two of these come during the “emotional peak” of Katelin’s journey at Buckston Academy. The first is “Crash Goes My World”, performed by Cadence Grace, which is played at the point that Katelin is feeling really low, failing her classes, still struggling with hockey, and trying to regain Natasha’s trust. Katelin quits school and goes home.

But whilst at home, she has a conversation with her mother which motivates her to be successful at Buckston Academy, so she does just that. Katelin focuses on her classes, figures out how to be a great hockey player, and proves to Natasha that she will be one of the best figure skaters she’s ever coached. During this montage, “I Want Everything”, written by Antonina Armato and Tim James, and performed by Hope 7, is played. This is my favourite song in the movie.

Just a little bit later, there is another montage of Katelin helping the hockey team do well and progress through their matches. Here, “Greatest Day”, written by Jaret Reddick and performed by Bowling for Soup, is used.

The only other piece of prominent pop music within Go Figure is the song “Go Figure”. It was written by Andy Dodd and Adam Watts, and is performed by Everlife. The song first appears as background music just before the first hockey game of the season, but it is used as the End Credits song and as the title song of the movie. This is the only piece of music that is credited.

Outside of that, the other songs to appear in Go Figure are mostly just used as background music. For example, you can hear “She Said” at the point that Katelin is in the school cafeteria and Pamela invites her to a party. This song was written by David Frank, Lindy Robbins, and Pam Sheyne, and performed by Brie Larson – yes, as in the Brie Larson who is Captain Marvel; I didn’t know she was a singer. The first and only song we hear at this party is “Anthem” by Superchick. Following on from that, there is the music playing at the hockey team’s victory party. A sort of techno instrumental piece is heard first, before “Life is Beautiful”, performed by Raven-Symoné, is requested by Ronnie as the next song.

Then, there are two songs that you probably wouldn’t be able to hear unless you were looking for them, because these are both played during conversations between the characters. When Katelin asks her brother to give her his signed hockey puck collection to sell for her school tuition, “Life is Good” by Junk can be heard. Later, as Hollywood confronts Katelin about her failure during the hockey match that day, where Ronnie ended up being tackled to the ground because Katelin didn’t do what was asked for her, “I Can Do Anything” is played. This song was written by Bridget Benenate and Matthew Gerrard, and was performed by Caleigh Peters.

All nine of these tracks appear on the Go Figure official soundtrack, which was released in June 2005.

Outside of this soundtrack, I am less confident about the rest of the music that is used in Go Figure. After the first training session for Katelin with the hockey team, Ronnie turns on the stereo and a rap song is playing. Despite numerous attempts to find this song, I can’t figure out what it is. As Katelin meets Hollywood and moves into her new room, some background music is playing, but I can’t hear any lyrics, and again, can’t work out if this is part of the score for Go Figure or is a specific track. I had a similar problem with the other song that I haven’t been able to place. This song comes as Katelin walks past Spencer and his band performing one night. I can hear the song and its lyrics clearly, but I haven’t been able to work out if this is a real track or whether this song was created for the film.

I had more success with the classical music pieces that are played during some of the figure skating scenes. For example, the music that is used for Katelin’s first Skate Club, as the group warm up, seems to be an extract from Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 in G Minor, K. 550. Then, during the scene of Kristi Yamaguchi coaching Pamela, Scherzo from Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream seems to have been used. Finally, for Katelin’s final routine which she performs at the Senior Nationals, she begins her routine to a section of Summer from Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons. Her music then turns more contemporary but I don’t know what the other two pieces of music are, unfortunately, or whether they were part of the overall score.

The score for Go Figure was composed by Kenneth Burgomaster, who has composed the score for other Disney Channel projects, including the movies Halloweentown High (2004), Cow Belles (2006) and Return to Halloweentown (2006), and Season 2 of the series Phil of the Future (2004-06).

PRODUCTION

Disney Channel has always liked to make movies based on sports because it is a shared experience. Everyone has had to play sports at some point in their life. Even if they absolutely despised it. Schools seem to think it’s a good idea to enforce it as part of their curriculum. Mean.

Go Figure is just one in a list of sports-themed DCOMs, but here, they decided to showcase two sports, both of which were popular back in the 2000s. Ice hockey has continued to be listed in the Top 5 sports in the United States in terms of viewership, reportedly being the fourth most popular sport in the world too[2].

Figure skating used to be incredibly popular in the US, especially in the 1990s, but something changed in the early 2000s. Back in the day, the names Tonya Harding, Michelle Kwan, and Kristi Yamaguchi were easily recognised. Let’s also not forget the infamous “incident” between Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan in January 1994 – further immortalised in the movie I, Tonya (2017) starring Margot Robbie – which led to many viewers worldwide tuning in to watch the two go head-to-head at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, to the point where it became one of the most-watched sports events of 1994, reaching 48.5 million viewers on just the one day of the women’s figure skating short program. Two decades later, the total 11 days of the Olympics figure skating competition in Sochi got less than half of that, reaching 21.4 million viewers[3].

Some speculate that the reason for this is that advancement in skates have led to even quadruple jumps, not just triples, being more common in competition, making nothing seem particularly difficult anymore. There was also the judging scandal of 2002 at the Olympics in Salt Lake City that led to a new, some say complicated, scoring system[4].

Scores used to be awarded in two categories: technical merit and artistic presentation, with both being given a maximum 6.0 score. However, when skaters are close in scores, the judges would rank these skaters against each other, with little to no criteria needing to be met to reach this decision, so it was very subjective. In the case of 2002, the competition was between the Russian pairs team and the Canadian pairs team. Although Russia is well-known for their figure skating history, winning numerous gold medals over the decades, the Canadian pairs team of Jamie Salé and David Pelletier were confident. It was almost a home Olympics for them, and they were going to be skating to the theme from the movie Love Story (1970), an American favourite.

During the free skate competition, the Russian team made a few errors, whereas the Canadians responded with a practically flawless routine, although it was less technically difficult than that of the Russians. Still, many in the Canadian camp believed they’d done enough to seal the gold medal. In actual fact, they had not, with the majority of the judges ranking Canada behind Russia, handing the gold to them, and the silver to Canada. This led to claims that the judging was rigged, specifically that one judge had been pressured to vote a certain way. An investigation into the judging panel was launched and a media frenzy erupted. There was a supposed quid pro quo between France and Russia, stating that if the French judge voted in favour of Russia in the pairs figure skating, then the Russian judge would do the same for France in the ice dancing competition. In the end, the French judge was suspended, and Salé and Pelletier were given the gold medal, shared with the Russian pairs team of Anton Sikharulidze and Elena Berezhnaya. Those at the centre of the scandal deny involvement in the fixing[5].

The claims of rigged voting are believed to have tarnished the sport of figure skating forever, in North America in particular. Even with the overhaul of the scoring system, figure skating’s popularity has not bounced back. This might explain why there are fewer screen stories about figure skating nowadays. There was that Netflix series Spinning Out (2020) but that was cancelled after only one series, and obviously we had I, Tonya (2017) but that was a fictionalised account of a well-known figure skating incident from the 1990s. Sadly, in the UK, figure skating has not been incredibly popular since the 1980s when we had Olympics success with Torvill and Dean. We have a competition show with celebrities called Dancing on Ice (2006-present), with Torvill and Dean as coaches and now judges, but that’s got very samey in the last few years. It’s not even close to figure skating either. You mostly just wonder how long it’ll be until someone gets injured, slices their partner’s skin with their blade, or smashes their face on the ice. Not exactly carefree Sunday night entertainment.

Anyway, back to Disney Channel’s Go Figure. The movie was written by Patrick J. Clifton and Beth Rigazio. They had initially tried to sell their Go Figure script to be made as a feature film, however, this was around the same time that Ice Princess was being developed by Disney, so Go Figure as it was didn’t go ahead. Instead, the writers turned it into a kids’ movie and met with Sheri Singer, the producer of Disney Channel’s Halloweentown movies. Singer said she wanted to produce Go Figure for Disney Channel. Francine McDougall came on as the director. McDougall went on to direct the DCOM Cow Belles (2006). Clifton and Rigazio had such a happy time working on Go Figure that when Singer approached them with the novel How My Private, Personal Journal Become A Bestseller, written by Julia DeVillers, they went ahead and adapted it to become the DCOM Read It and Weep (2006)[6].

Go Figure was filmed in Salt Lake City in Utah, as so many other DCOMs have been, such as Read It and Weep; Minutemen (2008); and the High School Musical trilogy. Much like these other DCOMs, a school was used as the filming location for the fictional school within these films. In the case of Go Figure, Westminster College is the real-life school that became Buckston Academy in the movie[7].

Go Figure is not an action-packed movie; however, it is not a normal school drama either, with shots of mostly sitting in class, walking through the halls, or going to a school dance. Here, although doubles were used in some instances, the actors did have to train in ice hockey and figure skating. I’ve already mentioned that Jordan Hinson, who played Katelin, didn’t know how to figure skate prior to her casting in the movie, and since Katelin spends much of her time on the ice in this movie, she had to train. But the hockey players also had train. Before filming, the actors spent two weeks practising with a real girls’ hockey team, being taught the basics of skating, shooting, and stopping to make the hockey matches seem as realistic as possible[8].

RECEPTION

In March 2005, Walt Disney Pictures theatrically released a new live-action movie, Ice Princess, which was about a physics whizz using figure skating to help her college application, before deciding to become a full-time, professional figure skater, going against the wishes of her mother. Ice Princess received mixed reviews and was a box-office flop, however, in the years since, it still has its fans.

So, it is curious that Disney Channel would be competing with the main Disney theatrical division by creating Go Figure, another movie about a young figure skater, and releasing it just three months later. Go Figure premiered on Disney Channel in the US on 10^th June 2005. Like Ice Princess, Go Figure received mixed reviews, but it escaped financial scrutiny due to its television movie status.

However, it did not escape all criticism. In Go Figure, the biggest inaccuracy is around the fact that the audience is told Katelin Kingsford is one of few competitors her age who can successfully execute and land triple jumps. Viewers who have knowledge of figure skating claim there are no triple jumps in any of Katelin’s routines in the movie. I’m not one of these people with knowledge so I’ve had to take their word for it. I do know that a figure skating competition consists of a long program and a short program though. Go Figure instead tells us that the Nationals consist of a single program. Nationals would’ve been a multi-day event, not just the one day. But had it been more than one day, then the whole dilemma over whether Katelin should attend the Hockey Championships or the Nationals would not have as much jeopardy attached to it.

Go Figure might’ve gone some way in inspiring would-be figure skaters to come into the sport, however, it seems to have just annoyed any actual figure skaters. Further negative comments for Go Figure surround the character of Katelin. She isn’t the most likeable main character of a DCOM, being quite bratty and selfish at times, especially when it comes to conversations with her brother and her parents, wanting them to always go along with what she thinks is best for her life. Katelin is also quite pouty when she doesn’t get her way in the early parts of the movie. I should also mention that some of Katelin’s more dramatic moments in Go Figure are not well acted. If you’ve seen the movie, you’ll know what I’m talking about. But to give Katelin some credit, she becomes more likeable by the end of the film, as she realises that she has to work hard to get where she wants in life; she can’t just have it handed to her on a plate. There are also apparently incorrect portrayals of the rules of ice hockey in Go Figure, but I wouldn’t know anything about that either.

On the more positive side, other viewers said this was an enjoyable movie, especially for kids and fans of figure skating, probably more fans like me that enjoy watching the grace and elegance of figure skating rather than the skaters themselves who’d be able to pick out inaccuracies. Some also said they liked the fact Katelin had to make a choice between whether to go to her figure skating competition, or go to the hockey final. To further comment on this point, I think Go Figure goes some way in showing that women don’t have to just do the “girly” sports; they can be tough on the ice rink instead of dancing around it in dresses with sunshine smiles frozen on their faces.

Although Disney Channel Original Movies, in their most known form, have been developed since 1997, with the first “official” DCOM Under Wraps, they would not properly come into their own until High School Musical premiered in January 2006. The DCOMs that came before have struggled to become part of mainstream popularity, with few exceptions. Go Figure was not one of these exceptions, reportedly reaching around 3.5 million viewers on its premiere date. This is fairly standard for the DCOMs of this decade. DCOMs were not as high budget, or high value, productions at this time, so needed something big to really market them, like an established actor fronting the project. That did not happen with Go Figure, so it has mostly faded into the background.

One accolade Go Figure does have, though, is that it was nominated in the Best Family Television Movie or Special category at the Young Artist Awards in 2006. It did, however, lose out to Hallmark’s Christmas movie Silver Bells (2005).

LEGACY

What happened next for Go Figure? It was set up for us to see how Katelin got on at the Olympics. I for one would’ve quite liked to see this as a sequel.

And yet, no sequel was ever made. Although Disney Channel have made a few sequels to certain movies, these are normally sequels to already popular movies. Go Figure didn’t have extraordinary viewing figures, so spending further time and money on a sequel wouldn’t have made good business sense. I just would’ve quite liked to see it.

However, Go Figure has since been included on lists of good skating movies to watch[9]. Although the heyday of figure skating seems to have been and gone – at least for now – ice hockey continues to be a popular sport in North America, making this a feature within other Disney Channel movies. Two of these include Den Brother (2010) and The Swap (2016). But these are both male characters playing ice hockey, not girls, so Go Figure has them beat in that respect.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Go Figure is a sports-themed DCOM that managed to showcase two entirely different sports: figure skating and ice hockey, with the first primarily being seen as more fitting for girls, and the latter only for boys. Go Figure tries to change all that, in the same way that Eddie’s Million Dollar Cook-Off (2003) told viewers that girls can play baseball and boys can cook. Go Figure shows girls there are no limitations on what you can or should do.

Although I have always liked Go Figure, I should admit that if I could only ever watch one figure skating movie ever again, I’ll choose Blades of Glory (2007) every time. Both have their merits, but only one can make me laugh out loud.

REFERENCES

[1] Credit: Amanda Mears, ‘Fairy tale: Utahn BreAnn Brown portrays Tinker Bell in Disney on Ice’, Deseret.com, 9^th March 2010.

[2] Credit: Rowan Bissett, ‘The puck drops on the 2025 NHL hockey season on October 8’, AthensOracle.com, 17^th October 2024.

[3] Credit: Ahiza Garcia, ‘U.S. figure skating used to be wildly popular. What happened?’, Money.CNN.com, 13^th February 2018.

[4] Credit: Gitanjali Poonia, ‘America were obsessed with figure skating in the ‘90s. Why aren’t we as enthralled anymore?’, Deseret.com, 4^th February 2022.

[5] Credit: Netflix, Bad Sport (2021) Episode 4: “Gold War”.

[6] Credit: Jean Bentley, ‘What’s It Like to Write a Disney Channel Original Movie? The Duo Behind Read It and Weep Reveals All’, EOnline.com, 23^rd June 2016.

[7] Credit: Jennifer Guzman, ‘Got Disney+? Keep an eye out for these movies filmed in Utah’, KSL.com, 12^th November 2019.

[8] Credit: Disney, ‘Go Figure DCOM Extras Commercial’, Promo Central YouTube Channel, 5^th June 2020.

[9] Credit: Amanda Bruce & Danielle Bruncati, ’10 Best Skating Movies’, ScreenRant.com, 13^th January 2024.

21st Feb 202516th Jan 2026 by The Disney Purist

Minutemen (2008)

BACKGROUND

Disney Channel Original Movies cover all manner of themes and topics.

Some of their most popular, and most relatable, are those that focus on life as a teenager or troubles at high school. Everyone has been through difficult experiences at that age, so making a DCOM based on that is an easy way of engaging an audience. These types of movies were the ones I watched more of on Disney Channel.

However, Disney Channel has also been known to stray into other areas, such as delving into the genres of fantasy and science-fiction, although many of these are still grounded in school and teenage life, such as Twitches (2005); Halloweentown (1998); How to Build a Better Boy (2014) – and the 2008 DCOM Minutemen.

You can probably be forgiven for not having heard of or watched Minutemen whilst it was on Disney Channel. I will admit that I was not the first one to it, because the most exciting new DCOM to come to the channel in 2008 for me was Camp Rock. After the success of High School Musical (2006), Disney Channel had upped their game in all areas of their programming, but none more so than in their musical DCOMs. I also enjoyed watching the third instalment of the Cheetah Girls franchise, The Cheetah Girls: One World, that year. Disney Channel is known for its musical movies, with these tending to be the highest rated. Minutemen was the only other DCOM released in 2008, but it passed me by. I remember it being advertised, but it just didn’t appeal to me like the musicals did.

I don’t actually know when I found Minutemen, but it was at least a couple of years later. I was more interested in watching it after its premiere because it meant that I was more familiar with some of its leading actors by the time I found it, just randomly one day. Jason Dolley and Chelsea Staub, now known as Chelsea Kane, were frequently seen on Disney Channel in the 2000s and early 2010s, so it helped me like it, despite not being too interested in the concept of time travel, a major part of the storyline of Minutemen.

I believe I had only seen Minutemen once in full before this week, so that obviously means that it didn’t become an instant favourite for me. I took me a while to appreciate any type of science fiction film, even Back to the Future (1985), which is referenced numerous times in Minutemen, so I’m not surprised my teenage self wasn’t bothered by it. But re-watching this week, I was impressed with the storyline and the level of acting by the young stars. I did enjoy it, but not as much as other DCOMs.

PLOT

Minutemen begins on the first day of high school at Summerton High School for three friends, Virgil, Derek, and Stephanie. Stephanie worries that high school might change them, as she is going to try out to be a cheerleader, and Derek is planning on joining the school’s football team. During try-outs for football and cheerleading, with Virgil watching nearby, a kid on a jet-propelled kart comes onto the field. This is Charlie, a kid genius who has skipped grades because of his intellect. Because of Charlie ruining football try-outs, the football players circle Charlie and start to bully him. Virgil tries to diffuse the situation, but it makes everything worse: they end up dressed as cheerleaders and tied to the school’s ram statue.

Three years later, everything has changed for the trio of friends. Derek is now a jock, and his girlfriend is Stephanie, who did become a cheerleader. Virgil has remained friends with Charlie – the joint bullying experience must’ve bonded them – though he is resentful that, in his Senior Year, he still hangs out with “nerds”. Although Virgil and Stephanie continue to talk on occasion, things between Virgil and Derek are different.

During class, Charlie bursts into Virgil’s class and tells him there is an “AV Club emergency”. Virgil follows Charlie to the computer lab, where Charlie shows Virgil a simulation of practical time travel. Virgil doesn’t believe it’ll work, but Charlie manages to convince him to go along with the crazy scheme of becoming time travellers. Charlie says they need another person to help them. Virgil approaches new kid, Zeke, who comes across as the bad-boy-loner type. The three meet to discuss the project and Zeke agrees to it.

The group begin to build their time machine, having managed to convince Vice Principal Tolkan to let them set up a new club and base it in Room 77 after giving him change for the vending machine. Room 77 was Charlie’s pick for their “club” as it is a huge basement, originally set to be the school’s fallout shelter. Over time, they clean up the basement, and start to get – or steal, I can’t really tell – parts for their machine. Once it is fully built, all three of them are too scared to try it out, so Virgil and Zeke pick up Charlie’s cat, Albert Felinestein, put goggles on it, and throw it into the machine’s vortex. Charlie is furious, but the cat comes out alive, just a bit frosty. They look at the watch they strapped to the cat and it is one minute behind, proving that the cat went back in time.

The next day, all three of them are brave enough to go into the time travel vortex themselves, wrapping up warm to avoid frostbite. Charlie warns them that they only have ten minutes to go back in time and come back, or else they may explode. Nice. The trio arrive in the past and realise it is yesterday. They quickly go to a shop to buy a lottery ticket with the correct numbers so they can win the jackpot the next day, however, they are refused the sale as they are not old enough to purchase the ticket. The three go to the “living statue” outside and ask him to buy the ticket, giving him the list of numbers and telling him to keep the ticket to give to them the next day as they need to get back to the present. On their return, they rush over to the shop to find the man did buy the lottery ticket – but kept the winning ticket for himself! Can we trust no-one these days?!

Virgil, Charlie, and Zeke then discuss a different purpose for their time travel machine, as Charlie didn’t like the idea of buying a lottery ticket anyway because it is cheating. Good for you, Charlie; you stick to your morals. They then see Chester, one of Charlie and Virgil’s less-than-popular friends. Football players have stolen Chester’s clothes, leaving him to run through the school halls naked. This gives the boys an idea. They’ll use their time travel ability to help embarrassed high school kids!

Just as the three are about to go back in time, Charlie realises that they really ought to have someone stay back to monitor the machine and make sure there are no problems. The boys argue about who will have to stay and miss all the fun, when a girl called Jeanette comes into the room, wanting to be a part of the “Back to the Future Fan Club”, the cover name for the time travelling. This gives Zeke and Virgil an idea; Jeanette can be the one to stay back. Charlie isn’t so sure he wants anyone else to be let in on the secret, but he eventually agrees – and Jeanette has a crush on Charlie so she’s happy to be a part of their gang, regardless of what it means. Though she does want to do something about their time travel outfits. Luckily, her dad owns a ski shop so she equips them with white ski suits and goggles to give them an air of mystery and legitimacy to their time travelling. They name themselves “The Minutemen”.

The three go back in time and help Chester by giving him clothes to wear. As their outfits conceal their faces and identities, the mystery group soon become popular at school as they continue to help other kids. Vice Principal Tolkan, however, is not impressed by these “Snowsuit Guys”, who he keeps seeing running about the school without permission. Tolkan vows to find and punish them.

Meanwhile, employees at Pacific Tech have been monitoring high readings and power surges that seem to be coming specifically from Summerton High School. It turns out the FBI is also investigating, covertly following Zeke, Charlie, and Virgil. This leads Charlie to admit to having hacked NASA, stealing some files they had from the 1960s related to time travel. Zeke and Virgil are furious with Charlie for getting them mixed up in something illegal, but Charlie assures them that if they just lay low for a while and don’t time travel, everything should be fine. Virgil isn’t too bothered by this anyway, because he’s annoyed at not getting proper credit for the good work they’re doing. Plus, the students all call them the “Snowsuit Guys”, even though that isn’t their name. AND the kids they have helped have all become kind of obnoxious…However, Virgil soon finds an important reason for them to time travel again. He is told by Stephanie that she has got accepted to her preferred college, but on a cheerleading scholarship. The next day, Virgil comes into school to discover that Stephanie has broken her leg after falling from a cheerleading pyramid. A broken leg will most definitely cost Stephanie her scholarship, so Virgil convinces Zeke and Charlie to go back in time to help her. The three agree to do that, and Virgil manages to catch Stephanie as she falls, saving her leg, but also giving himself away in the process.

Stephanie confronts Virgil the next day, saying she knows he is one of the “Snowsuit Guys”. As Virgil believes they have been rumbled, he admits to Stephanie that him, Zeke, and Charlie are time travellers. Stephanie is in awe of this; she was just going to say they must be psychic! Charlie continues to feel uneasy about their use of the time machine, feeling that it is having repercussions in the real world. But Virgil continues to find reasons to use it. Stephanie comes to Virgil with Derek, asking for his help as Derek was distracted during a football game, and cost the team the win. Derek begs Virgil for his help, saying that he’s sorry for everything that happened between them, reiterating that he tried to get the football players to stop during that incident on their first day of high school. Virgil wants to be popular so he agrees to help Derek. Derek is grateful to Virgil and starts inviting him to parties, but this leads to Virgil ignoring Zeke and Charlie. Soon after, Virgil gets a call from Stephanie in tears, saying she saw Derek cheating on her with mean girl Jocelyn. Virgil goes to comfort her. Derek then calls Stephanie, wanting to talk but she won’t take him back. Derek begs Virgil to go back in time to stop that event from happening.

As Virgil wonders what to do – help Derek get Stephanie back, or let things run their course and hope that him and Stephanie can finally be together – he is thrown in a van and taken to a warehouse. There, the FBI confront the boys, telling them they know that the boys stole information from NASA and have been using it to time travel. The boys refuse to admit anything and are free to go. The FBI will continue to monitor their activities. The three go their separate ways, their friendship and hopes of time travel destroyed.

But Virgil goes on alone, telling Derek he will take him back in time to stop Stephanie seeing him with Jocelyn on the day of the school dance. Virgil goes to the dance with Stephanie, but he is pulled away by Derek, wanting to go back in time now. The students all follow them, believing there will be a fight. In the meantime, Charlie has discovered that their time travelling led to the creation of a black hole on the school field. He confesses to the FBI, telling them they have about four hours to save the world. The FBI and Charlie storm the school to get Zeke, Virgil, and Charlie together to stop the black hole from consuming everything. There is only an hour left at this point so the guys suit up and walk to the black hole, ready to jump in, students clapping and cheering them, as their identities are revealed.

The ”Minutemen” jump into the black hole, and fall into the local park. Using a remote machine that Charlie whipped up, they begin to reverse the polarity. Charlie believes they have about twenty minutes until they can return. They then go to the school to try and stop past Charlie accessing the component he used to make his time travel machine, something to do with that kart, because they’ve found they are back at their first day of high school. At the same time, Virgil wants to change what happened that day, so he never became “a nerd”. Charlie is hurt by this, telling Virgil that day was also the day that Charlie finally found a real friend. Charlie and Zeke walk away, leaving Virgil to do whatever he plans to do. Virgil watches over the scene below, and discovers that Derek never tried to stop the bullying, like he claimed, but was actually a part of it.

Charlie and Zeke discover that the portal is collapsing and don’t have enough time to get back through it. Suddenly, Virgil rides up in Charlie’s old kart, having changed nothing about the bullying incident. He drives the three of them to the portal – but accidentally goes the wrong way. They’ll never make it in time! Oh, but wait. Zeke has that grappling hook he takes with him on every time travel escapade. He uses the hook and sends the kart in the right direction. The kart destroys the town on the way but they get through the portal in time.

They land, in their ski suits, back at school, on what was the day they first time travelled. As they walk through the school, they see that nobody knows anything about them or the “Snowsuit Guys”. Their mission was a success. Virgil goes to the library where he spoke to Stephanie that day, and tells Derek that he knows what he did that first day of high school and that he knows Derek is cheating on Stephanie with Jocelyn. Virgil then tells Stephanie he likes her; she says she feels the same. Charlie also kisses Jeanette, just before Zeke and Virgil can remind him that Jeanette hasn’t kissed him yet, as she had done before they went into the black hole…She doesn’t mind though. Charlie then starts to talk to Virgil and Zeke about a new idea around teleportation. The two quickly carry him away, not wanting to get mixed up in any more of Charlie’s “experiments”.

CHARACTERS & CAST

Virgil Fox initially seems hopeful about his first day of high school. He’s got his two best friends with him, what more does he need? But one event can change everything, and from that point, although Virgil has made new friends, he has become frustrated that he has become associated with “nerds”. Although Virgil talks and listens to Charlie, for most of the movie it seems like he merely tolerates him. Virgil seems to blame Charlie specifically for his problems. I hate to break it to him, but if Stephanie and Derek were going to be a cheerleader and a jock respectively, then the chances are their friendship wouldn’t have lasted anyway. Popularity does strange things to people. And in that scenario, Virgil would’ve been all alone, even without Charlie to call his friend. When Charlie comes up with the idea of time travel, suddenly, Virgil thinks this is quite cool – but once again, Virgil uses it as an opportunity to become popular and more liked amongst other students. It doesn’t really work that way until Stephanie learns about it and she tells Derek. But when Virgil gets the chance to go back and change his first day of high school so he never met Charlie and became unpopular, he doesn’t do it. I never thought Virgil was going to go and do that, because, although I’ve made him sound like a bad guy, he’s not.

Virgil does have some unresolved issues, there’s no doubt about that, and he forgets who his real friends are at times, yet he’s still a likeable character. This is all down to the actor, because Virgil could’ve ended up as a terrible main character if the wrong person was cast. Jason Dolley was cast as Virgil. Dolley had a long career with Disney Channel, beginning with the DCOM Read It and Weep (2006), where he played Connor. Dolley went on to star as Newt in the series Cory in the House (2007-08), and then as Pete in the DCOM Hatching Pete (2009). Dolley later was cast as PJ Duncan in Good Luck Charlie (2010-14) and its DCOM, Good Luck Charlie, It’s Christmas! (2011). After this, he appeared as Kevin in the ABC series American Housewife (2016-21). Most recently, Dolley wrote and starred in the short film The Unicorn That Never Lies (2024).

Charlie Tuttle hasn’t had an easy time at high school, because he is so much younger – and smarter – than everyone else. He’s an easy target for bullying and thanks to Virgil coming to his rescue on that first day, Charlie finds he does have a friend, someone he can talk to and who might stick up for him. Charlie is a genius; however, his high-achieving personality leads to him getting himself into trouble. Just because the possibility of time travel is waiting to be discovered doesn’t mean you should hack into NASA and steal their old research on the subject. Charlie is ecstatic to have figured out how to time travel, but he soon discovers that his, Virgil, and Zeke’s actions have caused damage to the world, culminating in a black hole. Charlie admits that he made a mistake and finds a way to resolve it. He just wanted to advance the world of science; he never meant to destroy it!

Charlie Tuttle was played by Luke Benward, who had already starred in the film How to Eat Fried Worms (2006) as Billy Forrester prior to his role in Minutemen. Benward went on to appear as Alan Wheddon in Dear John (2010); and came back to Disney Channel to star in the DCOMs Girl vs. Monster (2012) as Ryan, and Cloud 9 (2014) as Will Cloud. Benward also appeared as Beau, Teddy’s boyfriend, in the final season of Good Luck Charlie (2010-14). After Disney, he went on to be cast as Dillon Sanders in the Pretty Little Liars spin-off series Ravenswood (2013-14) and as Bo Larson in the Netflix movie Dumplin’ (2018).

Zeke Thompson is a new student at Summerton High School, first seen as he arrives to school on a motorbike. He seems like the silent, loner type, but Charlie and Virgil notice that he has engineering skills which may be useful to their time travel project. Although it might seem that Zeke doesn’t have time to hang out with science geeks, he is intrigued by this plan and agrees to help them; Zeke thinks the idea of time travel is cool. Much of the plot resolves around Virgil and Charlie’s friendship, and the dynamic between Virgil, Stephanie, and Derek, so Zeke doesn’t get all that focus, however, he helps find students who might need their time travel experience to avoid embarrassment and he is loyal to the cause, sticking firmly with Charlie on points, such as not betraying each other to the FBI, and not continuing to time travel when things start to look tricky.

Nicholas Braun also had a bit of history with Disney. Prior to his casting as Zeke, he was cast as Zach in the Disney movie Sky High (2005). After Minutemen, he went on to appear as Ed in the DCOM Princess Protection Program (2009), and then as Lloyd in Disney’s Prom (2011), which was not a DCOM, though it does feel like one. Since his “Disney days”, Braun has become an incredibly successful actor, appearing as Michael in Date and Switch (2014), alongside Dakota Johnson and Sarah Hyland, and as Josh in How to Be Single (2016), which also featured Dakota Johnson, and Rebel Wilson. He is perhaps most known for his role as Greg Hirsch in the critically-acclaimed series Succession (2018-23). Recently, Braun portrayed both Jim Henson and Andy Kaufman in the movie Saturday Night (2024) and is set to star in the movie Famous alongside fellow Disney alumni Zac Efron and Debby Ryan.

Moving on, Stephanie Jameson was one of Virgil’s closest friends before high school. At high school, though, things are a little bit different. Stephanie is a cheerleader, but she does make time to speak to Virgil. She’s not like one of those awful cheerleaders you see in movies who drop all their friends when they finally become popular. Stephanie isn’t actually all that happy about being popular. She thinks Virgil and his friends look much happier than any of the popular kids ever do. Virgil is smitten with Stephanie, and for once, I was actually rooting for the “nerd” to win the heart of the popular girl, because she was just so nice!

Chelsea Staub, now known as Chelsea Kane, was cast as Stephanie. Like the three actors I’ve just talked about, Kane also had a history with Disney Channel. After Minutemen, she went on to star as Stella Malone, alongside the Jonas Brothers, in the Disney series Jonas (2009-10), before being cast as Alexis Bender in StarStruck (2010), alongside Sterling Knight. Also for Disney, Kane voiced the character of Bea Goldfishberg in Fish Hooks (2010-14). Outside of Disney, Kane placed third in Season 12 of Dancing with the Stars and played the part of Riley in the ABC series Baby Daddy (2012-17). She returned to voice acting again in 2019 to voice the character of Loy for the series Archibald’s Next Big Thing (2019-21).

Then there is Virgil’s ex-best friend Derek Beaugard. For most of Minutemen, Derek is also Stephanie’s boyfriend, but he turns out to be a cheater – big surprise there – so Stephanie dumps him. Derek then asks Virgil to take him back in time to avoid the moment that Stephanie saw him with another girl. Derek convinces Virgil to do this because he claims that during that bullying incident on their first day of high school he tried to get the other football players to stop doing what they were doing. Well, it’s a good thing that big, black hole stopped Virgil from helping Derek because it turns out Derek is a liar as well as cheat, actually contributing to the football players’ bullying of Charlie and Virgil, and not stopping it, as Virgil sees when they go back in time to save the world. Derek is just awful.

Steven R. McQueen was cast as Derek. He went on to be cast as Jeremy Gilbert in The Vampire Diaries (2009-17), and then as Jimmy Borrelli in Seasons 4 and 5 of Chicago Fire (2012-present). Oh, and that girl Derek was caught with was, Jocelyn, was played by Kellie Cockrell, who might look familiar to Halloweentown fans, as she played Sapphire Sinister in Return to Halloweentown (2006).

Then there are a couple of Virgil and Charlie’s friends to mention. One is Chester, who is frequently bullied by the jocks, but once Virgil, Charlie, and Zeke go back in time to help him one day, Chester becomes a real jerk, ignoring Virgil and Charlie, who only risked their lives to stop him being humiliated, and even starts to bully the jocks. All returns to normal, though, once the Minutemen go back and sort out that black hole. Then, there is Jeanette. Jeanette is a bit weird and hyper, coming on a little bit too strong for the socially awkward Charlie when she’s trying to show she has feelings for him. Eventually, Charlie learns to love Jeanette’s quirks and they become an oddly cute couple.

Chester was played by Dexter Darden. Darden went on to be cast as Frypan in The Maze Runner trilogy (2014-18) and appeared as DeVante in the reboot series of Saved by the Bell (2020-21). Most recently, he portrayed Muhammad Ali in the Peacock miniseries Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist (2024), which starred Kevin Hart. Jeanette was played by Kara Crane, who went on to guest star in episodes of series like The Suite Life on Deck (2008-11); The Mindy Project (2012-17); and Baby Daddy (2012-17).

Finally, there is Vice Principal Tolkan. Tolkan isn’t bothered by the bullying epidemic he clearly has going on at his school, not even batting an eyelid when he sees a student trapped in a vending machine. Instead, he’s bothered about getting the right coins to get the snack he wants. Tolkan is happy to let “the normal order” take precedent over basic human rights, but that does mean that when Chester becomes a bully to the jocks, Tolkan suddenly wants to discipline because that goes against the status quo. What is it with DCOMs and corrupt teachers. We have Tolkan here; we had Brenigan in Lemonade Mouth (2011); where does it end? Vice Principal Tolkan was played J.P. Manoux, who should be familiar to Disney Channel fans for playing Vice Principal Hackett in the Disney Channel series Phil of the Future (2004-06). He also replaced David Spade from The Emperor’s New Groove (2000) as the voice Kuzco in The Emperor’s New School (2006-08), and voiced the character of Mr. Fraley in the Disney Channel animated series The Replacements (2006-09).

MUSIC

Minutemen isn’t a movie packed with songs, but one in particular was familiar to me.

This song was “Like Whoa”, performed by Aly & AJ, which played during Virgil, Zeke, and Charlie’s building of their time machine. It was written by Aly and AJ Michalka – who themselves starred in the DCOM Cow Belles (2006) – Antonina Armato, and Tim James. “Like Whoa” was part of Aly & AJ’s second album Insomniatic, released in 2007.

Another song I instantly recognised as being performed by Corbin Bleu, although I had not heard the song before, was “Run It Back Again”, which can be heard during the montage of the Minutemen helping students and being investigated by the FBI. “Run It Back Again” was written by Matthew Gerrard and Robbie Nevil. The music video features clips from Minutemen. It is also a track on Radio Disney Jams, Vol. 10, released in January 2008.

At the party that Virgil attends with Derek and Stephanie, I believe the song “Thinking About It…Baby” is playing, which was written and performed by Salme Dahlstrom. At the school dance, there is also a song that sounds a bit like “Johnny B. Goode” being played by the school band. When Stephanie and Virgil dance later, there is a different song playing. These seem to just be riffs on 1950s songs, since that is the theme of the school dance, and it’s a small reference to Back to the Future, and its setting of 1955. There is no information on these songs and they are not credited.

One final song to mention that is also not credited is the music that is playing during the End Credits. This is a mini-blooper scene that turns into a dance party with all the cast and crew. All I know is that the song goes “put your hands up, put your hands up, put your ha-ha-ha-ha-hands up”. I tried to search for it, tried Shazam, but it doesn’t exist apparently.

Nathan Wang is credited as the composer for Minutemen. Wang has composed the music for other DCOMs including Hatching Pete (2009); Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior (2006); and Christmas…Again? (2021), amongst many other non-Disney projects.

PRODUCTION

Science fiction is a common genre in entertainment, both on-screen and off.

On-screen, some of the most popular science fiction franchises have involved space travel, such as Star Wars and Star Trek. Although space travel is advancing, we are not yet living in a world that looks anything like those in science fiction films. However, others in this genre have become less science fiction and more “science fact”.

Some science fiction movies that have been focused on getting the science right include Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar (2014), whose plot has a basis in theoretical physics, and Ridley Scott’s The Martian (2015), which follows an astronaut’s attempts to survive on Mars[1]. A movie that comes somewhere in between science fiction and “science fact” is Back to the Future, one of the most popular science fiction franchises ever, in itself an inspiration to other science fiction films. Minutemen takes some ideas from this movie in its own exploration into time travel.

For fans of Back to the Future, there are many subtle references within Minutemen, aside from the time travelling storyline. One is that Charlie has named his pet, in this case a cat, after Einstein, and Doc Brown did the same with his dog in Back to the Future. Jeanette can also be seen at one point looking at the school newspaper, which changes its headlines as soon as the Minutemen have changed the past; this is something that happens in Back to the Future. You might also notice that Virgil’s last name, “Fox”, the same as that of Marty McFly actor Michael J. Fox, and that Vice Principal Tolkan is named after actor James Tolkan, who played Principal Strickland in the movie. A big mention of the movie comes in the fact that the boys named their club, the “Back to the Future Fan Club”. Obviously, they knew that they were re-enacting the movie in real-life.

I could go into detail about the never-ending problems with the scientific inaccuracies and plot holes that exist within Minutemen and Back to the Future that others have somehow had time to find. I’m not going to do that, because I don’t really care about accuracy in movies like this, because there is too much still to be discovered in the world of science. I will instead mention just one.

Time travel is not currently physically possible, however, theoretically, it has been discussed with many possible outcomes. For example, one theory that neither Back to the Future nor Minutemen manage to follow is the “grandfather paradox”. The example used to explain it says that if a time traveller went back in time and killed his grandfather before he could have children, then this would mean the time traveller never existed, so couldn’t actually go back in time to do that. In Minutemen, the boys go back in time to fix issues and return to the present to find that it’s like they never happened. This goes against the grandfather paradox. This theory led to the belief that travelling backwards in time was not possible, and has caused many viewers of movies like this to comment on inaccuracy.

But there have since been discussions, including theories from Stephen Hawking, that debate whether it is possible to travel back in time, at least to an earlier point in time that you’ve already been to. This would mean that Minutemen could work, however, this relies on the fact that things would be unalterable in that past timeline – which Minutemen does not stick to. Alternatively, there is a lot of discussion about quantum physics and parallel timelines, which are too complicated for me to understand[2]. All I know is that parallel timelines are explored in Back to the Future, specifically Back to the Future Part II.

My point here is that Minutemen took a lot of influence from Back to the Future, and in doing so, it took some of Back to the Future’s scientific inaccuracies and made them their own. However, that does not mean that Minutemen doesn’t have a good story, because it does, and it was good for Disney Channel to create a science fiction-based movie. Science fiction isn’t a particularly common genre for Disney, with their Zenon trilogy ending in 2004. Minutemen was their first science fiction movie since then, but Zenon takes place in space in the future, not in present day with some elements of science within it, like Minutemen. There wouldn’t be another science fiction-themed DCOM until The Suite Life Movie in 2011.

Minutemen was directed by Lev L. Spiro. After Minutemen, Spiro went on to direct the DCOM Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie (2009) and some episodes of the Disney Channel series Jonas (2009-10). More recently, he has directed some episodes of UnReal (2015-18) and Insatiable (2018-19). The screenplay for Minutemen was written by John Killoran, with David Diamond and David Weissman being credited for the story.

The actors enjoyed working with Spiro during filming on Minutemen, and Spiro in turn enjoyed working with them. It seemed like a fun, creative atmosphere on set. One area where this was clear was in the stunts. Minutemen is not a high action thriller, however, there were still moments of stunt work, and the actors got to do quite a lot of it. Jason Dolley, Luke Benward, and Nicholas Braun ended up doing lots of jumps and dives to film the shots of them going into and coming out of the time travel vortex. They also did some work on wires for their characters spinning through the vortex. Although the vortex doesn’t look particularly realistic, it is worth remembering this is a TV movie from 2008. Benward was also able to drive the “runaway” kart in Charlie’s first scene in the movie.

There is also another actor that should be mentioned here and that is Tennessee the cat, who played Albert Felinestein. Although the cat is not seen all that much in Minutemen, Albert Felinestein was part of a key moment in the movie: the first test of the time travel machine. The cat actually had to be sprayed with something to make it look like it had been frosted up during the time travelling. But don’t worry; the cat was not thrown into the air when the boys throw it into the vortex in the film. A toy cat was used as a “stunt double”.

The coldness aspect of time travelling, which saw the DeLorean freeze during the time travel sequences of Back to the Future, did mean that the boys had to wear big, thick snowsuits. This may’ve been easy to do had this shoot been entirely inside, or shot during winter, but it was not; it was filmed in summer. Dolley, Benward, and Braun had to do a lot of activity in those costumes and did struggle at times in the hot weather[3]!

Minutemen was filmed in August 2007 in Utah, with two schools being used as filming locations: Murray High School, based in Salt Lake Valley; and Highland High School in Salt Lake City. It seems that Murray High School was used as the exterior of Summerton High School, with a giant bronze ram statue being placed outside the school entrance, with “Summerton High School” and “Rams” wording being added to the building. It supposedly confused some registering students; however, the props were removed before school started. Highland High seems to have been the setting for Summerton’s playing field[4].

Utah has been a fairly common filming location for Disney Channel, with others being filmed in Utah including Cloud 9 (2014) and Good Luck Charlie, It’s Christmas! (2011). Murray High School is not even a stranger to Disney Channel, as it was used as the filming location for Read It and Weep (2006) and the High School Musical trilogy (2006-08)[5].

RECEPTION

Minutemen premiered on Disney Channel on 25^th January 2008 in the US.

It reportedly reached around 6.5 million viewers on its premiere. This is about average for a Disney Channel Original Movie release for the time, potentially slightly above average. The DCOMs with the best viewing figures tended to be the musicals, or the ones with the biggest Disney Channel stars. Although Minutemen features a lot of Disney stars as we now know them, at the time, none of the main actors had been in many Disney projects before, so Disney Channel didn’t have that to market the movie fully. Although I’m from the UK and not the US, I don’t remember Minutemen being heavily advertised on the channel, however, the other two releases of 2008, Camp Rock, and The Cheetah Girls: One World, were. It is worth noting though that in the US, Minutemen actually had slightly more viewers than the third Cheetah Girls movie, which had viewership of around 6.2. million. I also think Minutemen fared quite well for a January movie release. DCOMs released over the summer or towards Halloween I always felt were the most exciting ones.

Looking at audience reviews, I was surprised to find so many positive ones for Minutemen. That’s not to say I think it deserves more negative reviews, because it doesn’t, but just that many reviews of DCOMs tend to be overly critical. In Minutemen’s case, many felt that the storyline was fun and smart, with better-than-expected acting. I would definitely agree with this statement. Many liked the references to Back to the Future that are peppered throughout Minutemen. It was also appreciated that this is a DCOM that is centred on three teenage boys, and outcasts at that. Many other DCOMs do not do this, although Disney Channel were clearly trying to appeal to this demographic during the 2000s, as you can see with movies like Jump In! (2007) and Hatching Pete (2009).

However, Minutemen did not escape any negative reviews, as no film ever can. Some said that Minutemen was “forgettable”. To be fair, in amongst all the other DCOMs that have been released, I would say that Minutemen has been forgotten by many Disney Channel fans, unless they happened to have watched it enough times at a younger age to make it a favourite. But the reason it may have been forgotten isn’t because the movie is low-quality; it’s because the DCOM world has been saturated with musicals. Others were quick to point out the inaccuracy of the time travelling within Minutemen, and there were some comments about how the black hole and “end of the world” scenario was a little bit overdone, especially with the four-hour time limit to fix everything. Four hours is a random amount of time for something as cataclysmic as a black hole consuming the world – or was it just the US? – but I didn’t think it was excessively dramatic.

Personally, I think Minutemen is a better-than-average DCOM, with a different type of story and pretty good acting. It’s certainly not anywhere close to being one of the worst DCOMs I’ve seen.

LEGACY

Unlike Back to the Future, which spanned two sequels, merchandise, a TV series, and a fandom that are extraordinarily loyal, Minutemen didn’t get that.

Minutemen instead may even get confused with The Minutemen characters from the DC comic book series Watchmen. Minutemen are also the name of characters in other comic books, including those from Marvel. Minutemen, or Minuteman, has also been used as the name of different organisations or groups in the US over the years, including in the American Revolutionary War. This term generally refers to rapid deployment of people.

One good thing to come out of Minutemen was the careers of its stars, with the four main actors having multiple Disney credits. Jason Dolley mentioned during a 2020 video he appeared in on Christy Carlson Romano’s YouTube Channel – the voice of Kim Possible for anyone unfamiliar, as well as Ren Stevens in The Even Stevens (2000-03) – that he was one of the few actors to have been in the most DCOMs with four, joint with Brenda Song. Song has in fact been in five. Although some were quick to point out the inaccuracy in his statement, many actors who have been in more than four DCOMs were in series, such as Raven-Symoné in The Cheetah Girls and Zenon films, and Ashley Tisdale, in the High School Musical and Phineas and Ferb movies. Dolley was in four completely unrelated, standalone DCOMs, as well as two Disney Channel series, which is still impressive. If nothing else, Minutemen was a stepping stone to success for its Disney Channel stars.

Minutemen also went some way in breaking Disney Channel’s reliance on musicals after its High School Musical hype, and finding a way of appealing to boys, instead of only on pre-teen and teenage girls.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Minutemen is not my favourite DCOM, and I didn’t even see it until after its release. I’ve always liked musicals, so I was always excited for those, and I’d also choose to watch DCOMs with actors I already knew. Minutemen wouldn’t be able to meet that second requirement for a few years, but when it did, I went ahead and saw it.

It wasn’t a particularly memorable movie experience to be honest, but re-watching this week, I was impressed with it. The storyline covered the scientific background of time travel, as well as the potential homeland security issues that may come with this sort of endeavour, making Minutemen more complex a movie than others that are generally about high school. Minutemen managed to combine the time travel with this aspect.

Minutemen is a movie for the outcasts, once again proving that it’s the ones who no-one imagines anything of who do the things that no-one can imagine.

Alan Turing reportedly said that; I can’t take credit for it.

REFERENCES

[1] Credit: BBC Bitesize, ‘Five times the movies got their science right’, BBC.co.uk/bitesize, October 2022.

[2] Credit: Andrew May, ‘What is the grandfather paradox?’, LiveScience.com, 31^st January 2022.

[3] Credit: Disney Channel, ‘Minutemen 2008 DVD Overview’, Diamond Boy’s Disney DVD Overviews YouTube Channel, 12^th January 2024.

[4] Credit: Jennifer Toomer-Cook, ‘Disney moment for Murray, Highland’, Deseret.com, 3^rd September 2007.

[5] Credit: Jennifer Guzman, ‘Got Disney+? Keep an eye out for these movies filmed in Utah’, KSL.com, 12^th November 2019.

31st Jan 202523rd Jan 2026 by The Disney Purist

Upside-Down Magic (2020)

BACKGROUND

Fantasy novels have always been popular with adults and children alike.

They give people an opportunity to escape from the mundanity or the stress of real life and enter a new world where those problems don’t matter, paling into insignificance when compared to the troubles of mystical lands.

Within the world of fiction, some major fantasy series from the years include Discworld by Terry Pratchett; The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis; Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy; and of course, J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series. But the fantasy world is always open to new writers, and one new novel to hit the shelves in September 2015 was Upside-Down Magic, the first in a series, which Disney optioned straight away.

There have been other occasions when Disney Channel have made movies based on books, such as Read It and Weep (2006), which was based on the novel How My Private, Personal Journal Became a Bestseller by Julia DeVillers, and Twitches (2005), which was based on the T*Witches book series, by H.B. Gilmour and Randi Reisfeld.

Using a novel as a basis for a movie is a good way of introducing books to younger audiences, because, if they enjoyed the film, they may want to read the book it was based on. Or it gives the book’s fanbase a new way of enjoying their series. Since the first book in the Upside-Down Magic series had been published five years prior to the release of the movie, Disney Channel were probably hoping that the readers of the books would be excited by the making of this movie.

I wasn’t expecting much when I watched Upside-Down Magic, and I certainly was not looking forward to it. I thought I’d find it boring and childish, and, since I’d never heard of this film or the book series it is based on, I couldn’t imagine that it was any good. In actual fact, I did quite like Upside-Down Magic, despite not being the target demographic. It was a good mix of fantasy, mystery, and coming-of-age drama, although it missed the mark with others, who felt it resembled a certain series a little too much.

PLOT

Upside-Down Magic begins with the main character, Nory, saying how her mother used to tell her that everyone has their “something”: a talent. Nory’s mother died when she was only seven-years-old. At this age, Nory discovered she had magical talents after turning into a cat one afternoon just by looking at it through a window.

Six years later, Nory is preparing to go to Sage Academy to learn all about magic. She is luckily going with her best friend Reina, who has fire magic. Nory is incredibly excited about going to Sage Academy, but Reina is nervous about it. Nory tells her it’s all going to be great and that Reina’s magic is amazing. Nory, on the other hand, struggles to control her magic and shapeshifts into strange hybrid animals.

Nory and Reina go to the bus stop to get to their new boarding school. Many other magical kids are waiting too. Here, we learn that Nory’s mother was a student at Sage Academy. Suddenly, a random guy comes out of the bushes and sends the parents away, saying he is there to take the children to the school. Because that’s not weird at all when you’re going to magic school, I guess. The grumpy guy escorts the kids through the forest, telling them not to use magic on the way. Soon, they arrive at a mess of twisted branches with a hole in the middle. This is apparently the entrance to the school, but there seems to be nothing beyond it. The moody guide walks through the gap – and disappears. Nory and Reina hold hands, take a deep breath, and step through too, arriving at a beautiful school.

At Orientation, the children meet their headmistress, Ms. Knightslinger. She tells them that Sage Academy consists of five different “schools” based on different types of magic: “Fuzzies” are those who can communicate with animals; “Flickers” are those with telekinesis; “Flares” have fire magic; “Flyers” can fly, of course; and “Fluxers” transform into animals. Each one of them must go through a placement test to see if they are talented enough to be placed into the Honours Programme for their type of magic.

For the Flares, students must light a candle from six feet away. The Fuzzies must answer questions about a dog. Flickers have to bring a vase towards them. Flyers are instructed to fly three feet in the air, hover, and then land. Fluxers must turn themselves into a tabby cat, hold the form for six seconds, and return to normal. Throughout the placement tests, there are a mixture of performances. For example, in the Flares test, Reina does perfectly but a student called Elliot can only create smoke. In the Flickers’ exam, a girl called Pepper can only push the vase away from her, not bring it to her. In the flying test, a boy called Andres flies up too high and gets stuck on the ceiling. And then, there’s Nory, who transforms into a cat briefly – but then transforms into a cat with dragon wings…

In the quad, each student is given their results on a card. Nory and Reina look at theirs together. Reina has been admitted into the Flares Honours classes, but Nory’s card simply says “UDM”. As the other students head off to get their uniform, Nory is pointed towards the forest and follows the signs to “UDM”. Her new “school” is situated in an underground cave and is led by the grumpy man who took them to the school, Mr. Skriff. He is both the school’s groundskeeper and the teacher of the UDM programme. Nory sees she is joined by Elliot, Pepper, and Andres. Mr. Skriff tells them that these four are here because they have what is called “upside-down magic”, basically meaning their magic is defective so there is no place for them at Sage Academy as they cannot do magic “the Sage Way”. In the UDM programme, they will not be learning magic, but will be doing real school work or other tasks around the grounds as they wait for their magic to disappear.

As Nory protests against this, Ms. Knightslinger arrives to tell them that they are unteachable and their magic is of no use to the world. Nory asks why they can’t be given a chance to correct their magic. Ms. Knightslinger tells them about a former Flares student called Reginald from Sage Academy in 1939. He had upside-down magic and was soon a target of “Shadow Magic”, a type of magic that consumes someone and is difficult to defeat because of its darkness. Ms. Knightslinger says that those with upside-down magic are the targets for Shadow Magic, so they are separated from the others to both protect the world and themselves from this possibility. Nory is devastated.

Meanwhile, Reina in Honours Flares class is told that she must continue to be great or risk being demoted to Basic Flares class. Her teacher, Professor Argon, also tells the class about Founders’ Day, where the best student from each magical school is given the opportunity to present their magic at a ceremony. To decide who that is, the two top students from each school of magic compete against each other in the Sage Match. Reina is nervous, especially without Nory there to boost her confidence, but gives her first lesson a go: popping corn. Reina does well, until she hears a scoff from a kid in her class, which distracts her so she then burns the corn. Professor Argon warns her she’ll need to do better than that.

Nory is sad to be separated from Reina, especially as she learns that the UDM students have to clean the school with Mr. Skriff. As Nory is sweeping, she stumbles upon a Fluxer lesson, where she hears about the Sage Match and Founders’ Day. Nory is determined to fix her magic by the day of the Sage Match, so she walks into the Fluxer lesson and tries to transform herself into a cat. It doesn’t work and she instead becomes a strange mix of an elephant and a bird. Mr. Skriff rushes over to calm Nory down so she can turn back to normal. He escorts her away, reiterating that the rules are there to protect her.

Throughout the days that follow, the UDM students learn that they are being segregated from the other students, so Nory and Reina cannot talk often. Reina continues to struggle with the pressure of the Flares programme, whilst Nory, with help from her fellow UDM classmates, tries to control her magic in secret, ready for the Sage Match. After a particularly difficult class for Reina, she bumps into a girl who tells her that she is much more powerful than Philip, the top student in Reina’s class. This girl is called Chandra who tells Reina to come find her if she wants help harnessing her power. Hmm, how cryptic… Nory then gets to talk to Reina briefly, where they both lie that they are having a great time at Sage Academy. Reina later heads to the library where a book on Shadow Magic appears to her. Scared by this book, which seems to follow her, Reina runs away. But the book appears in her room later that day, as she practises her corn popping. The book automatically opens to a page called “Manifesting Your Untapped Power”. Before Reina knows what’s happening, the Shadow Magic engulfs her.

At the Sage Match the next day, Reina easily beats Philip in the Flares test and is the winner; she will now get to present her magic at Founders’ Day. Now, it’s Nory’s turn, who has gate-crashed the event. Nory seems to be doing well turning herself into a cat, but she struggles to keep the form and morphs into a mix of a cat and dragon, a “dritten”, once again. Reina tries to make a “sparkle fireball”, Nory’s favourite type of magic, to calm her, but something goes wrong and the fireball strikes Nory. She falls and returns to normal. Reina apologises to Nory for hurting her, not knowing why her magic seems so strong.

Mr. Skriff and the UDM students arrive at the Sage Match to get Nory back to class. Ms. Knightslinger threatens Mr. Skriff with dismissal from his job if he can’t control his students, saying the UDM class is now banned from attending Founders’ Day. Annoyed at his mistreatment by the headmistress, Mr. Skriff tells the kids that he is just like them. He is a Fuzzy, but instead of talking to animals, he can only sing to them. He no longer wants to be a part of the UDM programme, as it makes kids feel bad for being different, so Mr. Skriff vows to teach them how to do magic the “UDM Way”, not the “Sage Way. But before doing this, Nory goes to Reina to talk to her about her uncontrollable magic. The Shadow Magic reappears to Reina in her room, and she tells Nory to leave. Hurt, she does and throws herself into UDM lessons.

During these lessons, Mr. Skriff helps Nory by getting her to visualise different hybrid animals and tells her to make them into topiaries. Now, she’ll be able to morph into any strange creature she wants. For Andres and his flying, Mr. Skriff ties a hosepipe to him to see how high he can fly. He can fly above the treetops, but the real issue is how quickly he launches off the ground; this is something Andres learns to control. Pepper is taught how to use her “push” ability by clearing leaves from the forest, whilst Elliot’s smoke power comes in handy for getting rid of bees’ nests.

The night before Founders’ Day, Reina is annoyed that Chandra has turned up again, telling her about the wonders of Shadow Magic. She shouts at Chandra to leave her alone, which concerns the other Flares who think Reina is talking to herself as they cannot see anyone near her. Reina runs into the school but Chandra follows her, telling her that she is even more powerful than Reginald, the previous Sage student who gave in to Shadow Magic. Reina accepts the magic just as Nory comes in to the room. Nory tells Mr. Skriff about Reina and they decide the Shadow Magic is waiting until the right moment; it’s waiting until Founders’ Day so it can cause the most amount of chaos.

At Founders’ Day, sure enough, during the presentation of the talents, Reina starts to create a fireball, which consumes her and becomes a huge shadow figure. Ms. Knightslinger is horrified to find that a student with “normal” magic could’ve been taken in by Shadow Magic. The Sage students are ordered by their teachers to collectively use their magic to stop it. The Flares try launching fireballs at it; the Fuzzies get birds to attack; the Fluxers are…useless, turning into farmyard animals and cats; the Flyers cannot launch off the ground; and the Flickers manage to tear the shadow figure into four, making it worse.

The UDM kids then burst in to the ceremony to use their magic instead. Pepper uses her “push” ability to push the four shadow figures back into one. Elliot then uses his smoke ability and Andres flies up to it. These two abilities confuse the shadow who begins to twist as it tries to catch Andres. Nory then transforms into her “dritten”, the cat-dragon hybrid, and flies around, twisting the shadow further and making it fall to the ground. The Flare students are about to launch a fireball to destroy the shadow, but Nory shields the shadow. Mr. Skriff tells the teachers to remember that the shadow is still Reina. Nory is given the chance to plead with Reina to fight the Shadow Magic. Reina begins to form her sparkle fireball, pushing against the force of the Shadow Magic. She manages to create and launch it, destroying the shadow once and for all. Reina is alright and her and Nory reunite.

After this event, Sage Academy has learnt to accept UDM kids, discontinuing the programme and letting them join normal lessons with the other students, meaning that Nory, Pepper, Elliot, and Andres are accepted for their different abilities in their respective schools at last. Mr. Skriff has even become a teacher for the Fuzzies. There is no “Sage Way” anymore. But there is one final thing. The Shadow Book is revealed to still be in the library, showing that it still remains. Will any student be safe from it?

CHARACTERS & CAST

Nory is the main character of Upside-Down Magic, being a Fluxer at Sage Academy, as she can transform into animals. However, she knows before she even gets to school that her magic is not quite right, as her animal transformations are not regular animals. Because of this she is labelled as having “upside-down magic”. All Nory wants to do is to be accepted at Sage Academy so she does everything in her power to fix her magic, but it doesn’t work. Those with “upside-down magic” can never be “normal”; they have to accept that and work on the type of magic they do have. Nory is a very upbeat, optimistic character, who doesn’t wallow in self-pity when she learns the school of her dreams wants her to lose her magic forever. Instead, Nory gets the other UDM kids to believe that they are worthy of the school and their magic, and that together, they can prove they are valuable.

Izabela Rose was cast as Nory, this being her breakout role. Rose was later cast as Quinn in The Curious Case of Dolphin Bay (2022), which is sort of a DCOM, sort of not, as it was another co-production with Disney Channel. After Upside-Down Magic, Rose also appeared as Young Jess in the Disney Channel series Secrets of Sulphur Springs (2021-23).

Reina is Nory’s best friend and she is part of the Honours Flares programme at Sage Academy. Reina is nowhere near as confident as Nory, needing Nory to boost her self-esteem before they even get to Sage Academy. Reina had nothing to worry about though as her fire magic is considered to be one of the best. However, without Nory, Reina lets self-doubt and other students’ abilities get in her head so she starts to struggle in her classes. That is why she becomes a target for Shadow Magic, because she thinks she needs it to be great and the Shadow Magic is only too happy to make Reina think that. Thanks to Nory, Reina manages to fight against the Shadow Magic. Hopefully after that event, Reina has learnt to have more self-confidence because it’s not Nory’s job to talk her up every day.

Reina was played by Siena Agudong. Agudong had previously appeared in the recurring role of Natlee in the Nickelodeon series Nicky, Ricky, Dicky & Dawn (2014-18), as well as playing the title character of Nick in the Netflix series No Good Nick (2019). After Upside-Down Magic, Agudong went on to appear as Young Billie Wesker in the Netflix series Resident Evil (2022) and as Melody in The 4:30 Movie (2024).

Elliot is another Flare, like Reina, except he has never been able to conjure fire. Instead, Elliot only conjures smoke, which is seen as completely useless to the Sage teachers. Elliot is the joker of the UDM class; despite clearly not liking the fact he has been confined to a basement for his schooling at Sage Academy. Like the other UDM students, Elliot learns that making smoke can have its uses. Elliot was played by Elie Samouhi, who had previously played Chewy in the Netflix series Team Kaylie (2019-20) and was also cast as Rodney in Season 3 of Disney Channel’s Bizaardvark (2016-19).

Pepper is a Flicker, except she can’t use her powers to bring anything towards her, only away from her. To be honest, although I understand how this doesn’t fit the “Sage Way”, I don’t quite understand why anyone with telekinesis would only want to bring things towards them. Surely, the Flickers should be able to both push and pull things? I also didn’t even realise this was a problem during Pepper’s placement test. I thought she just lacked discipline and decided to throw the vase at the teachers in protest against the discriminatory aspect of the placement test. Obviously not! Pepper is still the rebellious one in UDM class though. She was played by Alison Fernandez, who had previously played Lucy Mills in Season 7 of the ABC series Once Upon a Time (2011-18). She also appeared in the Netflix Team Kaylie (2019-20) as the character Amber.

The final UDM student to mention is Andres who is a Flyer, however, he has become so scared of his flying abilities, that he can’t control, that he wears a backpack filled with bricks to keep him on the ground at all times. Thanks to Mr. Skriff, Andres does manage to control this and should be seen as superior to the other flyers who can’t fly anywhere near as high. Andres is quite shy at the start of Upside-Down Magic, not wanting to talk to Nory when she tries to on their walk to the school at the start of the film, but comes out of his shell as he gets to know the UDM students. Max Torina was cast as Andres, who appeared as Ramon in the Disney Channel series Raven’s Home (2017-23).

Chandra, the personification of Shadow Magic, lurks the halls of Sage Academy, looking for opportunities to talk to Reina. The Shadow Magic has obviously picked Reina for her strong magical ability and lack of confidence, making her the prime target. Chandra is a necessary character, as Reina is not making friends at Sage Academy. If Chandra can make Reina feel like she is a valuable asset to the school, Chandra will be able to talk her round to accepting the Shadow Magic. Sure enough, this scheme works. Chandra was played byYasmeen Fletcher, who had previously appeared as Kaitlin in the Disney Channel series Andi Mack (2017-19). After Upside-Down Magic, Fletcher was cast as Nakia Bahadir in the Disney+ and Marvel series Ms. Marvel (2022).

Now to the teachers. Mr. Skriff is the groundskeeper and teacher of the UDM programme. Mr. Skriff isn’t a happy teacher, being very matter-of-fact with his role at the school and the fact that UDM kids are not “wanted” there. This is because Mr. Skriff knows this all too well, having been a UDM student himself, but being allowed to work at the school after the UDM programme finished for him. Mr. Skriff did not allow his “Fuzzy” powers to disappear either, practising them in secret. He turns out to be a really great teacher, after he decides to go against Sage Academy’s rules and help out the UDM kids, as his teachings allow the Shadow Magic to be defeated once more. Kyle Howard was cast as Mr. Skriff. Prior to his role in Upside-Down Magic, Howard had previously starredas Oliver Weston in the sitcom Your Family or Mine (2015), as well as being cast as Dr. Paul Van Dyke in the comedy drama Royal Pains (2009-16).

Ms. Knightslinger is the strict headmistress of Sage Academy. She is quite harsh on the UDM students when she is informing them that they are a danger to the world; that they must not practise their magic so that they will cease to be special; and will have to go off into the real world and have normal lives. You’d think you’d want to let the UDM students know about this is a gentle way, but no, Ms. Knightslinger would rather just escort them off the grounds straight away, but with their magic still being “upside-down”, she has to allow them to stay there for the time being. Luckily, after the UDM class take down the Shadow Magic, Ms. Knightslinger comes to her senses and shuts down the UDM programme, making Sage Academy an inclusive place. Ms. Knightslinger was played by Vicki Lewis, who has some history with Disney, having played Dina Reams in the DCOM Den Brother (2010), as well as appearing as Ms. Bitterman in a few episodes of the Disney Channel series Sonny with a Chance (2009-11). Lewis is also the voice of Deb in Finding Nemo (2003) and its sequel Finding Dory (2016).

Finally, we see two other teachers in Upside-Down Magic. One is the Fluxer teacher, Professor Han. Nory walks in on Professor Han’s lesson and tries to get involved, but it all goes terribly wrong. Professor Han seems scared by Nory’s hybrid animals and does nothing to try and calm her down. Professor Han does seem like a kind teacher though, unlike Reina’s teacher, Professor Argon, who is incredibly strict and hard on Reina. The way she talks during those corn popping lessons you’d think Reina was about to be demoted to the Basic Flares programme, but instead, she is picked as the second-best student in the Honours programme. Maybe it’s one of those teacher things where they see you have potential and decide to be very hard on you to make you achieve it, which could go either way depending on the student you’re talking to.

Professor Han was played by Elaine Hao who appeared as Anne Roche in Seasons 2 and 3 of Snowpiercer (2020-24). Professor Argon was played by Cynthia Kaye McWilliams who plays Cathy Montgomery in the dark comedy series Average Joe (2023-present). She had previously been cast in the recurring role of Kacee Franklin in Seasons 1 and 2 of Prison Break (2005-17), and as Trina Shaw in Real Husbands of Hollywood (2013-22).

MUSIC

Upside-Down Magic is not a musical, therefore, the score is heavily relied on to get across moments of wonder and hope, like during the scenes of Reina and Nory’s arrival at Sage Academy; times of mystery, such as those around the Shadow Magic; and in scenes of peril, for example the big Founders’ Day showdown scene with Reina and her Shadow Magic.

For me, I found the piece of music at this point the best in the whole film, particularly the moment when the UDM student make their grand entrance into the Founders’ Day ceremony and are the ones to defeat the Shadow Magic. This track is named “Shadow Magic Showdown”. The entire score is available on the Upside-Down Magic official soundtrack, which was released on 23^rd October 2020.

The score was composed by British composer Tom Howe. Howe is the composer on the popular AppleTV+ series Ted Lasso (2021-present) and has also collaborated with Aardman Animations on the music for a couple of their movies, including A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon (2019), and Early Man (2018) with Harry Gregson-Williams. Howe is also the one behind the theme music for The Great British Bake-Off (2010-present).

There was a song that apparently followed the End Credits; however, this is not the case on Disney+. The End Credits simply use a track from the score, so I’m guessing this song only appeared during Disney Channel airings of the movie. It was a cover of the song “Everything’s Magic” by Angels & Airwaves, released in September 2007. It peaked at No. 11 on Billboard’s US Hot Modern Rock Tracks. For Upside-Down Magic, the main cast, Izabela Rosa, Siena Agudong, Alison Fernandez, Max Torina, and Elie Samouhi, all appeared in a music video for this song. This music video was uploaded to the DisneyMusicVEVO YouTube Channel on 31^st July 2020, the date of the movie’s premiere. To be honest, after hearing the Angels & Airwaves original version, I much preferred that to the Disney cover of the song; it’s a much more polished performance, but it looks like the cast had fun anyway.

Then, we get to Mr. Skriff’s weird animal songs that come out of nowhere, very loudly and very abruptly. I would say it’s strange but then this is a Disney film; they’ve built a legacy on film characters singing to animals! He sings the first one when he proves to the UDM students that he is one of them, with the animals only coming to him or doing what he says when he sings to them; they don’t do anything if he just talks. Mr. Skriff sings again when Elliot cannot use his smoke powers quickly enough to smoke out the bees from their nest; Skriff sings to the bees to stop them wanting to stinging them and to apologise for ruining their home. Mr. Skriff launches into a quick song during the final scene too, as Nory explains that Mr. Skriff has become a teacher to the Fuzzies. Jeannie Lurie is credited as the creator of the original songs, so I’m assuming this applies to Mr. Skriff’s songs. Lurie has written songs for other DCOMs and Disney productions including some songs within Hannah Montana (2006-11), including “True Friend”; the song “Fearless” in Girl vs. Monster (2012); “You’re My Favourite Song” in Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam (2010); and “Something About the Sunshine” in StarStruck (2010).

The only other song to mention is The DNC’s song “Upside Down”. A brief excerpt is first heard as the movie title is revealed on screen. It returns for the montage of the UDM students perfecting their magic their way.

PRODUCTION

The production for Upside-Down Magic, alongside its cast and crew members, was announced around August 2019, though Disney had optioned the first Upside-Down Magic story for development in 2015. The first book was published in September 2015[1].

Since that first story, the Upside-Down Magic series has spanned eight books, with seven being published by the time the DCOM premiered, becoming a New York Times bestselling series. The books were co-authored by Sarah Mlynowski, Lauren Myracle, and Emily Jenkins. All three had co-authored the Young Adult book How to Be Bad, published in 2008, prior to writing Upside-Down Magic[2]. The Upside-Down Magic series centres on a collection of kids who have magical powers that go awry quite often whilst at school because their magic is “wonky”. They are put in the “Upside-Down Magic” class.

Upside-Down Magic the movie, was filmed in Vancouver during the summer of 2019, with one of the filming locations being Shawnigan Lake School, a boarding school on Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, Canada. Many of the campus buildings were turned into Sage Academy for the movie, including their chapel, library, and quad, as well as other school buildings. There were even opportunities for some of the actual school’s students to be extras in the film[3].

The rest of Upside-Down Magic’s scenes mostly take place in the forest surrounding Sage Academy, as this is where the UDM class is based. Director Joe Nussbaum said that they wanted to embrace the organic nature of magic, so most of their magic is based on the elements such as fire for the Flares, air for the Flyers and Flickers, and animals for the Fuzzies and Fluxers. The production designer on the movie, Bill Boes, stated that to match this specification, they could only use natural materials such as bark and wood, and there would be no metals or stainless steel in the production. As a contrast between the elite of Sage Academy, and the wonkiness of the Upside-Down Magic class, Sage Academy has clean, organised, bright classrooms, whereas UDM is housed in an industrial-looking, underground basement in the forest.

Joe Nussbaum has directed other teen and tween-centric movies such as Sydney White (2007), which starred Amanda Bynes; Sleepover (2004); and the Disney movie Prom (2011). Nussbaum was also one of the executive producers on the Disney Channel series Gabby Duran & the Unsittables (2019-21). He is credited as an executive producer on Upside-Down Magic too, alongside Susan Cartsonis and Suzanne Farwell. Farwell had previously worked with Nancy Meyers on some of her movies, including The Parent Trap (1998); The Holiday (2006); and It’s Complicated (2009) before starting up the production company Resonate Entertainment alongside Cartsonis[4].

The DCOM Upside-Down Magic was written by Nick Pustay and Josh Cagan. Pustay had written the screenplay for Ramona and Beezus (2010) with Laurie Craig prior to his work on Upside-Down Magic. Josh Cagan had written the screenplay for the teen comedy movie The DUFF (2015) and co-written the live-action DCOM Kim Possible (2019). He went on to work on the DCOMs Spin (2021) and Under Wraps 2 (2022).

Upside-Down Magic features more Special Effects than most television movies because of all the magic effects. The actors liked working with the Special Effects team on their characters’ magical abilities, being given sketches and help from the stunt co-ordinators to tell them what was meant to be going on during the scenes, because, in most cases, they weren’t going to be seeing any of these effects in person, although Max Torina did have to be hoisted up by cranes as part of Andres’ flying ability, and Siena Agudong had wires through her clothes and tapes on her hands to produce Reina’s fire magic[5].

RECEPTION

A teaser of Upside-Down Magic was first shown during the premiere of ZOMBIES 2 on Disney Channel on 14^th February 2020. It was going to be their next DCOM release after all, so excitement had to build. A full trailer was later released on 18^th June 2020, announcing that Upside-Down Magic would premiere on Disney Channel on 31^st July 2020.

On its premiere date in the US, Upside-Down Magic is said to have drawn in around 1.3 million viewers. When you consider that High School Musical 2 (2007) got 17.2 million viewers on its debut, remaining the top most-watched DCOM of all time, this looks quite bad for Upside-Down Magic. It certainly sounds negative in comparison, but Disney Channel Original Movies have struggled to reach anything close to those numbers since 2017, when Descendants 2 was released. The top viewed DCOM of 2020 was ZOMBIES 2, with 2.5 million viewers, so compared to that, Upside-Down Magic did not do badly.

Anyway, views aren’t everything, although reviews were mixed for Upside-Down Magic too. On the positive side, some viewers liked the overall message of the movie, about being yourself and not underestimating people, and said the movie had better than expected special effects. The general consensus is Upside-Down Magic is a good movie for children, especially those unfamiliar with Harry Potter.

Anyone who was familiar with Harry Potter though seemed to hate Upside-Down Magic, with the term “rip-off” being used. Although Reina and Nory’s characters were mostly enjoyed, the other characters, both students and teachers, were seen to be quite one-dimensional, with the teachers just being mean and the UDM kids being stereotypical. I don’t agree with that statement particularly, although so much of the story was focused on Nory and Reina that the UDM kids didn’t get much screen-time in total, so we learnt less about them. The teachers were quite cruel to be fair and with little reason why.

But the biggest complaint was just how much Disney had changed the source material when making their film. For one thing, the characters in the original stories attend Upside-Down Magic classes at Dunwiddle Magic School, not Sage Academy. In book seven, released just before the movie, it seems that the characters of the book move to Sage Academy. Whether this was the authors adjusting their story to fit Disney Channel’s movie plot, or if it was Disney getting information about the seventh book prior to writing their screenplay, I don’t know. Another change is that Elliot does not produce smoke when he attempts to conjure fire in the book, but instead makes the fire freeze. Flickers turn objects invisible, and don’t have telekinesis. Pepper in the book is also not a Flicker; she is a Fierce, where animals are scared of her. Other UDM students were omitted from the movie. That is usually necessary in any book-to-film adaptation. Mr. Skriff replaced the character of Ms. Starr, who was Nory’s teacher in the book. Reina was original to the movie[6].

Basing something on known source material is usually a lose-lose situation for anybody, as you’ll get complaints if you stray too much from source material; if you stick too closely to it; or if you cut too much out of it. Having said that, although I have not read the books, looking at the number of changes that were made, I can kind of understand what the readers might have been upset about.

LEGACY

The ending of Upside-Down Magic left the movie open for a sequel, as the Shadow Magic book came back, showing it could target another student.

However, there has not been any talk of a sequel coming from Disney Channel. Some fans have said that they would like an Upside-Down Magic 2, but it’s already been five years since the first movie was released, so it’s looking less and less likely that there will be one. It’s possible this was due to the negative reviews that the movie received, especially those concerning the differences between the DCOM and the book series.

This isn’t the first time a DCOM has suggested a sequel movie that has never come. Just two examples of this are Girl vs. Monster (2012) and Secret Society of Second-Born Royals (2020). For whatever reason, these two movies did not lead to sequels. Upside-Down Magic was not the first DCOM to have an open ending and it won’t be the last. Disney Channel could theoretically revive any of these potential movie franchises, but given the amount of time that has passed, they’d either have to re-cast all the characters or set it however many years in the future, with these kids now being adults. If you liked the movie of Upside-Down Magic but hadn’t read the books though, there are eight of those to enjoy, with seemingly the final book in the series being published in 2021.

One other thing to come out of Upside-Down Magic was the game Magic My Way, which launched on the DisneyNOW app. In the game, you could play mini games based on each of the five magic schools in Sage Academy. The app was discontinued in September 2024; however, the website is still available. DisneyNOW has clips, movies, and full episodes of programming from the channels Disney Channel, Disney Jr., and Disney XD on its website still, even with Disney+ being around.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I had never heard of Upside-Down Magic before this week, and I surprised myself by quite liking it. The story wasn’t particularly unique, I’ll accept that, and even I managed to guess who was going to be the one to succumb to Shadow Magic, which is saying something because normally I’m too absorbed in films to guess ahead, but again, I didn’t care that it was predictable. I think what I liked was the familiarity of the story and setting.

And yet, Upside-Down Magic opened itself up to negative comparisons between it and the Harry Potter movie franchise that couldn’t be shaken. The Harry Potter books continue to be loved and cherished by readers, and the film franchise opened the world of Hogwarts up to an even larger audience, with some of these viewers never actually having read a Harry Potter book. I’m a big fan of the Harry Potter movies, but I haven’t read the whole series of books.

Anyway, this isn’t about Harry Potter, but the franchise is a good example of how a movie adaptation of a book can launch the story to new heights. I’m assuming this is what Disney Channel hoped to do with Upside-Down Magic, just on a smaller scale.

Personally, I didn’t even think of Harry Potter whilst I was watching. Upside-Down Magic was more similar to Disney’s Sky High (2005) for me, with the placement tests and one group of students being considered lesser than the others, i.e., the heroes and the sidekicks, but the lesser group coming to save the day against all expectations.

Upside-Down Magic might have hoped to be the Harry Potter of its generation, but it did not happen that way. Despite its message about being true to yourself and not letting anyone tell you you’re aren’t worthy, Upside-Down Magic as a film did not live up to expectations and was not able to differentiate itself in a market full of fantasy series.

That’s the way it goes in the entertainment industry sometimes and proves that making a movie or series based on a well-known novel is just as risky as going with a completely original story.

REFERENCES

[1] Credit: Denise Petski, ‘Disney Channel Sets Cast For ‘Upside-Down Magic’ Movie As Production Begins’, Deadline.com, 19^th August 2019.

[2] Credit: Broome Shearouse, ‘Meet the co-authors of Upside-Down Magic’, OomScholasticBlog.com, 29^th September 2015.

[3] Credit: Shawnigan Lake School, ‘Disney Magic’, Shawnigan.ca, 29^th July 2020.

[4] Credit: Alexandra Whyte, ‘From Nancy Meyers flicks to turning Disney Channel upside down’, KidScreen.com, 20^th July 2020.

[5] Credit: Disney, ‘Inside the Magic I Upside-Down Magic I Disney Channel’, Disney Channel YouTube Channel, 2^nd August 2020.

[6] Credit: Sarah Mlynowski, ‘Upside-Down Magic’, SarahM.com, no date.

17th Jan 202530th Oct 2025 by The Disney Purist

16 Wishes (2010)

BACKGROUND

For some, celebrating a milestone birthday is the best time of their life, something they’ve looked forward to for months, or even years; something they’ve planned down to the tiniest of detail, whether that is a huge party or just a special day.

I’ve never been particularly bothered by birthdays, milestone or not. For me, birthdays are just days where you get presents. I’ll generally plan out what “special” dinner I’m going to have and what film I want to watch in the evening. That’s what my birthday normally consists of.

I haven’t had a birthday “party” since my sixteenth birthday and that wasn’t a party exactly. I went bowling with some friends who then came back to my house to eat pizza and watch Bride Wars (2009), which I’d just got on DVD. I don’t actually remember any of my friends having sixteenth birthday parties, but that year at school in the UK tends to have a lot of coursework and exam focus on it as we take our GCSE exams at that age.

Yet in some countries, including the US, sixteenth birthdays are a big deal, signalling the move from childhood to adulthood. These birthdays have even been dubbed the “Sweet 16”. In some Spanish-speaking countries, they have a quinceañera, a traditional celebration of becoming fifteen. Either way, an extravagant party is generally considered to be the best way to celebrate these milestone events.

This is where the movie 16 Wishes comes in. 16 Wishes is all about having the best Sweet 16 birthday ever, culminating in the best Sweet 16 party ever. It’s all about making sure your day is better than anyone else’s.

Although I didn’t care much about turning sixteen and I was older than sixteen when I first watched 16 Wishes on Disney Channel, I did quite like it at the time. The thought of having all your birthday wishes come true is appealing to most people, young or old, even though some aspects of 16 Wishes are quite shallow and materialistic – but that’s teenagers.

I always thought 16 Wishes was one of the better Disney Channel Original Movies, but watching it back this week, I don’t have that same opinion now. I didn’t like the main character this time, and hadn’t noticed some of her flaws at a younger age. Anyway, 16 Wishes is not even a true DCOM. It was made as a co-production between Disney Channel and other companies, including MarVista Entertainment. More on that later.

PLOT

16 Wishes begins, as you might expect, on Abby Jensen’s sixteenth birthday. She has been excited to turn sixteen for years, even writing a “Sweet 16” wish list of all the things she wants to have on her sixteenth birthday. Abby won’t let anything or anyone get in the way of her perfect day. On the morning of her birthday, despite her parents and her brother, Mike, getting in her face practically the minute she wakes up, Abby’s outlook on the day is positive. She’s got the perfect outfit to wear; spent thirty minutes doing her hair and make-up; and has money saved up to buy an amazing dress for her party that evening.

And yet, something just has to show up to ruin her day: a wasps’ nest is found in the attic. Luckily, an exterminator left their information at the front door earlier that morning – handy – and she arrives quickly, telling the family the infestation should hopefully be dealt with in a matter of days. Days?! But Abby’s birthday is today! The family is barred from entering the house, although the exterminator did manage to “save” Abby’s birthday wish list for her. Abby’s brother Mike manages to get a lift to school with their neighbour across the road, Krista Cook, who has hated Abby for years and tries to make her life a misery at every opportunity. To make it worse, Krista and Abby also have the same birthday and instead of getting wasps for hers like Abby did, Krista gets a fancy new car, a yellow VW Beetle.

Abby is left to get the bus to school, still wearing her pyjamas and slippers, since she didn’t have time to get dressed. Personally, I would’ve put my clothes on before doing my hair… At the bus stop, Abby is met by her best friend, Jay, who gives her a friendship necklace for her birthday. Randomly, as they wait for the bus, a postal service van shows up and a woman who looks very much like the exterminator hands Abby a parcel. Jay doesn’t think Abby should open it, expecting it to be something sinister, but Abby says it’ll just be a birthday present – yeah, because the postal service normally delivers packages to people stood at bus stops – and proceeds to open it. Inside, she finds sixteen birthday candles and some matches from the Lucky Duck, whatever that is. The box reckons they are meant to grant birthday wishes. Getting bored waiting for the bus, Abby lights the first candle.

Randomly again, the tour bus of singer Joey Lockhart, someone Abby has been a fan of for years, shows up at the bus stop. Joey comes out, kisses Abby on the cheek, wishes her a happy birthday, and then leaves looking confused. Abby realises that this first candle corresponds with her birthday wish list, since the first wish on that list was to meet Joey Lockhart. Abby now knows she can make all sixteen of her birthday wishes come true today. She takes a look at her list to find something that could help her right now. Wish #8 should be good. Abby lights Candle #8 and a bright red Mustang appears. Yep, she wished for her own car, and it is being driven by a woman who looks just like the postwoman AND the exterminator. This is Celeste, and she has been tasked with making all Abby’s birthday wishes come true. However, Jay points out that Abby doesn’t have her license yet, so Celeste drives them to school instead.

At school, everyone who was admiring Krista’s car then moves on to admire Abby’s car. Emboldened by this, Abby announces that she will be having an amazing party tonight and invites everyone in the year – she has a wish and a candle to make sure she has the best Sweet 16 party ever, after all. However, Krista and her friends laugh in Abby’s face, reminding Abby that she’s still wearing her pyjamas and slippers. Jay leads her away. Abby heads straight for her gym locker to find some clothes and then realises that she has a wish that can fix this: Wish #2, which promises that she’ll have the best clothes in school. But Abby finds Candle #2 just won’t light and she is soon spotted by a teacher, who confiscates the candles and sends Abby to the guidance counsellor. I guess the teacher is concerned Abby is now a pyromaniac after playing around with all those matches?

Abby then learns that the school guidance counsellor is Celeste, well, today it is anyway! Celeste explains the rules of the magic candles. All the wishes she makes before midnight tonight will be permanent, however she can only light one candle per hour. Celeste hands over the candles and matches, warning Abby to be careful where she lights them, and as a special birthday present, Celeste also gives Abby Krista’s diary to have a read through. Abby does just that and learns that Krista has been out to get her for years, deliberately upstaging Abby at every turn. Well, not any more. Abby goes to the supply closet and lights Candle #2, since it is now a new hour. The closet is magically transformed into a wardrobe and Celeste is on hand to be her personal stylist. Abby goes back out wearing her new clothes. All of Krista’s friends love her new outfit – despite having one handbag that is now “out of style”. Celeste quickly swaps out the bag for a newer one.

At gym class, Abby uses this new handbag to avoid running laps, by handing it over to her teacher as a bribe; the whole class will now play a friendly game of volleyball. But just before she heads out to play, Abby lights Candle #12, so that she can beat Krista at something. Abby suddenly becomes a pro-volleyballer and spikes the ball hard into Krista’s face. Krista is promptly sent to the nurse as Abby is admired for her mad skills. The nurse turns out to be Celeste who tells Krista, after she regains consciousness, to go to the principal’s office. There, Krista is told by the principal that Abby is going to be the new Class President, despite not campaigning for it like Krista had. It turns out Abby was a write-in, so beloved by her class that they couldn’t bear for her not to be their president. I think a magical wish might just be classed as election interference, Abby….

Abby basks in the glow of her newfound school popularity – which happens to be all down to Wish #10 – and the fact she’ll now get free lunch as president. Abby goes to meet Jay who is working on a school project. Abby doesn’t want to do any work though, and tells Jay she’ll just bribe the teacher again. Jay reacts angrily to that, annoyed that Abby has won Class President, this being a secret dream of Jay’s. Abby makes up with Jay by offering to get him some free lunch. That was easy.

Abby then says she needs a new dress for her party, which is being planned by some girls in her year and is going to be huge. But Abby’s party money is at home and she can’t retrieve it. Jay says he’ll lend her some money and that they have a free period next so can go shopping then. The only trouble is how are they going to get there; Abby doesn’t have her license yet so can’t drive them. Well, Wish #7 will solve that. Sure enough, a worker from the DMV shows up and hands Abby her driver’s license; no need for a test!

At the store, Jay unknowingly drops his wallet outside. Krista has followed them there and picked up Jay’s wallet. As Abby tries on dress after dress, Krista heads in and tells the assistant that those two won’t be buying anything. The assistant tells Abby and Jay to leave, as Jay figures out he has lost his wallet and will not be able to pay for anything. Jay rushes outside to look for his wallet, and Abby goes back into the changing room. There, she lights Candle #9, so that people will stop treating her like a kid. Suddenly, Abby is transformed… into a girl with straight hair, because that is what signals “adult” apparently! She asks the assistant where her friend is, who tells her he left with another girl, presumably Krista. Abby is annoyed Jay just left her, but she becomes distracted by the assistant who suddenly wants to help her find some more “age appropriate” clothing. You might think Abby not having any money might be an issue here, but nope, that’s what a charge account is for.

Abby arrives back at school in a whole new wardrobe. She is mistaken for being the new substitute teacher, and discovers that nobody remembers her as the Abby Jensen from their year. Abby is soon picked up from school by her parents, who instantly move her into her new apartment, telling her she is 22 years old today and needs to grow up. Wow, harsh or what! At least wait until the day after her birthday… Her parents have paid the security deposit but it’s up to her to pay the first month’s rent so she’ll need to find a job. Abby is overwhelmed by how badly her last wish has gone wrong and lights Candle #3, a wish about decorating her room the way she wants, to get Celeste to explain what has happened here. Celeste tells Abby that the candles have their own logic and since Abby has no do-over wish on her list, at midnight, this will be her new life. Abby desperately tries to find a way back to her old life and thinks Wish #14 will do the trick: to get her parents to understand her.

She goes over to her parents’ house, to find them living in an RV on the driveway because of the wasps, and tells them the whole sorry story of her day so far, showing them the candles and matches as proof. Her parents are distracted by the matches as they are from the Lucky Duck restaurant that they went to on the night Abby was born. Although her parents understand what Abby is going through, they don’t believe she is actually 16 and tell her she needs to be independent. At a loss as to what to do next, she walks over to her crush, Logan, who is admiring her car. Logan is on his way to Krista’s party across the street. Abby uses this as an opportunity to get Jay to listen to her. She proves their friendship with the necklace he gave her that morning, as Jay has the other half of it. Jay remembers. He looks over her wish list to try and find a solution but all her wishes are pointless and won’t help her. As Abby annoys herself with her stupid wishes, like wishing to like sushi when she’s sixteen, she learns that her brother is a talented guitarist, having his own guitar in this life instead of playing a plastic one in her real one, and that Krista is nice without having Abby to compete with. So, everyone is better off without Abby in their life and she should just get on with her new independent life. That’s the lesson here, isn’t it?

Perhaps it should be, but that’s not the case. Abby sadly heads back to her apartment. Her car runs out of gas, she breaks a heel, and then is splashed by a driver going through a massive puddle. When things look really bleak, Celeste arrives with pizza to cheer her up. Abby takes another look at the list, realising that all of her wishes for clothes, popularity, and cars were a total waste, and that being an adult isn’t as amazing as she thought it would be. Celeste hands Abby Candle #16, and Abby looks at her corresponding wish. It is simply a picture of Logan that she stuck on there with gum that morning. As Abby wishes she could change this wish, she flicks the photo – and it comes off, leaving a blank space. She quickly rummages around her belongings and finds the photo her parents took of her that same morning. She sticks it on the list and lights Candle #16, wishing she could start the day over again, just before midnight.

Abby shows up in her room on the morning of her sixteenth birthday. Instead of shouting at her parents and brother to get out of her space, she tells them she loves them, even giving her brother her party money so that he can buy his own guitar. She also warns her parents about the wasps’ nest, panicked she’s about to relive the whole traumatic day again. But they already knew, and the exterminator is already here. It’s Celeste again, who tells Abby everything is going to be ok now. Abby then screws up her wish list and goes to confront Krista once and for all. On Krista’s driveway, Abby demands to know what she did to start this war between them. It turns out when Abby first arrived in town, she took Jay, Krista’s previous best friend, away from her – on her birthday, no less! Right… that’s incredibly childish; you’d think Krista would’ve got over that by now! Abby apologises and says they should help Jay together. After learning he wanted to be Class President, she asks Krista to join forces with her to ensure Jay is voted in. Since Krista is the only name on the ballot, if she drops out and campaigns for Jay instead, he’ll surely win.

Sure enough, at Krista and Abby’s joint sixteenth birthday party, Jay is celebrated as Class President. Krista also tells Abby she really likes Logan, but doesn’t know how to talk to him. Abby tells her to ask him about his dream car, the Mustang she used to have. Abby and Jay then dance together. Jay admits his feelings for Abby and the two kiss. As the movie ends, Celeste appears as a waitress before disappearing. Her work here is done.

CHARACTERS & CAST

Abby Jensen has never been popular. Although she has her best friend, Jay, it seems like he is her only real friend, so it’s very much them against the world. This isn’t a bad thing, but it’s not enough for Abby. She wants to be popular, but thanks to Krista Cook, she’s never been able to. This is why Abby’s sixteenth birthday is so important to her, because it’s finally going to be the day where she gets everything she wants. To be honest, Abby is kind of annoying through most of 16 Wishes with this attitude. She isn’t very nice to her family, telling them to get out of her room, and takes Jay for granted, expecting him just to go along with whatever she wants. It’s not until Abby’s wish to stop being treated like a kid goes wrong that Abby finds she’s alone, without her best friend. This makes Abby feel incredibly scared and lonely, as many people would after being thrown out of their family home and forced to live on their own. At this point, Abby learns a real lesson: that wishing for materialistic, superficial things is a waste of time and effort, because they never make you truly happy. She also realises that she shouldn’t be in a hurry to grow up, as being an adult comes with its own responsibilities and isn’t as glamorous as it looks. From this point, Abby becomes a more redeemable character, and less like a spoilt brat!

Debby Ryan was cast as Abby. Ryan began her Disney Channel career as Bailey Pickett on The Suite Life on Deck (2008-11), the spin-off and sequel series to The Suite Life of Zack & Cody (2005-08), and then reprised her role in The Suite Life Movie (2011). After this, Ryan continued to feature on Disney Channel by starring in the series Jessie (2011-15). During this time, she was also cast in the leading role of Tara Adams in the DCOM Radio Rebel (2012). Outside of Disney, Ryan’s most famous role is perhaps as Patty Bladell in the controversial Netflix series Insatiable (2018-19). More recently, she voiced the character of Krista in the animated series Velma (2023-24), a spin-off of the Scooby-Doo franchise, and is due to appear in the thriller film Famous, which will star Zac Efron.

Jay is Abby’s best friend, and former best friend of Krista Cook. He clearly has feelings for Abby that she is completely unaware of until the end of the movie. Jay is an incredibly loyal friend to Abby, quickly forgiving her even when she’s being a bit of a self-obsessed jerk. When Abby’s wish goes wrong and she becomes an adult, Jay is friends with Krista instead. I think Jay would’ve been better off in this alternate life; however, Abby makes sure that he can’t be free of her, getting him to remember that morning when he gave her the friendship necklace. He does remember, but can’t actually help, so it was a completely pointless exercise, making him feel guilty for no reason. When Abby gets to do over her birthday, she is a better person, and I’d like to think that her, Krista, and Jay become a trio, as Krista and Abby have supposedly moved on from that childhood event that caused all the animosity between them. This would be the best thing for Jay, I think, because Krista can hopefully balance out Abby’s impulsiveness and Jay’s willingness to go along with her plans. He also got to be Class President thanks to Abby, so I guess she did one good thing for him.

Jay was played by Jean-Luc Bilodeau. One of Bilodeau’s earliest roles was as Josh Trager in the ABC series Kyle XY (2006-09). After 16 Wishes, he then appeared as Jeremy in the movie LOL (2012), which starred Miley Cyrus, and in the television movie Expecting Amish (2014), alongside AJ Michalka. Bilodeau later starred as Ben Wheeler in the sitcom Baby Daddy (2012-17). Most recently, he was cast as Dr. Daniel Kutcher in the sitcom Carol’s Second Act (2019-20), and as Ronnie in the Roku series The Holiday Shift (2023).

Krista Cook is meant to be the typical mean girl who comes from a rich family and is the most popular girl in school. Krista has tried to overshadow all of Abby’s successes throughout her life, by having better parties and sleepovers, for example. It’s worked and that makes Abby jealous of her, but in fact, Krista is jealous of Abby, and that is because Abby “stole” her best friend Jay from her when they were younger. Friendship groups always change throughout school so I think this is a pretty pathetic excuse for Krista’s hatred of Abby. Why did Krista not just keep talking to Jay instead of accepting that her friend was “gone” forever? Abby didn’t even know she’d taken Jay away from Krista so I doubt she was a horrible kid who would’ve banned Jay from talking to Krista ever again. I’m sure if Krista had even had a mature conversation with Jay and Abby about it all as they got closer to the age of sixteen, this could’ve all been resolved. Krista was played by Karissa Tynes, who was cast as Rhonda Blair / Vanessa A. Williams in The Unauthorized Melrose Place Story (2015) for Lifetime, and as Jameson in Season 2 of the drama series UnREAL (2015-18).

Celeste is the magical being who makes all of Abby’s sixteenth birthday wishes come true, though I’m not sure why she chose Abby of all sixteen-year-olds to do this for; it’s never explained. Celeste seems to deliberately make the wasps more active in Abby’s house, leaving her information on the front door, knowing that Abby’s parents would need to contact someone. It’s all a bit dodgy if you ask me. I’d rather not have some strange woman put wasps in my house just to get my birthday wishes to come true, not to mention not wanting to have her follow me around all day, but Abby is quite happy with the situation, as Celeste pops up at random intervals during 16 Wishes, either to help Abby accomplish some of wishes, like being her personal stylist and interior designer, or to make sure Abby understands what is going on with her wishes. Celeste also has to come to Abby’s rescue close to midnight on her sixteenth birthday as Abby has given up hope. Celeste gets Abby to realise that she can change Wish #16 as it’s just a photo, but apparently, isn’t allowed to come out and say it. She probably hoped Abby would figure it out earlier. Talk about leaving it to the last minute! Anna Mae Wills was cast as Celeste. She was cast as Patty in the movie I Love You, Beth Cooper (2009) just before her role in 16 Wishes.

Outside of these four main characters, there are a few others to mention. One is Abby’s brother Mike. Mike is Abby’s younger brother but he isn’t particularly annoying like you’d expect, though he does play a plastic guitar around the house, clearly wanting to buy a real one but not having the money to do so. He even asks Abby for a loan but she refuses, saying this money is for her party dress. I mean, you have lots of money, Abby; do you really need a dress that costs that much? Mike is actually a pretty cool little brother, not bothering her at school, but also not being embarrassed to say Abby is his sister. Maybe that’s why Abby decides, after seeing Mike play a real guitar in her alternate life, that she should give him the money for a guitar; she thinks he’s really talented and should explore that. Cainan Wiebe was cast as Mike. Just before appearing in 16 Wishes, he had been cast as Gareth in the television movie Beyond Sherwood Forest (2009).

Finally, there are Abby’s parents, Bob and Sue. They seem like nice parents, making Abby a birthday cake and a special birthday breakfast, however, all their actions are thrown back in their faces when Abby orders them out of her room on that morning. Later on, we see Bob and Sue in a different light, after Abby accidentally makes herself 22-years-old. They suddenly seem to be quite harsh on her, moving her into her own apartment without talking to her about it first and telling her to “be independent”. It’s apparently because they don’t have enough room for her in the RV that they’re forced to live in because of the wasp infestation. Really, though, it seems like something must have gone on between Abby and her parents that even Abby doesn’t know about because she’s skipped six years of her life. Maybe Abby was sat around watching TV all day, not bothered about getting a job. Although when they pick her up from the school, it seems like a regular annoyance they have to deal with so maybe this Abby never gave up wanting to be sixteen – I can understand how that could be draining for her parents! Anyway, none of that matters because Abby does get back to her real life and has a new appreciation for her parents and her brother.

Bob Jensen was played by Patrick Gilmore. At the time of 16 Wishes, Gilmore was appearing in the recurring role of Dale Volker in Stargate Universe (2009-11). He went on to be cast as David Mailer in the series Travelers (2016-18) and as Mr. Anderson in the Paramount+ series School Spirits (2023-present). Kendall Cross was cast as Sue Jensen. She went on to appear in the recurring role of Major Byrne in The 100 (2014-20).

MUSIC

16 Wishes features eleven songs. All tracks are on the 16 Wishes soundtrack, released on 15^th June 2010, just over a week before the movie’s premiere on Disney Channel.

Usually, if a Disney Channel movie’s lead actor can sing, then they will get to sing one or two songs in that movie, if it’s not a musical. In this case, Debby Ryan gets to perform two such songs. One of them is the song’s opening number, “A Wish Comes True Every Day”, written by Ali Theodore, Jason Gleed, and Alana da Fonseca. This is probably my favourite song in the movie; it’s an upbeat pop song, which is the perfect song for Abby to wake up to on her sixteenth birthday. This song then features again as the finale of the movie, just before the End Credits, with a special video showing the cast and crew dancing on set, as well as a few bloopers. The music video for this song was also uploaded to Disney Channel’s YouTube Channel on 18^th June 2010, a week prior to its premiere date.

The other song Debby Ryan performs, alongside her brother Chase, is “Open Eyes”, another song in 16 Wishes that I like. It is played as Abby sadly heads back to her apartment after Krista’s party, resigned to her fate of remaining 22 forever. This song was written by Chase Ryan, Debby Ryan, and Matt Beckley. Chase also contributed to another song on the soundtrack, “Saying Goodbye”, which he wrote and performed alongside Michael Popp and Aaron Harvey. I believe this song is played in the dress shop; however, it is so quiet, being used as background noise, that it is hard to tell. Another song that may have been playing in this shop is “The Way It Used To Be”, performed by punk rock band Not By Choice, and written by M. Bilcox. I didn’t specifically hear this song, but given that the 16 Wishes soundtrack track list appears to be in order of appearance in the film, it must have been played at this time, but I didn’t specifically hear it.

There are a few other songs in 16 Wishes that are only played briefly in the movie. One of these is “No One’s Fool”, performed by Keith and Renee and written by Keith Macpherson, Renee Lamoureux, and Creighton Doane. It plays as Abby gets ready in the morning. Following on from that, “Princess Girl”, performed by Minnutes, is used for the moment that Abby meets Joey Lockhart at her bus stop. Then, there is “Picture Perfect”, performed by Jennifer Cathcart, and written by David Isaac Feldstein, which plays as Abby leaves the dress store in her new “age appropriate” clothes. There is also “Bad Momma”, written by Marc Ferrari, Josh Kessier, and Chad Gendason, performed by Gendason, which can be heard as Abby reveals her new clothes that she wished for at school.

Then there is music that plays at the different birthday parties. Krista’s solo party has two songs, the first being “Vertigo” performed by the band Willknots. It was written by Douglas Deibel and Shawn Richardson. It is followed by “Overreaction”, another song performed by Chad Gendason, and written by Ferrari, Kessier, Gendason, and Andrew Robert Hayes. I can’t say I really noticed either of these songs, however, at Krista and Abby’s joint party at the end of 16 Wishes, the song “Don’t Wanna Grow Up” by Willknots is played, written by Deibel and Richardson. This song might sound familiar to DCOM fans, as it appears towards the end of Cow Belles (2006). It’s a great song, and you get to hear more of it in 16 Wishes, as it is also used for the End Credits.

James Jandrisch is credited with composing the score for 16 Wishes. He would go on to compose the music for another Debby Ryan DCOM, Radio Rebel (2012), as well as for the DCOM Zapped (2014). 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). He also composed the music for one of my favourite Christmas television movies, Call Me Mrs. Miracle (2010).

PRODUCTION

16 Wishes focuses on the whole obsession with the idea of the “Sweet 16”, whether that is by having a great birthday or an amazing party.

Having a movie or a series based on the importance of sixteenth birthdays is nothing new. One of the most popular shows about Sweet 16 parties is the MTV reality series My Super Sweet 16 (2005-17), which followed kids as they planned huge parties for their sixteenth birthdays, complete with the usual tantrums and meltdowns you’d expect to see from spoilt kids that don’t get their own way[1]! Sometimes other milestone birthdays, such as 18^th or 21^st birthday parties, were also featured. Even some celebrities got in on the action, including Aly and AJ Michalka, who held a joint party for their 18^th and 16^th birthdays, respectively, in 2007. Their episode may have been a promotional technique for the girls’ own movie, Super Sweet 16: The Movie, which was released in 2007. It saw two girls make plans to throw a huge, joint Sweet 16 party. When the girls have a falling out, they start trying to outdo each other with their own parties.

MTV even made a spin-off three-part horror film series, created for television, based on their reality series entitled My Super Psycho Sweet 16 (2009-12).

Let’s also not forget the 1980s John Hughes movie Sixteen Candles (1984). It might not feature a huge Sweet 16 party, but it is a coming-of-age movie about a girl’s sixteenth birthday, which her family have forgotten about because her older sister is getting married the next day. The plot of the movie is not similar to 16 Wishes; however, the title does link to it as Abby gets sixteen wish candles; the titles can potentially be mistaken for each other.

I’m sure Sixteen Candles must have been some sort of loose inspiration for 16 Wishes, however, the obvious 2000s obsession with huge sixteenth birthday parties must also have been. Although Abby does not end up having a grand party, it is alluded to the fact that she was hoping to have one. Just before Abby and Jay head off to the store to buy her a dress, she mentions to Jay that two girls in their year have taken on the planning of Abby’s party, which they want to hold in a hotel in Las Vegas, potential trying to make the party similar to the elaborate affairs that exist within My Super Sweet 16.

16 Wishes also takes some plot points from the Jennifer Garner movie 13 Going on 30 (2004), something that some reviews mentioned. In 13 Going on 30, the main character, Jenna, wishes to be thirty on her thirteenth birthday, believing that being an adult will fix all her issues, as she feels like a loser as a teenager. This is much like Abby in 16 Wishes, who hates being treated like a child. Her wish instead makes her 22 and therefore an adult. Obviously, 16 Wishes is a more family-friendly version of 13 Going on 30 and does not involve too many real-life problems since it only takes place over a day, with Abby’s biggest issue being that she was forced to move out of her parents’ house. 13 Going on 30 not only looks at relationship and family problems, but also work issues too. Big (1988) also features a teenage boy wishing to be “big”, with his wish going wrong and turning him into an adult, but again, it deals with this issue in a more mature way. But neither Big nor 13 Going on 30 were aimed at younger children, or set to be aired on Disney Channel, so they didn’t have to conform to certain expectations.

With all that being said, 16 Wishes is not a particularly unique story, clearly expanding on ideas from other movies, however, that does not make it any lesser of a movie. Many movies borrow ideas from others to create their storylines. It meant that 16 Wishes felt like familiar territory, but in one way, it might be slightly more relatable, and that is by not changing the actress playing Abby. To the audience, it doesn’t look like much has changed when Abby “grows up” from 16 to 22, so we are able to fully understand her confusion at why she’s being treated differently. In 13 Going on 30 and Big, we are introduced to a young actor first, and then asked to relate to a different one. In some ways, they feel like two separate journeys or a dream, but with 16 Wishes, it is solely Abby’s story.

16 Wishes was directed by Peter DeLuise. Peter DeLuise went on to direct the DCOM Zapped (2014), which starred Zendaya, but prior to 16 Wishes, he had also directed some episodes of Kyle XY (2006-09); Stargate Atlantis (2004-09); Stargate SG-1 (1997-2007); and Stargate Universe (2009-11). Previously, DeLuise had starred as Officer Doug Penhall in the series 21 Jump Street (1987-91). DeLuise also has some famous family with links to Disney. 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 voicing the character of Fagin in Oliver & Company (1998).

The screenplay for 16 Wishes was written by Annie DeYoung, who had previously worked on Princess Protection Program (2009), Return to Halloweentown (2006), and Girl vs. Monster (2012) for Disney Channel.

16 Wishes was filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with one of the most obvious filming locations being Walnut Grove Secondary School. Much of the movie’s scenes are either filmed at the school or at the street where Abby and Krista live, so nothing too exciting to report on there.

I’ve mentioned a lot of Disney links in the cast and crew credits; however, 16 Wishes is not a Disney Channel Original Movie, in a similar way to Harriet the Spy: Blog Wars, which is also not technically a Disney Channel Original Movie, despite being promoted as such, or in slightly different terminology, prior to its Disney Channel air date. 16 Wishes was a co-production between Disney Channel and MarVista Entertainment[2]. Unity Pictures is also listed on the Opening Credits. Because of this small technicality, this is potentially why 16 Wishes is not available to stream on Disney+. Instead, if you want to watch 16 Wishes, you’ll have to hope it appears on another streaming service – I found Harriet the Spy: Blog Wars on Amazon Prime in the UK when I reviewed that movie – or go the old-fashioned route and watch it on DVD, which is what I did with 16 Wishes[3].

RECEPTION

16 Wishes first premiered in the US on Disney Channel on 25^th June 2010.

A trailer was released on Disney Channel’s official YouTube channel on 9^th June, which referenced 16 Wishes as a Disney Channel Movie, but not a Disney Channel Original Movie[4]. This is a subtle distinction but one I guess they had to make somewhat obvious with this being a co-production.

On its US premiere, 16 Wishes apparently got 5.6 million viewers, and became the most watched cable program of the day. 16 Wishes later premiered in Canada on Family Channel on 16^th July 2010.

In terms of reviews, these are mixed, as some say that it is the best DCOM of all time, and that the ones to debut afterwards were nowhere near as good – I’ve read this quite a lot around other DCOMs released in 2010 or 2011 – whereas others call it the worst. For me, I liked 16 Wishes when it first came out, and rewatched it quite a few times. Looking at it now, though, I wouldn’t call it the best or the worst; it’s just average.

Those who like 16 Wishes say it was quite deep for Disney Channel, as it taught an important lesson about not growing up too fast, and made kids re-examine their lives in some ways. I’m not sure 16 Wishes ever affected me to the point where I made changes to my life, and I was a similar age to the characters, so I’m not sure I agree with this point. 16 Wishes was also called cute, although typical and predictable.

Others who don’t like the film say it is cringey and they dislike the main character of Abby Jensen, calling her “awful”. I think awful is a bit harsh, and she does eventually change her ways, but I wouldn’t have wanted to be friends with her at school. She’s not a bad person, but she does strike me as the type to constantly moan about how unfair her life is, which would get draining after a while…

LEGACY

Luckily, the story of 16 Wishes did not allow for a sequel, or a series of movies.

I mean, Disney Channel could have done it, obviously. They could’ve brought Abby back to do 17 Wishes, maybe even 18 Wishes, where she makes new wishes based on her current situation but they would’ve been samey and boring; sometimes one movie is enough.

So, 16 Wishes has not spanned its own franchise, however, 16 Wishes did boost Debby Ryan’s Disney Channel career. She was already known for her role on The Suite Life on Deck, so 16 Wishes allowed her to star in her own project. This led to her role as Jessie in the series, and then to star in Radio Rebel in 2012.

Outside of that, I did discover that there is a website selling the set of sixteen candles, the Lucky Duck matches, and a recreation of Abby’s wish list, so if you’re a huge fan of this film, this could be the perfect gift for you.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Sixteenth birthdays are meant to be a big milestone moment for teenagers, where they start to feel more mature and become more independent.

In 16 Wishes, Abby can’t wait to turn sixteen because she seems to think that on that one day, she’ll wake up and feel differently about herself. She also believes that everyone around her will finally notice that she’s not a child anymore. That is not the case, and Abby becomes disappointed that her sixteenth birthday hasn’t been everything she hoped it would be. The wishing candles seem to be making it the best day ever until it goes badly wrong.

I think too many teenagers put pressure on themselves to grow up quickly. Once you do grow up, many realise that being an adult is not all that wonderful, and that they should’ve spent more time being a kid.

If 16 Wishes teaches people anything – and it’s a Disney movie so generally they try to teach you something – it’s don’t be in such a hurry to grow up. Adulthood probably won’t be everything you imagined.

REFERENCES

[1] Credit: MTV, ‘My Super Sweet 16’s Biggest Meltdowns I MTV Ranked’, MTV Vault YouTube Channel, 12^th May 2019.

[2] Credit: Disney, ’16 Wishes (television), D23.com, date unknown.

[3] Credit: Daniel Furn and Cole Luke, ‘How to watch 16 Wishes: Is it available to stream on Disney+?’, RadioTimes.com, 18^th September 2023.

[4] Credit: Disney, ’16 Wishes Trailer – Disney Channel Official’, Disney Channel YouTube Channel, 9^th June 2010.