10th Jan 202525th Apr 2025 by The Disney Purist

Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (2024)

BACKGROUND

2024 seems to have been The Year of the Sequel.

Looking at the 2024 worldwide box-office, all the movies in the Top 5 were sequels. These included Inside Out 2 from Pixar; Moana 2 from Disney; and Despicable Me 4 from Universal and Illumination.

Another major blockbuster was Wicked: Part 1, a live-action adaptation of the popular Broadway musical which debuted in 2003. This shows that, currently, many movie studios are finding that their best opportunity for box-office success is to continue, and in some cases improve on, tried-and-tested franchises.

Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl is no different in that respect, although it is only the second feature-length outing for the British pair, almost twenty years after their first movie Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005) came to be.

Making a sequel is not a bad thing, especially if there is a story to be told. Although some of these sequel movies do appear to be bold money-grabbing attempts – I’m not saying which I think those are – Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl from Aardman Animations did not feel like that. I believe that is down to the fact that Aardman spend months or even years on their movies, because in most cases, these movies are made using clay, in a process called Claymation. Aardman are arguably the best in the business at what they do and Wallace and Gromit have become national treasures since they debuted in 1989. There is very little that can go wrong with those two.

I haven’t been the first to watch many movies in recent years. I’ve said previously that my streaming watchlists is where movies go to die, because I rarely get round to them even in the first month that they are released. It takes me years to get to them sometimes, or I end up ignoring them completely. I try to watch a lot of the Best Picture or Best Animated Oscar-nominated movies, but I’m about two or three years behind at the moment.

Luckily for me, I was on it with Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl because British audiences did not have to go to the cinema or to Netflix to watch it. It got a primetime viewing slot on BBC One on Christmas Day 2024, so it was easily accessible. Though I did not like Vengeance Most Fowl as much as The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, finding it a bit slow in places, it was still full of heart and typical British comedy. It was most definitely worthy of Christmas Day viewing.

PLOT

Vengeance Most Fowl begins by going back in time, to Wallace and Gromit calling the police to say they have apprehended the thief who stole the Blue Diamond. This thief is a penguin named Feathers McGraw, who was promptly arrested and sentenced to life in a high security facility. Instead of being a prison, this facility is in fact a zoo, because, you know, Feathers is a penguin; why would sending him to jail make any sense at all?

In present day, Wallace and Gromit have continued their lives as normal after this event. Wallace has spent time creating more inventions to make his life easier, and Gromit has spent his time getting increasingly irritated by Wallace’s over-reliance and obsession with new technology. Gromit sees that they have lots of bills to pay and no way of paying them – until Wallace comes up with a new invention, a smart gnome called Norbot, who is voice-activated and will do any gardening job he’s asked to do. In this case, he is tested on Gromit’s beautiful garden, whereby Norbot tears up and destroys all of it making the garden neat with just a lawn and topiary. It might look immaculate, but it’s ruined Gromit’s work. But Wallace doesn’t even notice and plans to set up a gardening service with Norbot.

Meanwhile, Chief Inspector Mackintosh and trainee PC Mukherjee are discussing the proud moment of when Mackintosh locked up Feathers McGraw, taking the Blue Diamond and storing it in their vault at the station. It is now time for the Blue Diamond to go back on display and Mackintosh has been tasked with the security plans, his last job before retiring.

Back with Wallace and Gromit, Norbot and his gardening service have attracted the attention of the neighbours and the local news, who are all very impressed with this latest invention. However, this news report also attracts the attention of Feathers McGraw, who sees Wallace on the news through the bars of his cage as his keepers watch on television. Feathers wants to finally get his revenge on Wallace and now he has a plan…

Gromit doesn’t like Norbot and sees that Wallace is giving Norbot all the attention and basically ignoring Gromit. Norbot also seems to be better than Gromit at almost everything. Gromit reaches breaking point when Norbot wanders into his room one night, unplugs the radio Gromit was listening to, and plugs himself in to recharge overnight. Except Norbot is not like most tech and recharges very loudly…and intensely… Gromit unplugs Norbot and takes him down to the basement, plugging him in to the computer to recharge down there. Finally, Gromit can have some peace and quiet again!

At the zoo, Feathers uses an extending arm to get through his cage bars and on to the keepers’ computer. He gains remote access to Wallace’s computer over in West Wallaby Street. He manages to guess Wallace’s password – simply “cheese” – then answers a security question all about cheese, and gets into the computer. From there, Feathers accesses Norbot, since he is plugged in to the computer, and changes his mode to “Evil”.

The next day, Wallace goes to get Norbot, ready to complete all the gardening work for the neighbours. Both Wallace and Gromit discover that overnight, Norbot has built his own army of smart gnomes just like him. Wallace is overjoyed to see there are plenty of gnomes available but Gromit isn’t so sure about this; something isn’t right. But Wallace isn’t bothered and sets up a tracking device so he can keep tabs on them from home. Gromit becomes suspicious when he sees the gnomes all seemingly plotting something and goes with them to their jobs. As the gnomes get on with their work, even singing a song as they do so, everything seems fine, but then Gromit is locked in a shed by the gnomes, and neighbours soon discover that random items, like tools, pipes, and glass, have all been stolen from their gardens. The police receive numerous reports of the thefts.

Back home, Norbot tries to ensure that Wallace doesn’t notice that him and the other gnomes have gone evil. Norbot turns off the TV before Wallace can see the news report about the burglaries, and then drugs Wallace to put him into a deep sleep. Gromit manages to cut himself out of the shed eventually, and gets home to find the gnomes all building something. They soon spot Gromit watching them, and assume he’s going to wake Wallace. Sure enough, when Wallace makes it down to the basement, there is no sign of anything. Then, there is a knock at the door. Chief Inspector Mackintosh says they have a search warrant for Wallace’s home. They proceed to seize all of Wallace’ inventions – but the gnomes are nowhere to be found.

The next day, Wallace struggles to even put his clothes on without his inventions and to make this day even worse, an angry mob and a news crew arrive on the doorstep, to confront the “evil inventor Wallace”. To prove their innocence, Gromit goes out on his motorbike to find the gnomes, going to the police station to retrieve Wallace’s “gnoming” device, the tracker. The police head to the museum for the unveiling of the Blue Diamond.

As Gromit follows the tracker, he believes a pack of gnomes are coming right towards him – but there’s no-one there. He then sees light coming from the ground, and realises they’ve gone underground and are heading into the zoo. Gromit manages to sneak into the zoo and sits in a tree, where he sees Feathers being all Bond villain, sitting in a chair, stroking a little seal. The gnomes appear in the enclosure from a submarine. That must’ve been what the gnomes were building in the basement, and that’s why they had to steal all those materials. Feathers heads into the submarine with his evil crew, signalling for Norbot to saw off the branch that Gromit is sitting on. Gromit and Norbot fall down into the lion enclosure. As all looks lost, Norbot snaps out of his evil mode, thanks to the fall, and saves both of them from getting eaten – by giving the lion a haircut! Gromit and Norbot head straight for the museum, where they see that the Blue Diamond has been replaced with a turnip. The police suspect Wallace of making the switch long ago when he first reported the crime, keeping the diamond for himself.

Gromit races home to warn Wallace but it’s too late. The gnomes and Feathers are already there, and Wallace and Gromit both get tied up. They come face-to-face with Feathers and discover that Feathers hid the diamond in their teapot all that time ago. Feathers takes the diamond and his evil gnomes, leaving Wallace and Gromit shut in a cupboard. Suddenly, Norbot comes into the cupboard, but if you thought Norbot was going to save them, he wasn’t – he just wanted the vacuum so he could clean! Gromit grabs a nearby leaf blower instead to propel them out of the cupboard. As the police arrive to arrest Wallace, the two run them over. Wallace and Gromit pursue Feathers and the gnomes.

A chase ensues, with the police also chasing after Wallace. Feathers gets into a narrowboat, with Wallace, Gromit, and Norbot following behind in another narrowboat. Luckily, these boats don’t move very quickly so Mackintosh and Mukherjee are able to follow them on a bicycle, though Mackintosh is infuriated that Wallace and Gromit just happen to be on his narrowboat – the cheek of it! The police see the narrowboat ahead of Wallace and Gromit and see what they believe to be a nun; it is actually Feathers in disguise – gasp!

Wallace quickly makes an invention to turn all the evil gnomes back to being good again. They use a ton of boots they’ve found on the boat – Mackintosh’s vintage boot collection – to knock over the gnomes so that they will reboot as Norbot did. At the same time, Feathers has made his boat speedy so Gromit attaches a rope to it to try and get closer. Wallace follows behind in a life ring after falling overboard, at which point, you’ll see the Farmer from Shaun the Sheep in a small cameo appearance.

Gromit eventually jumps on to Feathers’ boat and the two battle for the diamond. Wallace then lands back on the first boat. As they approach the Yorkshire Border, Feathers sees that the police have blocked the canal, and almost steers them off an aqueduct. Gromit has managed to retrieve the diamond, but he is left dangling off the edge of the boat as it starts to tip over. Wallace begs Gromit to give up the diamond so that the boat won’t fall with him on it. Gromit hands the bag over to Feathers who jumps down onto a train below. However, this isn’t enough to save Gromit and the boat falls off the aqueduct, and Gromit is unable to jump to safety.

Suddenly, Gromit feels himself dangling in mid-air. He looks up to see the gnomes, now all good again, together in a line, rescuing Gromit from certain death. They steadily pull each other back up to safety. At this point, the police see Feathers on the train, but luckily, Gromit swapped out the diamond for a turnip. Gromit returns the real Blue Diamond to the police, proving that neither he nor Wallace was ever guilty of a crime.

Some time later, we see that Feathers McGraw is wanted yet again, and that Mackintosh has finally retired, living on his canal boat. Back at home with Wallace and Gromit, Wallace has reprogrammed his original “pat-o-matic” machine to put Gromit’s plants back in, with the other gnomes helping out. Wallace has also found a new love for his pet dog Gromit and no longer takes him for granted. The movie ends with Norbot cutting “The End” into one of their garden hedges.

CHARACTERS & CAST

Let’s talk about Wallace first. Wallace is obsessed with inventions, always has been. I don’t think it’s because he’s lazy but because he’s fascinated with technology. He uses all sorts of inventions to help him get ready in the morning, from getting him out of bed, to making his tea and toast. Wallace is also a very upbeat, positive chap, never seeming to see bad things that could be about to happen in the near future. For example, when he first meets Feathers McGraw in The Wrong Trousers (1993) television special, Wallace doesn’t suspect that Feathers could be a villain about to use him to steal a diamond. This happens again in Vengeance Most Fowl, when Wallace doesn’t see that Norbot has gone evil. He likes to see the good in everyone, I think. Although Wallace can have a one-track mind at times, forgetting others around him, like Gromit, he is a caring person, just a bit scatterbrained.

Previously, Wallace had been voiced in the movies and television specials by Peter Sallis, who was also known for playing the role of Normal “Cleggy” Clegg in Last of the Summer Wine (1973-2010), however, with his passing in 2017 at the age of 96, the public wondered if this was the end of Wallace and Gromit, because, how could the duo go on without Sallis? Although it was difficult for Aardman to create Vengeance Most Fowl without the esteemed voice actor, they were successful in finding a replacement: actor and voice artist Ben Whitehead who had already worked on a few Aardman movies prior to Vengeance Most Fowl[1]. His credits with Aardman include Mr. Leaching in Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005); Baker Bob in Wallace & Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death (2008); The Pirate Who Likes Sunsets and Kittens in The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists (2012); as well as additional voices in Early Man (2018). This meant that Whitehead had been around the creative process of Aardman’s movies before and had no doubt spent time listening to Sallis voice Wallace. This was not even Whitehead’s first credit as Wallace. In fact, he voiced Wallace in the game Wallace & Gromit’s Grand Adventures in 2009 and in the episode of the BBC Proms in 2012, Wallace & Gromit’s Musical Marvels. Despite the obvious pressure of voicing this much-loved character, Whitehead did well with his voicing of Wallace; the change is barely noticeable.

Gromit is Wallace’s underappreciated loyal dog. He isn’t particularly impressed by Wallace’s tech obsessions, not wanting to rely on them, and is more suspicious than Wallace. It’s a good thing too because if Gromit hadn’t been suspicious of Norbot and the other “smart gnomes” or of Feathers, then they’d likely have made off with that Blue Diamond and never been seen again. Gromit is fearless and brave, not letting the pursuit of a criminal mastermind put him off doing what’s right and proving his owner’s innocence, despite Wallace ignoring Gromit for much of the movie and allowing his new invention to tear up all of Gromit’s great gardening work. He is loyal to a fault. Since Gromit is a dog, and this is not a Disney movie, he does not speak.

Feathers McGraw also does not speak, yet this doesn’t mean that he is no less menacing than any other villainous character. Matt Groening, creator of The Simpsons (1989-present), even said that Feathers is one of the greatest villains of all time, managing to convey to the viewer – and Gromit, but not Wallace – how much of a threat he is just with his sinister stare[2]. Feathers is also a “master of disguise”, except only to the dim-witted humans here. Feathers uses a red glove to disguise himself as a chicken in both The Wrong Trousers and Vengeance Most Fowl, with Wallace not realising it is Feathers until he takes the glove off. That might sound familiar to Disney fans, as Dr. Doofenshmirtz in Phineas and Ferb (2007-15) similarly struggles to identify his foe, Perry the Platypus, until he puts his hat on. Feathers manages to outsmart the police in this movie too, by dressing himself up as a nun. Despite Feathers being “just” a penguin, he has a lot of evil plans in that little bird body, and if he has to use others to achieve those, then so be it. In The Wrong Trousers, Feathers used an unsuspecting – and unconscious – Wallace to commit his crimes, drugging Wallace and putting him in the “techno-trousers”, controlling him so that he picked up the Blue Diamond for him. Feathers didn’t care if Wallace got caught because they’d never suspect a little penguin of being the person behind the robbery. In Vengeance Most Fowl, he uses the smart gnomes to help him retrieve the Blue Diamond and get away. And if it weren’t for that meddling Gromit, he might just have gotten away with it too.

Norbot is a new character to the Wallace & Gromit franchise. He is a smart gnome, a voice-activated assistant developed and built by Wallace himself. Initially, Norbot seems friendly and eager to please, even though he is a bit overzealous. For some reason, Norbot also decides it’s appropriate to barge into Gromit’s room to plug himself in to charge overnight. Talk about rude! That can’t be the only plug in their whole house, surely? Sadly because of this charging fiasco, and Gromit plugging Norbot in to the basement computer instead, Norbot ends up going evil, as Feathers remotely accesses the computer and turns him to “Evil” mode. It turns out Norbot has other modes that he can be changed to as well, including “Mean-spirited”, “Grumpy”, and “Mildly Annoying”. You might think that last one was the setting he was on, but he was actually just “Good”. In the end though, Norbot returns to his “Good” mode after falling in the zoo and rebooting to his original setting, and even saves Gromit from almost certain death. I did like Norbot as a new character, even though gnomes in general freak me out…

Norbot was voiced by writer and actor Reece Shearsmith. Shearsmith co-created and starred in the comedy series The League of Gentleman (1999-2002, 2017) alongside Jeremy Dyson, Mark Gatiss, and Steve Pemberton. After this, Shearsmith collaborated with Steve Pemberton to write and star in the horror comedy series Psychoville (2009-11), before working together again on the long-running series Inside No. 9 (2014-24). Recently, Shearsmith was cast as Professor Ware in Saltburn (2023). He might also be recognisable to those who are fans of the Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy, the series of films starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, as Shearsmith made appearances in Shaun of the Dead (2004) and The World’s End (2013).

Within the seemingly very small police department in Vengeance Most Fowl, we have both a returning character and a new character. The returning character is Chief Inspector Albert Mackintosh, who first appeared in Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit when he was a police constable. Mackintosh is a bit curmudgeonly at times, in both movies, as he just wants to get the trouble sorted out as quickly as possible, which is an effective way of thinking in the police, however, this can lead you to having tunnel vision, focusing in on a specific piece of evidence that actually leads you in the wrong direction. With Mackintosh looking forward to his retirement after the new museum display of the Blue Diamond, the last thing he needs are crazed gnomes on the loose, stealing things from the community, and he certainly does not need to be chasing down a diamond thief. Because of this, Mackintosh is quick to presume Wallace as the criminal, even though that is not the case. But to be fair to Mackintosh, he just wants some peace and quiet for a change.

Chief Inspector Mackintosh is voiced by comedian Peter Kay, reprising his role from The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. Recently, Kay has returned to stand-up comedy with his latest tour Better Late than Never…Again due to end in February 2026. Kay is also known for his television work, including creating and starring in the sitcom Phoenix Nights (2001-02), and its spin-off, Max and Paddy’s Road to Nowhere (2004), alongside Paddy McGuinness. Kay’s most popular sitcom was perhaps Peter Kay’s Car Share (2015-18) which he starred in alongside Sian Gibson, winning multiple National Television Awards and BAFTA TV Awards. Kay has also had success with comedic charity singles, such as “(Is This the Way to) Amarillo” with Tony Christie for Comic Relief in 2005, and “I Know Him So Well”, performing as his character Geraldine McQueen from Peter Kay’s Britain’s Got the Pop Factor (2008) TV special alongside Susan Boyle for Comic Relief in 2011.

PC Mukherjee is new to policing, and to the world of Wallace & Gromit, being mentored by none other than Mackintosh. She is fascinated by the Feathers McGraw case that Mackintosh is only too happy to talk about, with his capture being a huge accomplishment. Being new to the job, Mukherjee is more open-minded. She doesn’t immediately suspect Wallace of wrongdoing and even admits that there is little evidence against him. She wonders if Feathers could be behind it all but is quickly shut down by Mackintosh. The two set off in pursuit of Wallace and Gromit, but it turns out Mukherjee’s instincts were exactly right; it was Feathers McGraw. Shame they never caught him… Mukherjee was voiced by Lauren Patel. Patel was cast as Pritti Pasha in the Amazon Prime movie Everyone’s Talking About Jamie (2021), based on the stage musical of the same name. Patel had also worked with Aardman prior to her role in Vengeance Most Fowl, voicing the character of PB in their CGI comedy series Lloyd of the Flies (2022-23).

That’s all the main cast, but there are a few actors in smaller roles that might sound familiar as well. One of these is the news reporter Onya Doorstep, who was voiced by Diane Morgan. Morgan is known for her comedy character, Philomena Cunk, who first appeared on Charlie Brooker’s Weekly Wipe (2013-20) before having a couple of spin-off specials. Morgan also starred as Liz in the sitcom Motherland (2016-22), and writes and stars in the comedy series Mandy (2019-present). The other news reader in this movie is Anton Deck – a play-on words of Ant & Dec, a famous British presenting duo who receive a mention in the Special Thanks portion of the credits, presumably for use of their name – who was voiced by Muzz Khan. Khan was cast as Adyan Khan in Series 5 of Brassic (2019-present).

Following on from that, we also have Adjoa Andoh who voiced the Judge here. Currently, Andoh appears as Lady Agatha Danbury in the Netflix series Bridgerton (2020-present), and appeared in the recurring role of Francine Jones in Doctor Who (2005-present) in the Tenth Doctor’s series. Sir Lenny Henry voiced the part of Mr. Convenience here. Henry previously voiced the character of Peg-Leg Hasting in Aardman’s The Pirates! In An Adventure with Scientists (2012). Recently, Henry appeared as Sadoc Burrows in the Amazon Prime series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2022-present) and wrote the drama television series Three Little Birds (2023) which aired on ITV.

MUSIC

The Wallace & Gromit theme tune is hugely recognisable to the majority of Brits, and should be to other fans of Wallace & Gromit as it features in every one of their television specials and big screen movies. I also remember hearing this tune a lot at after-school music clubs; I know my parents suffered through renditions of this theme by amateur brass bands at the club concerts I was involved in.

So, obviously, it would feature again in the opening credits of Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl. I love this theme; it’s a bouncy sort of tune, and instantly makes me smile. It was written by Julian Nott. Nott had previously written the music for all five preceding Wallace & Gromit adventures, winning an Annie Award for Best Music in an Animated Feature for the soundtrack of The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. He is also the composer for the animated series Peppa Pig (2004-present) amongst other credits.

An original song was also written for Vengeance Most Fowl, and that is “Gnome Working Song”, with lyrics from Mark Burton, co-writer of the movie, and music from Julian Nott and Lorne Balfe, performed by Reece Shearsmith as Norbot. It’s probably supposed to make you think of the dwarfs singing in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) and it certainly does; it’s basically an Aardman version of “Heigh-Ho”, except we know these gnomes are actually evil at this point in time, which just makes it funnier.

The score for Vengeance Most Fowl was produced by Lorne Balfe and Jeremy Earnest. Balfe has most recently composed the music for Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018); Dead Reckoning Part One (2023); and The Final Reckoning (2025). Balfe also composed the music for these recent movies: Tetris (2023); Gran Turismo (2023); and Bad Boys: Ride or Die (2024). Earnest also worked on the music for Bad Boys: Ride or Die, as well as the Netflix film Carry-On (2024).

There are some other pieces of music that are not unique to Vengeance Most Fowl. For example, “Toccata and Fugue in D Minor” composed by Bach can be heard briefly as Feathers plays the tune on the pipe organ that exists within the submarine – because no submarine is complete without one. This music also shows that Feathers is back to his full villainous self again. Another small excerpt of classical musical is played as Gromit settles down to read his book before going to sleep, just before Norbot comes in to recharge himself. The piece playing on the radio is “By the Sleepy Lagoon”, which was written by Eric Coates, performed by Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra.

You can also hear “Brahms’ Lullaby”, composed by Brahms, which is played by one of the evil gnomes on the harp as they set about sending Wallace into a deep sleep so they can continue their evil scheme to help Feathers McGraw. The performance is actually credited to the Budapest Scoring Orchestra. Finally, a snippet of “Born Free”, written by John Barry and Don Black, and performed by Matt Monroe, plays as Feathers and the evil gnomes flee from Wallace and Gromit’s house with the Blue Diamond.

PRODUCTION

Aardman Animations are known for their work in clay animation, or Claymation, a type of stop-motion technique, meaning that clay models are physically moved and then photographed, with the majority of Aardman’s work having been made in this format.

Aardman began in the 1970s in Bristol, founded by David Sproxton and Peter Lord. The company began making small animated movies. One of their biggest break-out moments was in the series Vision On, where their involvement in the series consisted of clay animated segments and an incompetent superhero by the name of Aard-man, hence the company’s name. From here, Aardman made one of their most popular Claymation characters, Morph, who was seen interacting with presenter and artist Tony Hart during the children’s television programme Take Hart (1977-1983). Morph later popped up in other similar shows including SMart (1994-2009).

Meanwhile, as Aardman were creating a name for themselves, making short films and advertisements for various companies, a student by the name of Nick Park was working on his own Claymation project, about a British man building a rocket. Park was indeed making A Grand Day Out, the first outing for Wallace and Gromit. But he was quickly running out of money, though he had secured actor Peter Sallis to voice Wallace for only £50. Park invited Sproxton and Lord to visit his studio and they agreed to help Park finish this massive project, moving it to their studio in Bristol. Wallace & Gromit: A Grand Day Out was finally finished around six years after beginning, premiering on 4^th November 1989 in Bristol at an animation festival, before coming to British television in 1990.

A Grand Day Out launched Wallace and Gromit and earned Park and Aardman an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Short Film in 1991. It ended up losing to another Nick Park project, Creature Comforts (1989), which saw Claymation animals speaking lines that were recorded from the public. A Grand Day Out did, however, win the Best Short Animation award at the BAFTAs in 1990.

After that, Wallace and Gromit were seen again in the short The Wrong Trousers, which debuted on 26^th December 1993 on the BBC. It saw Wallace and Gromit renting out a spare room in their house to penguin Feathers McGraw, who would use Wallace to attempt to steal a diamond. This short was an instant success and did win the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 1994. Another Oscar success followed with A Close Shave, which first aired on 24^th December 1995. This time, the duo foils a sheep rustling plot. One of the sheep to get a starring role was Shaun the Sheep, who became a household name, getting his own series and movies.

The next Wallace & Gromit episode wouldn’t come for ten years, but this time, they were coming back in their first full-length feature film, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005). Here, Wallace and Gromit have to save their village from a monster, a were-rabbit. At this point, Wallace and Gromit were hugely popular and this movie proved that by attracting some impressive British actors to voice its cast, including Helena Bonham Carter and Ralph Fiennes. The Curse of the Were-Rabbit premiered in US theatres on 7^th October 2005, followed by the UK a week later. This movie won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film, making it the first stop-motion film to win the award.

But that wasn’t all, because just a few short years later, Wallace and Gromit returned to screens again, this time just for a television special: Wallace & Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death, where Wallace almost became victim to a murderess’ evil plot to murder bakers. This time, the short film did not win the Oscar, but did win a BAFTA and Annie Award. It first aired in the UK on 25^th December 2008 on BBC One[3].

And then, we waited. And waited. And waited for the next instalment of Wallace & Gromit adventures to come to our screens again. In 2017, fans feared the worst, that Wallace & Gromit would not return due to the fact that beloved voice actor of Wallace, Peter Sallis, had passed away. This did not signal a bright future for the duo.

However, in January 2022, an announcement was made. Wallace and Gromit would be back on our screens. But in what form? A 30-minute television special? A full-length movie? What was it going to be? Well, it turns out it was going to be a full-length movie, making this the first Wallace & Gromit movie to be made under Aardman’s 2019 deal with Netflix. Aardman had initially worked with DreamWorks in the 2000s, but there was a culture clash at times between Aardman wanting to keep their Britishness, and DreamWorks wanting the movies to appeal more to American children. Under Netflix, Aardman had also made Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget (2023). With Wallace & Gromit, you might think that Netflix would’ve wanted the Britishness toned down in Vengeance Most Fowl, but that turned out not to be the case. There was no “US-friendly” version of the movie made, with Aardman accepting that not everyone globally would understand the jokes every time.

The idea for Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl was initially developed soon after The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, in that the plot could revolve around a smart gnome. It was decided that this would be a 30-minute television special, however, once the story had been fleshed out, with the technology going wrong and the opportunity for Feathers McGraw to make a comeback, it became clear that this story was going to be too big for only a short film and that it would need to be a feature film[4].

Aardman pride themselves on continuing to use Claymation as their primary medium within their film-making, so, much like the original 1989 A Grand Day Out, Vengeance Most Fowl also uses clay puppets. However, nowadays, Aardman use a mixture of silicone and clay models. The silicone is unalterable once cast unlike the clay models, however, some shots are fine for silicone models, which can speed up the process. Clay is still the best medium for expressiveness, so the hands and faces of the characters are always made from clay[5]. Stop motion requires a lot of patience and dedication to the craft. I, for example, would not have the discipline needed to make a stop-motion movie. I’d get frustrated at seemingly not making progress and I don’t have the artistic ability to make anything out of clay either, so I will never get a job at Aardman. The animators that work on projects like this only manage to get a few seconds of footage during a week’s worth of work. To be able to make these models talk, to fit recorded dialogue; have them do the most basic of movements; let alone have them blink, breathe, and do all the normal things that humans and animals do without thinking, all with just clay and a camera is just amazing.

Production on Vengeance Most Fowl took around fifteen months, which means they had a huge team at Aardman Animations working on this. Lots of clay was needed too, but a shock was about to come, as the factory who supplied modelling clay to Aardman suddenly shut down in March 2023. This had people worried that Aardman wouldn’t be able to finish Vengeance Most Fowl – no more clay, no more Wallace & Gromit, right? Well, no, obviously not. Aardman simply got enough clay from their supplier to finish the movie before the factory closed for good. And they have vowed to find a new supplier so they can continue other Aardman projects. So, calm down. Panic over[6].

Vengeance Most Fowl was directed by Nick Park, original creator of Wallace & Gromit, and Merlin Crossingham. Crossingham was an animator at Aardman, working on movies like Chicken Run (2000) and The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005), as well as the animated series Creature Comforts (2003) and A Matter of Loaf and Death (2008). He had also directed episodes of Morph (2014-19) and The Epic Adventures of Morph (2020-21). The story was written by Nick Park and Mark Burton, who penned the screenplay. For Aardman, Burton had previously co-written The Curse of the Were-Rabbit; Shaun the Sheep Movie (2015), for which he was also co-director; and A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon (2019). Burton also co-wrote the DreamWorks movie Madagascar (2005).

By the summer of 2024, the name of this new Wallace & Gromit movie had been revealed, and the fact that Feathers McGraw would be returning was also revealed. Apparently, many punny names were thought up before settling on Vengeance Most Fowl as the title of this new film. To build excitement for the new release, a teaser trailer was released in October of that year, with more details being shown in the official trailer, released in November. Nick Park and Merlin Crossingham appeared for a live event at the Manchester Animation Festival in November to discuss their new movie.

Getting closer to the festive period, Aardman created three Wallace & Gromit idents – the clips that appear before scheduled programming on television channels – for the BBC, which appeared throughout December. One clip had Wallace and Gromit sat on the sofa with Norbot, all three of them wearing Christmas jumpers. Another showed the trio lighting up a Christmas tree, and the other had them making ice sculptures[7]. The duo even made a surprise appearance during the semi-final of Strictly Come Dancing (2004-present) as that week’s celebrity guests, scheduled to read the show’s voting Terms and Conditions.

There was also a special ident that appeared straight after the credits on Vengeance Most Fowl, which saw Feathers pop up wearing a cloak. I thought this was a teaser for a potential further movie with Feathers due to make his return, but sadly it was not. It was in fact a clever tool to promote The Traitors (2022-present), which was set to air its first episode of Series 3 on 1^st January 2025. Since I don’t like The Traitors, once I realised this Feathers ident had nothing to do with more Wallace & Gromit adventures, I rolled my eyes and tutted.

Wallace & Gromit also lit up London’s Battersea Power Station every evening during December 2024, decorating a Christmas tree, with Feathers promptly turning all its lights off. The animation was shot on an iPhone, specifically an iPhone 16 Pro Max. Clearly, this was a promotional thing with Apple.

RECEPTION

Because Wallace & Gromit are quintessentially British characters, it only made sense for the Brits to see this movie first, having it broadcast on BBC One at 6:10pm on Christmas Day 2024. International fans would have to wait until 3^rd January 2025 for it to come to Netflix.

In fact, that was not the case. I’m quite disappointed to say that we Brits did not get this movie first. Ignoring the fact it first premiered at the AFI Festival in Los Angeles on 27^th October 2024, it made it to Australian cinemas on 19^th December, and even received a limited run in the US on 18^th December! I call that incredibly unfair…Anyway, I’ll try not to be bitter about that as I move on to the reviews.

Wallace & Gromit being so popular for decades meant that it would be difficult for Vengeance Most Fowl to fail. Sure enough, it did not fail, not by any means.

Some did say that Vengeance Most Fowl was not as good as the previous Wallace & Gromit outings though, with comments saying that it felt too long in places, and that perhaps it would’ve been better for the movie to be an hour or less, instead of its roughly 80-minute runtime. I can agree with this statement, however, Christmas Day can be a strange day, so watching it then when you’re either distracted by family members or still processing the events of the day might mean that it was perhaps too much for some – myself included – to focus on at that specific time.

Others referenced the ambiguous time setting of the movie. I think what some viewers might have been confused by is how Vengeance Most Fowl clearly wanted to relate to our contemporary attitudes – and dare I say, obsession – with technology and innovation. Norbot is a voice-activated gnome after all, and many homes have plenty of voice-activated technology in them these days. Wallace is also seen to have a computer, but it is an older model more suited to the 1980s than present day. Aardman have never claimed that Wallace & Gromit is set in contemporary times, since the fashion, vehicles, etc., within the features would suggest that it is set sometime around the 1960s or 1970s, but really, it’s not meant to be set in any specific time. We’re just supposed to “go with it” and not think too much about it. Time doesn’t really pass in Wallace & Gromit world.

Positive reviews stated that they were pleased that Aardman were still making their movies by hand, and have not passed over stop-motion for computer animation. It was still just as British as we’d all expected too, despite the partnership with Netflix, and many viewers gave plenty of credit to Ben Whitehead for stepping up to voice Wallace. The movie was funny, charming, and the dangers of technology plot point felt relevant.

For me, it felt comforting to return to Wallace & Gromit again, although The Wrong Trousers was never my favourite Wallace & Gromit episode, so I didn’t have that affinity to Feathers or the story of The Wrong Trousers as others did. I like the waking up montage that exists in Wallace & Gromit with all the inventions, and it was nice to see that those had been expanded on in Vengeance Most Fowl, like the new waterslide. I found the Norbot charging bit to be the funniest moment of the movie. I also liked how there was a random bagpiping gnome ready to greet Feathers at the zoo, who Feathers then punched in the face. Come on, gnome, does Feathers look like he likes bagpipes? Vengeance Most Fowl was as funny as any other Wallace & Gromit episode, though the storyline did seem more perilous and less light-hearted than others. I did not enjoy seeing Gromit almost die, although it was nice to see him saved by the gnomes, kind of like how Paddington is saved at the end of Paddington 2 (2017) by his fellow escapee prisoners. Both moments made me cry.

These movies are known for their nods and references to other movies. A noticeable one is at the end of the chase scene, as the narrowboat is teetering over the edge of the aqueduct. This is a nod to the ending of The Italian Job (1969) as their van teeters over the edge of a mountain road. You can also see a reference to James Bond during the scene of Feathers being rescued from the zoo, as he sits stroking a white seal whilst seating on a swivel chair. This parodies Bond villain Blofeld and his white Persian cat. The Matrix (1999) might have been referenced too during the reprogramming of Norbot. Aardman also reference A Grand Day Out, their own work, during Vengeance Most Fowl, in the security question that Feathers must answer when trying to remotely access Wallace’s computer. It shows four pictures and the question asks that any pictures with cheese are selected. One of these is a picture of the moon, which Wallace believes is made of cheese, as per the A Grand Day Out short film.

There are also multiple puns or wordplay within Vengeance Most Fowl. One is a magazine called “Gardens of the Galaxy”, a reference to Guardians of the Galaxy (2014). Another is that Feathers’ escape boat is called “The Accrington Queen”, a reference to the movie The African Queen (1951). Mackintosh’s boat is called “Dun-Nickin’”, as in “done nicking”, since he’s retired from the police and will no longer be chasing criminals. There are many more Easter eggs to spot during Vengeance Most Fowl.

During the 2025 “award season”, Vengeance Most Fowl was nominated for Best Animated Movie at the Golden Globes alongside five others, including Disney’s Moana 2 and Pixar’s Inside Out 2. Actually, none of these movies won. The winner was Flow, an independent movie directed by Latvian filmmaker Gints Zilbalodis. Vengeance Most Fowl was nominated for Best Animated Feature at the Oscars, but also lost out to Flow. Vengeance Most Fowl was also nominated for Best Animated Movie at the Critics’ Choice and the Annie Awards. Vengeance Most Fowl was nominated for other Annie Awards too, including for Directing, Music, Character Animation, Animated Effects, Editing, and Production Design. However, it lost out to DreamWorks’ The Wild Robot in all categories.

However, Vengeance Most Fowl has won the Best Animated Feature award at the Capri Hollywood International Film Festival and the Satellite Award for Best Motion Picture – Animated or Mixed Media. Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl was also nominated at the BAFTA Awards in three separate categories: Outstanding British Film; Best Animated Film; and Best Children’s & Family Film, a new category for 2025. At the BAFTA Film Awards, Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl won the awards for Best Children’s & Family Film and Best Animated Film. It lost out on Outstanding British Film to Conclave (2025); it would’ve been quite a feat to win in all three categories!

But awards are not everything, though it may feel like. Vengeance Most Fowl currently holds a 100% Certified Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes from the critics’ reviews. This movie also allowed us to return to Wallace & Gromit after more than a decade. This was a welcomed return for the duo.

In terms of British viewing figures, Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl attracted 9.4 million viewers in the “overnight” television ratings of 25^th December 2024, making it the second most-watched Christmas Day show on television. It was beaten out to the top spot by Gavin and Stacey (2007-24) which aired its final ever episode later that day. It was tough competition for Wallace & Gromit to be up against, but second place is still pretty good[8].

After a week of being available on catch-up, the viewing figures for Vengeance Most Fowl grew to a total of just under 16.3 million[9]. It is not currently known how well Vengeance Most Fowl has done during its first week on Netflix.

LEGACY

To recap, the Wallace & Gromit franchise consists of four television specials, and one feature-length movie prior to the release of Vengeance Most Fowl. These are A Grand Day Out (1989); The Wrong Trousers (1993); A Close Shave (1995); A Matter of Loaf and Death (2008); and The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005).

There were also two spin-off television series. These were Wallace and Gromit’s Cracking Contraptions (2002) and Wallace and Gromit’s World of Invention (2010). Numerous video games, comic books, and graphic novels have also been developed involving the pair over the years.

In 2013, the first-ever Wallace & Gromit theme park ride opened at Blackpool Pleasure Beach. Called the Thrill-O-Matic, this is an indoor dark ride where guests ride around in ride vehicles shaped like giant slippers. As part of the concert series The BBC Proms, in 2012, Wallace & Gromit’s Musical Marvels was performed live at the Royal Albert Hall on 29^th July. This performance later became a touring show in 2013. In 2019, it returned as Wallace & Gromit: In Concert and toured the UK as part of the Wallace & Gromit 30^th anniversary year. It later went international, touring countries such as Japan, Australia, and New Zealand. For the 30^th anniversary of the pair in 2019, the Royal Mint developed a commemorative coin and held a small exhibition at their visitor centre in Pontyclun, Wales.

Wallace, Gromit, and Shaun the Sheep started to appear on P&O Cruises from the summer of 2022, before other events and attractions popped up over the UK. In November 2022, the launch of the first-ever Wallace & Gromit-themed escape room happened in Bristol and ran until April 2023. In Summer 2023, another concert was held called Wallace & Gromit: The Wrong Trousers – Live! which was a special screening of the television special with a live brass band accompaniment. This was to celebrate the 30^th anniversary of The Wrong Trousers.

In Bristol’s Cabot Circus for the festive season in 2024, there was an experience held there called Wallace & Gromit: A Cracking Christmas Experience, where visitors had to help Wallace save Christmas by completing different challenges[10].

Directly related to Vengeance Most Fowl are a series of Funko POP figures that are available to purchase. There are four figures available: Norbot, Wallace, Gromit, and Feathers. Other merchandise, such as clothing and tote bags, have also been on sale since Summer 2024. A novel of the movie’s story and a book about the art of the movie have also been created.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Wallace & Gromit is ingrained in British culture. Not a Bank Holiday, a Christmas season, or even Easter goes by without the Wallace & Gromit specials being aired on British television.

Wallace & Gromit is perhaps not as well-known to those in the US. I feel like Chicken Run (2000) is Aardman’s most popular property over there, perhaps due to the partnership they had with DreamWorks Animation at the time.

But us here in the UK couldn’t care less if America like Wallace & Gromit or not, because we do. They are national treasures who are cherished by the people of Britain. We can’t get enough of them, as was evident by how many people couldn’t wait to see Vengeance Most Fowl on Christmas Day 2024.

Unfortunately, Netflix may just care if America like Vengeance Most Fowl. It is not yet clear how well this movie has done internationally over on the streaming platform. However, Aardman have promised us more from Wallace & Gromit.

We either have to hope that international Netflix subscribers turn up to watch Vengeance Most Fowl, or just believe that Aardman are as unashamedly British as Wallace & Gromit and that they will make more adventures with the duo, with or without an international partner.

REFERENCES

[1] Credit: Lizo Mzimba, ‘Wallace & Gromit without Peter Sallis is ‘emotional’ says Nick Park’, BBC.co.uk, 23^rd December 2024.

[2] Credit: Aardman Animations, A Grand Night In: The Story of Aardman (2015).

[3] Credit: Aardman Animations, A Grand Night In: The Story of Aardman (2015).

[4] Credit: Scott Roxborough, ‘Nick Park and Merlin Crossingham on the Return of Wallace and Gromit in New Netflix Film ‘Vengeance Most Fowl’’, HollywoodReporter.com, 27^th October 2024.

[5] Credit: Ryan Fleming, ‘Behind The Scenes On ‘Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl’: A Look At The Stop Motion Process At Aardman Animations’, Deadline.com, 22^nd November 2024.

[6] Credit: David Opie, ‘Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl review – Britain’s premier stop-motion heroes are better than ever in new rematch with Feathers McGraw’, RadioTimes.com, 27^th October 2024.

[7] Credit: BBC, ‘BBC unveils exclusive Wallace & Gromit themed Christmas idents’, BBC.co.uk, 30^th November 2024.

[8] Credit: Lizo Mzimba, ‘Gavin and Stacey tops Christmas Day TV ratings’, BBC.co.uk, 26^th December 2024.

[9] Credit: Lizo Mzimba, ;Gavin & Stacey attracts 19.1 million viewers’, BBC.co.uk, 6^th January 2025.

[10] Credit: Aardman, ‘Attractions & Live Experiences’, Aardman.com, no date.

20th Dec 20242nd Oct 2025 by The Disney Purist

#23 Soul (2020)

BACKGROUND

In 2020, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, many movies that were supposed to have theatrical releases ended up debuting on streaming services.

Luckily, Disney had just started up their streaming app Disney+ in November 2019, starting in the US before spreading outwards to other countries. Their timing was impeccable, gaining subscribers as slowly, country-by-country, much of the world was thrust into lockdown by their respective governments.

There wasn’t much to do other than watch television, which helped keep adults and children alike occupied. Streaming content meant we could also avoid the news, which became more and more bleak as 2020 wore on.

It was a troubling time for most of us, and sadly, although Christmas was supposed to give many of us a ray of hope that normality might be returning for some of the world, that was not the case for everyone. But no worries, because a new Disney+ release was going to come out on Christmas Day to brighten everyone’s day, and thankfully, Soul was not released on Disney+ with an additional fee, as Mulan (2020) had been just a few months before. It would be available to anyone with a Disney+ subscription.

In the UK, although we had been promised a relatively normal Christmas Day, just a few days before the big day, the government told everyone that Christmas festivities should be smaller, telling large families they should not spend the day together, and that on 26^th December, many areas were going to be thrown into strict lockdowns once again. I did get to spend Christmas Day in 2020 with my family, and we did watch Soul. However, with the news that we would be “locked down” again, Christmas Day was not much fun and sadly, Soul did nothing to boost our moods.

It’s not that we thought Pixar had made a complete dud with Soul, because they didn’t. Initially, we decided it was like a new version of Inside Out (2015), a hugely popular and very clever Pixar movie. Then, once the early scenes of The Great Before were over, we struggled to really understand the point of Soul. Perhaps we were all distracted and annoyed about how Christmas had been ruined, but for whatever reason, we just didn’t get it.

I went back and rewatched Soul a few months later to try and figure out if timing had simply made Soul less appealing. Although I enjoyed Soul a bit more that second time around, I still found myself not liking it all that much. The animation was great, as usual, but the message just seemed lacking for me, and confused at times. Like, what’s the difference between “a spark” and “a purpose”? We’re told in the movie they are two different things, but I couldn’t work out how. Don’t get me wrong; parts of the movie were touching and clever, like Inside Out, but overall, it just didn’t hit me like I thought it would.

PLOT

Soul begins at a middle-school band practice, which is being overseen by teacher Joe Gardner. Joe finds that one of his students, a trombonist, gets lost in the music during a solo. This causes the other students to laugh – because, you know, kids can be cruel – but Joe says getting lost in the music is a good thing, explaining how he came to love jazz after his father took him to a jazz club, falling in love with the piano at that point. Sadly, the students have no idea what he’s talking about and don’t feel the same way, or at least won’t admit it.

Joe is then told by the school principal that he is now being contracted to be the band teacher full time. Joe isn’t too enthused by this job offer. On a visit to see his mother, Libba, who is a seamstress and runs her own shop, she tells him he should be accepting that job because it is a permanent position, not like all these gigs he does. However, Joe then gets a call from a former student, Curley, who is the new drummer for accomplished saxophonist, Dorothea Williams. She needs a new pianist and Curley thinks Joe should audition. Joe races over to audition at a jazz club for Dorothea. Dorothea doesn’t seem overly impressed but tells Joe to get a good suit and to come back for the show that evening. Joe is so excited he calls everyone he knows to tell them the good news, getting so distracted that he runs into traffic, walks through construction sites – and then falls down a manhole…

Joe finds he has turned into a little blue thing and is on a travelator heading towards a great white light. Joe is confused and asks the other little blue things around him what’s going on. They tell him they are going to The Great Beyond. Joe can’t believe it; on the best day of his life, he’s only gone and died! Joe won’t let this happen and starts running away from the light, falling off the travelator, and falling down, down, down…

Joe falls into a strange blue land. He sees little ball-like things bouncing around and discovers that these are new souls, with a counsellor named Jerry settling them down as they get excited about this new arrival. Jerry tells Joe he is in The Great Before, specifically at The You Seminar, where new souls receive their personality traits. Jerry tells Joe he is not dead yet and believes she knows where he needs to be. At The You Seminar, Joe learns that once souls receive their complete personality, they are sent down a portal, heading to Earth to start their new life. Joe tries to head down this portal too, but ends up right back where he started. He is soon found by the other counsellors, all called Jerry, who believe he is a lost mentor. They take him to an auditorium where he watches an educational video about The You Seminar. The You Seminar involves mentors being assigned to new souls in order to find their spark, which will complete their “Earth Pass” and allow them to start their lives on Earth. Joe is believed to be an educational specialist by the counsellors and is assigned to a soul called 22. However, 22 is not like any of the other souls, as 22 has no desire to go to Earth, having been matched with multiple mentors – including Mother Theresa, who 22 made cry – and not yet finding a spark.

Joe believes he can change 22’s mind, and they head off to the Hall of You, featuring the best moments of the mentor’s life. 22 isn’t interested in this guy’s life, saying Joe should just accept defeat and go to The Great Beyond now like all the others did. Joe then tells 22 this isn’t his life and finds his own, with the Hall of You now filling with all of Joe’s accomplishments – only, there haven’t been too many of those… Joe says he wants to get back to Earth to live his life, which intrigues 22, who can’t believe someone as unremarkable as Joe would go to all this effort to get back to Earth. 22 says if they can find the spark to complete the Earth Pass, then 22 will give it to Joe and send him back to Earth. They set off to the Hall of Everything instead, hoping something there will interest 22. Joe tries all sorts of careers, like cookery and firefighting, but 22 is cynical about all of them. One of the Jerrys then arrives to tell Joe his time is up, but 22 asks for some more time. Jerry is surprised to find 22 engaged in the process and allows this. 22 then takes Joe to The Astral Plane, the space between the physical and spiritual, believing 22 knows someone who might be able to help Joe get back to his body.

In The Astral Plane, also known as The Zone, human souls can find themselves engrossed in a passion, for example, like when Joe is playing his music. However, this can also be a place where souls become trapped in obsession, becoming “lost souls”. A hippie soul, named Moonwind, along with other spiritual souls, try to rescue these lost souls and send them back to Earth with a renewed thirst for life. Moonwind has a body on Earth; he is a sign spinner in New York City. 22 asks Moonwind for his help with Joe, however, Moonwind has never connected an untethered soul before. Moonwind and his fellow souls begin a ritual to find Joe’s body, asking Joe to listen out for cues. They discover Joe is in hospital and in the rush to get back, Joe and 22 fall through this portal between worlds.

Joe wakes up in hospital, but he can still see himself. It turns out Joe has returned to Earth, but is embodying the hospital’s therapy cat! 22 is in fact inside Joe’s body. Joe tells them they just need to find Moonwind in the city and then they can get back to their rightful selves. The two bust out of the hospital, however, 22 quickly becomes overwhelmed by New York City and hides in a stairwell, believing Joe’s body is about to die. Joe quickly returns with a slice of pizza for 22, knowing that his body is probably just hungry. 22 eats the pizza and finds it’s actually pretty good. The two find Moonwind, who is excited to find he resolved everything for Joe. It soon becomes clear to him that it didn’t work properly and now they need to do a new ritual to get back. Moonwind believes the best time to do this would be at 6:30pm. As Joe needs to get to the Half Note Club at 7:30pm for his performance with Dorothea Williams, that should work well.

Joe says his body needs to be cleaned up before the performance, as he is still wearing the hospital gown, so he tries to get 22 in a cab. But who should walk out of that cab but Dorothea Williams, who looks stunned to see Joe in this state. Joe and 22 quickly get in the cab and go to Joe’s apartment, hoping she didn’t notice! At the apartment, Connie, the trombonist from band, arrives to tell Joe she wants to quit. 22 in Joe’s body is told to go and speak to her. 22 initially tries to make Connie quit, however, Connie doesn’t actually want to and plays a solo. 22 is moved by this music and tells Connie she shouldn’t quit. Connie heads home with a new motivation for music. Joe, still in cat form, tries to get his body ready, however, he messes up a hair cut and finds his old suit is a bit tight. They need to fix the hair at least, so it’s a trip to Joe’s barbers. Meanwhile, Terry from The Great Beyond has found that their count is wrong and heads to Earth to find Joe to correct it, knowing he escaped his fate and headed back to his body.

At the barbers, Dez, Joe’s barber, sees the disaster of Joe’s hair and tells him to sit. 22 as Joe speaks to Dez about his life, and learns that Dez never got to live out his dreams because of a family illness but that he is still happy. 22 also starts to discover the joy in the little things in life, like food and leaves blowing in the wind. However, as 22 goes to pick up Joe’s hat on the street, his trousers split open. Joe knows they’ll have to see his mother at her shop to fix it, and orders 22 to keep the Dorothea Williams gig a secret. It turns out Joe’s mother already knows about the gig and is not impressed. Libba is not amused because his father struggled as a musician, with her work needed to steady the family; she doesn’t want Joe to struggle like that. 22 as Joe tells Libba that it is his dream to be a jazz pianist and that things are finally starting to work out for him. Libba tailors Joe’s father’s old suit for him and tells Joe she has always been proud of him. Now Joe is ready for the club.

At the Half Note Club, 22 starts to have a change of heart, finding she actually likes living, but Joe wants his body back. 22 runs off into the subway, trying to avoid returning to The Great Before, however, both 22 and Joe are caught by Terry and returned there. In The Great Before, the Jerrys are stunned to find that 22 finally got her Earth Pass and tell Joe to go to the Earth Portal with 22 to see 22 head to Earth as other mentors would do. 22 begrudgingly hands the Earth Pass over to Joe as she promised and runs off. Joe learns from Jerry that a spark is not the same thing as a purpose, which makes Joe think about his own life briefly. Joe feels guilty but knows he has to get back and jumps in the portal.

Joe wakes up in the subway and runs to the Half Note Club. He is late and Dorothea has found a replacement pianist, however, Joe won’t accept that and bursts into her dressing room saying this is his purpose and he has to perform tonight. Dorothea says he can perform that night with them, but there’s no promises of further work with her if it doesn’t go well. Joe performs well with the quartet that night and is asked to join them. Joe then asks Dorothea what happens next and she simply says they do it all again tomorrow. This doesn’t excite Joe who finds he isn’t as happy as he expected to be, and heads home.

At home, Joe starts to play his piano whilst looking over the keepsakes from his day with 22, like a lollipop from the barber and a pizza crust. He plays music as he thinks about the good, smaller moments in life. Joe soon finds himself in The Zone and The Astral Plane. Moonwind finds Joe and tells him that 22 has become a lost soul. Joe and Moonwind go to find 22. When they do find 22, Joe runs after her and apologises for what happened, trying to return the Earth Pass to 22, however, 22 is consumed with negative thoughts, which say 22 will never be good enough. Joe loses the pass in the chaos, but manages to pass her a maple seed from their day together. This snaps 22 out of the self-loathing, and Joe tells 22 it was fear about living that meant 22 hadn’t found her spark before, and now 22 is ready to live. 22 is no longer a lost soul thanks to Joe and he returns the pass, jumping down with 22 through the portal, knowing he’ll be returned to The Great Beyond before 22 reaches Earth.

Back in The Great Beyond, Joe is satisfied with his fate, however, one of the Jerrys arrives and thanks Joe for inspiring 22 to live. Jerry thinks Joe deserves a second chance at life, so another Jerry distracts Terry to trick Terry into believing the count is correct, as Joe is returned to Earth. Back on Earth, Joe states he isn’t sure what he’s going to do with his life now, but he knows he’s going to enjoy every minute of it.

CHARACTERS & CAST

Joe Gardner is down-on-his-luck, finding that pursuing his dream of being a jazz musician has not worked out as expected. He has ended up working in a school, which is an honourable profession, but this isn’t enough for Joe, who just wants to perform. When he gets the chance to perform with Dorothea Williams, Joe thinks all his dreams have come true, only for disaster to strike, his death being yet another barrier to his aspirations. After his messy day with 22, Joe finally gets what he wanted – to perform with Dorothea Williams, although he had to destroy 22’s self-confidence to do that. Funnily enough, it wasn’t everything he’d dreamt. He worked so hard to get to this moment and it wasn’t even as good as he expected. Because of this, Joe realises that dreams aren’t the point of living and wants to make things right with 22 again. This realisation gives him a second chance at life as he is deemed worthy of getting his life over again – and this time, Joe doesn’t want to waste it.

Jamie Foxx was chosen to voice the character of Joe Gardner, Pixar’s first Black lead. In film, Foxx has been cast as Drew Bundini Brown in Ali (2001); as Curtis Taylor Jr. in Dreamgirls (2006); and as Dean “MF” Jones in Horrible Bosses (2011) and its 2014 sequel. Foxx won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Ray Charles in the film Ray (2004). He also voiced the character of Nico in Rio (2011) and Rio 2 (2014). After that, Foxx starred as Leon “Bats” Jefferson III in Baby Driver (2017) and as William Stacks in Annie (2014). He also reprised his role as Max Dillon / Electro from The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) in Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021). Alongside his screen roles, Foxx has also released numerous musical albums and had a Netflix stand-up comedy special called Jamie Foxx: What Had Happened Was… in 2024.

22 is a cynical soul, who despite never having lived, has been through many different lives, through the eyes of various mentors. 22’s previous mentors include Abraham Lincoln, Gandhi, Marie Antoinette, and Muhammad Ali. She even has a wall of name tags from her various mentors as a shrine to her commitment to not living! It is a struggle to get 22 to engage with The You Seminar, something that the Jerrys are well aware of, but they continue to be patient with 22. However, when 22 gets to live life on Earth in Joe’s body, she finds that actually living isn’t all bad, and without the constraints and pressures of finding a purpose or fulfilling a chosen career path, 22 is able to experience life in its purest form, just enjoying the small moments in life that many of us forget to notice, like the taste of good food, the feel of the wind in your hair, or the beauty in the ordinary. When 22 finds that life is worth living, the opportunity is cruelly taken from her by Joe, and 22 becomes a “lost soul”, being consumed with self-hatred and the perception that not having a purpose means 22 is a failure. Joe comes to his senses and lets 22 to get back to Earth, where I hope 22 lived a great life – but we’ll never know, because we never find out in the film!

22 was voiced by Tina Fey. Fey is known for being a cast member and head writer on the popular sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live (1975-present) from 1997 to 2006. Fey went on to write and star as Liz Lemon in the sitcom 30 Rock (2006-13), for which she won numerous Emmy, SAG, and Writers Guild of America Awards, amongst others, before creating the Netflix show Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (2015-19). Fey also wrote the movie Mean Girls (2004) and its 2024 musical movie, appearing as Ms. Norbury in both. She has appeared in comedy movies including Baby Mama (2008) as Kate; in Date Night (2010) as Claire; and as Nadya in Muppets Most Wanted (2014). Fey has also been seen in the recurring role of Cinda Canning in Only Murders in the Building (2021-present).

On Earth, 22 and Joe come into contact with other humans, with one of the most important being Libba, Joe’s mother. Libba is thrilled to find that Joe is being given a permanent position as a music teacher, because she knows that Joe is spending too much time chasing a dream that may never come true. Libba wants Joe to be settled and secure in life. To some, it might seem like she is crushing his dreams, but she actually just wants him to avoid the difficulties that his father had, trying to live out that same dream. She means well, and the moment they share in her shop, when she tells Joe – although 22 is in his body – she is proud of him, no matter what he does, is quite moving. Libba was voiced by Phylicia Rashad. Recently, Rashad has been cast as Mary Anne Creed in Creed (2015) and its two subsequent sequels. In The Beekeeper (2024), Rashad appears as Eloise Parker. Rashad is best known for her roles as Clair Huxtable on The Cosby Show (1984-92) and as Ruth Lucas in Cosby (1996-2000).

In the barber shop, Joe and 22 come into contact with Joe’s barber, Dez, who Joe says he wouldn’t normally speak to much during his hair cuts. This seems to be the case with many men and their barbers, however, 22 as Joe decides to tell Dez everything that’s wrong with the world, whilst Dez says that he always wanted to be veterinarian but after his daughter became ill, he knew he’d have to find a different way of earning a living and that’s how he came upon barbering. Dez is glad that Joe – although actually 22 – has finally asked him about his life, as he was getting fed up with only talking to Joe about jazz, this being news to Joe… Also at the barbers is Paul, who likes to bring Joe down, telling him nothing is going to work out for him. Paul gets his just-desserts though, as Terry accidentally tries to send Paul to The Great Beyond, terrifying him, before realising he isn’t Joe and takes him back to Earth, with a brief apology.

Donnell Rawlings and Daveed Diggs were cast as Dez and Paul respectively. Rawlings was previously cast in the sketch comedy show Chapelle’s Show (2003-06) and as Damien ‘Day-Day’ Price in The Wire (2002-08). He also played the role of Mr. Earl in Season 1 of Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty (2022-23). Daveed Diggs is well-known for originating the roles of Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson within the musical Hamilton. Diggs won a Tony Award for Best Actor for his roles in 2016. Diggs can be seen in the 2016 recording of the musical which is currently available to watch on Disney+ since 2020. Diggs went on to appear as Mr. Browne in the movie Wonder (2017) and as Johan Johnson in the series Black-ish (2014-23). He has also voiced the character of Sebastian in the live-action remake The Little Mermaid (2023) for Disney, and voiced the character of Helen in the animated series Central Park (2020-22). Recently, Diggs starred as Andre Layton in the series Snowpiercer (2020-24).

Dorothea Williams and Curley are two others that Joe speaks to on Earth. Curley is Joe’s former student who is now a drummer within Dorothea Williams’ quartet. He is kind enough to put Joe up for the audition as the new jazz pianist in the quartet. Dorothea Williams, on the other hand, seems quite stern and hard-to-please. Even after she tells Joe to come back and perform that evening, or after that evening’s performance, she doesn’t have much to say to Joe, not even a “well done”. But I don’t know much about jazz music; maybe it’s not cool to do that! Curley was voiced by Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson. Questlove is known for being the drummer and frontman of the band The Roots, who are the in-house band for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (2014-present). Questlove also won the Academy Award for Best Documentary for directing Summer of Soul (2021).

Dorothea Williams was voiced by Angela Bassett. Bassett starred as Ramonda in Black Panther (2018) and its 2022 sequel. Bassett won a Golden Globe for this role in 2022. She also won a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Motion Picture for her performance as Tina Turner in What’s Love Got to Do with It (1993). She was also cast as Lynne Jacobs in Olympus Has Fallen (2013) and London Has Fallen (2016), before appearing as Erika Sloane in Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018). Bassett is due to reprise this role in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning (2025). On television, Bassett has recently had roles in the horror anthology series American Horror Story (2011-present). For Disney Animation, Bassett voiced the role of Mildred in Meet the Robinsons (2007).

In The Great Beyond and The Great Before, there are non-human characters that 22 and Joe interact with. The first person Joe meets is Jerry, one of the counsellors at The You Seminar, but it turns out there are lots of counsellors, making sure all the souls and mentors are in the right place at the right time, and handily, they are all called Jerry. The Jerrys are very patient, which they have to be with the excitable nature of the new souls, and don’t seem to be bothered or concerned about anything, not even when they hear that the count for The Great Beyond is off – though it’s not in their remit, so why should they care?

As there are numerous Jerrys, there are various voice actors for these characters. One of these is Alice Braga, who was cast as Anna Montez in I Am Legend (2007); Frey Santiago in Elysium (2013); and Sol Soria in The Suicide Squad (2021). More recently, Braga also starred as Teresa Mendoza in the series Queen of the South (2016-21), and as Amanda Lucas in the AppleTV+ series Dark Matter (2024-present). Another voice is Wes Studi who appeared as Magua in The Last of the Mohicans (1992) and as Geronimo in Geronimo: An American Legend (1993). More recently, Studi was cast as Kaetenay in the series Penny Dreadful (2014-16). Studi also voiced Windlifter in Disney’s Planes: Fire & Rescue (2014). Fortune Feimster, known for her role as Colette in The Mindy Project (2012-17), and Zenobia Shroff, who recently was cast as Muneeba Khan in Ms. Marvel (2022) and the 2023 film The Marvels, also voice Jerrys. The final Jerry we hear is voiced by Richard Ayoade; a voice familiar to UK audiences. I was surprised and delighted to hear Ayoade in this movie. Ayoade is known for his role as Maurice Moss in the sitcom The IT Crowd (2006-13) and hosted The Crystal Maze (2017-20) and Travel Man (2015-present). Ayoade also wrote and directed the film Submarine (2010). He has voiced small roles in other animated movies, such as Early Man (2018) and The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (2019).

Terry is the counter in The Great Beyond, who is clearly a stickler for the rules and must ensure the count is correct, even if it means going to Earth and chasing that soul down, returning it to The Great Beyond against their will. I think Terry’s power has gone unchecked for too long and needs to stop being such a jobsworth. Luckily for Joe, the Jerrys help with that, by averting Terry’s attention whilst they correct the count when they allow Joe to head back to Earth to live his life again. Terry was voiced by Rachel House. For Disney, House is known for providing the voice of Tala, Moana’s grandmother, in Moana (2016), as well as the voice of Mama Binturong in The Lion Guard (2019). House also provided the Māori-language dub for Mamá Coco in Pixar’s Coco (2017). Recently, House has been cast as Nienke Van Spee in The Portable Door (2023) and as Ruth in Next Goal Wins (2023), as well as appearing as Principal Stacy “Woodsy” Woods Heartbreak High (2022-present).

Another character they meet is Moonwind. He is both a soul and a person on Earth, consistently using his spiritual nature to get to in The Astral Plane. His job is a sign spinner so I guess he needs to do something to entertain himself during those long hours outside with no-one to talk to! Moonwind admirably also tries to help lost souls, those who have lost their way on Earth. Initially, Joe and 22 witness Moonwind help another hedge fund manager, who suddenly has an epiphany and decides to quit his job and go live his life. Moonwind was voiced by Graham Norton. Norton is well-known for his BAFTA Award-winning chat show The Graham Norton Show (2007-present) as well as being the BBC’s commentator for the Eurovision Song Contest. Norton is also a judge on RuPaul’s Drag Race UK (2019-present). I must say I was surprised to find Norton was the voice of this character in Soul, but it was a good surprise, because I love Graham Norton.

MUSIC

Given Joe’s desire to be a jazz musician, music is an integral part of Soul.

Jon Batiste was chosen to compose the jazz compositions within Soul. Batiste said he wanted his musical choices to feel “user-friendly”, so that anyone could be introduced to the music and find that they enjoy it. Joe Gardner was first introduced to jazz music by his father, likely jazz from the 1960s or 1970s, so this time frame was one that inspired Batiste with his compositions for the movie. Batiste’s hands were also filmed whilst he was playing the piano, to ensure that the animation of Joe was accurate and correct. Jon Batiste was the band leader and musical director on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (2015-present) from 2015 to 2022. In the years after, Batiste has continued to record and release music and was cast in the movie Saturday Night (2024), portraying musician Billy Preston, as well as composed the score for it.

Outside of that, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross were brought on to the project to compose the overall score for the movie. Pixar generally like to collaborate with the same composers, for example, Randy Newman and Michael Giacchino have composed music and scores for various Pixar movies, however, in this case, Reznor and Ross had not previously worked with Pixar. Reznor and Ross have composed the score for movies such as The Social Network (2010); The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011); and Gone Girl (2014). They won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Limited Series for their work on Watchmen (2019). They are also both members of the band Nine Inch Nails.

For the rest of the musical score, Reznor and Ross had to figure out how these greater worlds, The Great Beyond and The Great Before, might sound, seeing as these places are not physical and no-one would know what they sound like. In the case of The Great Beyond, this moment is quite a scary one for Joe as he has no idea where he is, just that he is on a moving platform heading towards a big ball of white light. But this couldn’t sound threatening to the audience. Instead, they chose to make the sounds ominous and strange. You’ll also notice that as the souls move into the light, there is no scream of terror or big bang; this sound actually sounds like a bug zapper. For the Great Before, the area feels light and airy, so the music chosen feels sweet and comforting[1].

This splitting out of the musical score is similar to the contrast between the very real place of New York City and the stranger worlds of The Great Before and The Great Beyond; Reznor and Ross focused on those outer worlds, whereas Batiste focused on music from the real world, although their work on Soul was highly collaborative, and necessarily so.

Outside of the score and additional music, there are other pieces of music within the soundtrack. One of these is the rap song “Rappin Ced”, which was written and performed by Daveed Diggs. This rap can be heard during the Hall of You scene, just after Joe tells 22 he is not the mentor, Bjorn Börgensson, and starts to show moments from his life. This song is part of a rap group Joe joined earlier in his life. Then there is the song “Parting Ways” written and performed by R&B and soul singer Cody ChesnuTT, which can be heard being sung by a busker in the subway. It’s a calming song, and I can see why 22 was drawn to it.

The End Credits include further music, including the song “It’s All Right”, which was originally recorded by The Impressions and written by lead singer Curtis Mayfield in the 1960s. This is then followed by a selection of the movie’s score, before ending on another performance of “Rappin Ced”. The opening of the movie featured a school band rendition of Disney’s theme tune “When You Wish Upon a Star”, which is a bit clunky as you might expect from a middle-school band practice, but that’s the whole point!

Within the jazz sections of the soundtrack, I liked the tunes “Born to Play” and “22’s Getaway” the most. For the more traditional score, I liked all the music that plays in the opening scenes of The Great Beyond and The Great Before. But the soundtrack of Soul is so diverse that different tracks will suit different people. I’ve always found an interest in the underlying score within animated movies, finding they set up the emotional moments well, so in my case, this interested me more than the jazz, although I’m by no means saying the jazz portions weren’t great too.

To highlight how successful the soundtrack of Soul was, it won the award for Best Score at the Academy Awards, the BAFTAs, the Golden Globes, the Grammys, and the Annie Awards.

PRODUCTION

The original concept for Soul first came about when Pete Docter, director of Pixar’s Inside Out (2015), found that, despite all of his success with the company, he didn’t feel like his life had been fulfilled. This got him thinking about whether success was worth spending your whole life trying to achieve, because does it even make people happy in the end? This question became the general idea behind Soul.

A very early draft had the soul who became 22 as the lead character. The whole movie would’ve been set in The Great Before and focused on the fact that 22 was a soul who didn’t want to go to Earth. This idea was quickly discarded as it was decided that they wouldn’t be able to prove that living was worth it unless 22 somehow ended up on Earth, so that is when the character of Joe was brought in.

First, Joe was meant to be a rock star, however, it felt to the Pixar team that being a rock star means wanting to become rich and famous, which goes against the message of the movie. So, instead, still in the realm of musicians, they decided upon Joe becoming a jazz musician, feeling that this was a more noble profession, and one that is about following a passion, not just finding a route to success. At this point, Kemp Powers was approached by Pixar to be the writer on this movie, sometime around Summer 2018. Powers later became the co-director of Soul, alongside Pete Docter[2].

Because jazz is linked to African-American culture, it was decided that the main character of Joe should be Black. Initially, in early reels, Powers found Joe to have very little depth to him, so being the same age as Joe and also from New York City – although from Brooklyn, not Queens, like Joe – Powers used some of his own life experiences to make the character of Joe feel more real.

To add authenticity and accuracy to Pixar’s portrayal of a central Black character, alongside Powers, they knew they needed to set up a cultural trust, as many Pixar and Disney movies do these days when delving into different cultures. In this trust, there were musicians such as Jon Batiste, Questlove, and Herbie Hancock, and historians such as cinematographer Bradford Young and former director of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African Art, Johnnetta Cole. With these people on board, as well as the input from Black Pixar employees, the team would be able to create a story that ensured accurate representing of Black culture. The design of Joe as a character required the input of this cultural trust, as was the case with some of Joe’s lines. A particularly important scene was also created by Powers who wanted Joe to pass through authentically Black spaces. This was the barbershop scene that Powers pitched, which sees men from all walks of life brought together to discuss life[3].

There were also other moments that were written that were either changed or did not make it into the film. One of these involved debate over how to end the film. Initially it was decided that Joe would end up at The Great Beyond, selflessly giving up his time on Earth to let 22 live. Some were happy with that ending, feeling that it would be cheating to have Joe be able to go back and start a new life; however, others were not happy with this decision, and Pete Docter was one of these. During production he had a change of heart, saying that Joe needed to get a second chance to go and enjoy his life now that he’d learnt the true meaning of it[4]. There was also a scene that would’ve communicate the rules of The Great Before a bit differently. Since this was meant to be a seminar, with a definite corporate spin to it, there was initially going to be a counsellor set up to be a motivational speaker, who would’ve explained to all the mentors about how the Earth Pass is filled, being told to “plant the seed of “wow”” in their new soul[5]. I thought this idea was quite good, actually.

In terms of animation, Soul had to showcase two contrasting areas; a real city on Earth and unknown spiritual worlds. Obviously, the movie starts in New York City with Joe, and we revisit this city often. It was recreated well, making it seem rich and vibrant, although not shying away from the wear and tear of the city, as well as its busyness. It was decided that Soul had to be set in New York City because it is the jazz capital of America and has a strong history of jazz, with many famous musicians known for their performances here[6].

Looking at the unknown worlds, The Great Beyond and The Great Before, the Pixar team talked to religious leaders to discuss how their religions view souls and afterlife. There is much discussion about what happens after death, but not much about what happens before birth. Using this information, The Great Beyond is animated as a big bright light, something that is talked about by the living, and that phrase heading “towards the light”[7].

The Great Before was free to be whatever the studio wanted it to be. However, discussions of soul normally lead to conversations about complex philosophy. Even the transition for Joe between The Great Beyond and The Great Before was a difficult “limbo-like” space to portray. It was boarded by story artist Trevor Jimenez who had an idea for this scene and was able to pitch it. This scene shows Joe falling off the moving platform into a dense black space, falling in between realms of colour and black space, becoming a simple line drawing. As he gets closer to the Great Before, Joe becomes the full coloured version of soul himself and falls onto soft blue grass from an opening in the “ceiling”.

The You Seminar ended up being an area for training that felt safe, bright, and soft. It is full of pavilions that are made to represent the personality trait that the pavilion houses, such as aloofness. Initially, because of the link to philosophy and The Great Before, Pixar looked to Ancient Greek architecture to give them inspiration for the buildings here, but, since they didn’t want to root this area to any specific culture, since everyone has a soul, they instead looked to the World Fairs that happened over the years. The architectural sculptures there were about grandeur and creating buildings to inspire people, which is what The You Seminar is supposed to do.

For the souls themselves, Pixar envisioned souls to be ethereal, non-physical balls of air. However, they couldn’t look like ghostly clouds of smoke, so they were made to be colourful, with blues and purples within their colouring. By adding facial features, it gave them expressions, and they act like excitable, little puppies, because they don’t know how to behave, being so “young”. The souls are kept in line by the counsellors, the Jerrys. They are just line drawings, but were initially conceived as wire models, to see how they would move in a 3D space. The Jerrys also needed facial features to give expressions and have their own ways of moving. Terry, for example, moves through New York City as a flat line at times, and one of the Jerrys morphs into a bus to transport souls across The Great Beyond[8].

Pixar also can’t have a movie without their usual Easter eggs either. Their usual Pizza Planet truck and the number A113, referring to the classroom number at CalArts that many animators studied at, can all be found in the Hall of Everything scene. There was also a poster on the NYC streets about PortoRosso, which was a nod to their upcoming movie Luca (2021). 22 also has a shrine of old mentor stickers on a wall, showing off how many mentors she failed. Although some are mentioned and seen in Soul, other names include Aretha Franklin, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Pixar animator and screenwriter, Joe Ranft, who passed away in 2005. Ranft was the voice of Heimlich in A Bug’s Life (1998) and his final work was as co-director on Cars (2006).

Soul took around four years to make, because the movie was initially pushed forward from a release date of Summer 2021 to Summer 2020[9]. On 19^th June 2019, Soul was announced to be released on 19^th June 2020, stating that the movie would look to answer some of life’s most important questions including “what is it that makes you…YOU?!”. It was planned for the movie’s release to coincide with Juneteenth, a federal holiday in the US on 19^th June to commemorate the ending of slavery in the country[10].

In August 2019, at the D23 Expo, further details of the story were provided, along with artwork of the main characters of Joe and 22, as well as the Great Before, being shown to expo-goers. The voice cast was also announced at this point[11].

However, as excitement for the upcoming movie started to build, the world descended into chaos. On 15^th March 2020, the US government began to implement their first lockdowns. The Pixar company suddenly went from just keeping an eye on the virus to suddenly getting everyone out of the building and sending them home to work on the movie there. The first few days were obviously difficult, getting everyone’s new work spaces set up. The usual problems of tricky Wi-Fi, Zoom problems, and pets or kids walking into offices during meetings were problems the Pixar staff had to manage as well. When Pixar left their office in March 2020, about 52% of the film was done. The movie was completed just six weeks later, right on schedule[12].

To really get home that these animators had done a lot of work at home, the credits state that Soul was created and produced at Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, California with this addition: “…and in homes at least six feet away from each other throughout the bay area”.

RECEPTION

Although Soul was initially scheduled to be released in theatres in Summer 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic it was decided that Soul would debut exclusively on Disney+, in areas that had it, on 25^th December 2020. This would mean that the movie could reach up to 60 million subscribers, the number of subscribers the streaming service had within its first year of launch. Anywhere that did not have Disney+ at the time was still going to get the movie in cinemas, with some of these countries being Singapore, China, Thailand, and Malaysia[13].

In addition to this, Soul was screened as part of the 64^th BFI London Film Festival in October 2020, and was also named as part of the official selection of the Cannes Film Festival, which also happened to take place in October 2020.

Pixar movies typically are released alongside an animated short. In the case of Soul, this short was supposed to be Burrow (2020), which ended up debuting on Disney+ on the same day, so if you were aware of this connection, you could’ve streamed Burrow before Soul to give yourself the “authentic Pixar cinema experience”. Burrow sees a small rabbit trying to make its own burrow, however, a mole and a mouse start to elaborate on the initial plans. The rabbit then digs away from them, accidentally digging itself into other animals’ homes, before digging straight down. As the rabbit begins to dig a new burrow, it hits a water main, which starts to flood all the creatures’ homes. The rabbit goes to a badger, who initially seems scary, to explain what’s happened. The badger then alerts the other animals, who come to the rescue by digging a side tunnel to divert the flow of water. The rabbit then shows its original design for its burrow, which the animals help to build as described.

In the past, you didn’t even need to read the reviews about a Pixar movie before deciding to watch it; the studio has had a pretty good track record ever since their first animated feature-length film, Toy Story, released in 1995. They hadn’t been perfect, with Cars 2 (2011) being a particular low-point for the company, but generally, Pixar movies receive critical acclaim. 25 years later, with the release of Soul, did things change?

Well, in a way, yes. Soul received more mixed reviews than might have been expected. On the positive side, the movie was praised for its animation, particularly their authentic recreation of New York City, as well as the strange world of The Great Before. It was said to be a sweet, charming film, with a simple message at its heart to make the audience think about their lives, to decide whether they’ve really been living life to the full, or whether they have wasted their time chasing a dream. The music was also another high point, especially since jazz is not the usual musical style used in Pixar movies. Its animation of musicians playing was also seen to be very impressive. Pixar had already been successful with this type of animation in Coco (2017). The fact Soul was Pixar’s first feature film to have a Black leading character and a mostly Black cast did not go unnoticed, with this movie celebrating diversity and life.

However, there were some complaints about a Black character being the lead but actually being turned into a different physical being for most of the film. This was a gripe that many had about Tiana in Disney’s The Princess and the Frog (2009) since she is a frog for the majority of the film. For Soul, it’s not quite that bad, since Joe’s body does feature in at least half the movie, however, a different soul is inside Joe’s body, not his own. These concerns were initially raised when Pixar’s teaser trailer for Soul was first released, as some felt that having Joe become a blue soul for most of the film was problematic.

Another point that was raised was whether Soul has a “white saviour” narrative to it, since 22 manages to “fix” parts of Joe’s life for him whilst in his body. For example, 22 has a real conversation with Joe’s barber, Dez; something that Joe has failed to realise, spending his time talking to Dez about jazz. 22 also manages to convince Joe’s student not to give up music, and then has a meaningful talk with Joe’s mother about being able to pursue your dreams, which is, again, not something Joe felt he could say to his mother. This is an interesting point, and not something I’d considered when watching the movie.

However, all this being said, praise was given to writer and co-director Kemp Powers for his portrayal of Black culture in this movie, and, the fact that such a collection of Black consultants, musicians, actors, and writers had a major input in the story of Soul would suggest to me that these issues have perhaps only really been found through over-thinking of the movie’s story[14].

Some additional negative reviews stated that the story of Soul was confusing at times, and that it was potentially too deep for children to understand, since even some adults struggled to understand the message of the movie. In my case, I understand the overall theme of the movie: that you shouldn’t spend so much time chasing your dreams that you forget to truly experience and love life; that we need to “stop and smell the roses”. My problem with Soul was around the spark or purpose debate, which comes up multiple times throughout the film, but to me, was never clearly resolved. We are told that Joe’s purpose in life is to be a jazz musician, but that it is not a purpose that leads a soul to get their Earth Pass, but a spark. 22 manages to experience that spark for life as she goes through a day in Joe’s body. Ok, that’s all fine, and I understand that, but then what is the point of mentors and The You Seminar? Because to me, the Hall of You and the Hall of Everything seem to be trying to inspire souls to find a gift or a passion in their life, some sort of career path. Otherwise, why else would 22 be shown Joe playing the piano, or told to give science experiments and fire-fighting a go during their time together in The Great Beyond?

This is where I feel the movie let me down; not distinguishing between a spark and a purpose well enough. We all need a spark to want to live, but a purpose is also useful, because it gives us something to work towards. I don’t think it was helpful for Soul to tell people that working hard to hone a craft or talent is not what life is for, because, for some people, they need that drive to give them a reason to live.

But then again, maybe I’ve over-thought Soul, or the Pixar team really did want the movie to encourage this sort of debate. I also didn’t like how abruptly the movie ended. We don’t find out how Joe actually lives his “second chance” and we don’t know where 22 ends up. It might’ve been nice to see that, to fully wrap the movie up.

Anyway, regardless of personal thoughts on Soul, Soul did well in its first week on streaming. Soul got over 1.66 billion minutes of viewing time in the span of its first few days on Disney+, topping the Nielsen’s Streaming Top 10 List for the week of 21^st December 2020. Soul successfully beat out Season 1 of Netflix’s Bridgerton (2020-present), which just so happened to also debut on Christmas Day 2020[15].

Soul went on to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. It won this same award at the BAFTAs, the Golden Globes, and at the Annie Awards, where it also received awards in other categories, including Storyboarding, Writing, and Character Animation.

LEGACY

Soul never received a sequel movie; however, it did get a spin-off in the form of a short film, this being 22 vs. Earth, released on Disney+ on 30^th April 2021.

22 vs. Earth is a prequel, set before 22 meets Joe Gardner in The Great Before. 22 is trying to tell other souls that going to Earth isn’t worth it. 22’s Earth Pass has still not been filled as 22 doesn’t have a reason to live. 22 devises a plan to stop all souls going to Earth, encouraging five other souls to join the mission. Without inspiration, souls can’t get their Earth Pass, so 22 and the other five start stealing things from the Hall of Everything, however, in enacting this plan, all five of the souls eventually become inspired and head to Earth, leaving 22 alone once again. The Jerrys wonder if 22 will ever go to Earth and discover the meaning of life, to which one of the Jerrys ask what that even is. The other Jerry starts to respond as the credits roll, so we never get to find out what it is, but apparently, it’s very simple! Tina Fey, Alice Braga, and Richard Ayoade reprised their roles here as 22 and two of the Jerrys.

Following on from this, there have been some references to Soul at the Disney Parks. For example, at Walt Disney World Resort in Epcot, an exhibit opened titled The Soul of Jazz: An American Adventure, which resided within The American Adventure Pavilion, specifically within The American Heritage Gallery. This exhibit provided guests with information about the roots of jazz music in America. This exhibit opened in February 2021, just two months after Soul’s debut, and closed permanently in January 2023. It was replaced with an exhibit celebrating American Indian art. Also, at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, one of the collection of 50 statues placed throughout Walt Disney World for their 50^th anniversary in 2021 was of Joe Gardner playing the piano. These statues are still there today.

Following on from that, in 2024 for Pixar Fest, which ran from 26^th April to 4^th August at Disneyland Resort, Joe and 22 could be seen on a float during the Better Together: A Pixar Pals Celebration Parade. They also featured within the projection scenes of Together Forever – A Pixar Nighttime Spectacular. Pixar Fest also included food booths, with one of these being named The Spark, which was, of course, themed to Soul, which served the Half Note Jazz Cake, named after the jazz club seen in the film.

To add to that, Joe Gardner can be seen at the Pixar Place Hotel, playing the piano in the hotel lobby. Joe performs a few times a day, for around fifteen minutes in total, playing a variety of jazz tunes, as well as interacting with guests. This “character experience” was promoted as an activity during Pixar Fest, from April to August 2024, however, Joe seems to have been performing at the Pixar Place Hotel since its opening on 30^th January 2024 until at least October. It is possible Joe Gardner still plays in the lobby outside of event dates, however, to avoid disappointment, it is best not to expect him to be there unless specifically stated. Joe is being listed as an entertainment offering for Disneyland’s Celebrate Soulfully event in February 2025 so he will definitely be back at Pixar Place Hotel then.

Also, just before Soul’s release in December 2020, merchandise was spotted throughout the Disney Parks, including plush toys, t-shirts, ornaments, pins, and a MagicBand. Soul-themed masks were also available, since this was during the pandemic and masks were required for most guests to experience the parks.

Finally, in 2024, Pixar decided to re-release three of their movies that debuted on Disney+ at movie theatres. These three movies were Luca (2021), Turning Red (2022), and Soul. Pixar felt that these movies had been made for the big screen, with audiences being cheated out of the theatrical experience by releasing them on Disney+. It was hoped that viewers would jump at the chance to see these movies again in this format[16]. Soul was the first of these three movies to be re-released in the US, on 12^th January 2024, with Burrow, the short film, also being released alongside it as originally planned.

FINAL THOUGHTS

As the pandemic was a time that made everyone reflect on their lives, Soul was released at a very appropriate time, getting us to re-examine our lives and what is important to us.

The lockdowns that many of us experienced during 2020 and parts of 2021 limited our freedoms, to the point that we were not supposed to see family and friends, and some were limited to just one chance to get outside during the day.

Everyone responded to lockdowns differently, with some tearing their hair out and going stir-crazy at the feeling that they were trapped in their own homes. Others embraced the opportunity to start a new hobby and actually have some downtime for once.

It gave workers the chance to focus on their work-life balance, since so many were required to work from home. This is a message that can be applied to Soul. Soul tells us that if we spend too much time working, we don’t spend enough time living, so the pandemic gave those that did struggle with that the opportunity to re-adjust their attitudes towards work, probably for the better.

However, the pandemic was a few years ago now, and many work-life patterns have settled back to exactly how they used to be. Whilst some businesses encourage working from home either permanently, or one or two days a week, others banned the idea entirely. This shows that in terms of work, some learnt nothing from the pandemic. It then became the individual’s choice whether their avenue of work was really appropriate for them anymore, if their mindset had been changed.

I hope Soul had a positive impact on people, about appreciating the simple things in life, and I think when the pandemic did end, this was the case for many. But these types of messages rarely last long in the mind, as we are told in the media and online to continuously strive for riches, success, or fame, forgetting that often this means bypassing happiness.

I sadly don’t think the world is capable of changing for the better, with all the lessons we learnt in the pandemic being forgotten just as quickly as it all started. Success and happiness are supposed to go hand-in-hand, but rarely is that the case. To be truly happy requires a lot of internal examination and I don’t think the vast majority of us are willing to put in the work to do this. Soul’s message is a beautiful dream, but really, how many of us can honestly say that just being alive is enough?

REFERENCES

[1] Credit: Pixar, “Into the Zone: The Music and Sound of Soul”, Disney+ (2021).

[2] Credit: Josh Spiegel, ‘Soul began with the Great Beyond, then evolved in Pixar’s film about Black life’, Polygon.com, 8^th December 2020.

[3] Credit: Sonaiya Kelley, ‘How Pete Docter and Kemp Powers brought the first Black Pixar protagonist to life in ‘Soul’’, LATimes.com, 19^th November 2020.

[4] Credit: Jason Guerrasio, ‘The director of ‘Soul’ says that initially the movie had a completely different ending’, BusinessInsider.com, 29^th December 2020.

[5] Credit: Kevin Polowy, ‘Meet the character from the Great Before cut from Pixar’s ‘Soul’ in exclusive deleted scene’, Yahoo.com, 18^th March 2021.

[6] Credit: Ethan Anderton, ‘The Making Of Pixar’s ‘Soul’: From The Real World To The Great Before And Beyond’, SlashFilm.com, 9^th October 2020.

[7] Credit: Terry Gross, ‘‘Soul’ Creators On Passion, Purpose And Realizing You’re ‘Enough’’, NPR.org, 23^rd March 2021.

[8] Credit: Pixar, “Astral Taffy”, Disney+ (2021).

[9] Credit: Josh Spiegel, ‘Soul began with the Great Beyond, then evolved in Pixar’s film about Black life’, Polygon.com, 8^th December 2020.

[10] Credit: Clémence Michallon, ‘Pixar announce new movie called Soul for summer 2020’, Independent.co.uk, 19^th June 2019.

[11] Credit: Jonathon Dornbush, ‘Pixar’s Soul Voice Cast Announced – D23 Expo’, IGN.com, 24^th August 2019.

[12] Credit: Pixar, “Soul, Improvised”, Disney+ (2021).

[13] Credit: Disney, ‘Disney & Pixar’s ‘Soul’ to make exclusive holiday debut on Disney+’, Disney.com, 8^th October 2020.

[14] Credit: Zack Krajnyak, ‘Pixar’s Soul Made History (But Still Has One Big Racial Issue)’, ScreenRant.com, 31^st December 2020.

[15] Credit: Mónica Marie Zorrilla, ‘TV Ratings: Pixar’s ‘Soul’ Tops Nielsen’s Streaming Top 10 Over Christmas’, Variety.com, 22^nd January 2021.

[16] Credit: Disney, ‘Pixar’s Pete Docter on Why He’s Excited for ‘Soul’, ‘Luca’, and ‘Turning Red’ to Hit Theaters’, TheWaltDisneyCompany.com, 11^th January 2024.

13th Dec 202424th Oct 2025 by The Disney Purist

Good Luck Charlie, It’s Christmas! (2011)

BACKGROUND

In 2011, Disney Channel was still creating new original movies for its viewers, still riding high from the highly successful High School Musical trilogy. It wouldn’t be for much longer that DCOMs continued to engage with audiences, with most of the movies coming after 2011 failing to hit that same mark, with few exceptions.

But that doesn’t affect anything here. It’s 2011, and Disney Channel released six DCOMs that year, with half of them being movies based around their most popular original programming at the time. Two of these were The Suite Life Movie and Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Across the 2^nd Dimension. The one I’m talking about right now though is Good Luck Charlie, It’s Christmas! the first and only feature-length movie to feature the wacky Duncan family from the popular Disney sitcom.

To be perfectly honest, Good Luck Charlie (2010-14) was not a programme that I particularly enjoyed. I watched most of the first season, but it came out towards the end of my teenage years, shortly before I went off to university when I would be watching Disney Channel much less frequently than I used to.

I’m not part of a big family. I have one sister and that’s it, so watching a huge, crazy family on Disney Channel did not feel relatable to me. I’m also fairly close in age to my sister, so we didn’t even have the age gap that most of the kids in Good Luck Charlie had with their baby sister, Charlie. It wasn’t something that I felt connected to, although I’m sure other kids did and no doubt liked the show, feeling that instead of representing the typical nuclear family of a mother, a father, and two children, Good Luck Charlie decided to showcase a more modern, and, arguably, more normal, family than those of the past.

Because my interest in the series had waned quite early on, I had not seen Good Luck Charlie, It’s Christmas! before this week, though I had at least heard of it, unlike some other DCOMs, both older and newer. It’s a movie that is featured within the Disney+ Christmas Collection so I believe that’s how I first came to know about it.

Sadly, I didn’t like Good Luck Charlie, It’s Christmas! In the show, I had always preferred to see the antics of PJ and Gabe, the two brothers, and was less interested in what Teddy, the sister, was doing. However, here, the plot of the movie mostly followed Teddy and the mother, Amy, so that is one reason it didn’t work for me. The other is that it has a very similar storyline to Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987), i.e., family members racing to get across the country to get where they need to be, in this case at Christmas and not Thanksgiving, but that minor distinction does not make the story original.

But hey, if you like Good Luck Charlie, don’t let me ruin your childhood. It is definitely a DCOM that fans of the show will like. It’s not their fault I wasn’t a fan already.

PLOT

Good Luck Charlie, It’s Christmas! centres around the antics of the Duncan family, as per the series. The Duncans consist of parents Amy and Bob; eldest son PJ; eldest daughter Teddy; youngest son Gabe; and youngest daughter Charlie. The movie starts with the Duncans at home in Denver. Although most of the family is excited to spend Christmas in Palm Springs with Amy’s parents, where they can have a Christmas in warm weather, Amy is stressing about it all. She is concerned about her parents not child-proofing their condo properly, and is worried about their usual family traditions being forgotten. Having the youngest Duncan child put the star on top of the Christmas tree seems to be the one that is bothering Amy the most, but nobody else thinks it’s that important, believing they can do that in Palm Springs still anyway. Just before leaving, Teddy finds that her best friend Ivy wants her to spend their upcoming Spring Break in Florida. Amy tells Teddy she won’t be going, which annoys Teddy, with Bob later saying Teddy can go to Florida if she buys her own plane ticket there.

But there’s no time to discuss that because they’ve got to get to the airport to catch their flight, 48 hours before Christmas morning. The trouble is Bob is struggling with a 3-in-1 child seat for Charlie, which won’t fully collapse properly, and both Gabe and PJ have been caught by security, attempting to smuggle a games console through the scanners. Well, it was Gabe’s idea; PJ was an unwilling participant. Because they had to be checked thoroughly by security after that, the Duncans are now late to board their plane so rush through the airport. Don’t worry, this isn’t a Home Alone 2 situation; they all get on the correct flight. Soon after boarding though, an announcement comes across saying that the flight is overbooked by one seat, asking if a passenger will kindly fly on a later flight, with a free round-trip ticket being given to that person for a destination of their choice. Teddy excitedly gets up from her seat, planning to use her free ticket for Spring Break in Florida. But Amy can’t leave Teddy alone in the airport, so she goes too, leaving PJ, Gabe, Charlie, and Bob flying to Palm Springs without them.

Teddy and Amy learn that the next available flight to Palm Springs isn’t until 26^th December, after Christmas, as all the other ones are fully booked. Hmm, they probably should’ve checked that before getting off the plane, don’t you think? Amy tries to convince the desk agent to get them on an earlier flight – but they are then both kicked out of the airport. Turns out Amy gets quite aggressive when she doesn’t get her way! This leaves the two of them getting an 18-hour bus to Palm Springs instead.

In Palm Springs, the rest of the Duncans arrive with no trouble. They get to Amy’s parents’ complex and see it has a pool, and the weather is nice and warm – yet their condo has not been child-proofed, with precious ornaments easily accessible to toddler Charlie. Bob says to Amy’s mother, Petunia, that Charlie is likely to break these, to which Petunia tells Bob if he were a better parent, she wouldn’t do that. Casual parent shaming there.

On the bus, Teddy and Amy are also not having a great time as Amy is travel sick. At their first stop, they are both barred from boarding the bus again as the driver won’t continue with Amy in that state. Once again, Amy gets into a confrontation and the police are called. The police officer tells the two that there isn’t a train here but they might be able to get a car – if they can walk 8 miles in the snow to the nearest car dealer! They don’t have much choice, so, grabbing their luggage, they set off on foot. By the time they get to the dealer, called Lenny’s, but it’s not run by Lenny; it’s run by a guy called Daryl, who bought out Lenny but kept his same jumpsuit with the name Lenny stitched on to it – this is a recurring joke; just go with it – there is only 38 hours to Christmas morning, and the only car available to them is an old busted up Yugo – whatever that is. They buy it for $50 and start driving. Teddy has decided she’ll drive to prove she is a responsible adult, capable of going to Florida without her parents. The car drives slowly uphill, before descending quickly downhill, with its breaks not working correcting. To make it worse, it starts snowing and the windscreen wipers don’t work properly. They hope when the road flattens out, they can coast to a stop…

Back in Palm Springs, Bob is having a hard time keeping Charlie away from anything fragile; Gabe has managed to get his grandpa, Hank, addicted to his favourite video game, Galaxy of Death, to the point that he won’t let Gabe play it with him; and PJ has got terrible sunburn from using tanning oil instead of sunscreen. This leads to Petunia once more accusing Bob of bad parenting, and then Charlie knocks over the Christmas tree, causing Bob to be locked in a bedroom as some sort of weird and twisted “timeout”.

Back with Teddy and Amy on Christmas Eve morning, they are still alive and have just woken up from a night sleeping in the car. Teddy attempts to return her driver’s seat back to its upright position after reclining it to sleep, but as she tries to do this, various parts fall off the car, including the doors, completely destroying it. A car repairman comes out, who Teddy and Amy believe is Walter, as per the name stitched on his jumpsuit, but no, this is Lenny, the one who used to own the car dealer – told you it was a recurring joke… At this point, Teddy and Amy are at a loss what to do next, standing outside a diner in Utah. They overhear a couple saying they are on their way to Las Vegas, which is on the way to Palm Springs for them. They go in and buy breakfast for the couple, Stan and Sue, who are heading to a convention. Stan and Sue kindly allow Teddy and Amy to ride with them.

In Palm Springs on Christmas Eve, Gabe wakes up to find his grandpa has been up all night on the game console and he won’t listen to Gabe and stop playing, getting annoyed at the suggestion he’s addicted to it. Gabe decides to hide from his grandpa in the same room that Bob has been locked in. PJ joins them soon after, as he has been banned from sitting on the furniture in the living room due to the amount of lotion he’s put on to soothe his sunburn. So now all three Duncan boys are having a terrible Christmas – yay!

In the car to Vegas, Teddy and Amy learn that Sue and Stan are believers in alien abductions and seeing that Amy is feeling unwell again, they tell Amy that she has probably been abducting by aliens as she has all the symptoms of it. Either that, or Amy’s pregnant. Teddy turns to her mother and the secret is revealed – Amy is pregnant, having kept it a secret to surprise the whole family on Christmas Day. As the two are dropped off in Vegas, with 15 hours to go until Christmas morning, Teddy complains she wasn’t told about this new baby and as the two argue, their luggage is stolen, as they were too preoccupied with their fight to pay attention to their bags. Amy calls Bob to say they are stuck in Vegas with no bags, and he and the boys – who managed to get a break from their timeout and were in the pool – decide to drive to Vegas to get them.

In Vegas, Teddy still doesn’t want to talk to her mother, and starts busking on the street, singing Christmas songs to the public, to earn money to get some food. Amy then joins in when she sees Teddy isn’t getting anywhere, and their double act gets more attention. With enough money for food, Teddy and Amy go to an all-you-can-eat buffet, where they see their stolen luggage – and the young girl who stole it. They go to confront her but the girl breaks down in tears, saying she had no money, she’s all alone in Vegas after a friend ditched her, and she doesn’t think her mother will let her come home. Amy offers to call the girl’s mother and get this all sorted out. She does, and the mother tells her she can most definitely come home for Christmas. The only trouble is, she has no money to get her home. Teddy then has an idea; she gives the girl her free plane ticket, so she can get home for Christmas. Let’s hope the plane had free seats on Christmas Eve or that was a waste!

Meanwhile, with 8 hours to go until Christmas morning, the boys go down a quiet road that PJ thinks is a shortcut; however, they are pulled over by men with guns and taken captive in a bunker. The men holding them hostage babble something about wanting a stone. Bob and PJ have no idea what they’re talking about, but luckily, Gabe does. It turns out the creator of Galaxy of Death holds a giant in-person paintball tournament on Christmas Eve each year in the desert. They just need to escape the bunker and find their car, and then they can continue their journey. As they free themselves from being tied to chairs, Gabe says he has a plan to get them over to their car. However, Gabe actually uses his plan to win the game himself. He retrieves the stone and wins the game, pretending to be a member of the yellow team, but these three intruders are rumbled, and the game creator comes over to figure out who has messed with his game. Luckily, as the creator is on the yellow team, he doesn’t mind as Gabe won it for him! He offers them a favour – a helicopter ride.

Teddy and Amy manage to rent a tandem bicycle in Vegas to continue their journey – from a guy called Walter who sold his car repair company to Lenny, who sold his dealer to Daryl, completing this strange, ongoing joke. They ride through the night and stop at a local diner. Soon after, a helicopter arrives by the diner – it’s PJ, Bob, and Gabe; the five are finally reunited, and on Christmas morning, no less. Then, two cars arrive – it’s Petunia and Hank, with little Charlie in tow. They really are altogether for Christmas! It is then revealed that the 3-in-1 child seat has never been able to collapse because their tree star was stuck in it. Moulding it back into shape, they can complete Amy’s favourite Christmas tradition, with Charlie being lifted up to put this star on top of the diner’s Christmas tree. Amy then announces her pregnancy to the whole family, which is a surprise for everyone.

After Christmas, the Duncans are back on a plane heading home. The same announcement about the flight being overbooked is heard once again, and Teddy volunteers herself to get another free ticket. Amy tells Bob it’s his turn to go after her. Bob begrudgingly packs up his stuff to follow Teddy, saying they should be home by New Year’s Day. Well, at least there’s less of a time constraint this time!

CHARACTERS & CAST

Teddy Duncan is the most responsible of the Duncan children. She is upbeat and positive, intelligent, and supportive of her large family. For those unfamiliar with the show, in every episode, big sister Teddy records video diaries for Charlie to watch later on, detailing their family life and life lessons to remember in the future. This continues within Good Luck Charlie, It’s Christmas! Even as Teddy and Amy struggle to figure out what to do next, Teddy still manages to find time to record a message for Charlie. In this movie, Teddy wants her parents to allow her to go to Florida without parental supervision, so she goes out of her way to prove she is a responsible adult – you know, after the whole running off the plane without a plan part, because that doesn’t sound very responsible to me! Teddy actually has to look after her mother quite a lot on their journey, as Amy is both not feeling well and lashing out with her mood swings quite frequently. Luckily, Teddy has the patience of a saint and only gets upset with her mother when they get to Vegas – and it’s quickly resolved anyway.

Bridgit Mendler portrays Teddy. She first appeared on Disney Channel as Juliet van Heusen on Wizards of Waverly Place (2007-12), prior to her starring role in Good Luck Charlie (2010-14). She also starred as Olivia White in the DCOM Lemonade Mouth (2011). After a recurring role in the series Nashville (2012-18), as Ashley Willerman, and main roles in the series Undateable (2014-16) as Candace, and Merry Happy Whatever (2019) as Emmy Quinn, Mendler has since moved away from acting and pursued other business interests.

Amy has always been a busy mother, balancing her four children as well as her work, seemingly loving the spotlight, as we see when her and Teddy are busking, wanting to get more attention than her daughter, which isn’t exactly a healthy attitude to have but at least it got them some money! I don’t remember Amy being the way she is in Good Luck Charlie, It’s Christmas! in the main series, but to be fair, I only watched Season 1. I was surprised to find Amy was acting like a moody teenager through much of this movie, but I guess we’re supposed to blame her hormones for that. It was like Teddy was the parent and Amy was the child in much of this film, which I didn’t like. Amy can be funny at times, especially when she’s being sarcastic, but I didn’t like the character in this movie at all. She was unhinged.

Amy was played by Leigh-Allyn Baker. Prior to Good Luck Charlie, Baker appeared in the recurring roles of Hannah Webster in Charmed (1998-2006) and Ellen in Will & Grace (1998-2020). Baker went on to star as Liz Morgan in the DCOM Bad Hair Day (2015) and voiced characters in Disney animated series like The 7D (2014-16) and Mickey Mouse Mixed-Up Adventures (2017-21).

For the boys, we have PJ and Gabe. PJ is struggling in this movie with severe sunburn, whilst Gabe finds his plan to play on his games console all Christmas has backfired because Grandpa Hank becomes obsessed with it. They both are seemingly have a difficult Christmas, and they both don’t get nearly enough screentime for me. I always found their antics funnier than Teddy’s life, who is the main focus of the series. The only part in the movie where they really get to shine is during the paintball tournament, where they work together with their dad to help Gabe win the game. This whole tournament seemed to purely have been added to give the boys more of a storyline, but it was so random and out-of-the-blue that I struggled to really understand why it was there, which was a shame.

Bradley Steven Perry was cast as Gabe, who had quite a long history with Disney. After getting his starring role on Good Luck Charlie, Perry went on to be cast as Roger Elliston in Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure (2011), and then went on to have lead roles in two further Disney Channel series. These were Mighty Med (2013-15) and Lab Rats: Elite Force (2016) where he played Kaz. Perry also voiced the character of Zevon, son of Yzma, in Season 2 of Descendants: Wicked World (2015-17). Outside of Disney, he was cast in the recurring role of Alec Raday in Schooled (2019-20) and now has a successful YouTube Channel featuring cooking videos, which some of his previous Good Luck Charlie cast members have appeared on, and a podcast called The Sit and Chat Podcast which Perry hosts alongside fellow former Disney Channel star, Jake Short.

Jason Dolley was cast as PJ Duncan, and he too 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 was cast in two further DCOMs: as Virgil in Minutemen (2008), and Pete in Hatching Pete (2009). Dolley later appeared as Kevin in the ABC series American Housewife (2016-21). Recently, he wrote and starred in the short film The Unicorn That Never Lies (2024).

Rounding out the Duncan family, there is Bob and Charlie. Bob has to look after Charlie at Amy’s parents’ house as Amy is not there to be with her, and he finds it a struggle having to watch a toddler on the time, making sure she doesn’t break anything or hurt herself, because for some reason, Amy’s parents couldn’t be bothered to make their condo safe for their youngest grandchild! Bob is the more stable of the two parents, so he is holding the family together in Good Luck Charlie, It’s Christmas! Although Gabe technically wins the helicopter ride that reunites the family, you can bet it was Bob who kept the focus on finding Amy and Teddy. Gabe would have probably chosen to have a tour of the Vegas sights!

Eric Allan Kramer was cast as Bob Duncan. One of Kramer’s earliest roles was as Little John in the parody film Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993), alongside Cary Elwes as the title character. He then went on to be cast as Dave Rogers in the series The Hughleys (1998-2002). Prior to his casting on Good Luck Charlie, Kramer had had guest roles in other Disney Channel series, such as Phil of the Future (2004-06) and Wizards of Waverly Place (2007-12). Kramer went on to be cast as Scott Miller in the series Lodge 49 (2018-19). Charlie was played by Mia Talerico.

So, that’s the main Duncan family, but we also meet Amy’s parents, Petunia and Hank, here. Petunia is quite disapproving of Bob and his parenting skills, constantly belittling him, even going so far as to put him in “timeout”. She clearly adores her grandchildren, especially Charlie, and wants to do all the typical family activities, like baking cookies, with her, but I do think Petunia was quite harsh in her dealings with Bob. He’s a grown man who’s been with your daughter for 20 years; get over it! Hank initially seems to be the calm, friendly grandpa, who has a mild obsession with mints, offering them to everyone whenever he can. Thanks to Gabe introducing him to the wide world of gaming, outside of Hank’s typical golf games, he then becomes obsessed with it, to the point he gets a tad aggressive at being told he should probably take a break…Perseverance pays off as he completes the game though!

Petunia was played by Debra Monk. On screen, Monk appeared as Denise Parsons in the legal series Damages (2007-12) and as Betty Cragdale in Mozart in the Jungle (2014-18). More recently, Monk played the recurring role of Karen Brantley in New Amsterdam (2018-23) and was cast as Miss. Armstrong in The Gilded Age (2022-present). On Broadway, Monk also played Mama Morton in a 2000s revival of the musical Chicago and Big Mama in the 2013 revival of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Michael Kagan was cast as Hank. For Disney Channel, he had previously appeared in the recurring role of talk show host Colin Lassiter on Hannah Montana (2006-11).

MUSIC

Good Luck Charlie, It’s Christmas! only has one original song credited to it. This is the opening credits song “I’m Gonna Run to You”, written by Jamie Houston and performed by Bridgit Mendler. This song was released as a single in November 2011 prior to the premiere of Good Luck Charlie, It’s Christmas!

Later on in the movie, there are some traditional Christmas songs performed by Bridgit Mendler as Teddy and Leigh-Allyn Baker as Amy. This is the busking scene on the Las Vegas Strip that Teddy starts doing to raise some money, before Amy comes in to make it more of a spectacle with in-song fighting, which draws the crowd in. Firstly, Teddy sings “Deck the Halls” alone, before moving on to “Jingle Bells”. Amy cuts in partway through that song, and then they both perform “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” together.

There is also a mysterious uncredited song that has led to some discussion online, as, although it is only briefly heard in the scene just after Amy and Teddy have had their fight in Vegas, many have been looking for a full version of this song because they loved it so much from the movie. It is believed the song is called “Christmas with You” and there is speculation that it is an original song written specifically for Good Luck Charlie, It’s Christmas! The singer has never been identified and a full version has never been found. It is said to have been written by Andy Dodd and Brian Dean. Another song that is unidentifiable in this DCOM is the song playing by the pool when the boys arrive at Amy’s parents’ condo, though it is barely audible so I doubt many people are looking for it!

Other songs that were uncredited but have been confirmed include “Run Run Rudolph”, a popular song that has appeared in other Christmas movies. Chuck Berry’s original version, for example, can be heard in Home Alone (1990) as the family run through the airport to catch their flight. Funnily enough, in Good Luck Charlie, It’s Christmas! the Lynyrd Skynyrd version of this same song is heard as the Duncans run through the airport. I do like this song and I like the reference to Home Alone here.

A couple of other songs in this movie are “Christmas in Vegas” by Terry Fator, which plays when Amy and Teddy are dropped off in Las Vegas after hitch-hiking with the couple who believe they were abducted by aliens. It’s a big band-style of song, which matches the Las Vegas setting well. Later, “Ya Better Believe” by Max Morgan is heard as Gabe, PJ, and Bob compete in the paintball tournament. This wasn’t the best song in the movie for me, and to be honest, I barely even noticed it; I think I wasn’t particularly bothered by the paintball stuff so I lost focus at this point.

Finally, the End Credits song is “Gotta Get Back by Christmas”, which was a decent song for the movie to end on, although not much of it can be heard over the bloopers that are shown during the credits. This song was performed by British singer Steve Rushton, who, after leaving the band Son of Dork, began a solo career and this led to many opportunities with Disney Channel. Rushton sang the theme song “Livin’ the Suite Life” for The Suite Life on Deck (2008-11). Rushton then performed and wrote two songs for Hannah Montana: The Movie (2009): “Everything I Want” and “Game Over”; as well as featured on the Wizards of Waverly Place soundtrack, performing “Strange Magic”.

David Lawrence was the composer on Good Luck Charlie, It’s Christmas! Lawrence has been the composer on many other DCOMs including StarStruck (2010), Teen Beach Movie (2013) and its 2015 sequel, as well as the original Descendants trilogy.

PRODUCTION

Good Luck Charlie was a new original programme for Disney Channel, debuting its first episode on 4^th April 2010. This first episode saw Teddy making her first video diary for nine-month-old Charlie in which she introduced the whole family.

During development, the series had been titled Love, Teddy, and then Oops, before Good Luck Charlie was settled on. This three-word phrase is said by at least one character, normally Teddy, at the end of every episode. It is unclear if the overall premise of the show changed over the course of production given the different potential title names, although all three titles would still make sense to the show that was made.

Season 1 of Good Luck Charlie ran from its premiere episode in April 2010 to 30^th January 2011. A second season began airing shortly after, on 20^th February 2011, running to 27^th November 2011. The show was popular from the outset, as it depicted a different type of family, but one that was becoming more normal. For example, Amy Duncan is a working mother, balancing her kids and her career. Bob is a dad that helps around the house and with the kids, and the series shows parents having children later in life. An adaptation was created for Disney Channel India, with this series being called Best of Luck Nikki. It ran from April 2011 to April 2016[1].

Good Luck Charlie was nominated for various awards during its time on Disney Channel. These included Primetime Emmy nominations for Outstanding Children’s Program and Kids’ Choice nominations for Favorite TV Show. Bridgit Mendler was also nominated for Favorite TV actress at the Kids’ Choice and Teen Choice Awards. Bradley Steven Perry received a nomination for a Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a TV – Supporting Young Actor in 2011. The series itself did win two British Academy Children’s Awards, for BAFTA Kids’ Vote: TV in 2011 and 2012.

Furthermore, the Good Luck Charlie series premiered to 4.7 million viewers, with this being the highest-rated series premiere for a Disney Channel series since the premiere of The Suite Life on Deck (2008-11). Good Luck Charlie’s success was only further confirmed with the creation of Good Luck Charlie, It’s Christmas!, a feature-length movie to showcase the characters in a new setting.

This new setting happened to be Utah where the majority of filming took place. This means that Good Luck Charlie, It’s Christmas! follows in the footsteps of other DCOMs, such as Read It and Weep (2006), Halloweentown High (2004), Return to Halloweentown (2006), and the High School Musical trilogy by being filmed in Utah. However, Good Luck Charlie, It’s Christmas! is not primarily set in Utah, with only one scene having Teddy mention that she thinks her and her mother are now in Utah, so the production team had to get a bit creative. For example, Salt Lake Convention Center became Denver Airport; the Pirate Island Pizza place in Orem, Utah, was the setting of the Las Vegas all-you-can-eat buffet restaurant[2]; and The Gateway in Salt Lake City was made to look like the Las Vegas Strip[3]. It would have no doubt been hugely costly, as well as a logistical nightmare, to actually have the cast and crew do a full-on road trip themselves to film Teddy and Amy’s cross-country trip so I can see why this was necessary, though it is quite clear, even to me who has not been to many areas of America, that the real-life locations were not being used here, but it didn’t bother me.

Good Luck Charlie, It’s Christmas! does not involve many stunts, or large action scenes, as it is mostly just about Amy and Teddy getting on and off various forms of transport and sitting somewhere to discuss what to do next. However, there is one moment in the movie that did require some effects work, and that is the paintball tournament that PJ, Gabe, and Bob find themselves mixed up in. The crew reportedly had to build their own paintball guns in order to lower the pressure of the bullets – since regular paintball guns are known for bruising even the hardiest of people – to keep the cast as safe as possible. They also had to make their own paintballs to add more paint so the paint splatter would be more visible on camera[4].

The movie was directed by Arlene Sanford who had directed some episodes of the long-running teen drama series Pretty Little Liars (2010-17), as well as a few within its spin-off, Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists (2019). Sanford also directed the live-action Disney movie I’ll Be Home for Christmas (1998). This makes a lot of sense, because Good Luck Charlie, It’s Christmas! not only took inspiration from Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987), but also from I’ll Be Home for Christmas, which sees a college student race across the country with limited means to get home in time for Christmas Eve. My family love this movie. Geoff Rodkey was the screenwriter for Good Luck Charlie, It’s Christmas!, having previously written Daddy Day Care (2003) and its 2007 sequel, Daddy Day Camp, as well as the Robin Williams comedy RV (2006). For Disney, Rodkey also co-wrote The Shaggy Dog (2006).

RECEPTION

As is typical with Disney Channel Original Movies, Good Luck Charlie, It’s Christmas! was promoted with small behind-the-scenes videos about the making of the movie, as well as sneak peeks and trailers closer to the movie’s premiere date. It seems that the first trailer for this DCOM was shown in October 2011.

But there was another advertisement which was perfect cross-promotion, and that was having Bridgit Mendler, Jason Dolley, and Bradley Steven Perry front a Disney 365 video about Aulani, A Disney Resort & Spa, a Disney Vacation Club Resort, which opened on 29^th August 2011. This Disney 365 saw the three actors showcase the resort and its activities, prior to a few clips of Good Luck Charlie, It’s Christmas! being shown[5].

Good Luck Charlie, It’s Christmas! premiered on Disney Channel on 2^nd December 2011. It was then broadcast to other countries later on that month, including the UK, Ireland, and Australia – because it would have just been silly to air a Christmas movie months later in other countries, like Disney Channel did with so many of their other DCOMs.

Fans of Good Luck Charlie did like Good Luck Charlie, It’s Christmas!, with many retrospectively stating that this was one of the last good DCOMs that came from the channel for many years. It is no secret that from 2012 onwards, Disney Channel’s movies did not seem to reach the height of success that others had since 2006, when High School Musical premiered. I’d say that it wouldn’t be until Descendants in 2015 that Disney Channel recaptured some of that old magic they once had, and even since then, DCOMs have not really been the same. But that’s beside the point. Viewers liked Good Luck Charlie, It’s Christmas! because it was a wholesome movie that could be enjoyed by the whole family, and many consider it to be a childhood favourite DCOM.

On the other hand, not everyone liked it, myself included. Some felt that it dragged in places, which I agree with, and this is probably because the movie wasn’t all that funny. If you’re following the generic road trip storyline, it has to have big moments of hilarity, or else people start to get bored. It wasn’t even that the movie wasn’t funny that bothered people; it’s because the show itself was much funnier than the DCOM ended up being. Others said it was unrealistic at times, and didn’t really celebrate Christmas as you might have expected. The only Christmassy scene comes right at the end of the movie at the diner where the family reunite, but even then, it’s only a couple of minutes. Amy’s pregnancy reveal also received a mixed reaction, with some saying that having another baby would take away from Charlie who is meant to be the focus of the whole show. Amy herself was criticised too, as audiences felt she was incredibly over-the-top, more so than in the show. This is a point that I wholeheartedly agree with; Amy did seem different here to early episodes of the series.

Good Luck Charlie, It’s Christmas! pulled in 6.9 million viewers on its premiere night, becoming the top live-action cable film of the year. In comparison to other DCOMs of that year, Lemonade Mouth, released in April 2011, premiered to 5.7 million viewers, and Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Across the 2^nd Dimension, from August 2011, got 7.6 million, so this was a respectable amount for Good Luck Charlie, It’s Christmas! to have[6].

LEGACY

Following on from the movie, because that whole baby thing had to be resolved, Season 3 of Good Luck Charlie began airing on 6^th May 2012, running until 20^th January 2013. The new Duncan was revealed to the world in episode 7 of that season, titled “Special Delivery”, in an hour-long special episode. This baby was a boy named Toby, whose name had been decided via a worldwide public vote, with Toby receiving almost 26 million votes. And just to take even more attention away from little Charlie, Toby was born on her birthday. It was also revealed in the episode that Toby’s full name was actually Toby Wan Kenobi Duncan. Haha, I see what they did there – but it really should’ve been Toby The Birthday Stealer Duncan. And then they should’ve renamed the show to simply Poor Charlie…

The public vote to name the new baby opened shortly after the premiere of Good Luck Charlie, It’s Christmas! running from 2^nd December to 16^th December 2011 on the show’s official website. For the boys, Noah, Jonah, Toby, Bobby Jr., and Bo were available to vote on, whilst the girls names were Sydney, Erika, Mallory, Talia, and Jenny[7].

After that, Season 4 aired on 28^th April 2013 and ended on 16^th February 2014. There were two special episodes within this season, with one being Episode 17, titled “Good Luck Jessie: NYC Christmas”, to create a cross-over episode with the cast of Jessie (2011-15), where Teddy and PJ are stranded in New York City due to a blizzard, after going to the city for a college tour, and meet up with the characters of Jessie.

The final episode of Good Luck Charlie was an hour-long special titled “Good Bye Charlie”. It sees Teddy going off to college, and her family throwing her a going-away party. The last scene sees the whole family – except Toby – saying goodbye to Teddy, with Teddy making her final video diary entry for Charlie. The family gather round the camera and say “Good Luck Charlie” together for the last time.

The decision to fully end Good Luck Charlie had been decided prior to Season 4 airing so the cast and crew were able to completely finish the series, with no chance of a cliffhanger not being able to be resolved. It is said that the series did not end because its popularity was declined, but it was simply that Disney Channel like to end their shows around the 100-episode mark, so it was just time for Good Luck Charlie to end. I can see the sense in this. Too many shows push their storylines to the limit and become boring and samey, airing for much too many years[8].

Due to the era we are currently living through in terms of the entertainment industry, with reboots and spin-offs everywhere you look, it is only natural that fans of Good Luck Charlie are wondering if there is a future for this show once more. It also does not help that Wizards of Waverly Place (2007-12), a show that was on Disney Channel around the same time as Good Luck Charlie, has just recently launched a reboot, Wizards Beyond Waverly Place (2024-present). At the premiere of this reboot, Jason Dolley even spoke about the potential for a Good Luck Charlie reunion. Dolley stated that it could be interesting to see where the characters ended up a decade later, with Dolley’s character, PJ, taking steps towards becoming a chef by the time of the show’s finale[9]. However, Bridgit Mendler is said to have fully stepped away from acting, so this may be a stumbling block towards a reunion. But who knows; never say never, right?

FINAL THOUGHTS

When I first started watching Good Luck Charlie, It’s Christmas!, I didn’t really know what to expect, since I hadn’t seen the show in years. I was hoping for some fun antics, with the addition of the magic of Christmas. It didn’t turn out that way.

Though I’m sure fans of the show did love this DCOM, I sadly didn’t, no matter how much I was hoping I would. I didn’t watch much past Season 1 of Good Luck Charlie, but what I did watch, I liked, so I was surprised this didn’t work out for me.

At the beginning, when the Duncan family were at the airport, I thought someone was going to end up on the wrong flight, like in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992) – but that didn’t happen. And I was glad about that, because airports have so many checks now, it isn’t very likely you’d get on the wrong plane. Then, with Amy and Teddy trying to get over to Palm Springs from Denver without flying, it seemed like Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987). It later turned into I’ll Be Home for Christmas (1998), which not everyone has seen, but it’s basically the same idea.

These three Christmas films – or two Christmas films, and one Thanksgiving film, if you want to be picky about it – are amazing. I watch all three every year and I never tire of them. That was not the case with Good Luck Charlie, It’s Christmas!

Everyone wants different things from a Christmas movie, and everyone has their own favourites. I’m well aware that some movies I love to watch at this time of year have been panned by critics and audiences alike, but I don’t care.

If you love Good Luck Charlie, It’s Christmas! for its crazy antics, its family dynamics, and its warm message about the importance of being with loved ones, then feel free to say you don’t care about my opinion too.

REFERENCES

[1] Credit: Stacey Grant, ’18 Good Luck Charlie Secrets That’ll Make You Demand a Reboot STAT’, Seventeen.com, 25^th April 2019.

[2] Credit: Brooke Brown, ‘Disney’s ‘Good Luck Charlie’ cast gets movie treatment in Utah’, Deseret.com, 21^st April 2011.

[3] Credit: Scott Pierce, ‘Utah stars in Disney Channel movie “Good Luck Charlie, It’s Christmas!”’, SLTRIB.com, 1^st December 2011.

[4] Credit: Disney, ‘DCOM Extra – Good Luck Charlie, It’s Christmas! – Disney Channel Official’, Disney Channel YouTube Channel, 21^st November 2011.

[5] Credit: Disney, ‘Good Luck Charlie in Aulani Disney 365’, Bradleyfansite YouTube Channel, 15^th March 2015.

[6] Credit: Philiana Ng, ‘Disney Channel’s ‘Good Luck Charlie’ Holiday Movie Strikes Ratings Gold’, HollywoodReporter.com, 3^rd December 2011.

[7] Credit: Robyn Ross, ‘Exclusive: Good Luck Charlie Fans Decide Season 3’s [SPOILER!]’, TVGuide.com, 2^nd December 2011.

[8] Credit: Nellie Andreeva, ‘Disney Channel’s ‘Good Luck Charlie’ To End Its Run’, Deadline.com, 11^th June 2013.

[9] Credit: Hanna Wickes, ‘OMG: Everything We Know About a ‘Good Luck Charlie’ Reboot: Cast Quotes, Plot, More’, J-14.com, 29^th October 2024.

6th Dec 20245th Dec 2025 by The Disney Purist

Christmas…Again?! (2021)

BACKGROUND

I’m a big fan of Christmas films.

I make sure to watch all my favourite ones every year. But I also like to give the television Christmas movies a go, things from Lifetime and Hallmark for example, though, as anyone who has watched these types of movies will know, they are generally quite hit-or-miss and vary widely from unwatchable to amazing.

However, although some of my favourite Christmas films are Disney, such as The Santa Clause trilogy, I have not seen any Disney Channel Original Movies which are Christmas-themed. Luckily, there really aren’t many, so I haven’t missed out on much.

Two of them were released in the early 2000s – The Ultimate Christmas Present (2000) and ‘Twas the Night (2001) – a little bit early for me to have been watching the channel. Ten years after that – yes, a whole decade – Disney Channel premiered their next Christmas-based DCOM, Good Luck Charlie, It’s Christmas! (2011). Though I liked the series, I wasn’t an avid watcher of it, so, once again, I missed the boat on that one.

It wasn’t for another ten years that the next Christmas DCOM would come into existence, this being Christmas…Again?!, a movie about a girl who gets stuck reliving Christmas over and over again until she learns the true meaning of the holiday. You’d think such a leader in children and tween programming would want to prioritise Christmas as a theme in its original movies like other channels, but, for whatever reason, they have not.

Christmas…Again?! was yet another average Christmas movie for me, however, unlike the Hallmark-style of Christmas movies, Christmas…Again?! was not aimed at someone my age. It is best suited for those under 16, and I’m sure those kids really liked it. It has its moments of comedy; it represents modern-day families; and lots of children probably wish it could be Christmas every day. It is relatable for them.

Going into seeing this movie for the first time, I really thought I wouldn’t like it at all. That did not turn out to be the case. In fact, the first twenty minutes were alright, with the original Christmas scene, and the last twenty minutes, where the main character breaks her time loop, were fine too. The problem with time loops in movies is that they can get old and boring really quickly. Christmas…Again?! fell into that category in my opinion. I don’t think the movie needed to be 90 minutes long, and some of the middle section could’ve easily been reduced. If that had happened, I might have liked this film more than I did.

PLOT

The movie begins late at night on Christmas Eve. Rowena, also known as Ro, is talking to her mother about her Top 5 Christmas memories and talking about how she wants to relive all of them this year. There is just one problem with that; this will be Ro’s first Christmas with her father’s new girlfriend, Diane, and her son, Louie, so it’s going to be different this year.

On Christmas Day, Ro is scared awake by Louie who is standing by her bed, dressed up as a ghost. This causes Ro to stumble backwards, knocking over a glass of juice onto a laptop. She then goes downstairs and tries to talk to her father about all the cool things she wants to do this Christmas, but he is too distracted by Louie to listen. Ro follows him into the kitchen and finds that Diane has eaten the special Christmas chocolate that was meant for her – gasp! Ro’s grandparents and uncles soon arrive at the house for a big family Christmas but as the day goes on, Ro finds herself and her Christmas traditions being ignored, plus things start to go wrong, like her uncles’ dog peeing on Ro’s belongings; an antique bowl being broken; the dog knocking all the food off the table; and then just when Ro thinks she can get some peace to watch the annual Christmas ice hockey match she likes, Louie starts messing with the remote control and turns the TV off. Ro chases Louie to get the remote back, but accidentally gets caught up in the decorations and they all fall to the ground with a crash. Ro is blamed by the whole family for ruining Christmas – oh yeah, and destroying her sister, Gabby’s laptop with that morning juice spill…

Ro is furious at this as she feels like her family has ruined Christmas for her, so she storms outside and starts throwing snowballs at a statue of Santa as payback for her terrible Christmas. Surprisingly, a man in a Santa suit appears from behind the statue and asks Ro why she isn’t having a great day. She tells him what’s been going on and he then asks Ro if she’d like a Christmas do-over. She says she would and wishes for one.

The next day, Ro wakes up and is surprised to find the same things happening to her, like getting scared by Louie, spilling the juice, and having all the family over again. Ro plays along for a bit but soon gets fed up with this and accuses everyone of playing a prank on her to get back at her for “ruining Christmas”. The family have no idea what she’s talking about. The next day, Ro realises that, although it is still apparently Christmas, the exact same things have not happened that day, for example, the juice didn’t spill on her sister’s laptop this time. Ro figures out she is reliving Christmas and she can change it to do exactly what she wants; she thinks she’ll enjoy this time loop she’s stuck in.

The next day, Ro decides to do things differently and orders herself a limo. When the car comes to pick her up, the man dressed as Santa from the other night – who Ro calls Tall Santa – is her driver. He asks her why she is alone and Ro simply states she wants to have a normal Christmas even if that means doing it all without her family. She goes sledging one day; goes to the pier for a Christmas event; goes to the museum; and goes to the Santas vs. Elves hockey game, eventually competing in it herself, to start ticking off her Top 5 Christmas memories list, redoing everything as she’d always planned. Ro also starts to get her own back on her family, getting up early to scare Louie instead of the other way round, and threatening Diane for the Christmas chocolate. She also decides to have some fun by pretending she’s psychic, since she knows what’s going to happen in the day, having witnessed it numerous times. Ro sets up more fun for herself by asking everyone questions and uses this information the following day to “prove” her psychic abilities.

One day, she takes the limo back to the hockey game again, but notices her neighbours acting out their same movements from the days before, like two kids having their charity money stolen by a local bully; a family putting up posters about their lost cat; and a woman dropping her groceries. Ro is then at the food stall at the hockey game and sees Tall Santa at the counter. Ro tells Tall Santa she knows what’s going to happen to all these people around her today, to which Tall Santa asks if she ever warns them if it’s something bad that happens. Ro says she doesn’t and that this do-over is just about getting her Christmas list done. Tall Santa reiterates that she should be spending time with family, even if it has changed. However, Ro doesn’t want things to change – but Tall Santa did give her an idea; her Christmas doesn’t need to change if she can get her parents back together!

This task then becomes Ro’s focus, spending days on this. She has to make sure Diane and Louie are out of the way first, so she covers Diane’s clothing with the cat hair from the neighbourhood’s lost cat – which she found but didn’t return to its owners – as she’s terribly allergic, and sits Louie in the bathtub with a laptop, saying he can watch whatever he wants. Ro then starts to get her mum and dad to relive their favourite Christmas Day, as they both told Ro on a previous day all about it. Gradually, Ro starts to piece together the perfect moment for her parents to reunite. One night, Ro and her sister dance with her parents in the living room, before leaving as their wedding song plays. Ro then dangles mistletoe above them. This doesn’t result in a real kiss and the parents start to suspect Ro is trying to get them back together. They both sit her down and tell her that they aren’t getting back together, as Ro’s father has asked Diane to marry him and she’s said yes. This devastates Ro and now her Christmas is tainted with bad memories forever…

As the time loop continues, Ro just wants everything to go back to normal and for this wish of hers to stop. She tries to destroy her penguin alarm clock which plays “Jingle Bells” to her every morning but it doesn’t work, and simply reappears each morning. Ro starts acting up during the day, saying she now relates to Scrooge in Dickens’ A Christmas Carol and doesn’t see the point of Christmas anymore, worrying her family. Ro also tries writing to Santa to get him to stop the time loop and even yells at the Santa statue outside, but nothing works and she continues to live out Christmas Day.

Eventually, Ro has a heart-to-heart with Gabby who tells her she misses the old times too, but that her parents weren’t happy together so it’s better this way really. Ro was younger when the divorce happened so she doesn’t necessarily remember any of that. Ro realises she should be spending Christmas with family and needs to stop living in the past.

Over the next few Christmas Days, Ro sets her sights on helping others. For her family, she is kind to everyone, including Louie and Diane; saves the antique bowl from breaking; and brings a mariachi band to the house for them all to enjoy. The family even sit and sing “Silent Night” together. Within the neighbourhood, Ro helps two kids with their charity money as they exchange jokes for donations and even convinces the local bully to contribute to the money instead of stealing it. She also returns the lost cat to its owners; helps the woman with her groceries; and even saves an engagement from going wrong.

That Christmas evening, as Ro and her family spend time together, the neighbours and local people that Ro helped all come to the house with food to thank Ro for her help that day. This turns into a big party and Ro gives a speech telling everyone that this was her best Christmas ever and that Christmas really is about spending time with the people you love.

The very next day, Ro expects it to be Christmas Day again, especially as her clock radio is still playing “Jingle Bells”, but it turns out it is the 26^th December. Ro is very happy that the time loop is over but is surprisingly sad to see her father, Diane, and Louie packing up their things to head back home. She says goodbye to them. Shortly after, a limo arrives, with Tall Santa still driving it. He asks Ro about her Christmas list, which she completed but found didn’t make her as happy as helping others and being with her family. As he is about to leave, Ro notices Tall Santa has his own list in the limo. This is the “Second Chance List”, not the Naughty List though, making her wonder if he was the real Santa after all. As Tall Santa drives away, Ro’s name vanishes from the list.

CHARACTERS & CAST

Rowena is only twelve years old so it’s quite understandable that she would want to spend her Christmas doing things she wants to do, like going to Winter Fest and seeing the Christmas hockey match. Although I’m not sure we’re meant to sympathise with Rowena too much, it must be difficult to have to spend Christmas with a new stepbrother and stepmother, with all Ro’s usual traditions going out the window because you have to incorporate other people into the day. I admire Rowena’s dedication to Christmas with all her lists and planning, and I’m glad she got to go out and do everything she wanted during the time loop, even if that wasn’t the way to break it! It was quite obvious that the way Ro was going to stop the time loop was by being more selfless but it was still a nice message.

Rowena was played by Scarlett Estevez who had previously been cast as Megan in the movie Daddy’s Home (2015) and its 2017 sequel. She also appeared in the series Lucifer (2016-21) in the role of Trixie, before being cast as Gwen in Season 4 of the Disney Channel series Bunk’d (2015-24). Estevez went on to star as Ultra Violet in the Disney series Ultra Violet & Black Scorpion (2022). For her role as Rowena in Christmas…Again?!, Estevez was also nominated in the Best Young Actor category at the 2022 Imagen Awards.

Rowena’s parents are loving and supportive of Ro, and, despite the divorce and the added awkwardness of a new partner and son coming along, they are determined to have a nice family Christmas altogether. It’s quite common to think that divorced couples can’t even bear to be in the same room as each other, but that certainly isn’t the case here. Rowena’s mother, Caroline, is welcoming to Diane and Louie and there is no sign of animosity between them. However, Ro struggles with the fact she is no longer the centre of attention with her parents, as they are surrounded by other family members to consider, and Louie is now the youngest child in the house. Caroline and Mike, Ro’s father, try to keep Ro involved in the usual activities, but Ro is seemingly uninterested to begin with. Regardless of how Ro behaves over those various Christmas Days, her parents are honest and open with her, and clearly love her, even though they aren’t still together.

Alexis Carra was cast as Caroline, having previously appeared as Cynthia Molina in the teen drama Recovery Road (2016), and as Jessica in the sitcom Mixology (2014). Mike was played by Daniel Sunjata who some may recognise as James Holt in The Devil Wears Prada (2006), and as Brad in Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (2009). Sunjata also starred as Franco Rivera in the series Rescue Me (2004-11). Recently, he was cast as Detective Karadec in the crime drama High Potential (2024-present), alongside Kaitlin Olson.

Rowena’s grandparents are Abuela Sofia and Abuelo Hector. Their arrival causes a bit of chaos in the household on Christmas Day as Sofia struggles with an upset stomach after eating at a greasy spoon earlier that day, and Sofia asks Ro if she liked the sweater they got her for Christmas, assuming that presents had already been opened – they hadn’t. Sofia and Hector are doting, loving grandparents, as you’d expect them to be.

Abuela Sofia was played by Priscilla Lopez, who originated the role of Diana Morales in A Chorus Line in Broadway in 1975. She was also cast as Camila Rosario in the musical In the Heights on Broadway in 2008. Lopez also played the roles of Fastrada and later Berthe in performances of the musical Pippin. Lopez was cast as Veronica, the mother of Jennifer Lopez’s character, in Maid in Manhattan (2002) too. Abuelo Hector was played by Tony Amendola, who appeared in the recurring role of Geppetto/Marco in Once Upon a Time (2011-18). He was also cast as the character Bra’tac in Stargate SG-1 (1997-2007). Recently, Amendola appeared as King Levitica in the movie Rebel Moon (2023).

Then there is Diane, Rowena’s stepmother. She is trying her best to get Ro to like her, but to no avail, which is a shame because apart from eating Ro’s sacred chocolate, she seems like a kind person. Diane just wants Ro to like her and get on with her, so at the start of Christmas…Again?!, it is quite sad to see Ro being mean or dismissive towards her. Their relationship is much better by the end of the movie though, as Ro realises Diane shouldn’t be blamed for making their Christmas different this year, and that as long as Diane makes her dad happy, Ro should make an effort to get on with her. Diane also brings her son, Louie, to the family who starts off as a seemingly bratty little stepbrother to Rowena, scaring her when she wakes up and taking the remote control away from her when she wants to watch her hockey match. I think these were just cries for attention from Ro though, because when she starts to actually spend some time with him, they get on perfectly well.

Beth Lacke was cast as Diane, after appearing in other Disney projects previously. One of these was Teen Beach 2 (2015) where Lacke played Brady’s mom, and she was also cast in the recurring role of Lynne Bowen in High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (2019-23). 7-year-old James McCracken was cast as Louie in his first big screen role.

Rounding out the family are Gabby, Rowena’s sister, and her uncles Gerry and Bruce. Gabby is the older sister, so naturally, she doesn’t always get along with Rowena, and that is made even worse when Ro spills juice on her laptop at the start of the film. The biggest moment between the two of them in Christmas…Again?! comes when Gabby tells Rowena about how Christmas might not be the same but that change isn’t always a bad thing. She wants Ro to know she feels the same about things being different, yet she knows that their parents not being together is the best thing for the family. Gabby doesn’t get a lot screen time, but she makes a lot of sense. Ashlyn Jade Lopez was cast as Gabby here.

For the uncles, Gerry and Bruce also don’t get much screen time, though each has a moment with Ro when she’s trying to make amends with her family after having some difficult Christmases with them during the time loop, which they obviously don’t remember Uncle Gerry is interested in stand-up comedy and on that first Christmas Day, he attempts to deliver some of his routine to the family, however Rowena interrupts him and critiques him making Gerry even more nervous about it. Rowena gives him some encouragement as he’s about to do this routine again later in the time loop. Uncle Bruce teaches Rowena martial arts during one of the Christmas Days, so she can use it on the neighbourhood bully for stealing charity money. Uncle Gerry is played by Gabriel Ruiz, and Bruce by Sean Parris.

Finally, we have Tall Santa. Tall Santa is the one who makes all this happen and is Rowena’s guide, trying to show her the real meaning of Christmas with his occasional appearances during her Christmas activities or with crypt messages. It takes quite a lot of time – we see Ro go through so many Christmas Days in Christmas…Again?! – but eventually the message about family and helping others sticks and Ro is able to stop the time loop. We also learn that Tall Santa was the real Santa, who had wanted to give Ro a second chance at Christmas, to realise what it’s really about.

Tall Santa was played by Gary Anthony Williams. I was so happy when I saw him in this movie as I am a big fan of Whose Line Is It Anyway? (1998-present) and Gary Anthony Williams is a regular cast member in that show – and one of my favourites. For Disney, he voiced Mufasa in The Lion Guard (2015-19) prior to this movie and went on to voice the character of “Pops” in the animated series Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur (2023-present). He is also set to voice a character in the Eyes of Wakanda Disney+ series, which is scheduled to be released sometime in 2025.

MUSIC

I was quite surprised to find that a soundtrack for Christmas…Again?! was released on the same day as the movie, consisting of five songs. Only one is these is an original song for the movie, with the other four being covers of traditional Christmas songs and carols.

The original song here is called “Christmas Again”. It was written by Sam Hollander, Josh Edmundson, and Charity Daw, and is performed by Scarlett Estevez. It is played as Rowena goes on her various jaunts around Chicago, ticking off her Christmas Wishlist, going to the museum, the aquarium, and the Santas vs. Elves hockey game, just to name a few. It’s quite an upbeat, catchy song for Christmas.

Then there is the radio track that is played every morning, “Jingle Bells” by Frankie Rodríguez. I already don’t like this song much, as I hear it too much over the festive season, but this version is at least a jazzier version of it, so I don’t mind it, though I’m sure if I had to listen to it every morning as I relived Christmas Day however many times it would get old really fast! This song is also played during the End Credits.

There is also the instrumental version of “Joy to the World” performed by Mariachi Son de Fuego. This scene takes place after Gabby has a heart-to-heart with Rowena about their new family. Rowena decides she should be making new Christmas memories with her family instead of living in the past, so she seemingly hires a mariachi band to come and play outside their house for all the family to enjoy. I do like mariachi bands so I like this number.

The final songs on the soundtrack are two family singalongs performed by the cast. The first is “Noche de Paz”, a Spanish version of “Silent Night” because this movie is based around a Latino family. This is played shortly after Rowena’s turnaround, as the family spend a happy Christmas Day evening together. Later on, there is a performance of “Silver Bells”, which isn’t a Christmas song I like, and is heard in this movie on the final Christmas Day, when all the neighbours and Rowena’s family are celebrating the day together. It’s nice to hear these two songs in the movie as singing feels like a typical Christmas activity for this family, so it felt natural.

Alongside the official soundtrack, there are four other songs that appear during Christmas…Again?! The first of these appears during the Opening Credits, as family photos pass across the screen. This song is “Little Bit of Christmas” by Juliet Roberts. Like “Christmas Again”, it is quite an upbeat, positive song. I did quite like it.

Some time later, the song “It’s Christmas“ by Clooney can be heard as Ro goes to Navy Pier and attends some sort of Christmas event there. This is more of a pop-rock song, perhaps showing Ro’s rebellion against the Christmas her family are trying to impose on her at home; instead, she’s out doing what she wants to do.

When Ro decides to get her parents back together this Christmas, two different songs play. The first is the dance tune “Epa Boom Boom” by Zalento. This is heard as Ro and Gabby dance with their parents in the living room. The girls then make a quick disappearance so that the song “Never Been In Love” by Lewis La Medica can be played instead, giving the parents a slow song to dance to. Although I liked the dance tune, I could barely hear “Never Been In Love” through all of Ro’s matchmaking shenanigans! Listening back to it now, it is good. It sounds similar to a Michael Bublé song in my opinion, like a swing-era sort of number.

The final song to mention is “My Christmas Wish” by Devin Jay Hoffman, Rhett Fisher, and Skip Armstrong, which is played during the montage of Ro attempting to destroy her penguin radio in a bid to end this Christmas time loop once and for all. Much like Ro’s attempts to get her parents back together, this does not work either. The cheeriness of this song is in complete contrast to Ro’s frustration at this point in the movie.

Outside of musical numbers, there is the score to mention. The score in Christmas…Again?! is actually quite noticeable, which I can’t always say with Disney Channel Original Movies, and that is because there are quite long stretches in this movie where there aren’t any songs. So, the score has to represent the confusion, frustration, happiness, etc., that Ro is feeling throughout all of these Christmas Days she has to experience. The score in particular does the heavy lifting during the first Christmas Day, to get across Rowena’s feelings of annoyance and sadness at the change to her normal Christmas, as well as the scene of Tall Santa granting her do-over wish. The score was composed by Nathan Wang. Wang had previously composed the music for other DCOMs including Hatching Pete (2009); Minutemen (2008); and Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior (2006), amongst many other non-Disney projects.

PRODUCTION

It was confirmed that production on Christmas…Again?! had begun in November 2020. At the same time, the cast members were announced, as was the director, Andy Fickman, the screenwriter Doan La, and the executive producer Betsy Sullenger. The basic premise of the story, about the Christmas time loop and Ro’s wish to have a Christmas like she’d always had before her father got a new girlfriend, was also revealed[1].

It is known that Christmas…Again?! took inspiration from a couple of places. One of these was from the 1892 short story Christmas Every Day, written by William Dean Howells, where a child wishes for it to be Christmas every day, and relives the day through a time loop which only ends when the true meaning of Christmas is learnt. This story had already been used in a prior Disney project, this being the segment Donald Duck: Stuck on Christmas, which features within Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmas (1999). For this segment, Donald Duck’s nephews, Huey, Dewey, and Louie are the centre of the story.

Others see Christmas…Again?! as mostly being inspired by the movie Groundhog Day (1993), potentially one of the most memorable movies to feature a recurring time loop. In this case, Bill Murray’s character, Phil, only manages to stop this time loop by learning the importance of love and in doing so, becomes a better version of himself. Some moments of Christmas…Again?! do imitate those with Groundhog Day. For example, Rowena’s clock radio plays “Jingle Bells” to her every morning to wake her up, in the same way that the radio plays Sonny & Cher’s “I Got You Babe” every day to Phil, letting him know it’s Groundhog Day yet again. Both radios also play the same song even after the time loop is broken, just to give a moment of doubt to the characters and viewers that this might still be the same day. Also, when Rowena is getting fed up of reliving the same Christmas Day over and over, she tries to destroy her penguin radio to get it to stop. It simply reappears the next morning. For Phil in Groundhog Day, he gets so bored that he starts to do very reckless things, like driving off a cliff and committing robbery because he knows he’ll just wake up the next day.

Andy Fickman was chosen to direct Christmas…Again?! He had directed the movies She’s the Man (2006) and Parental Guidance (2012) before Christmas…Again?! and was no stranger to Disney Channel, as he had also directed numerous episodes of the series Liv and Maddie (2013-17). Fickman said that he had always liked Groundhog Day and the concept of that film so was happy to make a Christmas-themed movie that took inspiration from that same type of story. He also responded to the central blended family within the story and their challenges in navigating that with new partners and their children. Fickman said he enjoyed working with Scarlett Estevez as she was so enthusiastic. Most of the cast mostly just acted out the same motions during each time loop, but Estevez had a more difficult challenge, by having to base her performance around how her character was feeling in each and every time loop, of which there were apparently around 50[2]. I wouldn’t know because, funnily enough, I didn’t count them!

Christmas…Again?! was filmed from November to December 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, so that added another layer of difficulty to the production. Cast and crew were required to wear masks when not filming and production would have to shut down for days at a time if anyone tested positive for the virus.

The movie was filmed in and around Chicago in Illinois. Illinois and Chicago are popular places for Christmas movies to be set, however, not too many of these are actually filmed there too. Two that I found that were both set and filmed in Chicago are Home Alone (1990) and While You Were Sleeping (1995), although this second one may not be considered a Christmas movies by some. Regardless, Christmas…Again?! takes full advantage of Illinois for its filming locations, as well as its wintry weather. Some areas that are seen within the movie include Navy Pier, the Museum of Science and Industry, and Millennium Park, all in Chicago. The Shedd Aquarium and the 360 Chicago Observation Deck in the John Hancock Center are also shown. The cast supposedly loved filming in Chicago as the LA locals got to experience some snowy, cold weather at Christmastime[3].

RECEPTION

A sneak peek of Christmas…Again?! was first shown around July 2021, showing the scene of Rowena asking Tall Santa for a Christmas do-over. It was confirmed at this time that the movie would be released in December that year[4].

Christmas…Again?! premiered on Disney+ and Disney Channel on the same day, 3^rd December 2021. It reportedly drew in 0.5 million viewers from its Disney Channel premiere, but exact figures are difficult to find. This might sound low, however, with the release of Disney+, it is likely that many families have turned away from watching live television and now fully focus on the streaming service instead. Viewing figures for the Disney+ release of Christmas…Again?! were not announced so it is unclear how popular it was at the time.

In terms of reviews, these were easier to come by. With all the Christmas movies that are shown on television or on streaming services every year, both old and new, Christmas…Again?! had a lot of competition. Viewers who enjoyed the movie said it was charming if somewhat predictable. Given that the movie was based on a typical plot point of a time loop, as well as being inspired by a hugely recognisable 90s film, the story was quite easy to guess. Others also said they thought Estevez did well in the lead role, especially as the whole movie revolved around the character of Rowena so she really had to hold it all together. The general consensus was that Christmas…Again?! was not a bad Christmas movie, but that it was not the best one either.

On the downside, some felt the movie could’ve benefitted from giving the other characters more screen time, to give more balance to the plot, as it was just focused on Rowena. Others said it was boring and not that funny, and did not appreciate that it was a “rip-off” of Groundhog Day. I don’t have a problem with movies using similar ideas as other films, so the Groundhog Day similarities didn’t bother me, however, I would agree that Christmas…Again?! was a bit boring in places. I felt that some of the time loop montages were too long and could’ve definitely been edited. I also did not find the movie particularly funny, but I am aware that I am not the target audience.

Although I personally don’t plan on watching Christmas…Again?! again, I think for families, this would be an enjoyable film to sit down and watch together over the holiday season as it wasn’t a terrible film, just a bit average.

LEGACY

Christmas…Again?! was Disney Channel’s first Christmas-themed movie in a whole decade. Since there have only been a handful of Christmas-themed DCOMs, this means that Christmas…Again?! is featured in the Disney+ Christmas Collection every year.

It also appears within the typical movie ranking articles that come out at this time of year. For example, in 2023, Christmas…Again?! ranked at No. 24 on Cosmopolitan’s “Top 40 Christmas Movies on Disney+” list[5]. It ranked at No. 37 on Good Housekeeping’s list[6]. For the record, I don’t agree with most of the rankings within either of these lists. Personally, I think they need some serious rearranging.

After Christmas…Again?!, Disney Channel did release another Christmas-themed movie, The Naughty Nine (2023), which premiered on Disney+ a day later. Perhaps this is showing that Disney Channel are trying to get more involved in the Christmas movie space now, especially with the added bonus of the streaming service’s availability. Many television channels and streaming platforms release new content for the holiday season, with Netflix potentially being Disney’s biggest competitor. Netflix markets their content very well – although their 2024 Christmas movie selection was quite disappointing – so if Disney+ want to entice new viewers, they need to up their Christmas game!

FINAL THOUGHTS

The message of Christmas…Again?! is that Christmas is all about family and helping others, something that children can forget if they get consumed by thoughts of presents – or in Rowena’s case, checklists.

This is a lovely idea and very true to most people. Spending time with family at Christmas can be magical, and being thoughtful of others does make you feel warm inside. However, this movie presents the image of a perfect Christmas that many cannot replicate.

Although Christmas is an amazing time for some, it is not for others. As adults, most of us lose that child-like wonder for the holiday season, instead being consumed with worries and pressures of the day. Is there enough food for everyone? Are there going to be arguments? Can I put up this joyous exterior for a full 24 hours even though I don’t feel the same inside? Or simply, how will I get through the day?

Whatever the reason, Christmas or the general holiday season is not always easy and we shouldn’t be telling people how to celebrate it because there is no “one size fits all” way of doing this. I struggle with Christmas at times. I enjoy the build-up to it, with the movies, music, and TV specials but when the day arrives, I feel consumed by all this pressure to have the best Christmas ever.

What we should be telling people is you should spend Christmas however you want. Spend it with family or don’t, if you find that difficult. Treat it like a normal day or fill it with fun and frivolity. You can even just do your best to ignore it if it’s a really hard time for you.

Whatever the plan, make Christmas how you want it to be. Christmas…Again?! makes Rowena seem selfish for wanting to have her own plans for Christmas, but in actual fact, it’s not always selfish. Sometimes it’s healthy and necessary to take time for yourself, even during Christmas.

REFERENCES

[1] Credit: Alexandra Del Rosario, ‘Disney Channel’s ‘Christmas Again’ Kicks Off Production, Reveals Cast For Holiday Time-Loop Flick’, Deadline.com, 10^th November 2020.

[2] Credit: James Mercadante, ‘‘Christmas Again’ Director on How Scarlett Estevez Helped Shape the Movie’s Time Loops’, TVInsider.com, 1^st December 2021.

[3] Credit: Jason Beeferman, ‘Every day is the holiday in Chicago in new Disney movie ‘Christmas Again’, ChicagoSunTimes.com, 29^th November 2021.

[4] Credit: Disney, ‘Christmas Again?!’ I Sneak Peek I Disney Channel Original Movie I Disney Channel YouTube Channel, 11^th July 2021.

[5] Credit: Leah Marilla Thomas, ‘The 40 Best Christmas Movies on Disney+’, Cosmopolitan.com, 20^th November 2023.

[6] Credit: Marisca Lascala and Lilli Iannella, ’41 Best Christmas Movies on Disney+ Filled With Holiday Magic’, Good Housekeeping.com, 16^th November 2023.

22nd Nov 202429th Sep 2025 by The Disney Purist

Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Candace Against the Universe (2020)

BACKGROUND

When Phineas and Ferb ended in 2015, after eight years of airing on the Disney Channel across four seasons and one movie, the creators and the fans felt satisfied that this chapter was over, and they could all move on.

Just kidding! This is Disney; if something works, you work it hard, so naturally, the final episode of Phineas and Ferb, “Last Day of Summer”, which premiered on Disney Channel on 12th June 2015, was never really the end, although fans had to wait a few years before anything else happened with these beloved characters.

They would have to wait five years in fact for a second movie to be released. This second movie was called Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Candace Against the Universe, and would not premiere on Disney Channel. Instead, it debuted on Disney+, Disney’s streaming app, which launched in the US on 12^th November 2019.

In that time, the world had changed quite a lot, not only from the point that Phineas and Ferb finished, but also from the time that Candace Against the Universe was in development. This movie debuted in August 2020, so we all know what that means: it debuted over the pandemic, as so many other movies did. Luckily, with Disney+ slowly being released to other countries outside of the US, and with Disney Channel not being quite as popular as it used to be, this meant Candace Against the Universe was going to be able to reach its target audience perfectly, and extend its reach to other Disney+ users who perhaps were not familiar with Phineas and Ferb already, or who might not have been huge fans of it.

To be honest, though, I hadn’t heard of this film until last year when I was compiling a list of Disney Channel Original Movies to review. It had completely missed me, but I wasn’t a big fan of Phineas and Ferb, as I talked about in my review of their first movie, Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Across the 2^nd Dimension (2011), so that might not be a surprise. My sister was the Phineas and Ferb fan, and since I didn’t live with her anymore, I didn’t find out about it from her, and didn’t watch it with her either.

I watched Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Candace Against the Universe for the first time this week. I’m sorry to all Phineas and Ferb die-hard fans, but I didn’t like it all that much. It’s not that the movie was bad; it’s not that it wasn’t funny; it just seemed to be missing something that Across the 2^nd Dimension did have. Maybe I was disconnected from the series, since I hadn’t watched it in so long, and didn’t have the privilege of watching it with someone who truly loved the series, as I had with Across the 2^nd Dimension.

I don’t know, but the music wasn’t as good as I would’ve expected, and despite being a big fan of Candace, it seemed like making a whole movie about her meant sacrificing a lot of Phineas and Ferb’s screen time, so the usual format was slightly off-balance. But like I said, I didn’t say it was bad, and I still found myself chuckling at certain jokes that are just so Phineas and Ferb.

PLOT

The movie starts with Candace riding her bike home, trying not to think about what crazy things Phineas and Ferb might be doing. Sadly, this resolve doesn’t last long when Candace sees a giant robot clown in her back garden. She calls her mother to quickly come and see it – but at the same time, their pet platypus, Perry, also a secret agent, is battling his nemesis Dr. Doofenshmirtz, and stopping his latest invention, the Power-Vacuum-inator, which turns objects into lint and then vacuums it up. As per usual, Candace’s attempt has failed as the Power-Vacuum-inator is accidentally directed at the giant robot clown. It is turned to lint and vacuumed up, like it never even existed. Candace is distraught; she was so close.

Phineas and Ferb, seeing that their sister is upset, decide they should make her a gift, as it turns out she hasn’t been having as great a summer as they have been. Candace later vents her frustrations to Vanessa, Dr. Doofenshmirtz’s daughter, saying how the universe is against her and won’t let her bust her brothers. Vanessa tells Candace that maybe she isn’t actually upset by her brothers’ inventions and instead feels jealous of their success. At this point, Candace sees a new object in their front garden. Assuming it must be a Phineas and Ferb creation, she angrily hits it, but her and Vanessa are sucked in. Phineas and Ferb see this object take off into space and notice Candace is stuck inside it; they have to rescue her. Perry also gets notified by his boss, Major Monogram, that Candace has been abducted by aliens and he must save her – without blowing his cover that he’s an agent to the boys, or that he’s a pet to Dr. Doofenshmirtz. That could be tricky…

Using a photograph taken of this supposed space shuttle by Ferb, they read its license plate and discover it is from the planet Feebla-Oot in the Vroblok Cluster. They know they have to create a portal to this planet, so with help from Baljeet, Isabella, and Buford, their friends, they successfully do this. All of them proceed through the portal but they don’t end up in Feebla-Oot, but at Dr. Doofenshmirtz’s headquarters – they haven’t even left Danville! Dr. Doofenshmirtz tells the kids that he is also trying to get to that planet, to save his daughter, Vanessa, who the kids also know. He had built his own portal to the same planet, but neither portal can get there because Feebla-Oot is surrounded by ion barrier so they can’t teleport there. They need a space shuttle.

Luckily, Dr. Doofenshmirtz happens to have a space shuttle, except it is called a Galactic-Travel-inator,– but it is basically the same thing. The group board the spaceship – sorry, Galactic-Travel-inator – with random items they might need, like a canoe and a Chicken-Replace-inator. Perry sneaks in too, just before take-off. The take-off sets Dr. Doofenshmirtz’s headquarters on fire, but Candace and Vanessa are more important.

In space, Candace and Vanessa’s shuttle has connected to the mother ship, where they see a map of the area, via the ship’s voice assistant which handily speaks English. The two find that a ladder should lead them down to the escape pods. As they make their descent, the girls are thrown off the ladder by some intense turbulence, falling down into a room full of escape pods, but they’ve been spotted. Candace tells Vanessa to get into a pod and she’ll be right behind her, but the escape pods all launch at once before Candace has the chance to get in. She is captured by the aliens.

The gang on the Galactic-Travel-inator hit an asteroid field on the way to Feebla-Oot and believe they won’t make it out alive. However, Perry goes out in a spacesuit and knocks all the asteroids out of the way, allowing them to get through unharmed. The ship later approaches an ion barrier, but with no shield, again, they think all looks lost. Baljeet is then inspired by an episode of his favourite space travel show, Space Adventure, where they once got through an ion barrier by spinning their ship. Although they get through the ion barrier, the ship spins out of control and crash-lands on Feebla-Oot. At least they got there! Meanwhile, Vanessa’s escape pod has also crash-landed on the planet, being pre-programmed to navigate to its planet. She sees the mothership land by a fortress and Candace being escorted inside by aliens. The gang, on another part of the planet to Vanessa, also notice the alien fortress and head straight for it.

Inside the fortress, Candace is introduced to the alien leader, Super Super Big Doctor. Despite Candace’s name being the same sound that these aliens make when they explode from the waist up – random, right? – Super Super Big Doctor welcomes Candace to her planet, saying she is The Chosen One, as she radiates something called Remarkalonium. Candace is treated like a queen and bonds with Super Super Big Doctor over their annoying brothers and their desire to be special.

Dr. Doofenshmirtz and the kids head towards the fortress, but Doofenshmirtz doesn’t want Isabella in charge as he’s older. They argue who should be the one in charge and Dr. Doofenshmirtz wins even though he doesn’t have a clue where he’s going. But at one point, he does save them from a flying dragon by using, of all things, the Chicken-Replace-inator, which swaps the dragon with the nearest chicken. The nearest chicken was at a farmer’s new theme park, called Dragon Land, which had no dragons. Well, it does now!

Candace and Super Super Big Doctor go on the planet’s daytime talk show. Their appearance is rudely interrupted by Phineas, Ferb, and the gang who have found their way to the fortress, finally. Candace doesn’t want them here as she’s finally found a place where she belongs. Super Super Big Doctor offers to take care of them for her, and she does – by taking them to a nice suite, before dropping them through a trapdoor into the back of a van, headed towards their prison! Inside the van are lots of other aliens, who look really scared.

Perry didn’t fall for this trick and takes control of the van, despite being told by Major Monogram not to harm the creatures of this planet or damage its environment – oops… But the prisoners are free and Phineas, Ferb, and the others are taken to the aliens’ sanctuary, Cowardalia. They learn that Super Super Big Doctor came to Feebla-Oot and enslaved all of them using a special plant that emitted mind-controlling spores. The plant has been dying and has stopped releasing spores, meaning that the aliens are slowly becoming free of her and fleeing. Candace is the one who will help the plant regain its strength.

Back at the fortress, Candace is coming to the realisation that she is being used for something, and comes to a room where this plant is being held. Super Super Big Doctor explains that her evil plant needs Remarkalonian to survive and reveals that this element is called carbon dioxide on Earth. Candace reveals that all humans release carbon dioxide, giving Super Super Big Doctor a new plan. She needs to conquer Earth! Candace is strapped to a treadmill and prepared to load back on the spaceship. She feels betrayed by her new “sister”, who it turns out has also imprisoned her brothers.

Meanwhile, Phineas and the others have managed to convince the aliens of Cowardalia to battle Super Super Big Doctor, despite their cowardly nature. They manage to get into the alien fortress, but see Candace being loaded onto the ship. Super Super Big Doctor and her minions follow suit. Phineas and the gang quickly board too. Dr. Doofenshmirtz decides to stay as he still hasn’t found Vanessa, with her social media profile revealing she never got back to Earth like Candace thought, but is still on this planet.

Dr. Doofenshmirtz searches for Vanessa and almost gets himself killed. Again, Perry is here to save the day, but as both of them are about to fall to their deaths, they are saved by Vanessa who is riding on the back of one of the planet’s dragons. Dr. Doofenshmirtz is pleased to be reunited with Vanessa, however, they have no idea how to get back to Earth. Doofenshmirtz wants to use his Chicken-Replace-inator again, however, the chicken that was teleported to Feebla-Oot earlier is still here so they don’t move far. Doofenshmirtz wants to kill the chicken but Vanessa says they can’t. They think some more.

The gang on the ship try to get the spaceship to stop before it reaches Earth, but they end up falling out of the ship. They use Buford’s canoe and some random debris to build a boat, which also transforms into a glider, getting them home. The spaceship lands in Danville Stadium, destroying a new statue of the Tri-State Area founder, John P. Trystate, upsetting all the on-lookers, but there’s no time for tears as Super Super Big Doctor is about to enslave them all. Phineas, Ferb, and the others try to stop her by using robots of themselves but they are destroyed easily by thermal cannons. Phineas and Ferb get Isabella, Buford, and Baljeet to distract Super Super Big Doctor and her minions, while they get Candace. They find her on the treadmill and manage to free her, but Candace runs away in tears. The brothers follow her, where Candace reveals she feels bad for spending her whole summer trying to bust them. Phineas and Ferb don’t care and finally get a chance to give their gift to her. It’s a mug with World’s Best Sister written on it. But that’s not the best part; it projects holograms of all the fun moments they’ve had all together this summer. Candace is touched but now they have to fight back against Super Super Big Doctor.

Candace sees that they were giving away free t-shirts at Danville Stadium today and grabs the t-shirt cannon. If she can fire it at the aliens, then they’ll become so excited by the freebie, that they’ll explode from the waist up. It works, however, they soon run out of free t-shirts. The plant is now at full strength and begins to emit its spores once again. Phineas and the others put on gas masks to stop themselves being controlled. They are still captured though, leaving only Candace to face Super Super Big Doctor. Candace tells her that perhaps all of desires to control people come from the fact she is jealous of her brothers and has low self-esteem. This gives the leader a breakthrough but before she can mend her ways, the plant eats Super Super Big Doctor…It then goes after the others who run.

They are soon saved by Vanessa, Perry, and Dr. Doofenshmirtz on the flying dragon. They got back to Earth by changing the setting on the Chicken-Replace-inator to be the furthest chicken instead of the nearest. Who knew it had so many settings? The plant then battles with the dragon, but it’s not enough. Candace gets the idea of shooting the plant with the Chicken-Replace-inator, using the furthest setting, and sends it back to Feebla-Oot. On Feebla-Oot, the plant shrivels and dies, spitting out Super Super Big Doctor in the process who is arrested by the cowardly aliens.

Back in Danville, the mind-controlling spores dissipate. Candace then realises her mother is nearby and she could bust her brothers now at last, since all of Danville is in chaos. Candace runs over to her mother, but just as we think she’s about to bust Phineas and Ferb, she instead tells her mother to go out and get pizza, so she doesn’t see any of it. As they celebrate, they hear Perry get a call from Major Monogram, congratulating him on his mission. Perry quickly muffles the call as Phineas, Ferb, and Candace look confused!

In a mid-credits scene, Ferb’s father stumbles upon the portal to Feebla-Oot in the garden. He walks through it and ends up in Dr. Doofenshmirtz’s headquarters which is still on fire. He runs back home and the portal self-destructs.

CHARACTERS & CAST

In Candace Against the Universe, Phineas and Ferb are not the main attraction, and spend most of their time working with their friends to save Candace. This movie feels quite different to a typical Phineas and Ferb episode where they are front-and-centre and the whole plot is about them and what they are doing. Still, they have a big role to play in Candace Against the Universe, not just by saving their sister, but also by building up her self-esteem and showing that the brothers love her.

Phineas was voiced by Vincent Martella. Martella is also known for his role as Greg Wuliger in Everybody Hates Chris (2005-09), for which he was nominated for a Teen Choice Award and two Young Artists Awards. Although Thomas Brodie-Sangster voiced Ferb in the main series and in the first movie, he was replaced on this movie, reportedly due to scheduling conflicts. Ferb is instead voiced by David Errigo Jr., who has voiced characters in series such as Ridley Jones (2021-23) and Tiny Toons Looniversity (2023-present) in recent years. Although Ferb sounded a bit different here, I didn’t notice the voice actor had changed; I’d just assumed that the fact it had been five years since the series ended meant some of the actors’ voices were a bit different.

At the start of Candace Against the Universe, Vanessa tries to tell Candace that she might be feeling a bit inferior to her brothers and that just busting them won’t really make her happy in her life because she’s not happy in herself. Candace doesn’t really listen and later relates to Super Super Big Doctor and feels wanted on this planet. Everything is going fine until Candace realises that she is being used to strengthen a mind-controlling plant and that the element she thought was unique to her is actually just carbon dioxide, meaning any human could’ve been The Chosen One, which makes Candace feeling even worse about herself, not to mention the fact she was mean to her brothers when they tried to save her. Thankfully, Phineas and Ferb don’t mind Candace’s outbursts because she’s their sister and they love her, no matter what, and they show her that whenever they can.

Candace was voiced by Ashley Tisdale, best known for her role as Sharpay Evans in the High School Musical franchise, at least amongst Disney fans, reprising her role in the movie Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure (2011). Also for Disney, Tisdale starred as Maddie Fitzpatrick in the series The Suite Life of Zack & Cody (2005-08). In more recent years, she was cast as Kayla in the Netflix series Merry Happy Whatever (2019), and was a panellist on The Masked Dancer (2020-21). Tisdale was nominated for an Annie Award for Outstanding Achievement in Voice Acting for her role in Candace Against the Universe.

Candace Against the Universe begins quite normally for Perry the platypus, who stops Dr. Doofenshmirtz’s latest scheme and latest invention, the Power-Vacuum-inator. He then takes the rest of the day off, but is interrupted by the alert that Candace has been abducted by aliens and he must save her. Through his clever spy skills, he manages to follow the group undetected to Feebla-Oot and saves them from numerous difficulties without being spotted by Phineas, Ferb, or Candace, keeping his cover safe – unlike in Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Across the 2^nd Dimension. Perry is always there at just the right time, ready to save anyone that needs it. He really is an unsung hero in this movie.

Perry is “voiced” by Dee Bradley Baker, who has had a long career in voice acting. He has voiced characters in series such as Johnny Bravo (1997-2004); Dexter’s Laboratory (1997-2003); The Powerpuff Girls (1999-2005); SpongeBob SquarePants (1999-present); and The Fairly OddParents (2001-17), all non-Disney projects. For Disney, he has voiced the character of Turner for Handy Manny (2006-13), and Tick-Tock the Crocodile in Jake and the Never Land Pirates (2011-16), as well as various characters for animated Star Wars series.

Although he doesn’t have quite as much screen-time in Candace Against the Universe as normal, my favourite character continues to be Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz. Dr. Doofenshmirtz has to forget his plans to conquer the Tri-State Area in this movie, knowing that his daughter is more important than anything else. They’ve had a bit of a difficult relationship since Dr. Doofenshmirtz and Vanessa’s mother divorced, but he cares about Vanessa a lot. His funniest moments in Candace Against the Universe are when he is talking about “adulting”, arguing with Isabella about why he should be leading them all to the alien fortress, solely because of his age and not because of skill or intellect, and when he is using the Chicken-Replace-inator. The Chicken-Replace-inator is quite a typical Dr. Doofenshmirtz invention, so when he decides to take it to Feebla-Oot, that seems like a nice little Phineas and Ferb joke to make you laugh a little. But then it becomes part of the plot and a way of transporting themselves, which is even more random and very Phineas and Ferb! Dr. Doofenshmirtz was voiced by the other creator of Phineas and Ferb, Dan Povenmire.

Outside of these main characters, there are numerous others that appear in Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Candace Against the Universe. These include Isabella, Baljeet, and Buford. Isabella takes much of the leader of their quest to the alien fortress on Feebla-Oot, citing her various Fireside Girls badges as evidence of her experience, and Baljeet uses his knowledge of Space Adventure and physics to make sure their journey to the planet is successful. Buford doesn’t do much, but he brings a canoe! Isabella was voiced by Alyson Stoner, who was cast as Caitlyn in Camp Rock (2008) and Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam (2010), after appearing as Max in The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, and as Sarah Baker in Cheaper by the Dozen (2003) and its 2005 sequel. Buford was voiced by Bobby Gaylor, who was one of the story writers on the show; and Baljeet was voiced by Maulik Pancholy. Pancholy had previously appeared as Jonathan in the comedy series 30 Rock (2006-13).

Then there is Vanessa, Dr. Doofenshmirtz’s daughter. After failing to appear in the final edit of Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Across the 2^nd Dimension, only showing up in two deleted scenes, she makes quite a return in Candace Against the Universe. As well as Candace being abducted by aliens, Vanessa is taken along for the ride. Though she has a slightly easier time of it, not being held captive by the alien leader, she doesn’t avoid all the troubles. She thinks she’s headed back to Earth in an escape pod, only to find she’s just ended up at the same planet she was trying to get away from, and then she finds herself face-to-face with a big, scary dragon. Because Vanessa is calm, cool, and collected, she manages to turn this dragon into a pet of some sorts, and instead of being the “damsel in distress”, she saves both her father and Perry the platypus. She also helps the group finally defeat the mind-controlling plant, with her pet dragon, Vlorkel, as their protector.

Olivia Olson returned to voice Vanessa in this movie. Olson is known for her role as Joanna in the movie, Love Actually (2003), with this character being the love interest of Sam, played by Thomas Brodie-Sangster, the original voice of Ferb. Around the time of the Phineas and Ferb series, Olson also voiced the character of Marceline the Vampire Queen for the series Adventure Time (2010-18). As well as acting, Olson is also known for her singing talents, having released the album Nowhere Land in 2018. Shortly after, she competed in The X Factor: Celebrity in 2019.

The villain of this movie is Super Super Big Doctor, the alien leader of Feebla-Oot. She came to this planet looking to rule over it and its people, using a mind-controlling plant to do so. Super Super Big Doctor is not as kind and caring as she seems early on, when she is manipulating Candace into believing that she is special and should remain on this planet; it was all a ruse so she could continue to be a dictator. Though Candace and Super Super Big Doctor bonded over their shared experiences having two brothers, Candace would never do the things Super Super Big Doctor is capable of, liking forcing the alien group, the Cowards, to work for her and wait on her; anyone not willing to do that is sent to prison. Super Super Big Doctor almost has an epiphany about her evil ways towards the end of the movie, but she’s eaten by her plant too quickly for the message to fully absorb. I’m sure she’d learnt her lesson by the time she was spat out by her plant and captured!

Stand-up comedian, writer, and actor Ali Wong was cast as Super Super Big Doctor. She wrote and starred in the 2019 movie Always Be My Maybe, and was cast as Doris in American Housewife (2016-21) prior to Candace Against the Universe. She has also voiced characters in other animated movies, such as Betty Bird in The Angry Birds Movie (2016); Felony in Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018); and Gore in Onward (2020). Most recently, Wong starred as Amy Lau in the hit Netflix series Beef (2023), winning numerous awards for her role, including a Critics’ Choice Award, a Golden Globe award, and an Emmy award.

Then there are Gamoz and Borthos, two of the Coward aliens. Gamoz was voiced by Thomas Middleditch, who had previously starred in the series Silicon Valley (2014-19) as Richard Hendricks, and went on to star as Drew Dunbar in the sitcom B Positive (2020-22). Diedrich Bader voiced alien Borthos. He was known at the time for his role as Greg Otto in American Housewife (2016-21), but had also voiced characters in Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure (2017-20); and Harley Quinn (2019-present).

Other voice actors credited in Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Candace Against the Universe include Wayne Brady, best known for being a regular cast member on improv show Whose Line Is It Anyway? (1998-present) as Stapler-Fist, one of Super Super Big Doctors’ minions, and Tiffany Haddish is even credited as “The Sound Someone Makes When They Explode from the Waist Up”. Haddish was apparently a fan of the show and happy to be involved in the movie; she just wanted some Phineas and Ferb t-shirts with Perry on them[1]!

A few other characters make their usual appearances in Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Candace Against the Universe, however, they do not feature much. Two are Candace’s best friend Stacy, and her boyfriend, Jeremy. They only appear in the movie at Danville Stadium and Stacy discovers that Jeremy is involved in Live Action Role Play, or LARPing, which she finds very funny. Jeremy was voiced by Mitchell Musso, known for his role as Oliver in Hannah Montana (2006-11), and as King Brady in Pair of Kings (2010-13). Stacy was voiced by Kelly Hu. Hu had previously been cast in Martial Law (1998-2000), as Detective Grace Chen, and as China White in Arrow (2012-20). She also voiced the role of Adira in Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure (2017-2020).

Phineas, Ferb, and Candace’s parents also make brief appearances here. Phineas and Candace’s mother, Linda, is voiced by Caroline Rhea, well-known for her role as Hilda Spellman in Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996-2003). Richard O’Brien voiced Ferb’s father, Lawrence. O’Brien is best known for writing the musical, The Rocky Horror Show, before starring in the 1975 film adaptation. For UK viewers, he is also known as the original host of the game show The Crystal Maze (1990-2020). Lawrence is only seen in the mid-credits scene, and Linda is seen at the start and end of the film.

PRODUCTION

Phineas and Ferb quickly became one of Disney Channel’s most popular series, gaining millions of viewers in the years since its first broadcast. It was created by Jeff “Swampy” Marsh and Dan Povenmire.

After working on different animated series, Marsh and Povenmire had started working on an idea for a new series together around 1993. The idea for Phineas and Ferb was developed after noticing that kids didn’t seem to go out and do anything anymore, this becoming the whole premise of the show. Disney agreed to move forward with the series around 2006[2]. The series debuted its first episode on 17^th August 2007, with its first season finishing in February 2009. It was then followed immediately after by a second season, which aired from February 2009 to February 2011. A third season began in March 2011, ending in November 2012, with Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Across the 2^nd Dimension premiering partway through this season in August 2011.

Shortly after the release of Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Across the 2^nd Dimension, there was talk about a new Phineas and Ferb movie being developed that would be theatrically released sometime around Summer 2013, however, this movie was quietly removed from Disney’s production schedule[3]. But that’s fine, because Phineas and Ferb Season 4 was still airing. It began in December 2012 and ended with a one-hour finale episode titled “Last Day of Summer” on 12^th June 2015 to wrap up the entire show.

Four years after Phineas and Ferb had finished airing on Disney Channel, Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Candace Against the Universe, was announced in 2019. It was not going to be a theatrically released movie though but I’m sure that was not a concern for fans.

However, one thing that many questioned was when would Candace Against the Universe be set amidst the events of the series. Although Phineas and Ferb had four seasons’ worth of episodes, all of those episodes are set in one summer so this made fans question whether this movie would be taking place in that summer, a different summer, or not even during summer at all – though that last one would be unlikely. It was soon confirmed that Candace Against the Universe is set within the same summer of the whole series, meaning it takes place at some point before the Season 4 finale episode.

It was confirmed that Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Candace Against the Universe was in production during the D23 Expo in 2019 with a premiere date scheduled for some time in 2020. A brief description of the movie was given, with most of the voice cast announced to be reprising their roles from the series. The new voice actor for Ferb was also confirmed at this time[4].

In 2020, it was reported that the movie would premiere on Disney+ on 28^th August 2020. In preparation for the movie’s release, to build excitement and anticipation for fans, Disney XD aired all episodes of the series as well as Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Across the 2^nd Dimension from 25^th August up to the premiere date[5].

The creators, director of the movie Bob Bowen, Ashley Tisdale, Vincent Martella, Dee Bradley Baker, and Maulik Pancholy, then announced a few behind-the-scenes details about the new movie at their virtual panel for San Diego Comic Con on 25^th July 2020. One of these was that the cast had to finish recording their dialogue and songs at home because of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns in many countries[6]. After five years away, everyone seemed happy to be back in the world of Phineas and Ferb.

Within the movie, as usual for a Phineas and Ferb project, there are plenty of running gags and Easter eggs. The usual gags, like the jingles for Dr. Doofenshmirtz and Perry the platypus, as well as the conversation about where Perry is, remain in Candace Against the Universe. Given this is a science-fiction-themed movie, there are also plenty of space-themed Easter eggs. For example, Space Adventure, the show that Baljeet is a big fan of and gets much of his space travel information from, is a spoof on the popular, long-running franchise Star Trek. There is also a quick reference to Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015), when Isabella is talking about bypassing the compressor system in Doofenshmirtz’s “Galactic-Travel-inator”; this is something Rey said in that movie. There is also a parody of Amazon Alexa in the alien mothership, which Candace engages with. As we all know, voice assistants are far from perfect when it comes to communication and understanding!

There were other references to modern day elements that did not exist in the Phineas and Ferb series since the world of technology and pop culture moves very fast these days. There is a song about “adulting” for example, a very annoying phrase that took off in the late-2010s by millennials who apparently need praise for doing basic “grown-up” tasks, like managing your finances, doing laundry, and cooking food… I don’t like this term so it was nice to have it poked fun at in Phineas and Ferb! Social media also makes an appearance, with Vanessa’s posts being a way of Dr. Doofenshmirtz figuring out she’s stuck on Feebla-Oot. Again, this is something that is seen all over social media, like “Help, I’m stuck in a terrifying place and don’t know what to do, but here’s a selfie to show just how terrified I really am!”. Not a good use of time if you really are lost or trapped somewhere. Put your phone away and use your brain – or just call someone. Flossing, as in the dance move, not the dental kind, shows up in this movie too.

Another detail that I found very clever is seen when the gang are travelling at twice the speed of light whilst stowed away on the mothership. Baljeet says he read a theory that says if you exceed the speed of light, your whole existence starts to break down. At this point, we see these animated characters turn into line drawings, then storyboards, and then we see Dan Povenmire and Jeff “Swampy” Marsh explaining this scene, breaking down the whole animation procedure to the audience. I really liked this small part of the movie.

MUSIC

Original music once again features prominently in Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Candace Against the Universe, as it did in the Phineas and Ferb series, as well as in their first movie, Across the 2^nd Dimension. The soundtrack for Candace Against the Universe was released on 28^th August 2020 to accompany the movie’s premiere. It consists of eleven original songs.

The opening song in Candace Against the Universe is “Such a Beautiful Day”, performed by Candace as she rides her bike home and tries to forget about what her brothers might be doing with their day, though she has limited success with her thoughts. Although this is the first song to feature in the movie, it was actually the last to be written, to replace an original opening scene of Candace busting her brothers as she normally does. It was felt that this would be too harsh an opening scene for non-fans of the show as the audience would need to be on Candace’s side to appreciate the story that was to come. This song was performed by Ashley Tisdale who said it was her favourite song in the film. “Such a Beautiful Day” was written by Dan Povenmire, co-creator of Phineas and Ferb, and screenwriter Karey Kirkpatrick, who was a writer on Disney’s The Rescuers Down Under (1990) and Aardman Animations’ two Chicken Run movies, just to name a few credits.

This song was my favourite in the movie – I liked how it was all happy and positive one moment, and then angry the next – and one of few that I actually remembered the next day, because to be completely honest, I was not a fan of this whole soundtrack. “Such a Beautiful Day” was nominated for a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Original Song.

Another song I liked was “Unsung Hero”, performed by Olivia Olson. It plays as Perry is pushing all the asteroids away from the group in their spaceship so they don’t die. It was quite funny, particularly when the song refers to the fact Perry isn’t really an unsung hero anymore because he has a song about him that’s being sung right now! This song was written by both creators of Phineas and Ferb, Povenmire and Jeff “Swampy” Marsh.

Following on from that, I didn’t mind the song “Adulting” because it was making fun of a phrase that I really don’t like. It was performed by Povenmire, as Dr. Doofenshmirtz, and Alyson Stoner, as Isabella, as they argue about who should lead the group to the alien fortress: Doofenshmirtz because he’s older, or Isabella because she has the skills and knowledge. This song was written by Povenmire and longtime Phineas and Ferb songwriters Martin Olson and Michael Culross Jr.

Outside of that, I wasn’t really bothered by the other songs in Candace Against the Universe. They were kind of amusing at the time, but I didn’t remember much of them afterwards. So, let’s start with “Meet Our Leader”, performed by the aliens as Candace arrives at the fortress to meet with Super Super Big Doctor. This was going to be a scary moment for Candace, but then she is greeted with a mini-Broadway-style production and this planet suddenly doesn’t seem so bad anymore! It was performed by Phineas and Ferb songwriter Danny Jacob, and frequent singer on Phineas and Ferb Laura Dickinson. It was written by Povenmire, Olson, and comedian Kate Micucci.

Another song performed with the aliens is “Girls Day Out”, when Candace spends the day with Super Super Big Doctor. It was sung by pop singer Sarah Hudson, and written by Povenmire and songwriter and producer Emanuel Kiriakou, who has collaborated with the likes of Demi Lovato, Selena Gomez, and Jason Derulo. Then there is “This is Our Battle Song”, which is a song performed by the cast as they trick Super Super Big Doctor into getting into the fortress to save Candace. It was written by Povenmire and Phineas and Ferb writers Joshua Pruett and Robert F. Hughes.

There are two songs that reference the universe here too, which is quite apt given the title of the movie. The first is “The Universe is Against Me”, which Candace sings briefly in the movie when Vanessa is talking to Candace, as she feels so annoyed that she can’t bust her brothers successfully. It later appears as the second song in the End Credits. It was performed by Tisdale and written by Povenmire. It’s an angry rock song. In contrast, “Us Against the Universe” is the big finale number, as everyone comes together to celebrate their victory against the aliens. It’s an upbeat number and a fitting ending to the movie. It is performed by the whole cast and was written by Povenmire and Marsh.

Finally, there are two other End Credits song. The first is called “Silhouettes” and was performed by Robbie Wyckoff, a regular singer of Phineas and Ferb songs, written by Povenmire and Jacob. It is a rock ‘n’ roll song that didn’t appeal to me, much like how “Kick It Up a Notch” didn’t either in the End Credits of Across the 2^nd Dimension. The third End Credits song is “We’re Back”, which seems to have also been used as the promo song for this movie too. It was quite a fun song, and works very well as a marketing tool. It was performed by Tisdale as Candace, Vincent Martella as Phineas, and Povenmire as Doofenshmirtz and was written by Povenmire and Marsh.

So, that’s it for full songs heard in the movie, however, there are three other songs to mention. The first is the theme song to Baljeet’s favourite show, “Space Adventure”, which is played whenever Baljeet mentions events from the show. It’s a nice little tune, and clearly makes references to other space-set television series. The second is “Chop Away at My Heart”, originally written for Milo Murphy’s Law, and is meant to be a parody of typical boyband songs. It does sound quite like One Direction. In the movie, it is heard when the spaceship’s voice assistant mishears Candace saying “chop” not “stop” and plays the song for her. Both of these songs were performed by Danny Jacob.

Finally, there was one deleted song entitled “Step into the Great Unknown”. It was meant to take place in the movie at the time that Baljeet explains to the others just what scenario might be waiting for them on the other side of their portal to Feebla-Oot. This song was meant to be Phineas’ way of encouraging the others to help him and Ferb save Candace. It was performed by Phineas, Isabella, Baljeet, and Buford’s voice actors, written by Povenmire and Olson. I don’t think I needed this song in the movie so I’m glad it was cut.

This song still features on the movie soundtrack though. The soundtrack reached No. 22 on the US Billboard Kids Albums, and No. 18 on US Billboard Soundtrack Albums, which is quite a bit lower than the No. 3 and No. 4 reached on these charts by the soundtrack for Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Across the 2^nd Dimension.

RECEPTION

Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Candace Against the Universe was released on Disney+ on 28^th August 2020. Being able to release this movie on the streaming platform meant it could reach viewers in multiple countries on the same day for a change. Candace Against the Universe was also the first animated Disney+ Original film.

I’ve used the term Disney+ Original film here, and not Disney Channel Original Movie. This is the factually correct term for Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Candace Against the Universe, however, since its predecessor, Across the 2^nd Dimension was a Disney Channel Original Movie and because Candace Against the Universe was still produced by Disney Channel, and based on a Disney Channel series, it would’ve been unfair to miss it from my list of DCOM reviews. It is part of the same category as other movies such as Secret Society of Second-Born Royals (2020) which debuted on Disney+ on 25^th September 2020, but later debuted separately on Disney Channel. Candace Against the Universe premiered on Disney Channel much later than its Disney+ premiere, on 8^th April 2023.

Like Across the 2^nd Dimension, Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Candace Against the Universe received 100% on Rotten Tomatoes from official critics’ reviews. Audience reviews were a bit more mixed, however, fans of the series were likely to enjoy it.

Many fans would have been disappointed about the series ending, but having even a standalone movie to recapture the nostalgic feeling of seeing Phineas and Ferb again would have been a welcomed treat for them. The positive reviews also said they liked that it was more adventurous with its sci-fi elements and that it had more an emotional, heartfelt message to it, like Candace realising she’s not been a good sister and her reunion with Phineas and Ferb when they finally save her from the aliens. Yet the same specific humour from the series remained, even with new characters and new storylines.

However, others said that Candace Against the Universe was not as good as Across the 2^nd Dimension, which I do agree with; I definitely laughed less at Candace Against the Universe. Some didn’t like that Phineas and Ferb, as well as Perry the platypus, weren’t in this story as much. If you didn’t like Candace, her being the centre of the movie would’ve made watching the movie less enjoyable. Some also picked up on the fact that the storyline here felt similar to Season 1 episode “Unfair Science Fair Redux (Another Story)” where Candace goes through a portal and ends up on Mars, becoming beloved by the Martians and dubbed their queen. There was a mixed reaction to the music in Candace Against the Universe, with some loving the music and others not. I didn’t find much of the music particularly memorable so it failed in that respect for me.

This movie may also have been a victim of pandemic boredom, where people were watching anything and everything that was new on streaming, whether they normally would’ve watched it or not, and had time to pick apart all the reasons they didn’t like it. There’s not a problem with doing this – everyone is entitled to their opinions – but I do think some movies unnecessarily suffered in their reviews because of these types of behaviours.

Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Candace Against the Universe did, however, still win a Daytime Emmy award for Outstanding Writing Team for a Daytime Animated Program on this movie. It was also nominated at the Kids’ Choice Awards for Favorite Animated Movie, but lost out to Pixar’s Soul (2020).

LEGACY

Despite having some breaks from being on our screens, Phineas and Ferb refuses to go away completely, having spin-off series and even Disney Parks appearances.

As well as the first movie, Across the 2^nd Dimension, there was also a series called Take Two with Phineas and Ferb, this being a spin-off short-form series which debuted in December 2010, running until November 2011, where Phineas and Ferb interviewed live-action celebrities. This series only lasted for one season. There were also two crossover episodes of the show which as part of Season 4, with these being called “Phineas and Ferb: Mission Marvel”, airing on 16^th August 2013, and “Phineas and Ferb: Star Wars”, airing on 26^th July 2014. These capitalised on the popularity of Phineas and Ferb, as well as Disney’s 2009 acquisition of Marvel, and their 2012 purchase of Star Wars, which led to a new movie in 2015: Episode VII: The Force Awakens.

After the conclusion of Phineas and Ferb, Dan Povenmire and Jeff “Swampy” Marsh went on to create the series Milo Murphy’s Law (2016-19) for Disney Channel, which saw “Weird Al” Yankovic and Sabrina Carpenter lead the voice cast. Vincent Martella and Alyson Stoner, voices of Phineas and Isabella respectively, also voiced characters in this series, and some of the Phineas and Ferb characters made appearances in this series too in a crossover episode.

Moving away from TV, Phineas and Ferb even had a US live tour, entitled Phineas and Ferb: The Best LIVE Tour Ever. The original tour took place from August 2011 to April 2012, however, due to its popularity, a second tour began in August 2012, running until April 2013. The live shows featured some of the most loved musical numbers from the show with all the characters from the series, live on stage[7].

At Walt Disney World, there were a few Phineas and Ferb experiences. In Epcot, there used to be Agent P’s World Showcase Adventure, which was an interactive game where gamers could complete challenges in many of the World Showcase country’s pavilions. Agent P’s World Showcase Adventure ran from 2012 until 2020. The game was later rethemed to be DuckTales World Showcase Adventure, beginning in December 2022.

For meet-and-greets, there was one at the Once Upon a Toy store in Disney Springs. Phineas and Ferb, and Agent P met guests here from around 2010. This likely closed when a permanent meet-and-greet experience at Disney’s Hollywood Studios with Phineas and Ferb began in May 2011.. This meet-and-greet closed in January 2016 to make way for construction work to build Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. Phineas and Ferb were also spotted at Disney California Adventure Park at Disneyland; they could be seen during Phineas and Ferb’s Rockin’ Rollin’ Dance Party from 2011 to 2014.

In more recent years, Phineas and Ferb have been seen again, this time at Disney Hollywood Studios’ festive event Jollywood Nights both in its debut year in 2023, and in 2024. Also at Disney World, at Typhoon Lagoon, the two returned to the H20 Glow Nights event in Summer 2024, having been spotted at this after-hours event the year before.

There was also a Phineas and Ferb Dance Party at Disney Channel Nite at Disneyland Resort in March 2024. At Disneyland, but this time at Disney California Adventure Park, Dr. Doofenshmirtz made his debut at the Oogie Boogie Bash, Disneyland’s Halloween event. Dr. Doofenshmirtz was situated on a treat trail in a recreation of his headquarters. He appeared as a face character with lots of prosthetics, which made him look a bit disturbing to be honest…Finally, Phineas and Ferb seemed to have been at a special Passholder Night event at Disneyland Paris in 2024.

The most exciting news for Phineas and Ferb fans came in 2023, when new episodes of Phineas and Ferb were announced, 40 in total, to be split across two seasons. It will take place in a new “104 days of summer vacation”, presumably just the year after the events of Season 4. Further details have since been released throughout 2024. At New York Comic Con in October 2024, the voice cast for this new season was announced. It would consist of the same names as the series, and David Errigo Jr. was confirmed to be the permanent new voice of Ferb. It was also confirmed that it would premiere in 2025 on both Disney+ and Disney Channel, although a specific premiere date is still yet to be disclosed[8].

As Phineas and Ferb will be making a comeback very soon, it is likely these two characters, as well as possibly others from the series, will continue to make appearances at the Disney Parks. Those involved with the show would even like a theme park attraction based on the show to be created[9]. Only time will tell if that comes true.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Because of the popularity of Phineas and Ferb as a series, in 2011 a first feature-length movie was made, to include all the best moments and elements of the show and to give their viewers a whole new story, and even a new dimension to experience.

Thanks to the success of Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Across the 2^nd Dimension, the series continued to air for another four years, before ending in 2015. But that was not the end of the story, as Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Candace Against the Universe came to Disney+ in 2020, giving fans yet another feature-length movie to watch, to see their favourite characters once more, five years after the series had ended. And still, that was not all because in 2024, it was announced that Phineas and Ferb would be returning to our screens in 2025.

For whatever reason, Phineas and Ferb has been a favourite Disney series for many for years, with the love for the show continuing from childhood into adulthood. Judging by the reaction to the revival of the show, it’s quite clear that the mania surrounding this show is not going away any time soon.

REFERENCES

[1] Credit: Anna Menta, ‘Yes, Tiffany Haddish Voices “The Sounds Someone Makes When They Explode” In the ‘Phineas and Ferb Movie’, Decider.com, 30^th August 2020.

[2] Credit: Stuart Dredge, ‘Phineas and Ferb co-creator: ‘children are much more intelligent than people give them credit for’, The Guardian.com, 4^th July 2013.

[3] Credit: Steven Zeitchik, ‘‘Phineas and Ferb’ gets the ‘Toy Story’ treatment’, LATimes.com, 27^th October 2011.

[4] Credit: Jessica Figueroa, ‘”Phineas and Ferb The Movie: Candace Against The Universe” Currently In Production for Disney+’, WDWNT.com, 25^th August 2019.

[5] Credit: Michael Schneider, ‘‘Phineas and Ferb The Movie: Candace Against the Universe’ Lands Premiere Date on Disney Plus’, Variety.com, 2^nd July 2020.

[6] Credit: Alex Reif, ‘Comic-Con@Home: What We Learned from Disney’s “Phineas and Ferb The Movie: Candace Against the Universe” Panel’, LaughingPlace.com, 25^th July 2020.

[7] Credit: Madeline Roth, ‘Disney’s Phineas And Ferb Live: The Best Live Tour Ever!’ To Adventure To Columbus’, TheLantern.com, 23^rd October 2012.

[8] Credit: Author Unknown, ‘Disney’s ‘Phineas and Ferb’ Cast Announced at New York Comic Con’, TheWaltDisneyCompany.com, 17^th October 2024.

[9] Credit: Eva Miller, ‘D23 Reveals Ambitious Plans for ‘Phineas and Ferb’ Theme Park Attraction’, InsidetheMagic.net, 10^th August 2024.

15th Nov 202429th Sep 2025 by The Disney Purist

Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Across the 2nd Dimension (2011)

BACKGROUND

In amongst all the typical comedy series that air on Disney Channel, there are also a number of animated series that have debuted on the channel.

Some of these animated series are directly based on a Disney animated movie, such as Lilo & Stitch: The Series (2003-06), or The Emperor’s New School (2006-08). Other series that premiered on Disney Channel were based on original ideas such as Kim Possible (2002-07) and Phineas and Ferb (2007-15).

I have never been a huge fan of animated television series for some reason. I don’t really understand why as I love animated movies; I think it might have something to do with how silly animated cartoons can be. I liked a few though, don’t get me wrong, especially when I was little. I used to watch Cartoon Network so early in the morning that my parents had to put a parental lock on the TV to stop me waking them up! But as I started watching Disney Channel, the only animated series I enjoyed watching was Recess (1997-2003), which wasn’t a Disney Channel original, choosing instead to watch their live-action shows.

My sister was the one who liked Disney Channel’s animated programming: Kim Possible, Lilo & Stitch: The Series, and American Dragon: Jake Long (2005-07). When Phineas and Ferb came out, she loved that show too. If I was being a nice little sister, I’d sit and watch these shows with her without complaining. Though I really didn’t like American Dragon, I was fine watching the other three shows I’ve mentioned.

There were elements of Phineas and Ferb that I liked. I liked Candace, the big sister character, but I think that was purely because she was voiced by Ashley Tisdale, a.k.a. Sharpay Evans in the High School Musical franchise, my favourite character in those films. I also found Dr. Doofenshmirtz very funny, and the songs were pretty good, so it wasn’t too much of a chore to sit through episodes when my sister wanted to watch.

When we found out that Phineas and Ferb’s first movie, Across the 2^nd Dimension, was going to be released, I knew I’d have to let my sister watch it whenever she wanted to, and I did; we watched it together, and although it wasn’t my thing, I did quite like it. There were some moments where I laughed out loud, and again, I quite liked the music.

It’s a good movie, though fans of the show will appreciate it more. Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Across the 2^nd Dimension was only Disney Channel’s third animated original movie, after Kim Possible Movie: So the Drama (2005) and The Proud Family Movie (2005).

PLOT

Across the 2^nd Dimension begins with a flashforward, as we see Phineas, Ferb, Candace, and Dr. Doofenshmirtz in chains, being led towards a huge, fluffy monster. As Phineas says “everything started out so well this morning”, we go back in time to that morning.

Half-brothers Phineas and Ferb are woken up by the sun and the noise of their pet platypus, Perry. It turns out this day is exactly five years since they both got Perry from a pet store, liking the fact that the cross-eyed platypus could look at both Phineas and Ferb at the same time, with the boys seeing this as some sort of sign! The plan was to call him Barthlomew, but in the end, the platypus was renamed to Perry.

Meanwhile, their sister Candace is figuring out what to do with her day and calls up her boyfriend Jeremy. Jeremy is busy, going with his dad to look at colleges, which reminds Candace that Jeremy is a whole year older than her and will be heading off to college soon. This motivates Candace to get rid of all her childish junk and finally act like a grown-up.

Phineas and Ferb have decided to create a huge game of badminton with their friends, Isabella, Buford, and Baljeet, creating two massive Perry-like catapults that will send a shuttlecock from the boys’ back garden over to the park. As they are about to try it out for the first time, they notice Perry has vanished, a normal occurrence, nothing to worry about.

Perry is actually a secret agent, known as Agent P. He is congratulated on his five years with the boys, as he was never just a normal platypus in a pet store but was assigned to this family. Agent P’s boss, Major Monogram, warns him that should his cover ever be blown, he will have to be reassigned. Agent P loves Phineas and Ferb so tries very hard to keep his secret, whilst also saving the world from the evil scientist, Dr. Doofenshmirtz, who has grand schemes but is incapable of achieving them. Agent P is told to stop Dr. Doofenshmirtz’s latest invention, some sort of alternate reality device, and is given gadgets to help him on his mission. He is given a magnetic watch that can communicate with Major Monogram, although he is warned not to contact him between 3:30pm and 4:00pm as that is when he takes his shower… Oh yeah, and this watch can give people instant brain freeze!

Back home, Candace is told to look after the boys as her parents are going to see a movie. This gives Candace the opportunity to act like a grown-up and bust her brothers herself, something she has spent all summer trying to do, but at the moment she goes to show her mother the boys’ creations, they always disappear and the boys are never punished. Candace catches a glimpse of the huge “platypult” in the garden, but by the time she gets out there, the boys have been catapulted into the air on a huge shuttlecock and the platypult has vanished, giving Candace evidence that this “mysterious force” that always takes away the boys’ inventions now sees her as the adult, not just her mother.

Phineas and Ferb, on the shuttlecock, accidentally crash into Agent P in his hovercraft, though they don’t realise, and are knocked off course, crashing into Dr. Doofenshmirtz’s lair and into his “Other-Dimension-inator”, the exact thing Agent P was meant to be stopping. As the boys feel bad for breaking this guy’s machine, and don’t know he’s evil, they decide to help fix it, noticing issues with his wiring and his self-destruct button which would have stopped it from working properly. Agent P then arrives soon after, but quickly reverts back to normal Perry the platypus mode when he sees Phineas and Ferb there. Realising that the boys are making this invention work, Perry tries everything he can to stop them, including peeing on Dr. Doofenshmirtz’s sofa – nice… It doesn’t work though and the machine is used to show another dimension.

Phineas, Ferb, Perry, and Dr. Doofenshmirtz step into this alternate dimension and see that the Alternate Dr. Doofenshmirtz is ruler of this alternate Tri-State Area, something that normal Dr. Doofenshmirtz has always tried to do. Dr. Doofenshmirtz heads over alone to meet his alternate dimension self. Alternate Dr. Doofenshmirtz reveals that he turned the Alternate Agent P into a cyborg, who now works as one of his minions, along with his army of Norm Bots, something Dr. Doofenshmirtz has, but his Norm Bot has never shown much capacity for being evil… The boys soon arrive with Perry. Alternate Dr. Doofenshmirtz instantly recognises Perry as being Agent P, however, Dr. Doofenshmirtz cannot see it, as the platypus isn’t standing on two legs or wearing his secret agent hat. Alternate Dr. Doofenshmirtz shows he’s right by having his platypus cyborg attack the boys. Sure enough, Agent P reveals himself to everyone to save Phineas and Ferb. They are attacked by the Alternate Norm Bots and the cyborg, with Agent P having to get the boys to safety. Alternate Dr. Doofenshmirtz then decides to take over the other Tri-State Area.

Phineas is furious with Perry for his deceit and his double life, struggling to move past it. He uses the remote for the Other-Dimension-inator, which he luckily kept with him, but the portal does not show their dimension. They decide to enlist the help of their alternate selves to get home. But Alternate Phineas and Alternate Ferb are not the creative geniuses they are in the “real world”. Instead, thanks to Alternate Dr. Doofenshmirtz’s iron-fisted rule, the boys live in a grey world full of fear and anxiety. They aren’t going to be much help… A television announcement then plays telling Agent P to hand himself in to save Phineas and Ferb from any further harm. As he is about to secretly leave, Phineas sees him and accuses him of ditching them. Phineas angrily tells Perry/Agent P to go, and he sadly does.

Phineas then says they need to find Alternate Isabella, who the boys in this dimension have never met, but luckily, she only lives next door. As they head over there, a Norm Bot spots them and tries to attack. Alternate Buford saves them, and takes them over to the Resistance, which consists of alternate versions of all their friends, and is led by none other than Alternate Candace! They are told by Alternate Baljeet to picture dimensions as moving in a clockwise direction, with the remote showing the next dimension along from where they are. It is easier to travel in this direction, although the number of dimensions they would need to get through to get home is unknown. The Resistance can redirect the power to open up the portal to their home, however, it is unsteady. As the boys learn that Perry needs saving from Alternate Doofenshmirtz, who now needs the boys to fix his own version of the “Other-Dimension-inator” in order to conquer their Tri-State area, they decide not to go through. Alternate Baljeet says he’ll try to keep it open but it may not last too long. Suddenly, Candace jumps through into this alternate dimension, causing the portal to close. Candace believed this was the “mysterious force” – it wasn’t…

The Resistance then take Phineas, Ferb, and Candace to Alternate Dr. Doofenshmirtz’s headquarters via mine carts in the underground tunnels so they can save Perry. However, when they arrive there, it is revealed that they have walked into a trap. Using some quick-thinking, Perry/Agent P realises it is between 3:30pm and 4:00pm and uses his watch to call Major Monogram, who, sure enough, is in the shower. This holographic image makes both Dr. Doofenshmirtzs avert their eyes, letting the others escape. They are pursued by Norm Bots. A fire begins on one of the mine carts, slowing down the train. Alternate Candace makes the decision to cut lose Phineas, Ferb, and Candace’s end of the train so she can save her own brothers. They are captured.

Alternate Dr. Doofenshmirtz orders Phineas to fix the “Other-Dimension-inator”. Phineas refuses, even when faced with a hand puppet, which Alternate Dr. Doofenshmirtz believes should have managed to convince him! Dr. Doofenshmirtz then remembers what the boys told him back home about the wiring and the self-destruct button. Making some changes, the machine now works. As there is no use for the boys, Candace, Agent P, or Dr. Doofenshmirtz anymore, they are sent to their doom. This “doom” consists of being fed to a huge, fluffy monster, as per the opening sequence. Suddenly, Alternate Candace arrives, flying across the room on a giant gnome statue, throwing Phineas the remote that he left back at Resistance Headquarters. He uses the remote just as the group are about to fall, all chained together, and they disappear into another dimension, with the monster following them – though much of its body doesn’t make it through the small portal so it gets freaked out and runs off! They unlock themselves from their chains, however, some of the Norm Bots have followed them through the portal, whilst others have captured Alternate Candace.

The group, chased by Norm Bots, run through multiple dimensions, finally making it home, however, Alternate Dr. Doofenshmirtz is already here and has sent his Norm Bots to attack their city of Danville, to make the people conform to his new world order. Agent P runs off to save the day, giving Phineas and Ferb his pet collar first. They go off home, believing there is nothing more they can do. Dr. Doofenshmirtz, meanwhile, tries to get into his penthouse where Alternate Doofenshmirtz is enacting his plan.

At home, Phineas and Ferb begin to hear noises coming from the collar. They follow the noises and are led to a tunnel in the wall, which takes them to Agent P’s secret lair. They are instructed to open up the collar’s locket and uses it as a key to the supercomputer. After doing this, they then see that all their inventions from the summer are being 3D-printed. Phineas and Ferb enlist all their friends to use these inventions to fight the Norm Bots. Other animal secrets agents, of which Agent P is just one, also get in on the battle. Candace decides she has to show her mother what is going on, as she knows the “mysterious force” will remove all trace of the battle if she does.

Agent P takes Phineas up to battle Alternate Dr. Doofenshmirtz and close the portal. Agent P fights the cyborg, and Phineas fights Alternate Dr. Doofenshmirtz, but nothing seems to be working. The cyborg is electrified and immobilised, but the portal is still open. Alternate Dr. Doofenshmirtz then gets hold of Phineas’ baseball glove invention, and shoots a baseball right at Phineas. Agent P throws him a bat, and Phineas manages to hit the baseball right into the portal, breaking it and closing it. The Norm Bots fall from the sky and Ferb shows up. But Alternate Dr. Doofenshmirtz has one more trick up his sleeve, revealing a huge robot version of himself, where he controls it…from the sleeve. As Alternate Dr. Doofenshmirtz is about to throw a punch, Dr. Doofenshmirtz comes in and shows Alternate Dr. Doofenshmirtz a toy train. Alternate Dr. Doofenshmirtz lost his as a child and this turned him evil. As Dr. Doofenshmirtz hands over his own toy train, Alternate Dr. Doofenshmirtz’s backstory is finally resolved. He self-destructs all the Norm Bots and goes back home.

Back in his dimension, Alternate Dr. Doofenshmirtz is promptly arrested by the Resistance, with Alternate Candace being freed from prison by her brothers and Alternate Jeremy, who she’d never met before. Then, Alternate Candace, Phineas, and Ferb come through to thank everyone for their help, and they also take home the cyborg, who was their pet, and has since reverted back to normal platypus mode. Candace also encourages Alternate Candace to date Alternate Jeremy, something she says she’ll think about.

Major Monogram arrives to say Agent P must be reassigned as his cover was blown today. The boys are devastated over this and wish there was another way. Major Monogram and his assistant, Carl, then remember Dr. Doofenshmirtz’s “Amnesia-inator”, which they can use to wipe their memories of the day. Everything goes back to normal, with only Agent P having fond memories of it, uploading photos of their adventure onto his supercomputer.

CHARACTERS & CAST

Phineas and Ferb are half-brothers who are very close, almost inseparable. They aren’t the type of kids who want to spend their summer staying inside, watching TV, or playing on video games. They want to get outside, be creative, and have some fun. The two are used to creating huge-scale inventions with their friends, but going to an alternate dimension, finding out their pet platypus is a secret agent, and being chased around by weird robots is a little out of even their comfort zone! They tackle this situation with their usual intelligence, loyalty, and quick-thinking and get out of it unharmed, along with all their friends and their favourite sister, Candace. Although Phineas and Ferb are similar in many ways, one big difference between them is the amount that the brothers talk. Ferb rarely says much outside of the occasional clever one-liner, whereas Phineas is the chatty one.

Phineas was voiced by Vincent Martella. Martella is also known for his role as Greg Wuliger in Everybody Hates Chris (2005-09), for which he was nominated for a Teen Choice Award and two Young Artists Awards. Thomas Brodie-Sangster voiced Ferb. As a child actor, Brodie-Sangster was cast as Sam in Love Actually (2003), and then as Simon in Nanny McPhee (2005). In more recent years, he is known for his roles as Rafe Sadler in the BBC series Wolf Hall (2015-present); as Jack Dawkins / Dodger in The Artful Dodger (2023-present); and as Newt in The Maze Runner movie trilogy.

Candace is Phineas and Ferb’s sister whose main aim in life is to bust her brothers and get them in trouble for all the things they do during the summer. This has never worked before, because every time Candace manages to drag her mother away from whatever she’s doing to come and see what the boys are doing, the invention magically disappears and everything seems normal. In Across the 2^nd Dimension, Candace has decided to be an adult, wanting to bust her brothers herself, but when she tries to, she finds that this “mysterious force” that hides all the boys’ creations has taken it away before even she can see it, leading her to believe that she is actually an adult. But because of her obsession with this force, Candace then jumps through the portal into the next dimension and is stuck in the middle of a battle between good and evil with her brothers – not exactly what she expected! But by working with her brothers, instead of against them, they manage to get home and defeat Alternate Dr. Doofenshmirtz.

Candace was voiced by Ashley Tisdale, best known for her role as Sharpay Evans in the High School Musical franchise, at least amongst Disney fans, reprising her role in the movie Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure (2011). Also for Disney, Tisdale starred as Maddie Fitzpatrick in the series The Suite Life of Zack & Cody (2005-08). In more recent years, she was cast as Kayla in the Netflix series Merry Happy Whatever (2019), and was a panellist on The Masked Dancer (2020-21). Tisdale has been an executive producer on some Disney projects, such as the DCOM Cloud 9 (2014) and the ABC series Young & Hungry (2014-18).

Perry the platypus is Phineas and Ferb’s pet, however, he is actually a secret agent, Agent P, something that the audience already knows, but until this movie, the boys had no idea; they just thought Perry wandered off for a nap every day. What Perry, or Agent P, has actually been doing is stopping Dr. Doofenshmirtz’s evil schemes to take over the Tri-State Area. If Phineas and Ferb hadn’t accidentally ended up at Dr. Doofenshmirtz’s headquarters, then they wouldn’t have gotten involved in Agent P’s mission and he would never have had to reveal his secret agent status to them in order to save their lives. It’s quite sad how annoyed Phineas is with Perry for the “deceit” and it clearly hurts Perry quite a lot. Agent P does successfully complete his mission, with Phineas and Ferb beside him, and, ironically, one of Dr. Doofenshmirtz’s inventions actually help them stay together, as it wipes all their memories of that day, so Perry can still be part of the family.

Agent P’s boss is Major Monogram, who is quite formal and serious, but seems to be pleased with Agent P’s work as a secret agent. Major Monogram can make jokes when he wants to, but in Across the 2^nd Dimension, the joke is mostly on him, especially when Agent P uses a hologram of Major Monogram in the shower to distract the two Dr. Doofenshmirtzs despite being told not to call him at that time, as that is his shower time. We also see Major Monogram’s unpaid intern, Carl, here, who tries his best to do a good job for Major Monogram, but he is hard to please! Major Monogram was voiced by Jeff “Swampy” Marsh, one of the creators of Phineas and Ferb. Carl was voiced by Tyler Alexander Mann.

Now for the best character in the whole show: Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz. Dr. Doofenshmirtz has some great ideas for how to conquer the Tri-State Area, but due to his ineptness and incompetence, his inventions and various “-inators” rarely work and even when they do, Agent P is a very efficient secret agent, so he manages to foil all of Dr. Doofenshmirtz’s plans before they really get off the ground. Dr. Doofenshmirtz is much too funny and lovable to be an evil ruler anyway, so it’s probably for the best! Alternate Dr. Doofenshmirtz, however, is the opposite and has managed to rule his Tri-State Area, with big robots and a cyborg platypus, which makes the real Dr. Doofenshmirtz feel a bit lesser. He is mocked by his alternate self for not recognising Agent P unless he has his secret agent hat on, and is found to be quite annoying by his alternate self, which must really destroy your self-confidence… Dr. Doofenshmirtz normally has some of the best lines in Phineas and Ferb, with my favourite one in this film being: “If I had a nickel for every time I was doomed by a puppet, I’d have two nickels, which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it happened twice, right?” That line always makes me laugh; it’s just so random! Dr. Doofenshmirtz was voiced by the other creator of Phineas and Ferb, Dan Povenmire, who was nominated for an Emmy Award for his voice performance in this movie in 2012.

Outside of these main characters, there are numerous others that appear in Phineas and Ferb and Across the 2^nd Dimension. These include Isabella, who has a crush on Phineas and is the leader of a girl scout troop in the real world, and part of the Resistance in the Alternate Dimension, and Jeremy, who is Candace’s boyfriend in their dimension, and a Resistance leader in the 2^nd Dimension. Isabella was voiced by Alyson Stoner, who was cast as Caitlyn in Camp Rock (2008) and Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam (2010), after appearing as Max in The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, and as Sarah Baker in Cheaper by the Dozen (2003) and its 2005 sequel. Jeremy was voiced by Mitchell Musso, known for his role as Oliver in Hannah Montana (2006-11), and as King Brady in Pair of Kings (2010-13).

Two more of Phineas and Ferb’s friends are Baljeet and Buford. Baljeet is intelligent and polite, however this makes him a target for Buford, who is a bit of a bully at times, but sometimes isn’t. Sometimes, he wants to help and be part of the group. In Across the 2^nd Dimension, he is much less of a bully and more of a friend, although Alternate Buford is resisting the Resistance group, so he’s not all that helpful. Alternate Baljeet is though, as he figures out two methods for the boys to get back home. Buford was voiced by Bobby Gaylor, who is one of the story writers on the show; and Baljeet was voiced by Maulik Pancholy. Pancholy had previously appeared as Jonathan in the comedy series 30 Rock (2006-13).

Finally, I just want to briefly mention the voice actors of Phineas, Ferb, and Candace’s parents. Phineas and Candace’s mother, Linda, is voiced by Caroline Rhea, well-known for her role as Hilda Spellman in Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996-2003). Richard O’Brien voiced Ferb’s father, Lawrence. O’Brien is best known for writing the musical, The Rocky Horror Show, before starring in the 1975 film adaptation. For UK viewers, he is also known as the original host of the game show The Crystal Maze (1990-2020).

All the voice actors here reprised their roles from the main series, and the Alternate Dimension versions of these characters use the same voice actors. Although there is one big name still to mention who only has a small cameo in Across the 2^nd Dimension. That is Doris Roberts, best known for her role as Marie Barone in Everybody Loves Raymond (1996-05). Roberts voiced Mrs. Thompson, Dr. Doofenshmirtz’s elderly neighbour in this movie.

PRODUCTION

The first episode of Phineas and Ferb debuted on 17^th August 2007 on Disney Channel, and a second episode was aired on 28^th September 2007. The full first season then officially premiered on 1^st February 2008, running until February 2009. A second season aired straight after, finishing in February 2011. It was closely followed by a third season which began airing in March 2011, and ended in November 2012.

Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Across the 2^nd Dimension premiered on 5^thAugust 2011, partway through Season 3, between Episode 17 “Road Trip” and Episode 18 “Tour de Ferb”. The show does not have a major overarching storyline though, so there is no real need to watch it at this specific point in the season.

Phineas and Ferb quickly became one of Disney Channel’s most popular series, gaining millions of viewers in the years since its first broadcast. Although there was a rumour that spread online a few years ago, saying that the idea behind Phineas and Ferb was based on a true story about a mentally ill girl in Russia, this is not the true story of how Phineas and Ferb came to be.

At the Children’s Media Conference in Sheffield in 2013, co-creator of the show, Jeff “Swampy” Marsh spoke about the origins of the animated series. Marsh said that he first got interested in working in animation around his late-20s, becoming a background artist on The Simpsons (1989-present) in the early 1990s. He then went on to work on other series, such as Rocko’s Modern Life (1993-96), moving into writing and directing. This is where Marsh and Dan Povenmire started discussing their plans for a new animated series. Dan Povenmire later worked as a director on Family Guy (1999-present), whilst Marsh moved over to work on King of the Hill (1997-2009).

Around 1993, Marsh and Povenmire had already developed the idea for Phineas and Ferb, after noticing that kids didn’t seem to go out and do anything anymore, this becoming the whole premise of the show. I’m sure the irony of creating a television show for kids, to be watched inside, to encourage them to go outside and do things hasn’t been lost on the creators! The idea was later pitched to numerous networks, including Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, and Fox Kids, before Disney agreed to move forward with it around 2006[1]. As well as using their experience of working on prior animated series, it has been said that the creators were inspired by British children’s shows such as Danger Mouse (1981-92) and Tiswas (1974-82), as well as American ones, like Sesame Street (1969-present) and The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle (1959-64).

As Disney Channel doesn’t have many animated series, unlike other networks such as Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon, it was felt that Phineas and Ferb would be able to compete with them now. The creators wanted the show to be bright and colourful, and created their characters based on geometric shapes, something they learnt from Matt Groening, creator of The Simpsons, to make them easy to draw. They also loved music, so wanted to put their own songs into the show. These have remained popular with viewers, even outside of the show. I still remember many of them and I didn’t even watch the show all that much! It was also decided that the series should not be set in a school, as so many other animated children’s shows have been[2].

Phineas and Ferb successfully managed to attract major stars to come and voice characters in the show, including Selena Gomez, chef Jamie Oliver, presenter Jonathan Ross, and even Jeremy Clarkson, James May, and Richard Hammond from Top Gear, who voiced racing commentators in one episode.

The series won a Daytime Emmy in 2010 for Outstanding Writing in Animation, and three Primetime Emmy Awards to Jill Daniels and Brian Woods for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation. It has also been nominated for numerous other awards, including for its music and its voice performances.

It has been stated that this movie was first announced by Jeff “Swampy” Marsh in a January 2010 interview, however, I have been unable to find that interview to confirm that this is when Across the 2^nd Dimension was first confirmed to be in development. Regardless, Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Across the 2^nd Dimension was a natural way of extending the reach of the already popular show, something that Disney Channel are used to doing with other DCOMs based on series, and gave more opportunity for the visual gags, music, Easter eggs, and clever writing that the show is loved for.

Some of these are running gags that appear in both the series and the movie. For example, in the film, the usual “Hey, where’s Perry?”, and “Oh, there you are, Perry” lines from Phineas, as well as Dr. Doofenshmirtz’s evil jingle, will be familiar to fans of the series, along with the inventions used during the battle with the Norm Bots, which appeared in previous episodes of the show. There are references to elements of pop culture too, such as the musical scenes parodying other bands such as The Beatles, and Phineas lifting Perry up like Rafiki does to Simba in The Lion King (1994) in the opening musical song.

MUSIC

Since original music is a unique addition to Phineas and Ferb as a series, it only makes sense for Across the 2^nd Dimension to feature even more original songs. This movie does in fact feature nine original songs, plus one deleted song.

This deleted song is called “Mysterious Force”, sung by Ashley Tisdale as Candace, where she talks about how she has always failed to bust her brothers, supposedly because this force takes all of her brothers’ inventions away at exactly the wrong – or right – moment[3]. No song in this movie is bad, including this one, but it’s not my favourite.

My favourite song is “Brand New Best Friend” which Dan Povenmire as Dr. Doofenshmirtz sings alongside his alternate dimension self, talking about all their similarities. It all seems to be going well, but Alternate Doofenshmirtz ends up getting annoyed with Dr. Doofenshmirtz and their friendship goes downhill fairly quickly…It’s a funny song, as it should be, since it features the funniest character in the whole show.

I also like “Summer (Where Do We Begin?)”, which Phineas sings to their alternate selves, as they have never had a summer in this alternate dimension, thanks to Alternate Dr. Doofenshmirtz’s rule over the Tri-State Area. Phineas and Ferb are telling them all about how great summer is and all the things you can do. They also start singing part of the series’ theme song, “Today Is Gonna Be a Great Day”, during this song. It’s very catchy and parts of it get stuck in my head randomly.

Of the other songs on the soundtrack and in the film, I don’t like them as much but they’re still fine to listen to and add to the story. One of these is “Robot Riot” sung by the in-series rock band Love Händel, but actually by Dan Povenmire and Jaret Reddick from band Bowling for Soup, during the battle against the Norm Bots. Following on from the successful battle and defeat of Alternate Dr. Doofenshmirtz, just before the End Credits, the song “Takin’ Care of Things” is briefly heard as Agent P uploads his photos from the day. It’s a nice, upbeat song to finish the film. It is performed by Dan Povenmire and Danny Jacob. The End Credits song is “Kick It Up a Notch” sung by Phineas and Guns ‘N’ Roses guitarist Slash.

Two more songs in the movie are “Everything’s Better with Perry” and “Brand New Reality”. “Everything’s Better with Perry” is the opening song for the movie, which is performed by Robbie Wyckoff. It plays as Phineas and Ferb look forward to another summer’s day with their best friend Perry. It’s very upbeat and positive, as we should all aim to feel at the start of a new day but rarely manage to! “Brand New Reality” is also performed by Robbie Wyckoff and it plays as the gang race through multiple dimensions to get home as they are chased by Alternate Dr. Doofenshmirtz’s Norm Bots.

There are two other songs in this movie that I did like but don’t make it on the soundtrack, probably because they are both only heard briefly. The first is “Baljeet Explanation”, performed by Alternate Baljeet, as he explains how Phineas and Ferb can travel back or forward through dimensions. It’s not a song at all, really, but I still like it – it’s funny and so random. Alternate Baljeet is quite right though – it did need a chorus! The other is “I Walk Away”, performed by Olivia Olson. It’s a sad song to match Perry’s sadness as he hands himself over to Alternate Dr. Doofenshmirtz after basically being told by Phineas to get lost and leave them alone. It would’ve been nice to have a full version of this song.

Most of the songs in Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Across the 2^nd Dimension are included in the soundtrack Phineas and Ferb: Across the 1^st and 2^nd Dimensions, alongside songs from the series. This soundtrack was released on 4^th August 2011, a day before the premiere of the movie. “Mysterious Force” is included on the soundtrack, despite being cut from the movie. The soundtrack peaked at No. 4 on the US Billboard Soundtrack Albums chart; at No. 3 on the US Billboard Kid Albums; and at No. 57 on the US Billboard 200 chart.

All of the songs here were written by Dan Povenmire and Jeff “Swampy” Marsh, the creators of the series, at least in part. The two were joined by Slash to write “Kick It Up a Notch”, with composer Danny Jacob also credited. Bowling for Soup’s lead vocalist, Jaret Reddick, whose band perform the Phineas and Ferb theme song, is credited as co-writing “Robot Riot” alongside the creators and Martin Olson, comedy writer and composer. Other co-writers of songs within this movie include Aliki Theofilopoulos, who was a storyboard artist and writer on Phineas and Ferb, as well as an animator on Disney movies such as Hercules (1997) and Tarzan (1999), who co-wrote “Everything’s Better with Perry” with Antoine Guilbaub; Jon Colton Barry and Robert Forrest Hughes are credited on “Summer (Where Do We Begin?)”; and James Bernstein on “Brand New Reality”. Many of these songwriters and composers had worked on previous songs for the series.

RECEPTION

Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Across the 2^nd Dimension was promoted in various ways, prior to its premiere date.

One of these was through a promotional tour, which featured Perry the Platy-bus. The tour kicked off in New York City’s Times Square on 11^th July 2011, stopping off at cities on its journey to San Diego Comic Con, which took place from 21^st to 24^th July 2011. At the San Diego Comic Con, the creators and some of the voice cast were on hand to discuss the new movie and even show a sneak preview of it.

The official premiere of Across the 2^nd Dimension took place on 4^th August 2011 at the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles, with a small parade and characters of Phineas, Ferb, and Agent P being around to have pictures taken with all the cast and other attendees.

Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Across the 2^nd Dimension finally premiered on Disney Channel on 5^th August 2011. It then aired a week later on Disney XD, and then on 20^th August on ABC, before the movie was rolled out to other countries between August and November 2011[4]. Apparently, this movie was theatrically released in Spain.

Across the 2^nd Dimension received some very positive reviews, including receiving 100% on Rotten Tomatoes from official critics’ reviews. Fans of the show were pleased to find that this feature-length episode was full of all the elements from the series that they loved, such as songs, spoofs, Easter eggs, and inside jokes and running gags. Others found the movie to be highly quotable – as I do – and liked the vibrant animation. It was seen to be a very funny family-friendly film.

There were a few negative comments about the movie, though nothing major, but some that I agree with in part. One of these was that Phineas was incredibly hostile to Perry at times during the movie, which is quite out of character for the usually calm, upbeat Phineas. It was strange to see Phineas so angry with Perry for hiding his identity. Has this kid not seen spy films? It’s imperative that spies keep their identities hidden, so I would’ve expected Phineas to have understood that, and be surprised to find out his beloved pet was a secret agent, but not have been so hard on him. Another was that the ending was seen to be a “cop out”, as handily, all the characters’ memories of the day could be wiped away in a second, meaning that nothing had to change. It was quite an easy way to end the movie, but I do understand that more of the series was going to be aired afterwards, so they couldn’t do much in terms of altering the events of the series.

Others also said they were disappointed to find that the character of Vanessa, Dr. Doofenshmirtz’s daughter, did not make an appearance in Across the 2^nd Dimension. I always liked Vanessa, so I can see why this would be disappointing. Vanessa was included in two different scenes that were dropped from the final cut of the film. Vanessa was going to be teasing Dr. Doofenshmirtz for “playing with his doll”, when she walks in on him explaining his new plan to a stand-in Perry the platypus “doll”, before going home to her mother. Alternate Vanessa would have also made an appearance in a separate scene, arguing with Alternate Dr. Doofenshmirtz about how he has banished yet another of her boyfriends, before saying she is also going back home to her mother[5].

I think these parallel scenes would have been an appreciated addition to the movie, but for whatever reason, they were not included. Fun fact for anyone that isn’t already aware: the voice of Vanessa is provided by Olivia Olson, who played Joanna, the girl in Love Actually that Thomas Brodie-Sangster’s character, Sam, has a crush on and runs through Heathrow Airport for. Vanessa and Ferb also become a couple as seen in Season Four episode “Act Your Age”, set ten years in the future. This could be disturbing, given their age gap during the main series’ events, or cute, depending on who you talk to!

Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Across the 2^nd Dimension was watched by 7.6 million viewers on its premiere date, and later became cable’s No.1 movie of 2011. It currently stands at No. 10 in the Top 10 most-watched DCOM premieres ever.

LEGACY

Phineas and Ferb has continued to be relevant in the entertainment and media industry, with spin-offs or sequels from both the movie and the series having been released.

The series Take Two with Phineas and Ferb was a spin-off short-form series which debuted in December 2010, running until November 2011, where Phineas and Ferb interviewed live-action celebrities, with guests including Miss Piggy, David Beckham, Taylor Swift, and Jack Black. This series only lasted for one season.

As well as a video game based on the movie, a further direct spin-off from Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Across the 2^nd Dimension was created in the form of the Season Four episode “Tales from the Resistance: Back to the 2^nd Dimension”. This episode is set two months after the events of Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Across the 2^nd Dimension. With Alternate Dr. Doofenshmirtz in prison, Alternate Candace and the Resistance face a new threat in the city of Danville and must work to stop it.

Two crossover episodes of the show were also aired as part of Season 4, with these being called “Phineas and Ferb: Mission Marvel”, airing on 16^th August 2013, and “Phineas and Ferb: Star Wars”, airing on 26^th July 2014. These capitalised on the popularity of Phineas and Ferb, as well as Disney’s 2009 acquisition of Marvel, and their 2012 purchase of Star Wars, which led to a new movie in 2015: Episode VII: The Force Awakens.

As mentioned, these were all episodes from Season 4, which aired from December 2012 to June 2015, with this being the show’s final season. The whole series concluded with an hour-long episode entitled “Last Day of Summer” on 12^th June 2015.

Phineas and Ferb has also been one of the few Disney Channel properties to have any references at the Disney Parks, outside of a few pieces of merchandise.

At Walt Disney World, in Epcot, there used to be Agent P’s World Showcase Adventure, which was an interactive game where gamers could complete challenges in many of the World Showcase country’s pavilions to help Agent P, and it used actual mobile phone devices originally. This is because the original name of this game was Kim Possible World Showcase Adventure, and one of the main features of that show was the “Kimmunicator” flip-phone. The 2000s and early 2010s were not exactly high-tech, but I liked holding the phone and having to secretly place it in a box at the end of the mission so that it could be used by another “agent”. Anyway, Agent P’s World Showcase Adventure later became playable on guests’ own smartphones around 2016, and then was played through the official Play Disney Parks app. The Kim Possible-themed game began in 2009 and ran until 2012, when it was replaced with the Agent P theming. Agent P’s World Showcase Adventure ran until 2020. The game was later rethemed to be DuckTales World Showcase Adventure, beginning in December 2022.

At the Once Upon a Toy store in what was then called Downtown Disney but is now called Disney Springs, Phineas and Ferb, and Agent P met guests here from around 2010. This likely closed when a permanent meet-and-greet experience at Disney’s Hollywood Studios with Phineas and Ferb began in May 2011. The premise was that the boys were spending their time at the park filming a movie, so there were props like blow-up guitars and clapper boards that guests could use in their photos with the characters. It was situated behind the Muppet*Vision 3D exit and near to Mama Melrose’s Ristorante Italiano. Agent P was also spotted here in August 2011 to promote Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Across the 2^nd Dimension. This meet-and-greet closed in January 2016 to make way for construction work to build Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.

Also, from September to December 2012, there was an augmented reality attraction based on Phineas and Ferb at then-Downtown Disney. It allowed guests to have random short encounters and photographs with some of the Phineas and Ferb characters. It was called Phineas and Ferb and You: A Brand New Reality.

Phineas and Ferb were also spotted at Magic Kingdom at the Walt Disney World Resort for Mickey and Minnie’s Surprise Celebration in 2019. At Disney California Adventure Park at Disneyland, they could be seen during Phineas and Ferb’s Rockin’ Rollin’ Dance Party from 2011 to 2014. This was a short parade and dance party, and was the same parade that was performed at the Across the 2^nd Dimension official movie premiere.

There was even a Phineas and Ferb segment during the Disney Parks Christmas Day Parade in 2011, which saw Phineas and Ferb, and the Fireside Girls dance to their song “Gitchee Gitchee Goo”, with Agent P along for the ride too.

In 2011, shortly after the release of Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Across the 2^nd Dimension, there was talk about a new Phineas and Ferb movie being developed that would be theatrically released sometime around Summer 2013. One of the writers of Toy Story 3 (2010), Michael Arndt, was supposedly attached to the film and it was said that the movie would mix live-action and animation[7]. This movie was quietly removed from Disney’s production schedule. It wasn’t until a new movie, Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Candace Against the Universe, was announced in 2019 that it was confirmed that this theatrical film was cancelled. At least announcing a new movie would have softened the blow for fans!

FINAL THOUGHTS

Phineas and Ferb was developed to teach children how to be creative over their summer break, and to make the most of their time away from school. Not by watching television, or playing video games, but by getting outside, making up your own games, and just generally having a great time with friends.

Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Across the 2^nd Dimension was a success amongst fans of the Phineas and Ferb series, probably because it felt very much like an extended episode of the show, just with a more expansive storyline, taking the gang away from their usual setting of Danville, or just the boys’ backyard, and moving them into a whole other dimension, where they encountered alternate versions of themselves.

Although kids can’t go making themselves portals to go to other dimensions in real-life, the movie showed how getting outside your comfort zone can be a fun experience. With Candace’s journey in the movie, another message was also taught: that you don’t get much time to be a kid, so enjoy it while you can. Don’t be in a hurry to grow up, or you’ll miss out on all the fun.

REFERENCES

[1] Credit: Stuart Dredge, ‘Phineas and Ferb co-creator: ‘children are much more intelligent than people give them credit for’, The Guardian.com, 4^th July 2013.

[2] Credit: Brian Boone, ‘The Untold Truth Of Phineas and Ferb’, Looper.com, 31^st January 2023.

[3] Credit: Disney, “Phineas and Ferb: Across The 2^nd Dimension 2011 DVD Overview”, Diamond Boy’s Disney DVD Overviews YouTube Channel, 19^th February 2024.

[4] Credit: Jon Weisman, ‘First look: ‘Phineas and Ferb: Across the 2^nd Dimension’, Variety.com, 6^th June 2011.

[5] Credit: Disney, “Phineas and Ferb: Across The 2^nd Dimension 2011 DVD Overview”, Diamond Boy’s Disney DVD Overviews YouTube Channel, 19^th February 2024.

[6] Credit: Madeline Roth, ‘Disney’s Phineas And Ferb Live: The Best Live Tour Ever!’ To Adventure To Columbus’, TheLantern.com, 23^rd October 2012.

[7] Credit: Steven Zeitchik, ‘‘Phineas and Ferb’ gets the ‘Toy Story’ treatment’, LATimes.com, 27^th October 2011.

8th Nov 202429th Sep 2025 by The Disney Purist

Cloud 9 (2014)

BACKGROUND

Disney Channel used to make a lot of great sports movies back in the late 90s and 2000s.

I didn’t watch most of them, probably because I don’t really like sport, but I remember some of them being advertised on the Disney Channel. I’m talking about movies like Johnny Tsunami (1999), Motocrossed (2001), and Going to the Mat (2004).

I did watch Go Figure in 2005 though and it remains one of my favourite Disney Channel Original Movies, strangely enough, even though I had no knowledge of figure skating or ice hockey. For some reason, I just liked it. Maybe I just like winter sports. Except I don’t. Winter means cold, and snow, and ice. Not really my thing.

There was quite a long period of time when Disney Channel did not make any sports movies, instead focusing on musicals or just the challenges of being in high school. But in 2014, they were about to get back to their early 2000s days, by making a new DCOM all about the sport of snowboarding.

I wasn’t watching Disney Channel at this point, and only really cared about the most-anticipated new DCOMs, so I hadn’t seen anything about Cloud 9. At some point, many years later, I must have been trawling Disney+, looking for something to watch and stumbled upon Cloud 9. Dove Cameron was in it, and I’d seen her in Descendants (2015) a bit before then, so I thought it must be alright.

I did like Cloud 9. I didn’t know what to expect when I first watched it, just a typical DCOM, I guess, and that’s what I got, with the added bonus of watching real snowboarding tricks. Sadly, it was not the first movie I watched about snowboarding.

That was Chalet Girl (2011), which starred Felicity Jones, who has gone on to become a huge star in the acting world. Other big names in that film include Nicholas Braun, from Succession (2018-23), Brooke Shields, Bill Nighy, and British comedian Bill Bailey, just to name a few. It wasn’t a blockbuster, but it was a British comedy that instantly drew me in. It had lots of snowboarding stunts, a message around coping with grief, and it was just generally very funny and sweet to watch. After watching Cloud 9, I knew it didn’t and just couldn’t compete with Chalet Girl in my mind.

Cloud 9 likely would have appealed to me more if I’d watched it when I was younger. It just found me too late.

PLOT

The story begins at the Summit Valley Ski Resort, with Kayla Morgan. Her father, Richard, owns the resort so naturally, she lives here permanently, having to go to a regular high school in the day. She is also a part of a snowboarding competition team, the Swift Team, where Kayla is the star women’s boarder, and her boyfriend, Nick, is the star men’s boarder. Nick’s dad, Sebastian, happens to be the team coach.

Whilst life is great for pampered princess Kayla, there are other people making a living at the resort. One of these is Will Cloud and his mother, who run a dog kennel here. It is a struggling new business but they are doing everything they can to make it work, with Will even going so far as to take some of the dogs, who become depressed from spending too much time indoors, out on a sled ride in the snow. Will used to be the best snowboarder around, however, a traumatic accident at a competition stopped him competing again. He is constantly tormented by members of the Swift Team for his “epic fail” wipeout on that day. Will’s friends just want him to get back to boarding, but he won’t.

At a party to celebrate recent Swift Team success, and to hype everyone up for the upcoming Fire and Ice competition, Kayla overhears Nick talking to his dad. Nick’s dad hasn’t been happy with his progress recently and keeps saying something about what Nick needs to do to be a winner. Kayla and Nick go outside to talk, where Nick states that he’ll be learning Will Cloud’s Cloud 9 move, the one that he injured himself doing, for the new competition, knowing that he’ll have to watch the YouTube video of Will’s wipeout in order to learn it, as only Will knows it and no-one has ever managed to do it properly.

Nick is then called over by the rest of the Swift Team to look at Will’s dog sled, which has just been left outside. Nick convinces Kayla to go on it with him. Reluctantly, she does, but soon, they find themselves careening down the slopes with no way of stopping. Nick, being the gentleman he is, bails and leaves Kayla to cope with this runaway sled alone. Sadly, the only way the sled stops is by flying through the iconic, hand-crafted Summit Valley Ski Resort sign, which then crashes to the ground. Kayla is picked up by Security and taken home. At home, her father, being the owner of the resort, is able to calm everything down, and says he’ll get the sign fixed, but he is furious with Kayla, and Will is angry about the damage done to his sled. Kayla’s father tells Kayla she’ll be paying for the sled by working at the kennel every day after school.

On Kayla’s first day working at the kennels, the Hot Doggers Dog Kennel, she is late and not at all happy to be working there. Kayla is then left with her first task, to fill up the dogs’ food bowls, but she gets distracted by a voicemail message. It’s Nick’s dad, telling her she has been kicked off the Swift Team because her little sled ride broke the Swift Code of Conduct. Kayla runs out of the kennel to go and talk to Nick, but it turns out he already knew and won’t help her try and get back on the team by saying the sled ride was his idea. To really kick her while she’s down, Nick also tells her that she has never been a good snowboarder, and the only reason she’s won competitions is because her father convinced his father to rig the competitions, having her compete against lower-ranked boarders.

The next day at the kennel, Will’s friends come in to get some snowboarding advice from Will and he leaves Kayla alone to go to the slopes with them. This should’ve been ok, but one of the most mischievous dogs in the world is currently at the kennel, a little dog called Donald, who decides to get out of his cage and unlock all the others. All of the dogs run riot through the kennels and then out into the resort. Kayla rushes after them, looking stressed, passing Nick and the Swift Team. She stops to talk to Nick, wanting to move past this team issue, but instead, Nick breaks up with her. Kayla is just not winning at life right now! She eventually gets back to the kennel with all the dogs, and proceeds to blub to Will’s mum about how awful the Swift Team are, and how much Donald seems to be out to get her. Will’s mum then tells Will he should never have left Kayla alone with the dogs.

Kayla’s friends later try to cheer her up and they start talking about Will Cloud. They put on the video of his accident and feel sorry for him, as it looks like a very bad wipeout. At school, Kayla then thinks she’s run over Donald on her drive home, but Will comes over to her and says Donald just likes to play dead when he’s bored sometimes. Kayla says they should redecorate the kennels, to make the dogs a bit happier, and that maybe she could help – in exchange for some snowboard coaching from Will. He says he doesn’t want to snowboard again, but thinks about helping Kayla, who wants to enter a new team into Fire and Ice, potentially with Will’s friends, Dink and Sam, to beat the Swifts.

Kayla later sees that she has been replaced on the Swift Team by a real pro boarder, Skye Saylor. Kayla knows she’s in trouble here, so Will encourages her to practise instead of wasting her energy trash-talking with Skye. The coaching begins, as does the renovation of the kennel. After a lot of practice, Kayla gets much better at her snowboarding, and Will and his mother are both impressed with her interior design skills at the kennel, now called The Hot Doggers Dog Spa. Will’s mother thanks Kayla for all her help, not just with the dogs, but with Will, who looks much happier than he has done in months. Will’s mother then sends the two out for ice-cream.

Outside, they talk about whether Will thinks Kayla has a shot at beating Skye at Fire and Ice, before talking about an infamous part of the mountain called Tyson’s Peak. It’s almost impossible to get to, needing a helicopter to get there, and it’s deemed impossible to get down, as nobody seems to have ever done it before. Kayla then tries again to convince Will to join their team for Fire and Ice, but he refuses.

The next day, Kayla overhears her father saying she won’t be able to win against the Swift Team, no matter how hard she practises. Ouch, what a great dad… Kayla asks Will to teach her the Cloud 9, seeing that as her best chance at beating Skye and the Swift Team. He says Kayla isn’t fearless enough for that move, but really, I think he just doesn’t want to relive the bad memories he has of it. Kayla gets really frustrated that all these people don’t believe in her, so she does something a bit reckless. She uses her dad’s helicopter to take her to Tyson’s Peak. Even the pilot isn’t sure about it, but he does as he’s told. Kayla is filmed from the helicopter, to document Kayla’s descent down the mountain, without her knowledge. This is broadcast live on the news. Though it looks difficult and energy-zapping, Kayla boards down the mountain, but when she stops at the end of a ledge, ready to go down again, there is an avalanche right behind her. Kayla tries to outrun it, but, obviously, she can’t. Luckily, Will is watching the news and races over to the spot where she was buried under snow. Using Donald to find her, Will digs Kayla out of the snow. Oh, good, she’s not dead. Phew – that could’ve been really bad. And not very Disney…

Because of Kayla’s stupidity – I mean, fearlessness – Will then decides he will teach her the Cloud 9. Will also finally gets back on his board too, choosing to join their team for Fire and Ice. He crashes out on his first attempt on the half-pipe but he’s ok and knows he needs to trust himself now. Teaching Kayla the Cloud 9 proves to be a difficult task as she continues to wipeout every time, not mastering much of it. As she heads off for a break, Nick comes up to Will and tells him he should stop making her do this before Kayla gets hurt too. This could all be mind games, since Nick is in a relationship with Skye all of a sudden, or maybe he does care about Kayla. Either way, it gives Will something to think about. Nick’s dad has also seen Kayla practising the Cloud 9 and starts to think she could beat Skye.

After Kayla falls trying the Cloud 9 once again, Will says he won’t teach her it anymore because she can’t get it right and there isn’t enough time. The two argue – and then kiss. Not the most romantic of settings for a first kiss, but oh well! Nick’s dad speaks to Kayla as she heads home and apologises to her, saying she should be on their team tomorrow, inviting her to rejoin Swift for Fire and Ice.

At Fire and Ice, Kayla is late, and Will starts to worry. She soon arrives – but she’s wearing a Swift jacket, much to Sebastian’s delight. As he is about to rub it in Will’s face that their snowboarder has rejoined the “dark side”, Kayla takes off her jacket, saying she forgot to return her gear when she was first kicked off and has no intention of rejoining Swift. Will’s mother then comes over with their new team jackets, their name being the Hot Doggers, sponsored by the kennel, of course. The men get to go first, with Will putting out an impressive first run, not matched by Nick. Nick’s second run is much better and he wins the men’s competition. Now, for the women. Kayla is ahead of Skye after the first run, but Skye brings it back in her second run. No pressure now, Kayla!

Just as Kayla is about to do her second run, her father comes over to her and apologises for underestimating her. Nick’s dad laughs at this, thinking this is no way to keep a clear head before a competition. This angers Nick because he wishes his dad was supportive like that, not even caring that he just won the men’s competition here. Nick tells Kayla, in front of everyone, that the incident with the sled was no accident. It was a deliberate attempt to get her kicked off the team because Sebastian never thought she was good enough and didn’t want her there anymore. This gives Kayla some great motivation to win now and show everyone what she’s made of.

Kayla goes out for her second run, successfully completing the Cloud 9 and giving her a perfect score. This is enough to win both the women’s competition and for The Hotdoggers to become the overall team winner of Fire and Ice. Kayla, Will, Sam, and Dink celebrate their victory along with their families. Even Sebastian has to admit that Kayla is a very worthy winner and is now full of regret that because of his arrogance, coldness, and obsession with winning, his team lost a great snowboarder. That’s karma for you.

CHARACTERS & CAST

Kayla Morgan starts off thinking she’s wonderful and amazing. Her dad owns the resort; she lives in a huge lodge in a beautiful ski resort; she gets to buy what she wants whenever she wants; she has a cute boyfriend; and to top it all off, she’s supposedly the best women’s snowboarder around. Everything is rosy for Kayla, until a stupid stunt-gone-wrong spoils it all. She learns that her father, her boyfriend, and her coach never believed she was a good snowboarder; she has to work in a kennel after school; her boyfriend breaks up with her, and then she is replaced on the team by someone much better than her. Kayla doesn’t think much of Will Cloud initially, but the more time they spend together, at the kennels and on the slopes, the closer they become. Kayla becomes a better snowboarder and a less selfish person because of Will. Let’s face it; she was quite self-absorbed at the start of Cloud 9!

Dove Cameron was cast as Kayla. She was performing the dual role of both Liv Rooney and Maddie Rooney in the Disney Channel series Liv and Maddie (2013-17) at the time of filming on Cloud 9. She then starred as Mal in the Descendants trilogy from 2015 to 2019. Since Descendants, Dove Cameron has continued to act on screen, for example in the musical comedy series Schmigadoon! (2021-23), and having a voice role in the animated series Big Nate (2022-present). She released her debut album Alchemical: Volume 1 in December 2023 and her song “Boyfriend” was a viral sensation in 2022.

Will Cloud used to be a great snowboarder, even better than any of the members of the Swift Team. After his accident, which left him scared to ever snowboard again, he pretends that he isn’t bothered by it, despite his friends asking him for advice and being mocked by the Swift Team. Instead, Will throws himself into helping with his mother’s dog kennel, bonding with the dogs, especially Donald, and wanting to make this business a success for his mum. Thanks to Kayla, Will learns that he needs to continue with snowboarding, despite his fear of wiping out again, because he loves it. It’s a shame he didn’t manage to land his Cloud 9 trick himself, but after Fire and Ice, I’m sure Will planned on finally landing it, and banishing those bad memories from his mind forever.

Will Cloud was played by Luke Benward, who had already starred in the films How to Eat Fried Worms (2006) as Billy Forrester; the DCOM Minutemen (2008) as Charlie; Dear John (2010) as Alan Wheddon; and the DCOM Girl vs. Monster (2012) as Ryan, prior to his role in Cloud 9. Benward had also appeared as Beau, Teddy’s boyfriend, in the final season of Good Luck Charlie (2010-14) and as Dillon Sanders in the short-lived Pretty Little Liars spin-off series Ravenswood (2013-14) around the time of Cloud 9’s release. In 2018, Benward was cast as Bo Larson in the Netflix movie Dumplin’.

Nick Swift is the son of the Swift Team coach, so you might automatically assume he gets special treatment and thinks he’s the best snowboarder ever. This is not the case, and that is because Nick’s father, Sebastian, is incredibly hard on him and doesn’t believe in giving praise to his own son, no matter how much Nick works on his snowboarding. Their relationship is quite strained, but Nick constantly fights for his father’s approval, by going along with his plan to kick Kayla off the team with the sled incident, despite him knowing that was not the right way to go about, and by winning the Fire and Ice Men’s Competition. Sebastian still doesn’t seem proud of his son even after all that, instead spending too much time stressing about whether Kayla might beat his new star female boarder, Skye. Though I can’t tell if Nick actually did care about Kayla in a girlfriend-capacity, he clearly cared about her well-being, and didn’t want her to injure himself trying to do a trick just to impress other people, and feels guilty for the part he played in getting her kicked off the team.

Nick was played by Mike C. Manning, who was cast as Caleb McKinnon in the web series The Bay (2010-present) which won numerous Daytime Emmy Awards. Manning himself won a Daytime Emmy for his role here. Manning also went on to appear in the web series Youthful Daze (2012-16), and in Season 6 of This Is Us (2016-22) as The Manny.

Skye Saylor is an amazing female snowboarder, even being somewhat of a celebrity figure when she arrives at Summit Valley to join the Swift Team. She knows all about Kayla Morgan and how she’s never worked hard to be a good snowboarder, just having wins handed to her on a plate by only going up against girls worse than her. Skye doesn’t fear Kayla as a competitor at Fire and Ice at all, actually finding it quite comical that Kayla thinks she would even have a chance against her. Skye then goes out with Nick, Kayla’s boyfriend, probably more as a means to mess with Kayla psychologically before the competition instead of this being a genuine relationship. It’s not until Skye sees Kayla getting down Tyson’s Peak in one piece, barely, and then practising the Cloud 9 with Will that she starts to see Kayla as a threat at snowboarding. Skye tries her best at Fire and Ice, but once Kayla lands the Cloud 9, Skye knows she won’t win – and honestly, I think she’s ok with that. I don’t think Skye wanted to be involved in Sebastian’s plots and schemes to humiliate Kayla any more than Nick did, but they have to listen to their coach, even if he is jerk.

Kiersey Clemons was cast as Skye, having appeared as Kira Starr in the Disney series Austin & Ally (2011-16) prior to her role in Cloud 9. Clemons went on to be cast as Cassandra in the movie Dope (2015), and Beth in Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising (2016). More recently, she starred as Darling in Disney’s live-action remake Lady and the Tramp (2019), and then as Iris West in Zack Snyder’s Justice League (2021) and The Flash (2023). She currently stars as May in Monarch: Legacy of Monsters (2023-present).

Some of the actors who played Kayla and Will’s friends were no stranger to Disney at the time of working on Cloud 9 either. Will’s friends are Sam and Dink. They both like to snowboard, but they aren’t as naturally gifted as Will. Sam is constantly getting injured, for example even seeing double at one point after a bad practice session. Dink spends a lot of time talking about the weather, I guess so he knows the best time to snowboard, but it might be a potential career path for him if the snowboarding doesn’t work out! Dink was played by Carlon Jeffery, who played Cameron Parks, Chyna’s older brother, in the Disney Channel series A.N.T. Farm (2011-14). Sam was played by Andrew Caldwell, who I instantly recognised from his role as Thor in Hannah Montana (2006-11). Caldwell has since gone on to appear as Jude in the movie The Matrix Resurrections (2021), and as Harley Johns in Season 3 of iZombie (2015-19). Kayla’s friend Pia was played by Victoria Moroles, who played Andie in Liv and Maddie (2013-17) alongside Dove Cameron. Moroles was also cast as Hayden Romero in Teen Wolf (2011-17) around this time.

Finally, I’ll talk about the dads in Cloud 9. The dads here are much less supportive than the mothers. We’ve got Sebastian, Nick’s father, who cares too much about winning to be a caring and encouraging coach for his snowboarders. He pressures them to do well and seems to be teaching them that it’s fine to play dirty as long as you win, which is the complete opposite of what good sportsmanship should be. Sebastian has no business being a coach for any type of sports team, at least not when children and teenagers are involved! Jeffrey Nordling was cast as Sebastian. He had previously played Coach Orion in D3: The Mighty Ducks (1996) and Richard Mackey in TRON: Legacy (2010). On television, he appeared as Nick Bolen in Desperate Housewives (2004-12), and in the recurring role of Gus Easton in So Help Me Todd (2022-24) most recently.

I’d like to say Kayla’s dad, Richard, is a better dad than Sebastian, but he’s really not. Richard has encouraged Sebastian to rig all these snowboarding competitions that Kayla has competed in because neither of them want the team to lose. I think Richard does this, not so Kayla isn’t embarrassed by a loss because losing is a part of life, but so that he is not embarrassed by her, since he is the owner of the ski resort. Richard then tells his wife that despite Kayla practising, she’ll never be able to win against the Swift Team, which is an awful thing to say. If you don’t have your parents in your corner at that age, then who else have you got? Richard isn’t all bad though, as he does apologise to Kayla for underestimating her, and encourages her to smash her second run at Fire and Ice, believing finally that she can win. This is more than Sebastian does for his own child.

Richard Morgan was played by Patrick Fabian. Fabian is perhaps best known for his role as Howard Hamlin in the Breaking Bad spin-off Better Call Saul (2015-22), but he also has a bit of history with Disney, having been cast as Thantos in the DCOM Twitches Too (2007). Fabian was also cast as Matt MacLaren in The Other Zoey (2023) recently. But if you’re “cool” like me, you’ll know him as Professor Lasky from Saved by the Bell: The College Years (1993-94). You know, the guy who broke up Zack and Kelly, and then broke Kelly’s heart. I remember hating Professor Lasky when I was younger, watching this series when it was re-run on Nickelodeon in the 2000s, but I got to watch it back this year, and he was actually a great character. I can totally see the appeal now…

MUSIC

Despite featuring the talents of Dove Cameron and Luke Benward, who had both sung for previous Disney Channel projects, Cloud 9 is not a musical. That’s perhaps a good thing because singing when snowboarding is probably not an easy, or even safe, thing to do!

There was an original song written for the movie, and it was performed by Cameron and Benward, having been written by Dan Book and Alexei Misoul. This song is called “Cloud 9”, which isn’t a very original title, but it is quite a good song if you like catchy pop tunes. I do, so I quite like it. This song plays during the montage of Will training Kayla and the dog kennel being renovated. It is also the End Credits song, playing alongside a few outtakes. “Cloud 9” was released as a single just before the movie’s release, and it is also a track on the compilation album Disney Channel Play It Loud.

There are also a number of other songs used within Cloud 9 for background music and to accompany the various snowboarding scenes.

During the opening sequence, the song “Fly High” by The DNC is used. Soon after, Nick and Kayla are casually snowboarding as the song “Champion of the World” by Menya is heard. At the party for the Swift Team early on in Cloud 9, the song “Across the Sky”, by Photronique feat. Don Benjamin plays. The song “Wotever Dude” by Robbie Nevil is playing as Kayla begins her second day of work at the kennels. Just before Kayla “hits” Donald the dog with her car, the song “I’m Feeling Good” by Deanna seems to be playing on the radio.

Now to the snowboarding scenes. As Kayla performs for the first time in the movie, in one of those rigged competitions, “Zoom, Zoom, Zoom” by Cut One and Meg Cottone is played. Later, Kayla sees Skye training for the first time and “Cross the Line” by Superchick plays. “Never Too Late” by The PCH Crew feat. Mayru is used for when Will first gets back on his board. When Kayla is practising her snowboarding and the Cloud 9, the song “Feisty” by Shoshana Bean is playing, and later, “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Me Now” by Michele Vise Maslin can be heard. At Fire and Ice, during the men’s run, “I Want It All” by Krankheadz is heard. For the women’s run, “One Girl Revolution” by Superchick plays. This is such a great song, and for Disney Channel movie fans, you can also hear it in Cadet Kelly (2002).

I could not find the song that is playing as the Swift Team and friends arrive at the party, despite using Shazam to help and the lyrics being clearly audible. This was the same problem I had with the music playing as Kayla sees Skye training for the second time.

PRODUCTION

Cloud 9 was filmed at ski resorts in Utah, with one of those being Park City Mountain Resort. Dove Cameron and Luke Benward were spotted filming the scene of them eating ice cream and walking down the sidewalk in February 2013, this street being Park Avenue. They also filmed at Park City High School in the area. The news report also stated that snowboarding champion and three-time Olympic gold medallist Shaun White was one of the producers on this new Disney movie[1].

Apparently, during filming, the temperature got to as low as -50F, so cold that post-production was used to edit out clouds of breath from the actors. Facial hair was also freezing, and kissing scenes were made difficult by the freezing temperatures!

Filming went on at the ski resort for around two months. There was supposedly a strange rule that the cast and crew had to follow, around toasting marshmallows. They said in an interview that they were only allowed to do this on Wednesdays, and kept getting caught doing this on other days in the week. They claimed they ended up making s’mores for the security guards to get around the restrictions. Random[2].

Since there is a lot of snowboarding in the movie – duh – the cast were given two weeks of snowboarding training with instructors, where they worked on turns, stopping, going down slopes etc., to make them look like natural boarders. They even got to go on the steep half-pipe that is seen in the film, which was scary, even to those who had snowboarded before[3]. I don’t know exactly how many of the cast had snowboarded prior to Cloud 9, but they all looked quite comfortable on their boards, so I’m thinking many of them had already had some experience of it. As I am not a snowboarder, I cannot comment on how difficult the snowboarding in the movie actually is. For the stunts and tricks, these were completed by a team of experienced boarders.

Cloud 9 was directed by Paul Hoen. Hoen began his over two-decade career with Disney Channel by directing The Luck of the Irish (1999) back when Disney Channel were experimenting with their new way of making television movies. After this, Hoen went on to direct many more musical and non-musical DCOMs, including Eddie’s Million Dollar Cook-Off (2003), Jump In! (2007), and all of the ZOMBIES movies[4].

As well as the movie being produced by Disney Channel, Ashley Tisdale is also credited as an executive producer, through her company Blondie Girl Productions, which she set up around 2010. Tisdale liked the mass appeal of the story and thought the message about believing in yourself was important to the usual Disney Channel audience[5]. Tisdale is well-known to Disney fans as the actor who played Sharpay Evans in the incredibly popular High School Musical franchise.

RECEPTION

Cloud 9 premiered on Disney Channel in the US on 17^th January 2014. It then went out to other countries between February and June. It’s winter in Australia in June, don’t forget!

The US premiere date meant that Cloud 9 was released just a couple of weeks before the start of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, which, no doubt, was not coincidental in the slightest. It was also a part of the “JaNEWary” event on Disney Channel that seemed to be an annual event at some point, where Disney Channel aired new movie premieres, new series, and new episodes of their popular series[6]. On the day that Cloud 9 premiered, for example, it was followed by the first episode of the new Disney Channel series I Didn’t Do It (2014-15), which starred Olivia Holt, who was cast alongside Luke Benward two years earlier for the DCOM Girl vs. Monster (2012).

Cloud 9 was the day’s most watched cable program on its premiere date, with just under 5 million viewers tuning in to watch the new movie. It became the No. 2 telecast on any network during the winter season, sitting behind Disney Channel’s “Good Luck Jessie: NYC Christmas” episode which aired in November 2013[7].

In terms of reviews, these are usually always mixed for Disney Channel Original Movies. Starting with the more negative reviews, some found the movie to be predictable and plain, following the usual storyline of a sports film, i.e., the main character doesn’t think they are any good and must learn to be great for a competition that they’ll go on to win. Others also said the characters were quite clichéd with the jerk boyfriend and his overbearing father, and the mean girl replacement. I can understand this comment to some extent, but I do think all of those characters have some character development and growth in Cloud 9, as Skye was never really the mean girl, and Nick has a complicated relationship with his father which takes a step to being healthier by the end of Cloud 9.

For positive reviews, there were comments around the great chemistry between the two lead actors of Dove Cameron and Luke Benward, and the acting was deemed pretty good overall. The catchy main song “Cloud 9” was also a pleasant addition to the movie for many, who found it to be generally enjoyable with a good message about believing in yourself and overcoming fear. Others also liked the nice scenery of a snowy ski resort. I was one of those people. Although I don’t want to go out in the snow, I’m quite happy looking at it, preferably through the window of a cosy, warm building.

LEGACY

Cloud 9 did not receive a sequel, which was not unexpected. The movie has a complete plot and there is little room to push the story any further.

Although Cloud 9 went no further, Dove Cameron did go on to become a major star for Disney Channel. Alongside her role as Liv and Maddie Rooney in the popular Disney Channel series, Cameron went on to star as Mal in the DCOM Descendants (2015), going on to work on two further movies for the Disney franchise, alongside other spin-offs. This propelled her into global stardom, as both an actor and a singer.

Sadly, the much-loved DCOM sports movies that were so popular in the 2000s did not continue to be made much after Cloud 9. It had been the first movie of this type since 2007, when Jump In! and Johnny Kapahala: Back on Board aired on Disney Channel. Den Brother (2010) involves ice hockey, but I’d disagree that it is the primary theme of the film.

Since Cloud 9, few DCOMs have involved sports. One that does is The Swap (2016), featuring both ice hockey and rhythmic gymnastics, but again, this is not the main purpose of the story. Back of the Net (2019) seems to be the most recent sports movie from Disney Channel, following a teenager who accidentally ends up at a football (soccer) academy.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Sports movies have been around for decades, whether based on a true story, perhaps of an individual or team wanting to compete at the Olympics, or a fictional story about real sports.

These types of movies remain a good source of inspiration for people who might want to try out a new sport, or could motivate someone to go after the highest possible achievements in their specific discipline.

With Cloud 9 being released around the time of the 2014 Winter Olympics, this timing might have got more young people interested in the global event, which can sometimes be dwarfed by the warmer, more far-reaching Summer Olympics, at least in some countries.

Having a movie like Cloud 9 on Disney Channel would have surely encouraged children and teenagers to try out snowboarding, on vacation or at a local snowdome. Snowboarding is, after all, still considered quite a cool sport.

Personally, I’d be too scared about breaking all my bones, or even my neck, to try it out – but that’s just me. I’m fine just being a spectator to others’ sporting successes.

REFERENCES

[1] Credit: Jay Hamburger, ‘Park City becomes Disney land for movie shoot’, ParkRecord.com, 22^nd February 2013.

[2] Credit: Alex Abel, ‘5 Behind-The-Scenes Secrets From Disney’s New Movie Cloud 9’, Seventeen.com, 17^th January 2014.

[3] Credit: Disney, ‘Cloud 9 – Behind The Scenes – Part 3’, Disney Channel UK YouTube Channel, 21^st February 2014.

[4] Credit: DCOMers!, ‘A Conversation with the Disney Channel’s Paul Hoen’, Medium.com, 24^th July 2020.

[5] Credit: Jake Perlman, ‘‘Cloud 9’ hits the slopes in the world of competitive snowboarding’, EW.com, 18^th December 2013.

[6] Credit: Jake Perlman, ‘Watch Dove Cameron and Luke Benward in Disney Channel’s ‘Cloud 9’’, EW.com, 13^th January 2014.

[7] Credit: Rick Kissell, ‘Disney Channel Takes Gold With ‘Cloud 9’ Movie, New Comedy’, Variety.com, 21^st January 2014.

1st Nov 20242nd Dec 2025 by The Disney Purist

#19 Coco (2017)

BACKGROUND

After Disney acquired Pixar in 2006, though Pixar continued to exceed expectations by releasing hit-after-hit for many years, there was a surprising focus on sequels and the need to push their most popular movie franchises to the brink of overexposure.

I’m not here to moan about Disney or Pixar’s sequels, because some of them I actually like more than the originals; this is purely for context. Strangely enough, of the eleven movies that Pixar released in the 2010s, Pixar created seven sequels or prequels that span off from some of their earliest movies. This might suggest a lack of creative freedom, a massive marketing and synergy opportunity for various other areas of The Walt Disney Company, or even a “money grab” to the more cynical amongst us. There were also a few Pixar movies that missed the mark with audiences during this decade.

Luckily, Coco proved that Pixar were still capable of making a movie based on an original idea that had no link to any prior hit. It was also new to Pixar because it was their first movie to be set in Mexico, and set against the traditional holiday of Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead in English. This was no easy feat, for an American filmmaking studio to do justice to a whole culture and sacred tradition. Many didn’t think they could do it.

Thanks to multiple research trips, visits to Mexican families, input from the Latino and Hispanic filmmakers at Pixar, as well as input from cultural specialists, and an all-Latino cast, a global blockbuster was made, becoming one of the most popular movies ever in Mexico. It has fans all over the world, and with its message about the importance of family and remembering our loved ones, it successfully struck a chord with everyone. Coco is a real tearjerker, and a movie full of heart and soul.

I watched Coco at the cinema when it first came out. I remember not thinking much of the trailer and generally being uncertain about the film. To be honest, I still go in to watching many Disney and Pixar movies not knowing what to expect because their trailers don’t like to give too much of the story away.

With Coco, I was moved to tears on multiple occasions throughout the film and I was very impressed. It was colourful, full of music, without being a Disney-type of musical, and very powerful. To know the amount of effort that went into the creation of this movie gives me an even greater level of appreciation of what an incredible movie Coco really is.

PLOT

The story of Coco begins in the small town of Santa Cecilia, with a twelve-year-old boy called Miguel. He is part of a large extended family, the Riveras, who are well-known for their shoemaking. Miguel tells us how this came to be. His great-great-grandmother was left to raise her young daughter, Coco, because her husband went off to be a musician and never returned home. Instead of wallowing in self-pity, the woman knew she’d have to make a living for herself and her child, deciding to go into shoemaking. This craft was passed down from generation to generation, and music in any form was forever banned by the family.

Only, Miguel really loves music and hates shoemaking. Miguel wants to play the guitar just like famed musician Ernesto de la Cruz, who was crushed to death by a bell during a performance of his famous song “Remember Me” back in 1942, so he has become a town hero, since he is also from Santa Cecilia. Miguel loves Ernesto de la Cruz so much that he even has a hidden room where he has built a sort of shrine to him, where he plays some of Ernesto’s most popular movies so Miguel can play along with the songs.

On Día de los Muertos, the Mexican holiday where families welcome back the souls of their loved ones, Miguel is in the town plaza, talking about his love of music to a mariachi. The mariachi tells him that if he is a real musician, then he needs to play in front of a crowd and suggests he enters that evening’s talent contest. Miguel’s grandmother, Abuelita, arrives and drags Miguel away from the plaza, telling the mariachi to leave her grandson alone and to stop poisoning his mind with nonsense abut music.

That evening, Miguel is about to head to the competition, with street dog Dante in tow, when he is stopped by Abuelita. She shows him the family ofrenda, where families leave photographs of their loved ones, as well as offerings of food and flowers. Abuelita tells Miguel that family is the most important thing in the world. Miguel’s parents then tell him the best news: that they are going to teach him the shoemaking trade so he can become a part of the family business. This doesn’t please Miguel. The family walk away, but Dante, who has been hiding under the ofrenda, starts trying to eat some of the offerings. Miguel then bumps into the ofrenda and knocks the photo of his great-great-grandmother, Mamá Imelda, his grandmother, Coco, and his great-great-grandfather, whose identity is unknown as his head has been ripped off the photo, off the ofrenda. The frame shatters on the floor. Miguel picks up the photo, and notices part of it has been bent over. As Miguel reveals this hidden side, he sees that Ernesto de la Cruz’s famous guitar is in the photo; this must be his great-great-grandfather! Amazed by this news, Miguel announces this revelation to his family, and says he wants to be a musician too, showing his own guitar to the family. Abuelita is horrified to learn that he has been playing music in secret and breaks the guitar. Miguel runs away, saying he doesn’t want to be a part of this family anymore.

Miguel gets to the plaza but no-one will lend him a guitar so that he can play in the competition. Losing hope that he’ll find one, Miguel goes to the cemetery, and sees Ernesto de la Cruz’s mausoleum with his famous guitar hanging on the wall. Miguel picks it up, just wanting to borrow it, and strums the strings just once. But something strange happens. Miguel hears policemen outside the mausoleum. As he is about to say he wasn’t stealing the guitar, only wanting to borrow it, Miguel realises that the policemen can’t hear him or see him; they simply put the guitar back on the wall. Confused, he runs outside and asks for help from the townspeople but they can’t see him either. Miguel then falls into a grave and is helped out by a woman. At last, someone who can see him! This is no ordinary woman though. She is in fact a skeleton. Miguel freaks out again and runs through the cemetery some more, eventually coming across his own dead relatives. They realise something is wrong, and take him back to the Land of the Dead for assistance. Dog Dante follows.

Walking across a huge bridge made of bright orange marigold petals, they arrive at the Land of the Dead. Miguel and his family are taken to the Department of Family Reunions, where they discover Mamá Imelda there, arguing with an office worker, who can’t let her leave the Land of the Dead as her photo is not on anyone’s ofrenda. Mamá Imelda believes this to be a mistake, but Miguel says he is carrying the photo, as he broke the frame. Mamá Imelda is shocked to see Miguel, a living boy, here and the family ask what has happened. They are told that Miguel stole from the dead and has now been cursed. The only way to lift the curse is to get his family’s blessing to return to the Land of the Living before sunrise. Since the family are here, this is an easy solution. Mamá Imelda picks up a marigold petal and says she gives Miguel her blessing to return, with the condition that he forget all about his dreams of being a musician. Miguel complains that’s not fair, but as its Mamá Imelda’s blessing, she can add any condition to it. Miguel relents and is returned.

In the Land of the Living, Miguel finds himself back in Ernesto de la Cruz’s mausoleum and simply picks up the guitar again. He is promptly returned to the Department of Family Reunions in the Land of the Dead. Miguel refuses to abandon music forever and runs from security, vowing to get a blessing from his great-great-grandfather, Ernesto de la Cruz, instead. As he is hiding, he spots a man from earlier who was trying to leave the Land of the Dead, disguised as Frida Kahlo. He cannot leave as his photo is not on an ofrenda. Miguel overhears this guy trying to bribe the official with tickets to Ernesto de la Cruz’s annual Sunrise Spectacular. Miguel figures this guy can take him to Ernesto de la Cruz.

Miguel confronts the man, who is surprised to find a living boy in front of him. The man is called Héctor and agrees to help him, if Miguel promises to put a photo of him on his family’s ofrenda by the end of the night so he can visit his daughter in the Land of the Living. Miguel agrees, and after disguising Miguel as a skeleton, they head to the Sunrise Spectacular rehearsal space. Miguel meets the real Frida Kahlo here, which is nice, but him and Héctor learn that Ernesto de la Cruz doesn’t show up to rehearsals, revealing that Héctor doesn’t actually know him at all. Instead, they learn that the winner of the night’s talent competition gets to play at his exclusive party. That’s the aim now.

In Héctor’s living space, living alongside others whose photos are not on any ofrendas, the two talk to his friend Chicharrón, to borrow his guitar. Chicharrón is not in a good state, believing that he is about to be forgotten in the Land of the Living. He asks Héctor to play something for him and then he can take the guitar away with him. Héctor does as he’s told but by the end of the song, Chicharrón has vanished, having been forgotten forever. Héctor fears this will be his fate soon, as he can feel his daughter forgetting him.

At the talent competition, Miguel becomes nervous at the thought of playing in front of a crowd for the first time. Héctor helps him deal with his stage fright and they are a huge hit. However, Miguel’s family, along with Mamá Imelda’s alebrije and spirit guide, Pepita, a huge panther-like creature with wings, has tracked Miguel to this location, causing Miguel and Héctor to flee before the winner can be announced. Héctor was led to believe that Miguel’s only family here was Ernesto de la Cruz and is upset at being lied to. He wants to take Miguel back to his family now so Héctor can get out of the Land of the Dead quicker. Miguel doesn’t want that so runs from him too. Mamá Imelda catches up to him at one point and sings to him, to show she once loved music too, but that it ruined her family, hoping Miguel will understand why she banned it. Miguel doesn’t understand and keeps running.

He sneaks into Ernesto de la Cruz’s party in the tuba of the band that actually did win the talent competition. Once there, he sees Ernesto de la Cruz and sings one of his most popular songs to him. He gets Ernesto’s attention – and then falls in the swimming pool! This causes all of his skeleton make-up to come off, and he is helped out by Ernesto, who realises this is the living boy that everyone has heard made it into the Land of the Dead. Miguel announces himself as Ernesto de la Cruz’s great-great-grandson. Ernesto de la Cruz is excited by this and introduces him to all of his important guests.

Soon, they realise Miguel has to get back home as he is starting to turn into a skeleton. Ernesto picks up a marigold petal and says the blessing, however, it doesn’t work. Héctor then arrives, having snuck into the party dressed as Frida Kahlo. He accuses Ernesto de la Cruz of stealing his songs and getting famous off of his back. Ernesto says this is all lies, but Miguel starts to feel wary of him. A video clip of one of Ernesto de la Cruz’s films is playing in the background and Miguel realises, as the two adults argue, that Héctor’s death sounds a lot like this movie, but in the film, the man was poisoned. Héctor and Miguel learn that Ernesto de la Cruz poisoned Héctor as Héctor wanted to go home, back to his family, meaning that their duo was going to be broken up. Ernesto de la Cruz then stole Héctor’s songs and his guitar. Angered by the reveal, Ernesto orders Héctor be thrown into a pit, taking his photo that Miguel was going to put on his ofrenda. Miguel tries to leave, but knowing Miguel’s knowledge is a threat to his legacy, Miguel is thrown into the same pit.

Whilst in the pit, both losing hope, Miguel realises that Héctor is actually his great-great-grandfather as Héctor talks about the lullaby he wrote for his daughter, Coco. Luckily, Dante arrives and signals to Mamá Imelda and Pepita that Miguel is in there. The two are rescued, however, the reconciliation between Mamá Imelda and Héctor, her long-lost husband, isn’t exactly amicable. As Mamá Imelda plans to return Miguel, she learns that Héctor is about to be forgotten by their daughter – but Ernesto de la Cruz has his photo. The whole family sneak into the Sunrise Spectacular to retrieve it.

After disguising themselves as dancers, struggling against the security guards, Mamá Imelda comes face-to-face with Ernesto de la Cruz and smacks him in the face, telling him that he killed “the love of my life”. She takes the photo but is then lifted up onto the stage. Mamá Imelda begins to sing “La Llorona” to the crowd, with Héctor providing guitar accompaniment backstage. Ernesto de la Cruz also comes onto the stage and tries to get Héctor’s photo back, but it doesn’t work. As Mamá Imelda is about to return Miguel home, Ernesto de la Cruz grabs Miguel and threatens to throw him off the roof. Some of Miguel’s family turn the cameras to this incident so the crowd can know what their hero is really like.

Ernesto de la Cruz confirms that he did kill Héctor and stole his songs, so Miguel cannot ever return to the Land of the Living as he knows too much. He lets go and Miguel falls. As all looks lost for Miguel, Pepita flies down and retrieves him at the last moment, though Héctor’s photo is lost. Ernesto de la Cruz goes back on stage but is booed by the audience. Pepita throws him into the bell tower, where he is once again crushed by a bell.

As Héctor starts to fade away, Mamá Imelda quickly gives Miguel her blessing – with no conditions. Miguel finds himself back in the Land of the Living and runs home. He begs Coco to remember her father, but Coco’s memory is going. As the family confront Miguel for upsetting his great-grandmother, Miguel sings “Remember Me” to her, her father’s lullaby. Coco starts to sing along, remembering him. She reveals the torn-off head from the ofrenda photo and starts to tell stories about her father to the family so they can remember him.

The next year on Día de los Muertos, a lot has changed. Coco has sadly passed away; however, she has been reunited with her father and mother in the Land of the Dead. They also find that Héctor can finally return with them to the Land of the Living as his torn-off head has been reattached to the ofrenda photo! Miguel has a new baby sister, and is free to play his music as much as he wants. Coco’s letters from her father have also shown Ernesto de la Cruz’s theft of Héctor’s work and a museum has been set up to remember Héctor. Like in the Land of the Dead, Ernesto de la Cruz is now a disgraced figure in the Land of the Living. On Día de los Muertos, the whole Rivera family, both living and not, are reunited for a night of song and dance, finally together once again.

CHARACTERS & CAST

Miguel is a music-loving kid, who cannot understand why his family would want to ban something like that forever. He is the odd one out in his family, not wanting to become a shoemaker like everyone else, finding this to be a boring way to make a living. Though he knows the story of Mamá Imelda and her musician husband, I guess Miguel thinks it was so long ago, the family should have gotten over it by now! Although not a fun tradition, it is still a tradition that has been passed down faithfully from generation to generation. Luckily, Miguel’s stubbornness allows all of the Riveras to finally learn the truth about Héctor, and that music was not the reason he didn’t come home, but was in fact the jealousy of Ernesto de la Cruz that took him away from them; music was never to blame. Miguel just wants to do what he loves in life. In a way, he is similar to Ariel in The Little Mermaid (1989). Both of their families fear what they love the most – in Miguel’s case it’s music; for Ariel, it’s humans – and they have to teach them why their loves aren’t bad.

Emilio Fuentes was initially the voice actor for the character of Miguel, however, production on Coco took so long that Fuentes’ voice had started to change, so Anthony Gonzalez was brought in as a temporary replacement[1]. Gonzalez was so impressive though, with both his acting and singing abilities, that Pixar ultimately gave him the part. Gonzalez won an Annie Award and a Teen Choice Award for his performance as Miguel. He went on to be cast as Santiago in the US series Shameless (2011-21) and Jordan in Grand-Daddy Day Care (2019), a direct-to-video sequel of the Daddy Day Care film series. More recently, Gonzalez provided motion capture and voice for Diego in the game Far Cry 6 (2021).

Héctor is Miguel’s great-great-grandfather, though neither of them learns of this until late into the film. Héctor seems to be quite a suave, charming trickster, who lets life – and death – roll off his back, but, that’s not true at all. Despite his stoic nature, Héctor is actually very fearful of his future. He is scared that he will never get to see his daughter in the Land of the Living. Because his photo has never been on an ofrenda, and because she is the only one alive who remembers him, should she pass away, then Héctor will forever be gone from the Land of the Dead, meaning a reconciliation is not possible. Because of this, he perhaps isn’t as kind and empathetic to Miguel’s plight to become a musician as he could’ve been, but it is desperation to see his family again that leads him to make the choices he does. Ultimately, everything does end happily for him: he gets to meet his great-great-grandson; does reunite with his daughter in the Land of the Dead; and even reunites with his wife who thought he’d left her.

Héctor was voiced by Gael García Bernal, who had previously been cast as Victor in Letters to Juliet (2010), alongside Amanda Seyfried, and as Hector in the Netflix film The Mother (2023), alongside Jennifer Lopez. In the world of television, he starred as Rodrigo De Souza in the series Mozart in the Jungle (2014-18) winning the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Television Series in 2016 for his performance. Recently, he starred as Jack Russell in Werewolf by Night (2022) for Disney+ and the Marvel Cinematic Universal. Gael García Bernal got his start by acting in multiple Spanish-language films, with two of these being Alfonso Cuarón’s Y tu mama también (2001) as Julio Zapata, and Pedro Almodóvar’s Bad Education (2004). He also dubbed Héctor’s voice in the Spanish-language version of Coco.

Ernesto de la Cruz seems to be a typical famous musician. He’s talented but also quite arrogant and thinks the whole world adores him. He lives in a huge mansion, has parties with major celebrities, and gets his own show, the Sunrise Spectacular, every year on Día de los Muertos. His fame probably only increased because of his death; being crushed by a bell is not a pleasant way to go, I don’t imagine! All Ernesto de la Cruz’s bravado just hides a figure who is desperate for fame, and will go to any lengths to preserve it, such as poisoning his best friend and stealing his work, and then trying to kill a child just so news doesn’t get back to the Land of the Living that he’s a fraudster and a monster. Ernesto de la Cruz turned out to be a brilliant surprise villain from Pixar. Surprise villains have become fairly commonplace in recent Disney and Pixar movies and I’m all for it. It was a great twist.

Benjamin Bratt was cast as the voice of Ernesto de la Cruz. He said that he wanted to give the character swagger. For inspiration, Bratt studied movie clips of film and music stars like Pedro Infante and Jorge Negrete, but he was also inspired by his father, who was larger-than-life with a booming voice and a presence that commanded attention[2]. Bratt had experience with voice acting prior to Coco, having voiced the character of Manny in Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and its 2013 sequel, and the character of El Macho in Despicable Me 2 (2013). Bratt also appeared as FBI Agent Eric Matthews in Miss Congeniality (2000) and as Detective Reynaldo Curtis in Law & Order (1990-present) for many seasons. He was later cast as Steve Navarro in the miniseries 24: Live Another Day (2014). More recently, Bratt starred as Will in Mother of the Bride (2024) for Netflix, and as Cliff LeGrand in the series Poker Face (2023-present).

Mamá Imelda is quite strict and authoritative, but she means well. She felt like she had been wronged by her musician husband, leaving her to raise their daughter on her own and then find a way of making a living for them so they didn’t end up destitute. This would’ve been a lot for Imelda to deal with, and just thinking about music would’ve brought back all these bad memories for her. There were unresolved issues for her here, but without knowing about the circumstances around her husband’s death, Imelda couldn’t get any closure for herself, so it was just easier to avoid the pain of that time by forgetting about it completely and not telling anyone else about it. Sadly, this leads to Héctor being forgotten, which you can see Imelda actually feels quite guilty about when she sees him fading away, and the guilt is even greater when she realises he was on his way back to her when he died. Luckily, thanks to Miguel, and her bravery in standing up to Ernesto de la Cruz, we all learn the truth.

Alanna Ubach was chosen to voice Mamá Imelda. Earlier in her career, Ubach had been cast as Serena in Legally Blonde (2001) and its 2003 sequel, as well as Isabel in Meet the Fockers (2004). She went on to appear as Jeanine Pirro in Bombshell (2019) and in the recurring role of Suze Howard in the series Euphoria (2019-present). In recent years, Ubach was cast as Nova Moon in Venom: The Last Dance (2024) and as Susan, John’s mother, in the series Ted (2024-present). I didn’t like the Ted films but I love the series, and Ubach is brilliant as Susan here. Ubach also voiced the character of Katherine “Cutter” Sterns in Monsters at Work (2021-present) for Disney.

Miguel states that he is very close to his great-grandmother Coco, wanting to tell her all about his interests, like wrestling, and how he learnt to run properly. Him singing “Remember Me” to Coco is a beautiful scene, and it is so lovely when her memory is unlocked by this music, and she can remember things and communicate again. Early on, it’s obvious that Coco is getting older, being confined to her wheelchair, and not talking much. Abuelita is very happy to see her mother talking about her family again after this moment, and despite her not being happy with Miguel for playing music, like Mamá Imelda, her strictness shows how protective she is of her family.

Abuelita being head of the family matches the fact that Mexican families are generally matriarchal. Abuelita was originally given a wooden spoon to use to reprimand people, but this was changed to be a sandal, which she uses to chastise the mariachi talking to Miguel, as well as to chase off Dante[3]. Early screenings of Abuelita showed her to be too scary as a grandmother. Luckily, Pixar listened to their consultants who could correct any errors made in the story in order to truly reflect Mexican culture. These consultants said that although Abuelita should be strict, she is protecting her family because she loves them above all else. Marcela Davison Avilés was the lead consultant, having already worked with Disney on their series’ Handy Manny (2006-13) and Elena of Avalor (2016-20)[4].

Abuelita was voiced by Renée Victor, who has appeared in the series’ Weeds (2005-12) as Lupita, and as Marta Delgado in With Love (2021-23). Victor was also cast as Mama Grandé in Seasons 1 and 2 of Snowpiercer (2020-24). Coco was voiced by Ana Ofelia Murguía, who as one of the last surviving stars from the Golden Age of Mexican Cinema until her death in December 2023. Coco was her final film role.

The inspiration behind the character of Coco has been questioned in recent years. Maria Salud Ramirez became a viral sensation after the film for her resemblance to the character, with her braided white hair, squinting eyes, and her smile. She died on 16^th October 2022 at the age of 109, with visitors coming to her house in Santa Fe de la Laguna in Mexico around Día de los Muertos to remember her. Although the Ramirez family claim the Pixar filmmakers met Maria and photographed her, Pixar have denied that Coco is based on anyone in real life. The Ramirez family have tried to ignore the controversy in recent years but are glad to have visitors to come and remember her[5].

Although Chicharrón, Héctor’s friend who disappears, only appears for a few moments, his death makes an impact on both the characters of Coco as well as the audience. This is because Miguel and the viewers learn that even though the Land of the Dead seems like a place where the deceased will live forever, that is actually not true, and you can die again. Chicharrón’s scene is heartbreaking, especially when Miguel says he’ll go home and remember him, and Héctor tells him it’s not that simple; Chicharrón can only be remembered by those who knew him in life. It was during the Pixar filmmakers’ research trip in Mexico that they learnt about three different deaths. The first is when you stop physically being alive anymore. The second is after burial or cremation. The third is when there is nobody left living to remember you[6]. This shows why family is so important to many cultures, because even believing in an afterlife cannot guarantee you’ll live forever.

Edward James Olmos provided the voice of this character. Edward James Olmos had been cast as Jaime Escalante in Stand and Deliver (1988) being nominated for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for Best Actor for his performance. He also won a Golden Globe and an Emmy for his role as Martin Castillo in Miami Vice (1984-90), later winning ALMA awards for his role as Abraham Quintanilla Jr. in Selena (1997) and for his performance as William Adama in Battlestar Galactica (2003-09).

MUSIC

The soundtrack for Coco was released in multiple different languages, as is quite usual, with versions of songs being re-recorded by other famous singers from the respective countries. However, there is something a little bit different with Coco, and that is that the Spanish-language version of the soundtrack includes exclusive songs inspired by the film. These include “El Corrido de Miguel Rivera”; “La Bikina”; and “Bésame Mucho”.

Though Coco features many songs, it is not a musical in the sense that Disney animated movies are, with their Broadway-style songs and characters spontaneously breaking out into song to reflect their feelings and inner thoughts. For Coco, the characters do sing, but these are either performances, in movies, or with family, so they are more natural in that sense.

As Miguel wants to be a musician, it makes sense for him to perform in Coco on multiple occasions, with the Pixar team being very impressed with voice artist Anthony Gonzalez’s singing talents. My favourite songs of Miguel’s are “The World Es Mi Familia”, which he sings at Ernesto de la Cruz’s party, seemingly being a song from one of his movies, and “Un Poco Loco”. I like how fun “Un Poco Loco” is and I like the involvement of Héctor in this high-energy performance in particular. It’s a song about knowing that your loved one is kind of annoying, and that they drive you crazy but you love them anyway, which I think most people can relate to. Miguel’s finale song “Proud Corazón” isn’t one I particularly like, but I understand the sentiment behind it, the fact the whole family is together again and that’s something to be happy about.

For “Remember Me”, the most recognisable song in the movie, there are three versions in the film. The first is by Benjamin Bratt as Ernesto de la Cruz and it is a big showy number, full of dancers and even a moving escalator. It’s all going well until that big bell lands on his head… There is then the lullaby that Héctor sings to Coco, which is very sweet, with Gael García Bernal providing Héctor’s singing voice. García Bernal also gets to sing the silly song “Everyone Knows Juanita” where he has to improvise a more child-friendly line, much to Chicharrón’s annoyance as he requested the song be sung to him properly!

The third version of “Remember Me” is when Miguel is singing the song to his great-grandmother Coco, to get her to remember Héctor. All looks lost for a moment, but she does join in, just to make sure that if the tears weren’t flowing by then, they certainly would be now! “Remember Me” was the first song to be written for Coco and helped drive the story. Songwriters Bobby Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez, who had written the songs for Frozen (2013) at this point, were approached to write this song. There is even a fourth version of “Remember Me” which features as Coco’s End Credits song. It is performed by R&B singer Miguel and Mexican artist Natalia Lafourcade as a pop duet.

A couple of other songs appear in the movie and the one I like the best is “La Llorona” performed by Alanna Ubach as Mamá Imelda. She performs it when she is lifted up on to the stage for Ernesto de la Cruz’s Sunrise Spectacular, being encouraged by Miguel and Héctor to sing instead of standing there looking stunned!

The guitar playing in Coco has been praised for being incredibly accurate, and there’s a good reason for this: the Pixar filmmakers studied guitar players to ensure the playing was as realistic as possible, strapping GoPro cameras onto the instruments. It is a pet peeve of director Lee Unkrich that when watching a movie, it is incredibly frustrating to see actors only pretending to play the instruments[7]. One instance where we can see accurate guitar playing up close is when Miguel is playing along to one of Ernesto de la Cruz’s movie clips, as the song “Much Needed Advice” briefly plays. Miguel goes into himself and instead of playing along, he starts to improvise and just feel the music.

Germaine Franco and Adrian Molina, co-director of Coco, are credited with writing the other original songs that are not “Remember Me”. Germaine Franco went on to compose the music for Disney’s Encanto (2021), as well as compose the music for other movies such as Netflix’s Work It (2020) and The Mother (2023).

Although Coco did not turn out to be a full musical movie, there was a time when it was going to be. A whole opening song was written to teach the audience about Día de los Muertos, that would have begun in present day, as women sing in the cemetery, leaving marigold petals on the ground. It would then have taken viewers back to 1953, to see a big performance of the song with Ernesto de la Cruz, with the finale being the bell dropping on his head, as per the final film. This number was written by Lopez and Anderson-Lopez, however, although fun to watch, it gave the audience too much information to absorb. Another song, titled “The Way of the Riveras” was also cut. It was a song sung by the Rivera family about their family legacy and the traditions they’ve followed, but it made no sense for a family who hate music to start singing[8]!

Another piece of music I noticed was during the opening of Coco, where the classic Disney castle is seen. Normally “When You Wish Upon a Star” can be heard. In Coco, this song is performed by a mariachi band, setting the tone for the movie from the outset.

Michael Giacchino composed the score for Coco. The use of traditional instruments, guitars, and mariachi bands has been seamlessly combined to create a score that had to move from fun celebration, to magical moments, to feelings of heartbreak, as things change quickly for Miguel in the Land of the Dead. Although I didn’t pick out any favourite instrumentals here as I have done with Disney animated movies, I think the level of research, of spending time with musicians to get the sound just right for the film, is inspiring and the overall score is good.

Giacchino had previously composed the score for Pixar’s film Up (2009), for which he won the Oscar, BAFTA, Golden Globe, and Critics’ Choice Award for Best Score. Giacchino has composed numerous scores for Pixar movies, beginning with The Incredibles (2004), and its 2018 sequel, Ratatouille (2007), and Inside Out (2015). Outside of Pixar, he has composed music for the most recent Spider-Man films, the three latest Jurassic World movies, and for the series of Disney television Christmas specials, Prep & Landing (2009-11). Giacchino was also nominated for Primetime Emmy awards for his work on the series Lost (2004-10), winning one for his underscore of its pilot episode.

The Coco soundtrack won the Annie Award for Music in an Animated Feature, and “Remember Me” won awards for Best Original Song at the Academy Awards, and the Critics’ Choice Movie Awards. Giacchino won a Saturn Award for Best Music, where Coco also won Best Animated Film. The song “Remember Me” and the score were both nominated for Grammy Awards, however, lost out to “Shallow” from A Star Is Born (2018) and the score of Black Panther (2018) respectively.

PRODUCTION

Production on Coco is said to have started around 2011, as Lee Unkrich, who had just directed Toy Story 3 (2010) for Pixar, found inspiration for the movie whilst riding the Gran Fiesta Tour boat ride in the Mexico pavilion of Epcot at Walt Disney World. There is a scene within that ride that shows animatronics enjoying the holiday of Día de los Muertos, and a mariachi skeleton band is playing for the festivities. This gave Unkrich an idea; about telling a story set against the culture of Mexico, during the time of Día de los Muertos[9].

The Pixar team wanted to represent the Mexican culture faithfully by physically seeing all the great traditions that exist there. Research trips in general are a good way of finding ideas to create fantastical places, or seeing real-life places and architectural landmarks that can be recreated accurately in a movie.

Whilst in Mexico, the Pixar team met with numerous families to get a feel for what an extended family living in the country looks like, so that viewers could identify with the characters on screen and feel like aspects of their heritage are being represented. The filmmakers were invited into family homes, where they were warmly welcomed by kind, generous people. During their meetings, the filmmakers discovered that many families have a trade or craft that is passed down from generation to generation, with one family they met being shoemakers. This gave Pixar lots of inspiration to make the Riveras a shoemaking family too. The Pixar team were amazed at how everything was made by hand, with tools and methods being inherited from the generation before them. Though the families here were happy to all have a hand in the production of different items as part of their family business, Pixar thought about how someone might feel if they were working for a family business despite not having a passion for the craft, which became a central point of conflict between Miguel and his family. Other crafts were looked into as well, such as pottery making and papel picado, which is the intricately detailed and beautifully designed paper bunting that is used in Coco to tell the backstory of Mamá Imelda and the Rivera family.

Since Día de los Muertos is the focal point of the story of Coco, it was necessary for the filmmakers to fully understand the meaning behind the holiday, as well as the traditions it involves. They were allowed to visit family ofrendas, where they were encouraged to pay their respects to their hosts’ ancestors. Ofrenda means offering in English, so alongside photographs of family members being featured on the ofrendas, offerings of fruit, flowers, and incense are also included, to provide something for their returning ancestors. Instead of Día de los Muertos being a melancholic ceremony as some may expect as some cultures do not like to think about death, Día de los Muertos is a time for celebration, to remember those you love. People go to their ancestors’ graves to clean and decorate them, with many keeping vigil by the gravestones through out the night. As the daylight fades, candles and bright colourful flowers light up the area. It is a time for joy, not sadness[10].

To match this feeling of celebration in the Land of the Living in Coco, the Land of the Dead had to feel colourful and alive, not spooky or macabre. This was Pixar’s opportunity to create a new land. For the vertical structures found within the Land of the Dead, the Pixar filmmakers wanted to design these towers to show that new ways of living have been built on top of previous generations. The base of these towers are Mayan pyramids, with pre-Colonial structures on top. This then moves into colonial architecture, and then to those of the 1950s. More modern structures are built on top of those and cranes are placed at the very top to show new building work. As well as this, to make the Land of the Dead feel like its own city, haciendas, docks, plazas, alley ways, and methods of transportation, such as suspended trolley cars, were all included in the sets[11].

The characters in the Land of the Dead, since they have all died during different time periods, have outfits that go back to the 1800s all the way through to present day, with these coming from all areas of Mexico. Clothing would naturally fall differently on skeletons, and despite reference modelling being used, especially for some of the layered, full skirts that dancers wear in the movie, this wouldn’t necessarily match how it would work on a skeleton. Would the fabric hang differently? Would it sit on their bones instead of falling past them? Would it feel less heavy on a skeleton? All of these questions had to be answered, and in animation tests, clothing kept getting caught between the bones of the skeleton, becoming so much of an issue that Pixar had to create software to deal with this recurring problem! Costuming is just as important in Santa Cecilia with the present-day Riveras who wear a mixture of contemporary and traditional clothing. Miguel’s cousin is wearing a soccer top and his aunt is wearing jeans and a bright top. Miguel’s mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother wear more traditional garments. Miguel is wearing contemporary clothing, with his jeans, white top, and red hoodie, which became complicated during animation with all its zips, pockets, and that hood, as Miguel uses all these aspects of the hoodie in the film[12].

Coco might follow a series of human and skeletal characters, who all had to look and feel real, but they are not the only characters in the movie. Alebrijes are brightly coloured sculptures. These works of art are traditionally carved from wood and hand painted, with these alebrijes being fantastical animals that are said to be spiritual guides. Although alebrijes are not traditionally linked to Día de los Muertos, when the filmmakers saw these creations after visiting an alebrije workshop in Oaxaca, they knew they had to include them in some way in Coco[13]. They are seen as sculptures in the Land of the Living, but in the Land of the Dead, they come to life, being all shapes and sizes. Mamá Imelda’s alebrije is green-blue big cat with huge wings, called Pepita. She helps find Miguel in the Land of the Dead to reunite him with his family. Other alebrijes also fly around the world too.

The most surprising alebrije of them all is Dante. He is seen to just be an ugly street dog, complete with missing teeth, a floppy tongue, and a broken tail. Dante is Miguel’s friend; however, others just find Dante to be a stray that is probably only begging for food. Dante is able to follow Miguel into the Land of the Dead, where Frida Kahlo tells Miguel he is a Xolo dogs, and Xolo dogs are said to be great spirit guides. This goes back to Aztec myth; people would have to make their journey to the Land of the Dead having a Xolo dog with them to accompany them there. Because of this historical connection to the Land of the Dead, the filmmakers knew they had to include a Xolo dog in the film. Dante is soon found to have an important purpose, as he spends his time trying to keep Miguel on his journey to reuniting the family, by pushing Miguel towards Héctor, even though Miguel thinks Ernesto de la Cruz is his family. Once this mission is complete, Dante suddenly changes colour and sprouts wings, becoming a full alebrije, like Pepita[14].

Even with all this information and research into Mexican culture and Día de los Muertos, the final story did not come together easily. Originally, the story was going to be about an American kid discovering his Mexican heritage. Then, this changed to being about a child losing their mother and struggling with their grief. Through the story, they would learn to move on with their life and deal with the grief. However, this idea is fundamentally at odds with the whole point of Día de los Muertos, where family is never forgotten and everyone has an obligation to hold on to the memories of their ancestors and pass them down to others, so that the ancestors never die. Pixar had to start again.

Adrian Molina had previously worked with director Unkrich on Toy Story 3 (2010), having worked as a storyboard artist for Pixar. He had gone on to work on Monsters University (2013) and The Good Dinosaur (2015), before working on Coco. When story troubles began, Molina went away and wrote whole redrafts of the story and sent them over to Unkrich. Unkrich read these story treatments and was amazed by them, asking Molina to come on as the screenwriter for Coco. He later stepped up to be the co-director as well. Thanks to his Mexican heritage, Molina could use his family history to keep the story on track with its basis in Mexican culture.

From this point, other versions of the story were considered and then edited. One of these was the story point of Marco, the original name for the character of Miguel, and his guitar. Marco would have had his guitar in the Land of the Dead and this would be his means of returning to the Land of the Living. At one point, Marco’s family were going to want to break the guitar as a way of reversing a curse. Naturally, a family that hates music in the Land of the Living would then be cursed to sing forever in the Land of the Dead! Ernesto de la Cruz was also going to successfully break the guitar, barring Marco from returning to the Land of the Living, until the family rebuild the guitar for him. I think there was also a deleted scene showing that Miguel, now using his final name, would need to return the guitar back to Ernesto de la Cruz to get home, although I was so distracted by the main concept of the scene – that Héctor was running a celebrity bus tour of the celebrities in the Land of the Dead – that I missed some of the intricacies of the story.

The mechanics of Miguel getting back home from the Land of the Dead became a regular topic of discussion, where an option was for Miguel to simply cross the bridge back to the Land of the Living before the end of Día de los Muertos. During this deleted scene, Miguel is almost out of time, trying to jump over huge gaps in the bridge as the petals forming it fly away. Ernesto de la Cruz chases him, trying to prevent him getting home to destroy his legacy. Miguel runs through a crumbling Ernesto and leaps off the end of the bridge. Though these ideas all sounded interesting to me, I can see why these were ultimately not used, as the blessing is a much more poignant way of returning Miguel home. This was Adrian Molina’s idea based on a real moment in his life, when he was given his parents’ blessing to do whatever he wanted in life as he was heading off to college[15].

Even with the seriousness of the themes within Coco, Pixar couldn’t ignore their usual Easter eggs to treat their viewers. A113 and the Pizza Planet truck exist in every one of Pixar’s movies, referencing a classroom at CalArts where many of the animators studied, and the famous truck from Toy Story (1995), their first full-length animated feature film. In Coco, A113 is the room number for the Bureau of Family Grievances, and the Pizza Planet truck can be briefly seen passing by Miguel as he looks out the window near to the start of the film. John Ratzenberger, who voiced characters in the majority of Pixar movies, can be briefly heard here as Juan Ortodoncia, the skeleton who is leaving the Land of the Dead as Miguel arrives there because his picture is on his dentist’s ofrenda; this is a very small role. Another Easter egg I enjoyed is that a skeleton wearing a skull t-shirt performs at the talent contest in the Land of the Dead. This is clearly a reference to Sid, the crazy kid in Toy Story, showing that he has apparently died, though the events leading to it remain unknown…

RECEPTION

Coco ended up being in development for around six years, after first being announced in 2011. Disney had been criticised early on in the development of the movie, as they attempted to trademark the phrase Día de los Muertos in 2013. This was because Día de los Muertos was going to be the title for the movie, however, this was heavily condemned as it seemed like Disney were trying to demean the tradition of Día de los Muertos, concerning many that this film was not going to be culturally sensitive or accurate[16]. The trademark attempt was later cancelled.

To make matters worse, in 2014, The Book of Life was released, a movie also about Día de los Muertos, produced by 20^th Century Fox and directed by Jorge R. Gutierrez. This would mean that Coco was going to be compared with this movie after its release.

In 2017, to build anticipation for the release of Coco, more details and clips were revealed at that year’s D23 Expo. A performance of “Remember Me”, dubbed the signature song of the film, became the grand finale of this panel presentation. It was also confirmed that Coco would be released on 22^nd November 2017 in US theatres. At Disney Springs in Walt Disney World, a whole area was set up for around two weeks with banners, food, and music to promote the film. This ran until 26^th November 2017, this being just enough time to see out Coco’s opening weekend in cinemas. A sneak peek of the film was also shown at Walt Disney Presents at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, along with a small exhibit about the movie’s animation and creation, as is common for new Pixar and Disney releases[17]. At Disneyland’s Disney California Adventure Park, a preview of the movie was shown at Sunset Showcase Theater in Hollywood Land, and the area, Plaza de la Familia, was created at Paradise Gardens to celebrate the movie[18].

Coco was released on 22^nd November 2017 in the US, in time for Thanksgiving Weekend. But Coco was first released in Mexico on 27^th October, almost an entire month before the US release, after premiering during the Morelia International Film Festival on 20^th October. Coco was a huge hit in Mexico, becoming the No.1 movie there and earning 965m pesos in its first month, surpassing the highest-grossing release The Avengers (2012) with its initial 827m pesos[19]. Coco later exceeded the 1-billion-peso mark at the box-office.

One thing that was a complaint echoed across the world but first in Mexico was that Coco was released alongside Olaf’s Frozen Adventure, as a double-feature. Normally, Pixar movies would be preceded with a five-minute short but Olaf’s Frozen Adventure is around twenty-minutes long, much too long to come before a full movie, especially if you want to keep kids interested and not make them wonder if they’ve accidentally walked into a showing of Frozen (2013). Olaf’s Frozen Adventure was meant to be an ABC TV special, so I’m unsure why the decision was made to release it alongside Coco. Audiences in Mexico complained about the length of the short before the main feature, so it was removed[20].

Although some may have expected to see a lot of clichés and stereotypes within Coco, it was appreciated by most that Coco shows a positive side of Mexico, whereas many American movies set in Mexico have either been stereotypically comical or quite sinister. Many also said it was comparable emotionally to Up (2009) and was much better than Cars 3 (2017) and The Good Dinosaur (2015) that came before it. The message around death, heritage, and family was appreciated. However, a few negative comments referenced the fact that kids may have been bored by the serious nature of the movie and the lack of humour and comedic moments. Speaking as an adult though, it’s a beautiful film with many tearjerker moments. It might not be as funny as other movies, but it wouldn’t have felt right to make an outright comedy when Coco is supposed to be sensitively portraying a celebratory but sacred tradition. It still has its funny moments.

Coco pulled in $71.2 million in the US and Canada in its five days over the Thanksgiving Weekend. Overall, the movie grossed over $800 million worldwide and won various awards. Coco won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and won numerous Annie Awards in areas such as character design, directing, music, and Best Animated Feature. Coco won Best Animated Feature Film at the Golden Globe Awards, and at the Imagen Awards, which are dedicated to recognising positive portrayals of Latinos in the entertainment industry, it won for Best Picture and Best Director. Coco also fared better than The Book of Life in terms of accolades, box-office results, and reviews, however, the two are very different, both in story and animation, so it’s worth watching both to come to your own conclusion on which is “best”.

LEGACY

Because of Coco’s huge success, it makes sense that the story did not end there. Though a sequel was never made, other ways of extending its reach have been developed.

One of these is A Celebration of the Music From Coco. This came to Disney+ in 2020 and it is a recorded performance of a concert held at the Hollywood Bowl in November 2019 as a one-weekend-only special event. It was hosted by Eva Longoria and Benjamin Bratt, and featured music from both the English- and Spanish-language versions of the soundtrack, as well as other traditional Mexican songs. The concert used dancers, puppets, an orchestra, and clips from the movie to enhance the performances. Mexican singer Carlos Rivera and Spanish singer-songwriter Natalia Jiménez took to the stage, as did Benjamin Bratt and Alanna Ubach, voices of Ernesto de la Cruz and Mamá Imelda. Anthony Gonzalez’ younger brother Alex took over the role as Miguel as his brother’s voice had changed. There have also been talks since 2023 that a Broadway musical version of Coco will be coming to the stage in due course, though no opening date has yet been announced.

At the Disney Parks, Coco has been featured in some form at many of them. In Walt Disney World’s Epcot Park, there is a whole pavilion dedicated to Mexico, so it is only natural that has been themed to Coco in places. The entrance to the pavilion houses the Remember Me exhibit, which is about the history and traditions of Día de los Muertos. There has been discussion about the boat ride, Gran Fiesta Tour, which is currently themed to The Three Caballeros (1944) being rethemed to Coco, but that has been ongoing for years and nothing has been announced – yet. Epcot’s resident mariachi band, Mariachi Cobre, sometimes play music from Coco and, for Hispanic and Latin American Heritage Month, they played the show Together We Are Magia! With Miguel, which ran from 15^th September to 15^th October 2024, where Miguel made an appearance. Miguel as a puppet has also appeared at other times during Mariachi Cobre performances in Epcot as well for events or festivals.

At Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom Park, Miguel is a character within the Disney Adventure Friends Cavalcade and Miguel and Héctor’s performance of “Un Poco Loco” was also added to the Mickey’s PhilarMagic 3D show here, with this version of the show now existing at Disneyland, Disneyland Paris, and Tokyo Disneyland too. Finally, for the revamped Country Bear Jamboree Big Al now sings “Remember Me” instead of “Blood on the Saddle” but don’t get me started on that…

At Disneyland Paris, they have the Casa de Coco – Restaurante de Familia quick-service location, serving Tex Mex food and being themed to the movie, with a statue of Miguel playing his guitar outside the entrance. It opened in Summer 2023, replacing Fuente del Oro Restaurante. There is also a Coco segment within their Together: A Pixar Musical Adventure show. At Shanghai Disneyland, Miguel features within the show Mickey’s Storybook Adventure briefly during the finale section of the show, within one of the pages of the storybook. At Hong Kong Disneyland, “Remember Me” plays within their fireworks show Momentous, and Miguel and the song appear in the stage show Follow Your Dreams. At Tokyo Disneyland, there is a Coco section within their parade, Harmony in Color.

The most exciting Coco update though for Disney Parks is that a Coco-themed boat ride was announced for Disney California Adventure Park at Disneyland during the D23 Expo in 2024. This will be the first ever attraction themed to Coco. Not many details have been announced yet, only that it should begin construction in 2026[21].

Also at Disney California Adventure Park, the Plaza de la Familia has been home to The Musical World of Coco, an outdoor show being performed by The Storytellers of Plaza de la Familia, dancers and puppeteers, as well as the Mariachi Divas, who help tell the story of Miguel and his journey to the Land of the Dead. This show began in September 2017, before the movie was released in theatres, with multiple showings throughout the day. Over the years, the show has changed in some ways, and now seems to only run for the Halloween season, which in the world of Disney runs from August to 31^st October, but as Día de los Muertos runs into the first few days of November, so does this show. One of the biggest changes is that around 2019, a hand-crafted puppet Miguel was added to the show, who performs “Un Poco Loco” and “Proud Corazón” to the crowd. Additional props have been added too. This show also ran at Hong Kong Disneyland around 2018.

Other limited time offerings are available at this time to celebrate Coco and Día de los Muertos, such as Coco-inspired food being served at Paradise Gardens, and the opportunity to make paper alebrije masks, or post personal messages to loved ones on the Memory Wall. At Disneyland Park, Frontierland is home to celebrations for Día de los Muertos, although this doesn’t seem to be specifically themed to Coco.

Since Coco is a Pixar film, and one that has not been forgotten, it featured at Pixar Fest 2024 with Coco-inspired treats; Miguel on a float during the Better Together Parade; and the song “The World Es Mi Familia” and projections from the movie being shown during the Together Forever fireworks show. There is also a Coco-themed suite at the Pixar Place Hotel, and small references to the movie are likely to be found at the Lamplight Lounge restaurant at Pixar Pier at Disney California Adventure. Miguel, in his mariachi suit from the finale of the show, along with Mamá Imelda and Héctor as animatronics featured in a Coco float for the Magic Happens Parade, with a huge float of Pepita following on behind, as versions of “Proud Corazón” and “Remember Me” play, however, the Magic Happens Parade stopped running in Summer 2024, though it may return at some point. Miguel will appear for the seasonal ¡Viva Navidad! event at Disneyland from November 2024 to January 2025.

In terms of meet-and-greets, Miguel and Ernesto de la Cruz are the most common ones to encounter, although Ernesto de la Cruz has only been seen at Disney California Adventure’s Halloween party, the Oogie Boogie Bash. He made his debut in 2022, and has been seen every year since as part of the Trick or Treat trails. If you’re lucky, he might even sing “Remember Me” for you. Ernesto de la Cruz has not yet made it to Walt Disney World’s Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party but people are hopeful.

Miguel recently made an appearance as a meet-and-greet character in his hoodie and jeans at Disneyland Paris in Frontierland for the Halloween Festival in 2024. This same costume was what Miguel met guests in at Hong Kong Disneyland in 2021. Miguel has also been in his mariachi costume at Frontierland in Disneyland. Previously, the Miguel puppet had been the primary way that guests met Miguel at Disneyland, either after the show or in his own character spot in Plaza de la Familia. Puppet Miguel is the only way that guests at Walt Disney World have met Miguel before, and he was also spotted at Disneyland Paris during Halloween in 2018 and Shanghai Disneyland in 2018.

FINAL THOUGHTS

There is no doubt about it, Coco was a huge success for Pixar. It gained fans for its brilliant music, its relatable characters, and its stunning animation.

But just making another money-making hit was not the point of Coco. This story had to be handled with respect and thoughtfulness. The effort taken to do this is evident.

Coco delivered a touching message to all who saw it, about the importance of our loved ones, both here and not. Families aren’t perfect and they all have moments of conflict or disagreement. Despite that, memories can last a lifetime if our family stories are preserved and told to the younger generations.

We have to remember our loved ones, or risk losing them forever.

REFERENCES

[1] Credit: Carolyn Giardina, ‘‘Coco’: How Pixar Brought Its “Day of the Dead” Story to Life’, HollywoodReporter.com, 12^th December 2017.

[2] Credit: Courtney Potter, ‘5 Especial Things We Learned from Coco’s Cast & Filmmakers’, D23.com, 17^th November 2017.

[3] Credit: Pixar, Mi Familia (2018), Disney+.

[4] Credit: Diana Aguilera, ‘How Disney Got It Right with ‘Coco’’, StanfordMag.org, March 2018.

[5] Credit: Theo Farrant & AFP, ‘Day of the Dead: Family of the woman who allegedly inspired Pixar’s Coco pay their respects’, EuroNews.com, 2^nd November 2022.

[6] Credit: Tasha Robinson, ‘Pixar’s Lee Unkrich on the ‘anxiety’ of directing Coco’, TheVerge.com, 22^nd November 2017.

[7] Credit: Rob Lowman, ‘Why ‘Coco’ filmmakers strapped GoPro cameras onto musicians’ guitars’, DailyNews.com, 18^th November 2017.

[8] Credit: Pixar, Deleted Scenes (2018), Disney+.

[9] Credit: Carolyn Giardina, ‘‘Coco’: How Pixar Brought Its “Day of the Dead” Story to Life’, HollywoodReporter.com, 12^th December 2017.

[10] Credit: Pixar, Coco: A Thousand Pictures (2018), Pixar Facebook Page, 21^st September 2018.

[11] Credit: Pixar, Land of Our Ancestors (2018), Coconut Press YouTube Channel, 22^nd October 2023.

[12] Credit: Pixar, Fashion Through the Ages (2018), Coconut Press YouTube Channel, 23^rd October 2023.

[13] Credit: Disney News Contributor, ‘We Took a Trip to Mexico With the Filmmakers Behind Disney Pixar’s Coco’, News.Disney.Com, 27^th February 2018.

[14] Credit: Pixar, Dante (2018), Frozen Bus Channel YouTube Channel, 5^th March 2018.

[15] Credit: Tasha Robinson, ‘Pixar’s Lee Unkrich on the ‘anxiety’ of directing Coco’, TheVerge.com, 22^nd November 2017.

[16] Credit: Diana Aguilera, ‘How Disney Got It Right with ‘Coco’’, StanfordMag.org, March 2018.

[17] Credit: Jeremiah Good, ‘Disney•Pixar’s “Coco” Around Walt Disney World’, LaughingPlace.com, 16^th November 2017.

[18] Credit: Rikki Niblett, ‘Sneak Preview of Pixar’s “Coco” Coming to Disney Parks’, TouringPlans.com, 13^th September 2017.

[19] Credit: Author Unknown, ‘Disney•Pixar’s ‘Coco’ Uses Innovative Visual Effects to Celebrate Family and Tradition’, TheWaltDisneyCompany.com, 22^nd November 2017.

[20] Credit: Jim Korkis, ‘Disney Christmas Cartoons’, MousePlanet.com, 27^th December 2017.

[21] Credit: Alexandra Hurtado, ‘‘Coco’ and ‘Encanto’ rides are coming to Disney Parks: What we know!’, Hola.com, 13^th August 2024.

25th Oct 202430th Oct 2025 by The Disney Purist

Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie (2009)

BACKGROUND

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

PLOT

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

CHARACTERS & CAST

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

MUSIC

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

PRODUCTION

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

RECEPTION

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

LEGACY

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

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

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

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

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

FINAL THOUGHTS

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

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

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

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

REFERENCES

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

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

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

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

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

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

18th Oct 202430th Oct 2025 by The Disney Purist

Girl vs. Monster (2012)

BACKGROUND

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

PLOT

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

CHARACTERS & CAST

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

MUSIC

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

PRODUCTION

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

RECEPTION

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

LEGACY

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

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

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

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

FINAL THOUGHTS

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

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

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

REFERENCES

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

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

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

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

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

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