Some of these movies may be things I saw long ago on CBC, on The Wonderful World of Disney (anthology shows), well before I had cable, possibly before I even knew of the Disney Channel's existence. I dunno. But most of them will be things I saw on Disney Channel in more recent years. Not that I necessarily remember them well. Hopefully I'll see some of them again sometime, so I can write better reviews and give them a rough tier ranking....

Let's begin...

The Color of Friendship (tier 4 or 5)
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I think this is set in like the 70's or something. This white South African girl named Mahree goes to stay with the family of an African American congressman in Washington, D.C. She didn't expect them to be black and they didn't expect her to be white, but eventually Mahree and the congressman's daughter, Piper (both of whom we like, btw), become friends, and learn to change their attitudes about each other and stuff. I dunno quite what to say, it's a pretty decent movie, it's got some powerful scenes and stuff. Can't think what else to tell you.

Don't Look Under the Bed
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This girl named Frances (who we like) is accused of all kinds of pranks and stuff, but actually she's being framed by the Boogeyman. She gets help from her little brother's imaginary friend, Larry, even though Larry annoys her and she doesn't want to believe in any of this stuff. I dunno what else to tell you. Maybe I'll see it again someday and say more.

The Even Stevens Movie
See: kid stuff

Get a Clue (tier 6)
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This girl named Lexy Gold, played by Lindsay Lohan (who we like), wrote an article about two of her teachers, Miss Dawson and Mr. Walker. When it wasn't published in her school newspaper, she sent it instead to a real paper, where it was published. Later, she overheard Mr. Walker break up with miss Dawson, and the next day, Mr. Walker went missing. When Lexy told a police detective what she'd overheard, he seemed to think Miss Dawson might have had something to do with Mr. Walker's disappearance, though Lexy was sure she was innocent. So, Lexy and a few friends, including the school newspaper's editor, Jack Downey, plus Jennifer (played by Brenda Song, who we like) and Gabe, start doing some sleuthing and uncover some surprising stuff about Mr. Walker's past. And end up exposing a bad guy and stuff. Anyway, it wasn't great, but I guess it was a sorta fun movie, and I liked the title song, by Simon & Milo.

Jett Jackson: The Movie
See kid stuff

Johnny Kapahala: Back on Board

The Luck of the Irish
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Hmmm. I don't remember this very well, I need to watch it again. Ryan Merriman (who played young Jarod in flashbacks and on DSA's, on The Pretender - see mysterious 2), in this movie plays a high schooler named Kyle who finds out he's half leprechaun, on his mother's side. And some bad stuff happens. I'll say more when I watch it again sometime.

Little Spies
IMDb; Movie Tome

I don't really know if this was a Disney Channel movie, but I suppose I must've seen it on "The Wonderful World of Disney," so maybe. Anyway, it wasn't great, but I don't suppose it was meant to be. It was just kinda fun, for what it was, and I feel some nostalgia for it. This group of kids... um... had this dog... they found... And um, there was this old guy played by Mickey Rooney who at first was supposed to be one of those cliched neighborhood old scary guys, but ended up helping out the kids. On their mission. To get their dog back after it was abducted by the evil guys who worked for the pound. The kennel master was played by James Tolkan. And um, there was this secret plot to sell dogs for laboratory research. And all the neighborhood pet dogs were disappearing. Abducted by this other gang of kids who were selling them to the pound. So the main group of kids ended up uncovering the plot and revealing it and the bad guys got in trouble in the end. It was all kinda ridiculous, kind of amusing in a way. Dunno what else to say. I used to have it on tape, but I guess I don't anymore. Kinda liked this girl Christy, who had a crush on the main character.

Minutemen
Disney Channel; IMDb; TV.com; Wikipedia

The movie starts with three friends, Virgil, Derek, and Stephanie (who we like), starting their first day of high school. Stephanie tries out for cheerleading, while Derek tries out for football. Virgil is just basically a goofball. Then a genius kid named Charlie, who I guess is also starting high school despite being a few years younger, shows up on the field driving a cart with some kind of quantum boosters or something, and he can't control it. He causes some damage, and all the football guys start bullying him, but Virgil sticks up for him. The two of them end up hung from a statue of a ram, in cheerleader outfits. It was very embarrassing, but the two of them became friends after that.

The movie then flashes forward 3 years, to when they're all seniors. Virgil hangs out with Charlie and other unpopular nerds, while Derek and Stephanie are part of the popular crowd, so they don't see much of Virgil anymore. He sometimes still talks to Steph, but there seems to be bad blood between Virgil and Derek because of the incident three years ago. He seems to envy their popularity, but more than that, he obviously really likes Steph, who is now dating Derek... even though she suspects there might be something going on between him and some other girl.

Anyway, one day Charlie realizes the formula he used for his rocket cart could have another application... time travel. So he gets Virgil to help him recruit Zeke, a mechanically inclined student who everyone fears, and the three of them construct their time machine, which opens a vortex they can enter to travel up to 48 hours into the past. But they find they need someone to stay behind in the present (for some reason I didn't catch, and this was after all three of them had gone back together with no one left behind anyway, but whatever). So, it's convenient that this girl named Jeanette (who we like) discovers their secret, and helps them out by monitoring the vortex or whatever while they go back in time. She's, um... a cross between spunky and nutty. Actually she kind of reminds me of Jordan from the movie "Real Genius." And she seems to have a crush on Charlie, who is fairly uncomfortable around her. Anyway, she gets them all snow suits to wear on their time trips.

What Virgil, Charlie, and Zeke start doing is going back to moments when things have gone wrong for kids at school, and helping them out. They call themselves the Minutemen, but because of the snow suits they wear, everyone calls them "Snow Suit Guys." They're like these anonymous heroes who become popular even if no one knows who they are, or how they know when and where to show up. Meanwhile, Vice Principal Tolkan wants to catch the Snow Suit Guys and put a stop to their disruption of the natural order of things at school. It's actually pretty funny, because before all this started, he'd never help out kids who were in trouble, just because he figured things were supposed to be how they were. Some kids bully, some get bullied. So, not only doesn't he help the bullied or punish the bullies, he wants to punish those who do stop the bullies.

But Charlie soon realizes unpredictable changes are occurring, there's like a ripple effect caused by the things they intentionally change. Like the first kid they helped, a nerd named Chester, becomes popular, and apparently under his leadership, the nerds start bullying some of the former bullies. So perhaps Tolkan's concept of the natural order being disrupted isn't quite as crazy as it seems. As if this wasn't enough, eventually Charlie will find more serious problems with... you know, the space-time continuum or whatever. Meanwhile, there are a couple of scientists monitoring distortions, and at first they dismiss it, but when it starts happening alot, they get the FBI involved, and they start watching the time travelers.

Meanwhile, when Virgil went back in time to prevent an accident Stephanie had, she discovered his secret, that he and his friends were the Snow Suit Guys. And later she wants him to go back and prevent a problem Derek had in a game. So Virgil gets to start hanging out with his old friends again, and the whole popular crowd, which of course makes him start to neglect Charlie and Zeke. And um... there's some more drama I don't want to go into, but... anyway, eventually Charlie realizes the distortions they've been causing are actually starting to merge to form a black hole that could destroy the whole world.

So... Virgil, Charlie, and Zeke will have to enter the black hole to... reverse it or stabilize it or whatever. They end up on the day in freshman year when everything started, and then there's some more personal drama, and then... they have to rush to try to get back to the future. (Speaking of "Back to the Future," that movie was actually mentioned at one point in this movie, and I'm sure there must have been any number of other movies or shows that various elements of the plot reminded me of. But not in a rip-offy kinda way, I dunno... I just enjoyed certain similarities to other things.) And... I don't want to spoil anything about how it all ends, but I thought it was a pretty good ending, on all fronts.

Yep, the whole movie was just pretty fun, and... I guess that's all I can think to say at the moment. But I wouldn't mind watching it again someday or even seeing a sequel.

Mr. Boogedy
IMDb; Retro Junk; TV.com; Wikipedia

This was about a ghost haunting some folks. He said "boogedy boogedy boo!" Other than that, I don't remember much about it, really. I'd like to see it again sometime, as well as the sequel, which I really don't remember at all. Anyway, I must've seen this on "The Wonderful World of Disney," I guess.

Now You See It...
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So there's this girl named Allyson (who we like), who gets involved in this reality show made basically by kids, a competition to find the world's best kid magician. It comes down to three finalists, one of whom is this guy named Danny, discovered by Allyson. Of course the whole contest is actually started by a magician named Max, who was hoping to find someone like Danny. Danny, you see, does real magic, not illusions. The only problem is he doesn't understand his powers, they're beyond his control. And Max wants to steal his powers. I don't quite know what else to say. It's not a bad movie. That's all. Wish I could say more....

Phantom of the Megaplex
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Weird things happen at the opening of a new megaplex, and this kid who works there has to deal with it. I don't actually remember it enough to say anything else. But maybe I'll see it again sometime and say more.

Pixel Perfect
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This kid Roscoe uses his dad's experimental holographic technology for fun stuff like making a holographic pet cat. But he gets a more ambitious idea when a local club owner won't let his friend Samantha's band, the Zetta Bytes, perform, because Sam can't dance. Which, btw, I find really stupid. Personally I tend to prefer the singing and music. The band was actually pretty good, and the dancing is just an annoying distraction to me. I suppose in some cases choreography can enhance a musical experience, like in a music video or something, but just playing a small club, I'd rather see a band be more casual. All that matters is the music. But I digress.

Roscoe created a holographic lead singer for the band, who he called Loretta Modern. She got the band a gig at the school dance, then the club, and then a record deal. But Sam (who we like) was kinda jealous of her, not just for her place in the band, but for Roscoe's feelings toward her. Anyway, the basic concept of the movie isn't all that original, but I thought it was done fairly well. And I liked the unspoken (if somewhat obvious) metaphor of how Roscoe was treating Loretta just the same as his dad treated him, but they both came to change eventually. And it's always nice, if unavoidable, that the guy should finally realize he wants the real girl, in the end. And I liked what happened with Loretta in the end, too. And that's about all I can think to say for now.

Read It and Weep (tier 7ish)
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Well, I suppose I liked this a bit more than I expected to, but it still wasn't that great. Kay Panabaker (who we kinda like) plays a high school freshman named Jamie Bartlett, who has a few friends, Harmony, Lindsay, and Connor (Connor obviously likes her, though she's oblivious). She also has a brother named Lenny, who's pretty good at writing music and playing guitar. And parents who run a pizza place; Jamie's dad is always experimenting with weird toppings on pizzas, which kinda reminded me of The Weekenders (cartoons 6). Anyway, Jamie has a crush on a guy at school named Marco, who's dating some popular jerk named Sawyer. One day Marco reads a poem in class, and she likes that he wrote it, but it's pretty obvious to anyone watching the movie that Connor actually wrote it.

Meanwhile, Jamie keeps a journal, where she writes about an alter-ego for herself called Is (played by Kay's older sister Danielle, who we also kinda like), who lives in a sort of magical version of high school, and zaps away evil people, such as Sawyer. Jamie's journal accidentally gets turned in for like a writing contest or whatever, and wins. She's rather mortified by this, and moreso when it becomes a national best-selling book (after adding more of her journals). But Jamie soon becomes popular, and Marco dumps Sawyer and asks Jamie out, and everyone starts hanging out at her parents' restaurant. So everything seems good.

But, Jamie starts losing touch with her friends, and Marco turns out not to be as cool as she thought, and when everyone at school finds out characters in the book were based on them, they all start hating her. And Is is bugging Jamie all the time now. She actually looks crazy, always talking to herself and stuff. And Is is like really domineering and stuff. Seriously, I started thinking Jamie should get therapy. And, uh, I dunno, other stuff went wrong with her life, I guess. But eventually she realized the error of her ways, took control back from Is, made up with her friends, figured out Connor was the guy for her, and everything was good again. It was all entirely predictable and often kind of annoying, but hey, it had a happy ending, even if it was predictable. And it had some good moments, too, I guess. So whatever.

A Ring of Endless Light
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Okay, I guess this was based on a book by Madeleine L'Engle, right? I've never read it, I'm afraid. But I do like some other books she wrote. Anyway, these two girls (both of whom we kinda like) were staying with their grandfather for the summer I guess, and the older one learned that she could talk to dolphins. Or something. Well, there were several stars in the movie familiar to me from other stuff (Mischa Barton, Scarlett Pomers, Ryan Merriman, Jared Padalecki), so that was cool. Anyway, there's stuff like um, nets catching dolphins, that has to be dealt with. And other stuff. I don't remember it well enough. Sorry.

Rip Girls
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So this girl goes to Hawaii or whatever I guess, cuz she inherited some place from her dead mother. And she makes a friend and stuff. And some company wants to buy the place maybe. I don't remember, okay? But it wasn't bad. Maybe I'll see it again sometime and say more.

The Thirteenth Year (tier 6ish, I guess)
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It starts with this fisherman named John Wheatley spotting a mermaid (who we kind of like), and trying to catch her. She's carrying a baby, who she puts in some other boat in the area, and when she goes back, the baby has already been found and taken in by a couple, Whit Griffin (who's just starting a tour boat business) and his wife Sharon (who we kinda like). Why the mermaid left the baby there is unclear to me... at first it seemed like she set him down so she could move faster while evading Wheatley, but I dunno. Seemed like she came back to look for the baby before really completing said evasion. Maybe she wanted the baby to be taken in, I'm not sure... but either way, she seemed sad to see him go.

The movie then jumps forward 13 years, right around the birthday of Whit and Sharon's son, Cody. He's on his school's swim team, though he always seems to come in second to this other guy named Sean, who's kind of a jerk. You know, one of those popular jocks who everyone likes. Cody seems pretty much the same way, actually. But there's this sort of nerdy kid named Jess Wheatley (yes, the son of the fisherman), and he and Cody are assigned as partners in a marine biology project. At first Cody isn't really happy to be working with him, but they soon become more friendly (which really annoys Sean, because Jess isn't "one of them"). Jess has never learned to swim, though he loves marine biology (which doesn't interest Cody). So, Cody will teach him to swim. Oh yes, and Cody also has a friend, or sort of girlfriend I guess, named Sam (who we kinda like).

Anyway, weird stuff starts happening to Cody. He's having dreams about swimming underwater, and he starts drinking alot, and he sometimes gets scales on his hands when they get wet, and sometimes produces a great deal of static electricity (you know, like eels?). And so he's freaking out, and trying to keep this secret from everyone. But Jess finds out and starts doing research and comes to the conclusion that Cody is a merman. And Cody's parents freak out, and want him to stay away from the water (which sucks for someone on the swim team, eh?) And when Sam finds out she freaks a little, but is more upset that Cody didn't tell her about it. She gets over it, though.

Welp... Jess's dad has been mocked for the past 13 years because he told everyone he had seen a mermaid. And now that Cody's merman nature is starting to assert itself (as apparently happens with merfolk who've lived on land, when they turn 13), his mom comes back, and so Wheatley tries to catch her again, to prove to everyone that he's not crazy. But... well, I don't know that I should say any more about what happens in the movie. Anyway, it's all sort of simple and predictable. I didn't really think the writing or acting were that great. But it wasn't really a bad movie. Worth having seen once, anyway.

Tru Confessions
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This girl named Trudy (who we like) makes a video about her mentally challenged brother Eddie (played by Shia LaBeouf from Even Stevens - see kid stuff) for a contest. And as she does so she learns to appreciate him more, I guess. I dunno what else to tell you. It was alright, but I don't know that I'd want to see it again, so I'm afraid this entry isn't likely to get any more informative.

Up, Up and Away!
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This kid named Scott is the only one in his family of superheroes without any super powers. But he uncovers a plot by some computer people to control everyone's minds and stuff. I don't remember much about it and it wasn't a great movie, but Olivia Burnette (who we like, from The Torkelsons - see comedy 6) was in it. She was working for the bad guy, but didn't know he was evil or something, and switched sides in the end. Welp, maybe I'll say more later.

Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior (tier 6ish)
Disney Channel; IMDb; Wikipedia

Welp, for the most part this seemed like the movie Buffy the Vampire Slayer (supernatural movies 2), but with a Chinese twist. Brenda Song (who we like) plays Wendy Wu, this California high school girl who's only really interested in popularity, and her focus at the moment is on running for homecoming queen. There's another girl named Jessica Dawson, who's also running, and Wendy's upset because she always has to do whatever Wendy's doing. Meanwhile, Wendy's mom works at a museum, which just got a shipment of Terra Cotta warriors from China for an exhibit. Both of Wendy's parents worry in the course of the film that they don't know enough Chinese history, never took an interest in it. Wendy's mom is also upset that she never paid attention to her own mother's stories when she was growing up.

Anyway, something else arrives at the museum, a box containing an ancient evil spirit named Yan Lo, who possesses the security guard. Yan Lo passes between many different people in the course of the movie. The first one after the guard is a guy delivering a pizza to the guard. And this guy happens to be Wendy's brother, Kenny. Fortunately, a Buddhist monk named Shen has been sent from China to train Wendy in Kung Fu. They have both been reincarnated repeatedly for like 1500 years, and like every 90 years or so, they have to fight Yan Lo. Of course, while Shen remembers his past lives, Wendy doesn't believe any of this, at first, and just wants him to leave her alone. Her grandmother, who lives with Wendy and her folks, believes the truth, however, because her own mother was the previous warrior Wendy must now become. Meanwhile, Shen protects her until Wendy accepts the truth.

I want to say, some of the fight scenes were decent, and some I didn't like so much. But one in particular I thought was awesome. Alot of the martial arts in this movie look like the Wudan style from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (martial arts movies 1). And the scene where Yan Lo, in Wendy's brother, fights Shen in the living room while Wendy's asleep on the couch... damn, man, that was hella cool! I'd say the movie is worth watching for that one scene alone.

Anyway, of course eventually Wendy accepts the truth and starts training. And Shen gets some help training her from like some other monk spirits that possessed some of Wendy's teachers. And eventually there's a battle in the basement of the museum against Yan Lo and the Terra Cotta warriors who've come to life to serve him. And, I dunno what else to say. There's some funny stuff in the movie, and some stuff that's sort of lame but not terribly so. Alot of clichéd and predictable stuff. But on the whole it was reasonably entertaining. Definitely could've been alot worse.

You Wish!
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Alex Lansing (played by A.J. Trauth, Twitty on Even Stevens - see kid stuff) gets like a magic coin and makes a wish on it that he never had a brother, because his little brother Stevie is always messing up his life. So the wish comes true and his life is everything he wanted it to be. Although everything he thought he wanted turns out not to be what he thought it'd be. Plus he misses his little brother, I guess. Who still exists, just unrelated to him. He's an actor on a popular TV show, and Alex and his friend Abby (played by Lalaine, who we like, Miranda on Lizzie McGuire - see kid stuff) meet the kid and they all work together to try and undo the wish. Cuz despite being a big TV star, the kid isn't happy with his life, either. No privacy, no freedom, and all that. It's not a bad movie.

Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century
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Zenon (who we kind of like) lives on a space station in 2049, and she's always getting into trouble. And then she and her friends have to avert some disaster. Sabotage I think it was. I don't remember the movie that well. It wasn't that great, but it was okay.

Zenon: The Zequel
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In this first sequel, Zenon got into some more trouble but once again saved the day when she met some aliens or something. I dunno.

Zenon: Z3
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In the third Zenon movie, Zenon and her friends and others competed in a race to the moon, but it was really part of a plot by some guy to claim possession of the moon, and then the moon goddess Selena got really upset and told Zenon to get everyone to leave or she's wreak havoc and stuff. Also Zenon's aunt and uncle in law adopted a girl who tried to be like Zenon. And stuff. I thought it was the weakest of the three movies, but it was tolerable.