Starring Ricky Ullman, Leah Pipes, Spencer Redford, and Chris Williams
Directed by Mark A.Z Dippe
Music and Lyrics by various
This is Disney's second TV musical under the Disney Channel Movie banner, predating even High School Musical. The internet was still something new and relatively uncharted when this movie debuted. The sky was the limit when it came to how it worked and what could be done with it. AI was also in its primitive form as computer programmers worked on creating images that could be inserted anywhere, even real life. What happens when a teenage boy creates a program that literally takes on a life of its own? Let's begin with that teen, Roscoe (Ullman) and his father (Brett Cullen) as they argue over what can be done with this new technology and find out...
The Story: Roscoe wants to help his best friend Samantha (Pipes) and her band the Zetta Bytes get a gig. Samantha was told that her group needs to dance, but she's more comfortable behind her guitar. Roscoe creates a sentient human hologram he names Loretta (Redford) who is a composite of Samantha and many girls he's seen in magazines.
Loretta has no difficulty singing and dancing for the group. She's a huge hit, even after people figure out she's a hologram. Samantha, however, has a crush on Roscoe and resents how perfect Loretta is. Loretta wishes she could be human like Samantha, to feel emotions and rain on her face. When the record company that signs the girls tries to take Loretta's programming to make more musical stars, but Roscoe realizes that would make them less individual.
Loretta flees into the Internet and mails herself to the one person who can help her be truly human, the one who doesn't think she's perfect...Samantha. When Samantha falls off the stage during a concert, she enters her mind to convince her that being human is a far happier experience than unattainable perfection.
The Song and Dance: This one ended up being a real surprise. I was expecting a Disney version of the John Hughes comedy Weird Science. What I got was the touching and sad story of a boy who creates what he thinks is the perfect girl, until that girl wants to be more than his idea of perfection.
Ullman's not bad as well-meaning Roscoe, but the movie really belongs to his girlfriends. Pipes and Redford are wonderful as the very human teen girl who wants Roscoe to see her, flaws and all, and the computer program who wishes she had those flaws. The last twenty minutes when Loretta confronts Sam in her mind, then manages to feel rain for the first time, are among the most heartbreaking in any Disney Channel film.
Favorite Number: We open with "Perfectly" sung over the credits. Samantha and the Zeta Byttes insist "Nothing's Wrong With Me" at their audition, but that's not what the producer thinks. "Notice Me" is Loretta's first big number when she's introduced with the band. We also get "If You Wanna Rock" and "Don't Even Try It." "Get Real" is ironically the song Loretta's performing when she starts flickering out, and people realize she's not human. Samantha ends with "When the Rain Falls," and there's not a dry eye in the house as she sings about Loretta and how she changed her life and Roscoe's.
What I Don't Like: The story, while sweet and sad, is also cliched to high heck. This is nothing people haven't seen in everything from AI: Artificial Intelligence to the aforementioned Weird Science. It's pretty much the leads' story. Roscoe's dad is the only other person who really registers. We barely get to see the other members of the band, or even the record executives who caused so much trouble. I would loved to have seen more of the inner workings of the internet that Loretta travels through, too. I thought that was a nice touch.
The Big Finale: If you think a Disney Channel musical can't be sad or dramatic, give this early attempt a shot.
Home Media: Perhaps it's appropriate that this is streaming only at the moment. You can find it at Amazon Prime and Disney Plus with a subscription.
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