Review: New ‘Kim Possible’ movie is possibly the worst Disney Channel movie
February 22, 2019
When I think of Disney Channel original movies, I think of some of the greats like “High School Musical,” “Smart House,” “Halloweentown,” “Camp Rock,” “Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century” and “Jump In,” classics that can bring a nostalgia-ridden smile to any 20 something year old’s face. Disney’s latest installment in their prestigious original movie category attempts to capitalize on that nostalgia with a reboot of the famous teenage heroine, Kim Possible.
Sadie Stanley is tasked to portray a modern Kim Possible as well as Sean Giambrone as Ron Stoppable, Todd Stashwick as Dr. Drakken and Taylor Ortega as Shego. The plot centers around Kim and Ron in their first few weeks of high school as Kim struggles at “ordinary” teenage things while Dr. Drakken and Shego plot their revenge against Kim.
Now, you might be wondering “why would a college student care about a Disney Channel original movie?” Well I would turn around and say “why is Disney making a movie for a show that hasn’t aired since 2007?”
While watching “Kim Possible” there was two main things I struggled to understand. Why does this exist and who is this movie for? The core audience who watched the original TV series are now adults and don’t watch Disney Channel movies while the new movie does little to introduce the world to the new generation currently watching Disney Channel.
“Kim Possible” is littered with callbacks to the original TV series throughout in a wink- and-nod-like gesture that has almost nothing to do with the plot at large. It’s almost like “Kim Possible” is a compilation of greatest hits from the TV series with a movie built around them and inside jokes that no one cares about.
The actors do an admirable job portraying their characters, but they never felt like they really were those characters but rather doing an impression of them. Sadie Stanley’s version of Kim Possible is unnecessarily over-the-top charismatic and tries too hard to be cool. Whereas Kim in the original TV series’ coolness never needed to be explained and instead was a byproduct of her actions, the new “Kim Possible” constantly beat you over the head with how supposedly “cool” she was but the coolest thing she did was a flip and showing how many flips she can do throughout the entire 85-minute run time.
Sean Giambrone’s Ron Stoppable perfectly embodied the TV series’ Ron’s uselessness, but in a bad way. Ron’s uselessness in the TV series was endearing but Giambrone’s performance came off as mostly annoying. Stashwick and Ortega’s relationship as Dr. Drakken and Shego was one of the better aspects of the movie but even their performances still felt off, uninspired and borderline emotionally abusive sometimes.
Even the humor in “Kim Possible” was a struggle to get through at times. Ron’s pure existence in the “Kim Possible” franchise is comedic relief, but the way Giambrone delivers the punch lines for jokes is like the equivalent to leaving your friend hanging on a high-five that no one asked for. Granted, at the end of the day, it is a children’s movie, but I don’t see how kids will find Kim saving a pop star from the IRS and Dr. Drakken being drunk on milk as funny.
Overall, the new “Kim Possible” movie just felt flat and uninspired. It seemed obvious that Disney really tried to create an honest reboot of the “Kim Possible” franchise by sticking really close to the source material, but in doing so “Kim Possible” merely feels like a high-budget fan film.
I’m afraid this movie is a problem even Kim Possible herself can’t solve.
Col Patrick Montgomery • Nov 25, 2024 at 5:04 am
The live action version of the older cartoon was fantastic. Sadie Stanley punched out the title theme tracks purrfectly the acting is out beyond great.
Carly • Mar 7, 2022 at 7:20 pm
I used to watch the show and felt like Kim was not the same person that I remembered growing up with. In fact, the movie changed everything in my opinion.
Shane • Aug 18, 2021 at 10:28 pm
As someone who is new to the series i do definitely agree that the original series is better then the movie
Márton hornok • Jul 22, 2021 at 1:48 pm
the old cartoon style fits better with kim possible.
Mekhi Avery • Feb 14, 2021 at 7:08 am
That movie was awesome so you haters are being douchebags
Carly • Mar 27, 2022 at 7:00 pm
You haven’t seen the original series. I hated the fact that they changed the personality of MY FAVORITE CHARACTER!
Jordan Neuman • Nov 1, 2020 at 10:19 am
Sorry, you idiots, but I liked the movie. If anyone has a problem with me, I have no problem with fighting any of you.
Carly • Mar 27, 2022 at 7:05 pm
Look, I’m a fan of the show so you don’t understand what it’s like to be disappointed when your favorite character’s personality is changed. In my case, it was KP, but they even messed up with Ron too in a way since he’s supposed to be the comic relief and same with Rufus
Lizard • Sep 6, 2020 at 5:56 am
Erm, you might want to look up the difference between “heroin” and “heroine”.
Cristo Dulom • Sep 6, 2020 at 10:05 am
Thanks for the tip. We’ve fixed the error.
rdfhuj • Aug 25, 2020 at 6:33 pm
it is not good the real Kim possible is way better i hate when they try to make the old shows replace with new ones because they are never as good i love the old Kim possible
Lauren • Jul 9, 2019 at 12:17 am
Hola! I just read your review for the live action KP movie. I agree with mostly everything you said. The only thing I disagreed with was the assumption that adults don’t watch DC. I happen to still love it, even if I only watch three current shows. I grew up with KP, which is why the live action movie failed in my eyes. The only character I liked was Athena. The characters I loved from the series weren’t themselves. I gave it a chance because I was curious, but I felt disappointed once it was over. They could have done so much better. The only oG characters that were on point were Shago and Drakken.
Daisy • May 30, 2019 at 3:12 am
I think this is a very bad film because they do not use the real Kim Possible I know this for a fact as she is my best friend who is sitting next to me write now upset because she got replaced by a stupid fake person who doesn’t deserve to be on tv because nobody likes her but everyone likes my best friend !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Aaron Franco • May 12, 2019 at 10:36 pm
This was so bad. Most of the people they got for the roles were terrible… not saying there bad actors just saying they didn’t fit the parts at all. I grew up watching this show and i am a huge nerd of it, and Mr B would never be so out of shape, and DR. D not nearlly enough crazy/stupidity. Shego was the same. the thing about shego is she always is VERY sarcastic….. and the way she does it is so obvious a 6 yr old could tell. In this movie you barely felt like it was there. Kim possible was an ok fit i guess. I didnt like the characters style on things. It didn’t feel like she was kim possible.
Ron stoppable however was prolly the best part of the movie, i think he is as close as they will get to the original.
In the end its all on the writers of the movie they did an offal job. It felt like same names but different EVERYTHING… like they never saw rhe show before.
Dat Boi • Apr 2, 2019 at 9:06 am
Sorry idiots. The movie was bad, you just can’t accept it. Terrible plotholes and cgi littered all around the film.
evan petterson • Mar 28, 2019 at 11:44 am
sadie stanley is thw love of my life and i want to marry her
broken • Mar 7, 2019 at 9:13 am
cool movie
Alurcard • Mar 1, 2019 at 6:46 am
It was a great movie actually the best family movie for the start of 2019 funny childish humor lol i love it
Dark lover Jr. • Feb 28, 2019 at 3:09 pm
I think the the movie is the hottest show ever. it’s even got 3,239,250 views from ’round the world!
Jj • Feb 24, 2019 at 9:48 pm
The worst disney channel movie?
You are letting your emotions dictate your writing.
Zeitgeist • Feb 23, 2019 at 4:51 am
Taylor Ortega playing Shego was like 95% of the reason why I watched the movie, and she was by far the best part of it to me. I watched the original cartoon as a kid and always had a massive crush on Shego, and Taylor did a great job, as did whoever designed that sexy leather costume she wore. I just wish that there would have been more violence in the movie but I still enjoyed it.