When it was announced that Disney was going to revive Kim Possible as a live-action Disney Channel movie, the reaction was mixed. Some people were all for it, some people were totally against it and some people thought it was a good idea but weren’t sure how it would translate from cartoon to live action. (I was in that camp). There was also an uproar from some fans when the first pictures were released and they realized Kim’s suit didn’t feature a bare midriff. Most other fans clapped back at them, calling out the fact they were upset that they were being denied a chance to look at a teenage girl’s stomach was downright creepy. Otherwise, buzz seemed good and people seemed eager for the movie.
The movie debuted on the Disney Channel on Friday, February 15th, and yes, I watched it.
Call me, beep me if you wanna get SPOILERS!
The movie introduces Kim (Sadie Stanley) and her best friend, Ron Stoppable (Sean Giambrone), as they stop Professor Dementor (Patton Oswalt, reprising the role he voiced in the cartoon) from using destructive slime to destroy the world. They manage to stop him, save the scientist he kidnapped and destroy the slime before heading home—all with the help of tech genius Wade (Issac Ryan Brown).
Cue the credits! The movie recreated the opening credits of Kim Possible and it’s amazing how much Giambrone sounds like Will Friedle’s Ron voice.
In addition to recreating the opening titles, they also brought the sets to life as well. We see the Possibles’ familiar house as the news reports on Kim’s latest victory. Her father, Dr. James Possible (Matthew Clarke), notes that she got in late the night before and her mother, Dr. Ann Possible (Alyson Hannigan), hopes she got enough sleep. Ann dodges a drone as James scolds their twin sons, Jim and Tim (Connor and Owen Fielding). Ann notes the time and goes to talk to Kim.
Kim is in her room, doing some yoga before her school day starts. But it’s not just any school day—it’s the first day of high school! Kim appears to be super prepared and believes she has everything under control. Ann is worried that her daughter may not understand how complicated high school can actually be—that it’s not some mission she can easily overcome—but Kim remains positive. Wade informs her that the bus is coming and she says goodbye to her mother before climbing out her window to go catch it.
Because…um…it’s cool? I don’t know.
Despite Wade tracking the bus, Kim pushes it as she sprints down her street. But she makes it and manages to save a baby in the process. It seems she’s already crushing this high school thing.
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| (Ron Stoppable and Kim Possible) |
Kim and Ron arrive at their high school and the production recreated the outside of Middleton High perfectly, right down to the funny sayings on the sign outside the school. They are greeted by Bonnie Rockwaller (Erika Tham), who is still Kim’s frenemy but is also now a year older than her rather than the same age. Bonnie promises to help Kim adjust to high school and Kim asks her about cheerleading practice. Bonnie informs her that no one does cheerleading at Middleton High—it’s all about soccer. And there are tryouts after school.
Wade then pops up to tell Kim that Drakken has escaped. She and Ron aren’t really worried though. They do get worried when Wade informs them that all the classrooms were renumbered over the summer and that their homeroom is actually across the building from where they are.
The bell rings and they take off running but are still late to homeroom, much to the chagrin of their teacher, Mr. Barkin (Michael P. Northey). When her first period class is revealed to be across the school, she uses Wade to find a shortcut through vents and the roof. But she’s still late, though Barkin and the rest of the class manage to get there on time.
Kim continues to have a less than stellar first day based on a conversation with Ron but it’s been a pretty good one for him—especially since his baseline is losing his pants on the first day of sixth grade. He tells her it wasn’t as bad as that and she laughs, getting a boost from him. Kim decides to go try out for soccer after all. She manages to crush the tryout but is only named equipment manager because Bonnie “forgot” to tell her that freshmen aren’t allowed on the team. And apparently JV isn’t a thing or something.
As Kim’s day continues, Drakken and Shego go to their new lair. He’s less than pleased by their new digs and she tells him to suck it. Drakken spies on Kim and realizes she’s in high school. He explains that there’s something inside her—her “spark”—that sets her apart and makes her a formable foe. He wants to steal it and thinks high school will help him in that quest. Drakken sends Shego to steal some elemental component to power his machine.
Kim and Ron go to the equipment room. As they turn a corner, they find a classmate (Ciara Riley Wilson) on the phone with her mother. She tearfully says that her day was awful and that she dropped her bag when she fell, making everyone laugh. She tries to stay hopeful and Kim picks everything up for, handing her the bag. The classmate is amazed, recognizing Kim. She agrees to join Kim and Ron for an after-school snack.
And yes, that snack is eaten at the Bueno Nacho. Mad props for whoever created a real life version of the naco. Kim and their new friend, Athena, enjoy the same meal and they all take pictures with each other. Athena reveals she cosplayed as Kim but she had to dress her dog like Ron because she had no other friends. Ron is honored to have been played by a dog and Kim assures Athena that she has friends now.
Kim and Athena hang a lot, listening to music in Kim’s room where she gets to admire all of Kim’s gear. There’s even a nod to the original costume hanging in Kim’s room. They also practice soccer together and Athena shows off some cool moves comparable to Kim’s. Kim and Ron are impressed so Kim invites Athena on their next mission—after a makeover, of course.
The next mission comes quickly—Wade informs them that Shego has broken in to a lab. Kim and Ron change and go pick up Athena, who has completely transformed from a mousy teenager into a badass hero. After a Google search, I realized her outfit is what Kim wore in the last season. She says she made the outfit when she was improving her Kim cosplay and Ron says she’s out-Kimming Kim.
Kim looks a little put out but cheers up as their ride shows up. It’s singer Poppy Blu (Christy Carlson Romano, the original Kim Possible making a cameo appearance) and Athena freaks out, saying she’s been a big fan forever—despite the fact that Athena didn’t know who Poppy Blu was until Kim played one of her songs for Athena. That strikes Kim as off but she doesn’t say anything as Poppy is charmed by Athena, inviting her to tour with her as Ron and Kim climb into her limo.
Kim, Athena and Ron get into the lab and try to figure out what Shego is after. As they explore, Ron finds a naked mole rat that’s been used for experimentations. Yes, Rufus has a new origin story and one that explains why he can talk (with Nancy Cartwright reprising her role from the show). Ron takes Rufus in as Athena easily deduces what type of experiments they did on him and asking Wade to do a search for a particular substance. Everyone is impressed except for Kim, who feels inadequate next to Athena.
No one, though, questions how Athena knew that/figured it out so fast. In fact, they acted like it was all so obvious and Kim should’ve figured it out.
They find Shego but through a series of errors, both Ron and Kim get looked in a tank with electric eels. Kim freaks out while Ron is fascinated by them. She begs to be let out, which Rufus works on while Athena battles Shego. Despite her best efforts, Shego escapes with some mystical cube. As she leaves, she tells Kim that Athena is a real opponent—unlike her. It takes a lot out of Kim’s confidence.
Drakken watches the footage of Kim panicking in the eel tank and decides that it should go viral, hoping it will further destroy her confidence and spark.
The video does go viral—but everyone is focused on how awesome Athena is. She quickly rises to the top of the social ladder, including getting welcomed onto the soccer team despite being a freshman. Everyone wants to learn her techniques with a bo stick and tries to mimic her to the point the principal has to ban it during school hours.
Upset, Kim goes to visit her grandmother, Nana (Connie Ray). Nana tries to offer her some cookies but Kim wants to train, asking for lessons in how to use the bo stick. Nana correctly figures out that Kim wants to know because of Athena. Kim says that she doesn’t know who she is if she isn’t the best at everything and Nana encourages her to figure that out.
After all, Kim is a teenager. This is a time where most people try to figure out who they are. As the song said, she is “your basic, average girl”—so she’s not immune to it either.
Athena continues to excel to the point that the school is giving her an award. Kim doesn’t want to go to the ceremony and part of me understands. She’s been doing everything Athena has for at least a year prior to this and no one at school seemed to care. But Ron convinces her that the right thing to do is support Athena so she goes.
During the ceremony, Shego and Drakken drop into the school and take Athena. Kim tries to fight them off and does a good job…until Athena asks her to throw a staff so she can finish the job. After a moment’s hesitation, Kim decides to try it herself…and falls on her face. Shego and Drakken take Athena and everyone hates Kim, including herself.
Ron comforts her and she realizes she screwed up. She says she was an awful friend and was so focused on her own issues, she couldn’t let anyone else take the spotlight. Because of that, Athena was kidnapped. Ron gives her a pep talk and they decide to rescue Athena.
However, Athena is not a prisoner. It’s revealed that she’s working with Drakken and Shego. She appears to hate Kim as much as them and she’s eager for the next part of their plan to begin. Well, this explains why she knew so much! She and Shego show Drakken the rest of the lair and the highly advanced machine they’ve built back there—all to get rid of Kim once and for all.
Kim recruits her mother and grandmother to come help her rescue Athena. They manage to sneak into his secret lair and Kim stumbles into a room that’s full of information about her. Her surprise grows when she finds Athena is just sitting in Drakken’s lair, not tied up. Athena calls Kim out for being a bad friend and reveals how much she appears to hate Kim. Kim accepts it and apologizes, saying she understands if Athena doesn’t want to be her friend ever again but that they need to leave.
Athena helps Drakken and Shego capture Team Possible and they hold them in a laser grid. Drakken then explains his diabolical plan (with some excellent commentary about monologues from Team Possible). Anyway here’s his plan:
Drakken had spent the year he was locked up studying everything about Kim—her habits, her likes, her dislikes, her friends, her abilities, everything. He compiled all that data and uploaded it into Athena—who is revealed to be an Android! Drakken then positioned Athena to be befriended by Kim and then to surpass her so that she could take in Kim’s spark as it left her. Now, he’s going to transfer the spark from Athena to himself and then he’ll be unstoppable.
You know, provided Kim and her team doesn’t escape his prison by hitting the button high up on the wall and stopping him.
Athena and Drakken get into two separate tubes while Shego mans the controls. As the computer copies the spark from Athena to load into Drakken, Ann asks what will happen to Athena. Drakken reveals she will be destroyed in the process and Athena panics, wanting to live. She realizes that being on the evil side really doesn’t pay, even if you were built by them.
Rufus manages to reach the button and disengage the bars. Team Possible goes into action, trying to stop Drakken’s machine and save Athena. They manage to do that with Drakken halfway through the process. He emerges from the chamber and Shego gets a laugh—the machine de-aged him and he was now a child, maybe a pre-teen, yet again. She takes Preteen Drakken (Maxwell Simkins) as the machine gets ready to explode.
Everyone heads out but the machine is starting to destroy the lab. Athena realizes she’s the only one who can absorb the energy in the core and give the others a chance to leave. Kim is reluctant to leave her behind but Athena says that Kim saved her so now it’s her turn to save Kim. Ann pulls Kim away and they run out as the lab explodes behind them.
They search the rubble and find Athena in parts but still conscious. Ann calls her husband to ask if he wants to put an android girl back together and his answer is an enthusiastic yes. Kim tells viewers in a voiceover that it takes some time but that they are able to put Athena back together and override Drakken’s evil programming. She joins Team Possible and even helps Kim teach a martial arts club at school, which becomes even more popular than soccer—much to Bonnie’s annoyance. Kim says that becoming a better friend helped her become a better hero and we see her ready to save the world.
Right before the credits, we see Shego in a minivan putting the finishing touches to hide Drakken’s scars. He studies up on some teen lingo as he says his newest plan to defeat Kim Possible is his best yet. Shego kicks him out of the van and he joins the other students streaming into Middleton High School.
Sequel maybe?
So…how was it?
Pretty damn good.
Was the plot somewhat predictable? Yes, it was. Though I wasn’t expecting the android twist with Athena, it still wasn’t much of a surprise. It reminded me of another Kim Possible movie, So the Drama, which had been meant to be the finale for the series. Like in this movie, Drakken figures out there is something that Kim has that sets her apart—except in So the Drama, he determines it’s her friendship and partnership with Ron. He creates an android disguised as a teenage boy and programs it to be her perfect boyfriend, which causes a rift between her and Ron when she spends more time with her boyfriend than her best friend. It forces Ron to realize he cares about Kim as more than a friend and as she learns the truth, she also realizes that her perfect boyfriend was programmed to act just like Ron. They defeat Drakken and end up getting together, much to the happiness of their entire class.
So, yeah, it was familiar but still a good movie.
I had a few nitpicks about the movie: how Kim relied on Wade a little too much in my opinion. And why wasn’t her over reliance on her skills highlighted more? There was clearly no reason for her to have to take a shortcut through the vents if everyone else—including Mr. Barkin—managed to get across the entire school in time. But as I said, those were nitpicks and they didn’t really take away from the overall enjoyment of the movie.
The casting was excellent. Sadie Stanley and Sean Giambrone did great as Kim and Ron. Ciara Riley Wilson was amazing as Athena and I hope Disney gives her her own show or something. I could just keep going in praising this cast, so I think we’ll just stick with my first sentence: The casting was excellent.
I loved the fact that they managed to recreate the familiar places from the show: Kim’s house, the high school, Bueno Nacho, etc. It was really cool and showed that this was also a labor of love.
If you haven’t watched it in the month since it debuted, I encourage you to find it. You’ll get some nostalgia feels and a damn good movie out of it.
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