21 Awesome Disney Channel Movies That Make Us Wonder Why High School Musical Was Ever Popular

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21 Awesome Disney Channel Movies That Make Us Wonder Why High School Musical Was Ever Popular

Disney knocked it out of the park with High School Musical but we argue that these 21 Disney Channel films are even better! The Disney Channel Original Movies were something special towards a certain age group. They didn’t have the same kind production budget as Hollywood films, and a lot of the acting was pretty amateurish in many films. A lot of the writing in these motion pictures was also very evidently aimed towards young children. However, despite all that, many of these films hold a special place in people’s hearts, mine included. The production values for these films will never match with anything you’ll see in a blockbuster movie, but there is surprisingly a lot of heart in making some of these Disney Channel flicks. The infamous High School Musical trilogy is probably the biggest budgeted and most well-produced of any of the Disney Channel movies. The choreography is pretty top notch, and the acting is above the usual Disney Channel performance. Meaning they are above okay! Though, to be completely candid, I was never really a fan of the High School Musical movies. I won’t deny that the trilogy is made in a much higher quality than most Disney Channel films, yet the stories never clicked with me. I was also never a fan of musicals, to begin with. The films also felt more manipulated and commercialized as the series went on, losing the soul of what made them special with fans in the first place. With that said, I won’t deny the impact that the trilogy left in the greater Disney Channel pantheon. Nonetheless, I think the film series kind of overshadows other truly great Disney Channel films. The Disney Channel Original Movies have a large variety of films in their catalog. A lot of them, I would argue, are just as good as High School Musical; if not, better. That’s why today I’ll be going over 21 Disney Channel Movies That Are Better Than High School Musical. THEGAMER VIDEO OF THE DAY

This Is Halloween

via kizi.video Let’s all be honest with ourselves, the original Halloweentown is only on this list for sentimental reasons. The child acting and sets are not good, and the story is almost too kiddie to enjoy as a grown-up. However, the first Halloweentown has a lot of imagination and heart, overcoming many of these issues. Nostalgia also helps makes this film very enduring. Halloweentown centers on three siblings, who discover their Grandma is a witch that lives in a magical place called Halloweentown. The only way to get to Halloweentown is through a portal that opens only on Halloween. The siblings and their mother go to Halloweentown to check out the magical creatures there. They discover they all have magical powers, not unlike witches, and get swept up in an evil warlock’s plot to take over Halloweentown. The movie has the typical Disney Channel fluff, like the cute little sister and the plucky pre-teen hero. The child actors are not good, yet the lead cast members do have an enduring chemistry with each other that makes the original Halloweentown very watchable. The late, great Debbie Reynolds plays the grandmother and she is fun to watch. It’s hard to say this film is a good film, but for the sentimental sake this movie holds a special spot for a lot of kids’ hearts, mine included.

Technology Can Be Spooky

via jimbosworldwebsite.wordpress.com Smart House is a prime example of how to make a silly premise work. This Disney Channel Original movie is one of the most well-received among all the Disney Channel flicks, and for good reason. The film is about a family who, not long after losing their mother, are having difficulty keeping up with all the chores and other responsibilities the mother use to take care of. They then win a Smart House – a house that is maintained entirely through a computer. All of the housework is taken care of thanks to the computer. The AI that runs the computer begins developing its own persona though. It starts becoming an overbearing housewife, who becomes increasingly more protective towards the family. This leads to the house being more hostile to outsiders; including a woman the father has begun seeing. The movie is pretty cheap and overall pretty cheesy, but the acting and the directing makes the whole movie work. Katey Sagal plays the hologram that the house uses to communicate with the family, along with providing the voice for the AI, and she’s amazing to watch in this film. The other actors, including the kids, are not that bad either. There is also a lot of pathos to the plot, especially with how the family deals with the demise of the mother. It's a movie that shouldn’t work yet does.

The Ultimate Unlucky Day

via ohmy.disney.com I’ve watched a lot of Disney Channels Original classics, but my favorite has always been Luck of the Irish. A Saint Patrick’s Day movie, it is all about a teenager who has gone throughout his whole life being incredibly lucky. After he loses his lucky gold coin, all his luck begins fading away. Not only that, he also starts shrinking and his ears get pointy. His mother reveals to him that he is turning into a Leprechaun, and he needs to get his lucky coin back to stay a normal human. There are a lot of practical effects in the movie, that shockingly aren’t that bad. The green screen to showcase the tiny leprechauns is kind of wonky, however, when the movie uses real sets and props to make the leprechauns seem smaller than they are, that is where the effects hold up. Since there aren’t any major little kid characters in the movie, there isn’t any bad kid acting. The teens acting isn’t bad, and all the grown-ups are pretty good. Special shout out towards Timothy Omundson, from Psych fame, as the main villain. The themes of Luck of the Irish are pretty interesting too. The belief in luck, and how we make our own luck, is what gives us the confidence to achieve in life. The exploration of the many different cultures in the film is also fascinating, never shying away from the hardship that Irish people have gone through.

Cheesy But Entertaining

via popsugar.com Phantom of the Megaplex is very corny and kind of dumb movie. It is about a teenage employee working at Megaplex during the night of a major movie premier. He is forced to bring his siblings with him. His brother becomes entranced with an elderly movie fanatic. Meanwhile, he starts encountering strange things during the lead up to a premier. This includes equipment going on the fritz, and tied up employees. It is eventually discovered that there is a mysterious masked figure lurking in the Megaplex. It is up to the lead and his siblings to find this “phantom of the Megaplex,” and make sure the premier goes on without a hitch. The story is very evidently silly, and even the major plot twist with the phantom is a little stupid. With that said, Phantom of the Megaplex has a clear love towards cinema, particularly to old school movies. The younger brother’s fascination with movies was similar to my own interest in films, which may explain why I loved this movie so much as a kid. The late, great Mickey Rooney is sweet as the elderly man in the Megaplex. His genuine enthusiasm for motion pictures is evident in Phantom of the Megaplex. It is a silly movie very much aimed at kids, however, it is great for how much it glamorizes old school cinema, something many Disney films don’t even bother with.

Disney Gets Sci-Fi Right

Via: iTunes It is weird that quite a few of Disney Channel movies are sci-fi. Science fiction stories generally need large budgets, especially if they plan to showcase a lot of futuristic stuff. Fortunately, Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century is a sci-fi movie with a very modest story. Despite taking place in the not-so-distant future where a chunk of humanity lives within a space station near Earth, most of the movie actually takes place on the Earth. The lead character Zenon used to live in the space station. She is punished by going down to Earth and living with her aunt for a little while. Zenon has trouble fitting in with her new classmates and understanding how society works on Earth. She later discovers a plot that puts the whole space station in trouble, and it is up to her and her friends to save the day. The entire premise and story of Zenon is very much rooted in children's fantasy. The sets look cheap, but at least they are interesting to look at. Despite releasing in 2001, the fashion is still hilariously 90s. Honestly, what makes Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century a classic Disney Channel film is because it is actually pretty well-written for a kids’ movie, and the lead actress is actually really charming. Kirsten Storms as Zenon may be the best thing about the movie, which explains why Disney had two sequels for it.

So Much Drama

via Kim Possible Wiki - Fandom I was always puzzled with Kim Possible. Was it a girl show, or was a show for both boys and girls? I watched a lot of episodes as a kid, so I assumed I liked it. But I also adored Cardcaptors as a kid, and I knew that was a girl's show. I know in the grand scheme of things it doesn’t matter, as a good show is a good show no matter what. Kim Possible was a good show no matter what the intended gender it was aiming towards. It was just something I thought a lot about as a kid. Kim Possible was apparently so popular that there were two Disney Channel movies. Kim Possible Movie: So The Drama was the second animated film released on Disney Channel. While I don’t think So The Drama is as good as the first Kim Possible movie (which I’ll get to later on in the list), it is still a pretty entertaining movie. Both Kim Possible films are a little bit darker than the main series, which is always good in my book. I think films should always be darker and more serious than the TV shows. So The Drama had a more direct influence on the Kim Possible TV show than the previous film. This movie ends with Kim finally kissing her longtime best friend/sidekick Ron Stoppable, and from that point on they would begin dating in the show.

Mermen Deserve Screen Time Too

via moviefone.com There are a lot of stories about Mermaids, but how many stories do we know about Mermen? Disney Channel appeared to recognize this large oversight and decided to create a film starring a teenage boy who discovers he is a merman. The film is called The Thirteenth Year. After turning thirteen, young Cody Griffin begins experiencing weird things with his body. He starts growing scales, and he is swimming much faster. Not only that, he can also manipulate electricity for some reason. Having been adopted, he soon discovers his birth mother is a mermaid. The father of his best friend, who is obsessed with mermaids, decides to use him in order to lure out his mermaid mother and capture her. There is a lot of weird stuff in this film, including Cody learning to control electricity. Some of the mermaid costumes and effects are kind of hit or miss. The scales growing on Cody at first look pretty good. When he turns full-on mermaid though, that’s when he looks a little ridiculous. There are some dark aspects in this film, especially with the stuff that includes the friend’s father. There is a surprisingly large amount of grit with the father’s performance. It is overall a fun movie that takes the silly premise serious enough to make it actually feel palpable, yet still avoids making it seem too stern.

The Girl That Started It All

Via: Bustle Hilary Duff was, in many ways, the predecessor of future Disney teen idols like Miley Cyrus and Selena Gomez. She starred in the very popular Lizzie McGuire during the early 2000s, and had a successful music career. She isn’t in the starlight as much as she was back then, but I remember her being one of the first Disney Channel stars. During the midst of the Lizzie McGuire show, she took time to make this Disney Channel Original movie called Cadet Kelley. Duff plays Kelly Collins, a free-spirited young girl who is forced to move away from her artsy school after her mother remarries. Her new step father gets a position in a military school, and Kelly is forced to start attending there. She has a hard time connecting with the other students, and develops a rivalry with her superior, played by Christy Carlson Romano from Kim Possible and Even Stevens. She eventually discovers an interest in joining the drill team. Despite having a lot of Disney Channel clichés, the acting is actually pretty okay. Duff and Romano have always been good teen actresses, and they are the glue that makes this movie work. The drill scenes where they twirl around rifles and marches are pretty impressively well choreographed. It’s an overall a solid outing for Disney Channel.

Great Show Great Movie

via bustle.com It’s weird for me to think how big of a celebrity Shia LaBeouf became after Even Stevens. In my mind, he will always be that young teen on that show, which is odd considering I actually rarely saw an episode of Even Stevens. It was always advertised on the Disney Channel though, so I would recognize him all the time. Despite how seldom I actually watched the Even Stevens TV show, I watched The Even Stevens Movie a lot as a young kid. The movie focuses on the titular Stevens family going on vacation to a tropical island. Louis Stevens, played by LaBeouf, does something foolish to make the locals upset and shun his family. Eventually, it is revealed that the island is a hoax, and they are all being filmed for a reality prank show called Family Fake Out. The TV crew keeps throwing more and more horrible things at them, including a killer squirrel. The premise is a little bit crazier compared to the relatively tame TV show, though it is a lot of stupid fun. Seeing Shia LaBeouf run away from a rabid squirrel is both idiotic and funny. Chemistry of the cast, who have been doing the show for a few years at that point, is pretty solid. LaBeouf and Christy Carlson Romano, who plays Louis’ sister Ren, carry the movie with how well they play off of each other.

Kid s Spookfest Done Right

via ew.com Even though Disney Channel prides itself for how kid-friendly it is, the channel is actually home to a lot of “scary” movies. When I say “scary,” I mean scary movies for kids. You won’t see anything super violent or gory on Disney Channel. Still, there are quite a lot of horror movies among the Disney Channel pantheon. They are usually Halloween movies. While most, if any, were hardly scary, a lot of these Disney Channel horror movies did have impressive make-up and costumes. They were also a lot darker than most Disney Channel films. One of the best horror movies on Disney Channel was Don’t Look Under The Bed. This “scary” movie is about young teenager name Frances, who is being framed around town for many extreme pranks. She encounters an imaginary friend, who can only be seen by young children and her. The imaginary friend informs her that a boogeyman is framing her for all the weird stuff around town. The story is actually really imaginative, and the concepts the movie brings up about imaginary friends and boogeyman is actually interesting. The fact that boogeymen are created when children stop believing in their imaginary friends too early is actually really creative and fascinating. The story is a little bit more mature than the usual Disney Channel flare, and it is a pretty fun film to watch.

Icky Food Great Film

via moviefone.com I’m not a foodie at all, and even then I think the food as shown in Eddie’s Million Dollar Cook-Off looks pretty disgusting. It isn’t the food so much, the reason why I like this movie, but more so of how much fun it is to watch it. There are two big food fight scenes in this movie, and both are really fun to watch. Besides Luck of the Irish, this movie is probably the Disney Channel film I’ve seen the most. Eddie’s Million Dollar Cook-Off is about a boy name Eddie, who is the star baseball player on his team. He literally carries his entire team, and his dad helps coach. Eddie eventually discovers a passion for cooking, and decides to spend more of his time cooking rather than playing baseball. He wants to participate in a cooking competition for a million dollar tuition. There’s a lot of gender-normality stereotypes in this film, particularly how judgmental everyone is towards Eddie’s love for cooking. At least the film makes an effort to question these stereotypes, and, again, this movie is a lot of fun. Not all of the teen acting works, but at least all the actors appear to be having a blast being in the film. It is certainly one of the better Disney Channel sports films.

Totally Gnarly Film

via poddinthistogether.com Disney Channel and sports movies don’t often click. There something about mixing the usual Disney Channel formula with the typical sports film clichés that don’t really work. It is one thing for a movie to be about an underdog athlete or sports team that proves everyone wrong through hard work and determination. It is another thing for that same movie to be about preteens and other things you’ll find in Disney movies. This is not to say there aren’t some Disney Channel classics that are sports films. As I mentioned above, I think Eddie’s Million Dollar Cook-Off is a very fun movie. Brink!, one of Disney’s earlier sports film, is also pretty good. Brink! is about an inline skater nicknamed Brink. He begins working for a group of sponsored skaters after he finds out his family is in financial trouble. He keeps it a secret from his friends and family, as he doesn’t want them to believe he sold out. The idea of how Brink and his buddies only skate for the fun of it and not for the money is ridiculous. It also comes off really manipulative and forced. Despite that, the film is pretty good. The performances of the leads are pretty grounded, meaning it isn’t over-the-top. There is a scene where Brink admits that he wanted the fame along with the money when he joined the sponsored group. It showed that his reasons weren’t one hundred percent altruist, making him more relatable.

Lindsay In Her Prime

via YouTube (cherrypratt) There’s a real tragedy in watching a young and innocent Lindsay Lohan in a Disney Channel Original movie. Now knowing the direction her career ended up going, it is hard to watch something like this and not be upset in seeing how truly talented Lohan was at one point. She was witty, charming, and was overall pretty adorable as a young actress. Now she is nothing more than a celebrity punchline. Before her career took a turn for the worse, she had time to star in the Disney Channel original movie, Get a Clue. In the film, she plays a young girl who works for her school’s gossip column. She eventually gets sucked into an investigation when one of her teachers goes missing. Lohan is really charming as the lead role, reminding viewers that she was a talented kid actress at one point. The main mystery is engaging, if not a little nonsensical. Overall the film feels more competent and put together than most Disney Channel flicks. Its directing feels tighter, and the child acting feels more natural than usual. This may be due to having Lohan as the lead. She was coming off The Parent Trap, her breakout role, and Disney Channel may have given this film a tighter budget to accommodate their star. Whatever the reasons, it makes Get a Clue a pretty amusing film.

The Ultimate Summer Film

via animationmagazine.net Phineas and Ferb came out around the time when I stopped watching cartoons. I was also very judgmental towards the show at first, as I thought it looked dumb to me. Of course, I was proven wrong when some of my cousins made me watch the film version of the show, and I realized how dumb I was. Phineas and Ferb is a funny and very clever show, and the film may be a prime example of the show’s creativity. Phineas And Ferb the Movie: Across The 2nd Dimension has the lead duo traveling to an alternate dimension, where they encounter doppelgangers of themselves. Doofenshmirtz of the alternate dimension is a far more competent and evil villain compared to the original one. He travels to the original dimension to conquer it like he did with his own. It is up to Phineas, Ferb, Perry the Platypus, and the rest of their friends to save the day. The movie is really funny. A particular highlight for me is when the alternate Doofenshmirtz explains his tragic backstory to the original Doofenshmirtz, only to reveal he turned evil simply because he lost his toy train as a child. The movie is better animated than the show, and for once in the show, there are actual stakes in the conflict. It makes the movie more engaging to watch compared to the light-heartedness of the show.

A Great Way To Cap A Series

via movies.disney.com The Proud Family TV show was an animated series that centered on a fourteen-year-old girl named Penny Proud, and the weird shenanigans she and her family find themselves in. It is mostly a light-hearted comedy, yet the show would touch on a variety of different subjects and genres. For example, in the Halloween episode, Penny literally becomes a super hero and fights a super villain. There are also a surprising amount of serious episodes that talk about real issues, like racism and the segregation of women in sports. People find the story of The Proud Family Movie to be out of touch with the rest of the show, especially compared to those serious episodes. However, I would like to remind those same people that The Proud Family show had a magical man who grants Penny’s wishes. In the before mentioned movie, the Proud family gets invited to a mysterious island. It is revealed that they are being used by an evil humanoid peanut man, who wants a secret formula for peanuts that Penny’s father had just discovered. The movie works despite the ludicrous plot because of how well it closes the series. The main focus of the film is the relationship between Penny and her father, which has always been the linchpin of the entire series. It gives the show a satisfying, yet silly conclusion.

Hot Then You re Cold

via moviefone.com Fish out of water stories are a dime a dozen within the Disney Channel pantheon. It is essentially their go-to story cliché. I feel like there are a hundred Disney Channel movies about a preteen who is forced into a new environment. It is not as if I do not like these stories, in fact, a lot of the Disney Channel films on this list are fish out of water movies. Disney is able to truly milk the fish out of water story for all its worth. Zenon was a fish out of water set in the future, and in space! Johnny Tsunami is a fish out of water story about a surfer from Hawaii moving to the snowy mountains of Vermont. Whereas I may like Zenon more due to its protagonist and sci-fi setting, Johnny Tsunami probably had the better fish out of water story. The lead’s willingness to adapt to his new environment, and actually attempt to learn snowboarding early in the film, adds a new wrinkle to the usual clichés that deal with these types of stories. The father of the lead also goes through a character arc, which wasn’t common in Disney Channel films. Usually, parents were portrayed as being always in the right, whose authorities should not be question. It is not the case in Johnny Tsunami.

Gone Too Soon

via imdb.com It is kind of hard to watch Jett Jackson: The Movie after the tragic passing of the lead star, Lee Thompson Young. Though Young lived for another twelve years after the end of the Jett Jackson TV show, the circumstances of his passing makes the film feel somewhat tragic. A victim of bipolar disorder and depression, Young would end it all in 2013. Young was the star of The FamousJett Jackson TV show, and the movie version. The show was about a teenage actor named Jett Jackson, who was the star of a fictional TV show called Silverstone. He plays the title character, who’s a secret double agent. The show would often focus on how Jackson would juggle his personal life with his professional life. Jett Jackson: The Movie was about him trading places with the fictional character he portrayed in Silverstone. It means Jackson was stuck in the fictional world pretending to be Silverstone, while Silverstone was trapped in the real world. The show and movie never shy away from showing the tumultuous life a teen superstar faces. Jackson had to juggle his job, school, and keeping all his friends within his daily life. Knowing about Young’s own personal struggles, it is hard to see this film and not think about the real life tragedy with the lead star. In some ways, it makes the movie richer, but it also leaves the movie feel more depressing despite the happy ending.

Comical With Solid Effects

via popsugar.com The make-up and effects of Disney Channel movies are often pretty cheap. These are low budget made-for-TV movies that are aimed at kids. Not a lot money is put into these movies in the first place. With that said, Disney Channel has surprised me with some of their movies. For instance, Luck of the Irish has surprisingly good effects to create the illusion of how small leprechauns are. Under Wraps is the first official Disney Channel Original film, predating all the Zenons, Halloweentowns, and every other Disney Channel flick. It is also possibly the darkest Disney Channel movie, centering on a group of kids who befriend a living mummy. The kids talk more vulgar than the usual Disney Channel children, giving a film an uncommon grit to it. The make-up of the mummy is pretty great. At times the mummy really does look frightening. Other times he seems like a goofball. It works really seamlessly. Underneath all the appendages and mummy clothes, the movie is about identifying with monsters. The monsters are generally seen as outcasts, yet the movie chooses to showcase them as being misunderstood. The main leads of the story have always been monster fanatics and have been isolated because of it. The mummy showcase the importance of keeping that individuality of themselves, and why it is important to be a freak. At least that’s how I read the movie.

A Fun Film For A Great Series

via: cartoonpregnancy.wikia.com The events of Kim Possible Movie: A Sitch In Time become void at the end of the film, where the events of the entire movie are erased from history. It makes the film feel inconsequential, especially compared to the sequel So The Drama. So The Drama ended with Kim finally getting together with her best friend Ron, which was carried over to the final leg of the show. Despite that, I think A Sitch In Time is a more fun movie. A Sitch In Time had a much darker movie compared to the TV show, including things like an apocalyptic future. It also finally reveals how Kim started out as a crime fighter. Time travel is always a fun mechanic to have in a show, and the movie never goes too far with the whole time travel mumble jumble. The animation has a slight upgrade, and the action scenes are entertaining. It is unfortunate that the whole movie is essentially erased from existence when the leads go through the time portal to prevent the villains from getting the MacGuffin in the first place. It is a sour note to leave off, even though it was very evident that certain aspects of the movie couldn’t possibly be carried over to the main show. Still, Kim Possible Movie: A Sitch In Time is a good movie and probably the best animated feature on Disney Channel.

Not Afraid To Talk About Issues

via Kizi.Video A lot of the political aspects went right over my head when I was little, including the parts about South Africa’s apartheid. It’s a really complex movie, highlighting the complicated political system that was going on in South Africa at the time. Most importantly though, The Color of Friendship was all about racism. Even as a little kid I recognized racism, and I also understood the importance of what the film was trying to show. I may not have comprehended all of it, but I knew enough. The Color of Friendship takes place in 1977, at the height of South Africa’s apartheid controversy. A young black girl from Washington, named Piper, convinces her congressmen father to take in a South African exchange student. Believing she would be receiving a black student, she instead gets a white South African named Mahree. Mahree, who comes from well-off family, is completely ignorant towards the issues of apartheid, making it difficult for her to bond with Piper. I know racism is difficult subject to tell kids, especially at a young age, yet I feel like it is important for kids to learn these things at a very young age. The Color of Friendship, with its strong performance and grounded story, dares children to think about social issues that you wouldn’t see much in any other kid’s movie.