Princess Protection Program: Review

As Family Channel fans would know, June 26 was the premiere of Disney Channel Original Movie Princess Protection Program (also titled Princess Protection Programme in Britain and UK English speaking nations). Now, people would start asking ... why is a guy watching this movie? Well, read on and find out more!

In short, Princess Protection Program is about two girls, one of them, a princess as the title of the movie kinda gave away. The other, a tomboy from Louisiana. Princess Rosalinda (Lovato) was put into the protection of the Princess Protection Program because of an evil dictator who attempted a coupe d'etat on the little tiny island nation of Costa Luna. In order to evade capture, the protection program renames Rosalinda as Rosie and sends her to Louisiana with Major Mason. At first, Major Mason's daughter, a tomboy named Carter (Gomez), gets annoyed by Rosie's behaviour. Through thick and thin, the two quickly became friends and goes off to a great adventure.

Although Princess Protection Program is made as a "princessy" movies like one would think of Cinderella, one would be missing out on what the story really is about. Sure, it has princes and princesses, but the core of the story is about friendship and transformation. This movie wouldn't had worked if it weren't for the two star actors. Demi Lovato and Selena Gomez are best friends and the only way to show true friendship, even on screen is when you put two best friends together on the same set. To make things better for the audience is that it's more enjoyable to know that the actors are real best friends (or what most teens would call BFFs), so those who follow Disney Channel personalities would enjoy the movie more than let's say a parent would. I don't believe that there really has a movie before it that really showed friendship that well. This is the part that got me into watching the movie. I didn't watch it because it was about princesses ... if it was just a princess story, I would actually stay away like every other guy. However, it isn't so I still watched it. Another thing I liked about the movie is that Lovato's character isn't your everyday fairy tale princess which I found to be something interesting and different. In addition, I never knew that Lovato was so fluent in French.

Unfortunately, the movie seemed short without much meat to the story and there is a feeling that they had to cut the story short just to fit the standard Disney Channel Original Movie timeslot. The movie could well go into the 2 hour range with even more scenes that amplified the two characters and actors' friendship and the interaction between the two. I think another part that kind of made the movie a bit less enjoyable was that Family Channel (not so sure down in the States) but I think Family Channel really started to get annoying about promoting Princess Protection Program. Especially with the annoying banners at the bottom of the screens from Lovato's Sonny with a Chance and Gomez's Wizards of Waverly Place airings (which Family Channel apologized to me stating that it was a technical glitch). Another annoyance was the fact that they aired a lot of clips from what is already a short movie. So, some of the things the audience already knew it was going to happen.

Other than the disappointments, it was still quite an enjoyable movie with two of Disney's best actresses (and even singers) ... Lovato and Gomez are truly "one and the same". Speaking about "One and the Same", I would have to admit that I can't really tell much of a difference between Demi's and Selena's voice for their song.

So be sure to check out for the reruns of Princess Protection Program and lucky for you, if you're interested, the next rerun at press time is Saturday, June 27, 2009 at 12:00pm EST. For those who loved the movie and didn't have a recording of the video can get the Princess Protection Program: BFF Edition DVD that is being released on Tuesday, June 30, 2009. If you're also a Selena Gomez and Wizards of Waverly Place fan like I am, be sure to catch her next movie Wizards of Waverly Place: Stone of Dreams premiering this August on Family Channel and Disney Channel in the States.

Rating: 3.5/5
Genre: Fantasy, and Comedy
Regulatory Rating: G
Publisher: Family Channel (Disney Channel, USA)