There honestly isn’t much to say about the Disney Channel’s latest movie The Princess Protection Program. It’s a competent and cute little paint by the numbers affair staring Disney’s newest “stars” Selena Gomez as “Tom Boy” Carter Mason who is forced to be friends with Princess Rosalinda / Rosie Gonzales played by Demi Lovato who was in the Disney film Camp Rock and appeared in the Jonas Brother’s concert film. Rosalinda’s Kingdom is taken over by an evil General which forces her to go into hiding.
Carter’s dad happens to be an operative for a secret organization called the Princess Protection Program whose job it is to hide and protect Princess’ throughout the world. So of course we get to see the Princess trying to adjust to being a normal American Teenager while Carter gets jealous at the attention her dad shows Rosie. My issue with the movie is that Selena and Demi look too much alike, they could practically pass for twins and the movie feels like it was produced in a “factory.” There’s no there, there. But it’s a perfectly harmless time waster and the two leads are likeable enough.
Features
Disney is calling this DVD “The Princess Protection Program: Royal BFF Extended Edition,” so I was expecting some more oomph to the package and I for the life of me can’t see what’s been “extended.” I guess it means they added a few extra minutes to a movie that was already really short.
The DVD starts with trailers for Snow White, The Princess and the Frog, The Jonus Brother’s 3D Concert Experience, A Disney Blu-ray Trailer (which is pointless on a regular DVD). It takes forever for the movie to start, but Disney does include this thing called Fast Play which lets you skip right to the movie. Bonus features include 2 featurettes – Royal and Loyal BFFs (a 7 minute look at the cast) and A Royal Reality (a 5 minute look at real Princesses) and a Music Video for the song One and the Same.
Clips
Conclusion
This is a nice little family DVD but will most likely only appeal to teenage girls. Demi and Selena are likable in that Disney Cookie cutter way. There aren’t enough extra features to get kids to watch the movie again and again, this is a weekend rental at best. It’s available now on Blu-ray and DVD.
Grades
- Movie – B
- Features – C-
- Menu/Navigation – B
Final Overall Grade – B-
EM Review by
Michelle Alexandria
Originally posted 7.12.09