Zoey 102

Most of the characters we know and love return in this very odd, difficult to characterize film.

Is it a drama, a wedding reunion, a roadtrip comedy, a murder mystery? -My head is still reeling trying to make sense of it all. It seems like the writing room took everyone's ideas and ran with them all at once without giving it much thought.

As a millennial who really enjoyed the escapist nature of the original series, the last thing I wanted to see was the characters I love struggling to find their footing in the adult world.

I would have preferred to see evolved characters with remnants of their high school quirks act in adult functions related to the PCA campus-whether it be teachers, administrators, board of directors, donors, or parents.

Zoey 102 is a bonus movie of the teen tv series Zoey 101 that had aired more than a decade ago (close to two actually).

If you haven't watched the series, you probably won't get some of the jokes, which does take some of the fun out, as the rest of the movie is boring and makes no sense.

The story is messy and handles too many subjests, and leaves them all underdeveloped and half baked. Not to mention that most of the characters had no storyline, only a character cell.

Finally, the plot is cheesy and it does feel like it was written in the early 2000's. And what was the deal with all that sci fi advanced technology gadgets that they added?

"Zoey 102" is a movie that I really thought wouldn't work, I was shocked though how much I actually really enjoyed this movie, for the most part.

Starting with the good, I think all the old cast members do a really great job at getting back into character. It was really nice to catch up with everyone. I liked the main story here, I though it fit very well for a Zoey 101 reboot. I also really like some of the new characters, particularly Dean Geyer and Audrey Whitney. I really like both of them and though they were pretty funny. Along with that I also thought the film was decently funny. And finally I was surprised how well shot the movie was. The lighting was very vibrant and overall it was a good looking movie.

However all of the new stuff including the subplot with Zoeys job I thought was very boring. I was really entertained with the main story but whenever it went back to that part of the movie I honestly was getting very bored. I also thought the pacing at times suffered as the movie felt a little longer than it was. And finally I did wish there was some more callbacks to the original series just to make it feel more like Zoey 101.

Overall though, despite a pretty bland subplot and pacing issues I did find this to be a pretty decent catch-up with the old series.

I wanted to go into this not being a bitter hater because Jamie Lynn Spears does not deserve good publicity. But having watched this show when I was young I was intrigued anyway.

1. Too much is going on. There's a subplot about Zoey's job that really takes up to much of the run time.

I'd rather focus on the wedding.

2. For the most part, I feel like the characters have some semblance of who they once were. Like Stacey being an obsessive true crime podcaster makes sense somehow.

Quinn only had like... one moment of being a weirdo.

Zoey... she never seemed like the person who passively accepted misogyny. It's a real world thing, but would she really stay at a job that ignores her for that long? She had more gumption as a teenage girl.

3. I had a few laughs, so the jokes weren't completely horrible. Like PCA being an unaccredited school was a good tongue in cheek joke.

4. I had to grab a drink after the 30 minute mark to be honest.

5. Jamie Lynn being a horrible person to her costars and her sister makes it hard to remember I'm watching Zoey. Or that the show itself was toxic as all get out.

6. iCarly is a better example of how to actually revive a series for an adult audience.

I don't know why Nickelodeon greenlit this but Jamie Lynn needs money I guess.

Overall, if you don't care about the drama behind the scenes, that Jamie Lynn is a monster and just wanna watch your bonus episode of Zoey 101, I'd say go for it.

It's not common to find a light movie getting so polarized opinions. 50% in RT, 50% here in ImdB, 4.9/10 in Filmaffinity. I really wanted to give it more than 5/10 but I have to agree with the average, for some reasons I would like to explain.

The movie have just a remarkable 9-minute sequence, the karaoke joint. The revelation of PCA academy as being unlicensed and the "Time of our lives" duet are funny. But in the rest of this is 101-min long mess there are flaws and not very funny things. Zoey being trapped with Chase inside a full automatic car and claiming not knowing how to open the door, when all she has to do is call the owner, that is nonsense. The truth about the fake Zoey's boyfriend in the last scene is unnecessary portrayed. And those feminist references sprinkled here and there in the movie are not funny at all.

As to the cast, it was good to see Mark and Stacey characters practically unchanged, but Quinn should have preserved her black hair at least. Sad thing Lola doesn't appear even when Victoria Justice should accept any role considering the little success she's having in the business.

In summary, this movie is a product of the inexperience, as much in writing as in directing, but has some moments that hardcore Zoey fans will appreciate. But I'm not one of them.