Kim Possible - Le film: Mission Cupidon

I liked the plot, Kim, Ron, Rufus, and surprisingly Shego. I also think Dr. Drakken is funny when he's angry. Watching this movie makes me think of my senior prom from high school. Also the ending is really touching.

This is my favorite Kim Possible film of the two. A Sitch In Time was good too, but this is tops. Kim and Ron are getting ready for the prom dance at their school, Middleton High. Drakken and Shego cook up a plan to take over the world using cybertronics and a toy design which they stole from a Japanese toy maker, Nakasumi-san, and Kim's dad. Kim falls for a boy named Eric who has just enrolled at the school leaving Ron to look for another date for the prom. Meanwhile 'Lil Diablo toys run amok at Bueno Nacho, Ron's Favorite restaurant. Can Kim and Ron foil Drakken's latest take-over-the-world plan and find dates for the prom? You'll just have to watch and find out!

The story is really good and believable, and some of the lines are really funny. My favorite line was Shego saying "Ya'know, one of these days we reeeeeeally need to get that hair dryer away from her." This film is truly "So the drama"!

(Note: IMDb's automatic spell-corrector will not let me spell the title of the previous Kim Possible film correctly. It's "A S-i-t-c-h in Time", not "S-T-i-t-c-h".)

This is an easy one to tell if you will like it or not--the film is typical Kim Possible territory. If you like the show, you'll like this film. If you haven't seen anything featuring Kim Possible yet, this is probably not the best place to start. (Just to give you the basic gist of the character, think of an animated Buffy the Vampire slayer (the film or early seasons of the television series), but instead of the horror orientation, make Buffy a teenaged James Bond, with all of the adventure, gadgets and villains that implies, and mix in heavy doses of sci-fi and humor.) Start with the television episodes, then work your way up to the films--you'll appreciate them more that way, as they do everything the episodes do, but "turned up to 11". If you can't watch the show on The Disney Channel, pick up or rent either The Secret Files (2003) or The Villain Files (2004) on DVD, as both of those are "film-like" compilations of television episodes. This is the second "legitimate" Kim Possible film, after A Stitch in Time (2003). I thought that A Stitch in Time was a bit better, but this is still an excellent film.

In So the Drama, Kim Possible villain Dr. Drakken (John Di Maggio) and his "sidekick" Shego (Nicole Sullivan) are hatching their latest plot to acquire world domination. It involves technology developed by Kim Possible's (Christy Carlson Romano) rocket scientist dad, Dr. Possible (Gary Cole), and it affects Kim and Ron Stoppable (Will Friedle) in different ways, both very close to their hearts. Can they stop Dr. Drakken's mad scheme?

As Kim Possible stories will do, there is also a high-school oriented subplot. The prom is fast approaching and because of Kim's world-saving activities, she has not had time for a boyfriend. As cheerleading nemesis Bonnie Rockwaller (Kirsten Storms) points out, all of the most eligible boys--meaning all of the star jocks--are already taken. What will Kim do, take the Chess Club Captain to the prom?

So the Drama is not quite as dense as A Stitch in Time. By that I mean that it's not as layered, and it's not quite as "fast". A Stitch in Time worked on multiple levels at the same time, delivering more adult humor and social satire at the same time that it delivered material more geared towards young teens and older preteens. It tended to move its jokes by very quickly--with some contained in dialogue, some in subtle character actions and some in backgrounds/settings--in a way that bore a resemblance to "The Simpsons". While So the Drama has the same basic attitude and attributes, it's a simpler and somewhat mellower film, a bit less focused on humor, and occasionally shows more of an influence from anime and even commercial (as in graphic arts, advertising, etc.) visual design. The relative simplicity and lessened focus on humor is what kept me from granting a 10 to this film, as I did with A Stitch in Time.

The visual design I mentioned above is extremely interesting. I'll just mention a few of the more unusual features (this stuff is fascinating to me because I'm also a visual artist): The opening of the film is a quickly paced action sequence (with an amusing reference to the 1989 Tim Burton Batman) that at times has just fast-moving patches of color as a background. Later, the animators vacillate a bit between the more typical flat, 2D Kim Possible style and some highly stylized 3D modeling. Once Drakken releases his minions, there are some beautiful graphic-arts oriented patterns in the "armies", occasionally with that stylized 3D modeling, and occasionally layered with many other visual styles. There is also a fair amount of well-integrated computer animation/modeling.

Kim's prom subplot allows an exploration of the romantic tension between Ron and Kim. That's something I hadn't noticed much in the show before (I've seen quite a few of the television episodes, but certainly not all of them--maybe it's explored more in some of the episodes I've missed), but it's just as fascinating as similar romantic tensions between television characters of the past, such as Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) in "The X-Files" (1993). It also gives scripters Mark McCorkle and Robert Schooley a chance to emphasize Ron's dorky side (his scooter is particularly hilarious) and Kim's feminine, even sexy side (she gets into a fight in a dress, shows some leg, etc.)--those aspects help underscore the tension and why it may be there in the first place.

The Dr. Drakken plot enables a lot of opportunities to mildly satirize capitalism, and especially consumer service industries, such as fast food restaurants and marketing tie-ins. Of course, since this is a Disney film, that particular satirizing doesn't cut as deeply as it might coming from another source, but there are a lot of sly cracks about customer service, decisions made to benefit the company versus pleasing the consumer, and the attraction we have to trinkets, even when they might mean more trouble than they're worth. There are also subtle references/jokes emphasizing parallels to real world businesses, such as McDonald's.

I watched So the Drama on DVD (the film has also been on The Disney Channel a few times). The DVD has slightly beefier extras than many past Disney releases in this niche. There is a bonus episode of Kim Possible from the television show, a couple deleted scenes from the film that seem like legitimately deleted scenes, two pleasant music videos related to the film, and a truckload of trailers/previews, with at least one--for Herbie: Fully Loaded (2005)--containing some "behind the scenes" footage.

It's too bad "Kim Possible" is done, but this movie makes sure it goes out with a bang. There's a great story, filled with true feelings, angst, teenage humor that should make anyone laugh, and some really cool action scenes. It's one of the best animated movies and TV movies out there. It's definitely the best Disney Channel Original Movie, over Johnny Tsunami and The Famous Jett Jackson Movie. This movie provides the great ending that all the fans really wanted (no spoilers here). Kim Possible used to be a show I would watch with my little siblings, but now, three years after it started, I like to watch it on my own. The movie is no different. It's just a great all around movie that's fun for anyone who wants to watch it. Unfortunately, it's not on TV too much anymore, but I believe it's available on DVD, so go out and rent it if you don't buy it.

So what's the sitch? The usual, Drakkan is preparing to do one of his "take over the world" schemes, aided by Shego. This time, Kim Possible (Christy Carlson Romano in her trademark role) has a boyfriend, Eric, that she has good feelings about (don't worry, he's cool), while her best friend, Ron Stoppable (Will Friedle, in another great role just for him) starts to realize that HE has feelings for Kim! Well, the movie goes and sticks with what made the show great: the catchy phrases, handy gadgets, Ron in trouble, and of course, Kim saving the day. Go see it!! 8/10 --spy

When it came to this movie in particular, it seems as though this would have been the finale to Kim Possible's TV run as a cartoon. Turns out fans of the series protested to the mouse house and demanded another season. Talk about dedication. What makes this final TV movie of baby sitter turned World Saver Kim Possible more enjoyable than Kim Possible: A Sitch in Time (2003) or any other feature is that it nicely ties together the loose ends for Kim Possible in her academic career and personal life. Kim Possible: A Sitch in Time (2003) just had Possible and Stoppable correcting the altered past caused by Dr. Drakken and his goonies playing with the magic time monkey idol. It was good but did not move anything forward, just fixing the past. Here, Dr. Drakken gets even more personal than before to disrupt Kim's livelihood. The best part is Dr. Drakken actually having the upperhand on everybody for a while.

When a new boy named Eric comes to Kim's school, she begins to fall for him. This results in Ron Stoppable becoming jealous, thus having himself reassess his feelings for her. There really isn't much to say about what isn't good about this TV feature. The only thing that's worthy of a critiquing is that the running time could have been longer so Kim Possible could have went out with a bang. Then again, perhaps it was also kept short because fans were demanding another season after this, so it's difficult to say where it really should've concluded. Everything else manages to entertain with ease. All the voice actors return for their respective roles and give enjoyable performances too. Christy Carlson Romano and Will Friedle voicing the comedic action duo still have the skills to do their characters justice.

Nancy Cartwright as Rufus also is another fun role. Even the minor characters return; Wade (Tahj Mowry), Monique (Raven-Symoné), Ned, the Bueno Natcho Cashier (Eddie Deezen) and even Maurice LaMarche (best known as The Brain) plays a character. And of course Shego (Nicole Sullivan) and Dr. Drakken (John DiMaggio) return too as the villain duo that just can't seem to ever get it right when it comes to world conquest. As a side note, April Winchell voices a news reporter and it's hilarious to hear the way she speaks for this character. As a story, Disney writers Robert Schooley and Mark McCorkle made good use of what happens when you take people for granted. Ron Stoppable was so used to being around Kim Possible that he didn't realize what would happen if another guy entered Kim's life that took more precedence over him. It is a very common issue that friend zoned guys come in contact with. Viewers should also have fun watching Stoppable notice that Dr. Drakken still doesn't know his name after so long.

As an animation feature, everything is done accordingly. Since this isn't an official film feature, the animation wasn't polished because it still looks like it belonged to the cartoon. It's nothing to get fussy over though. The action and music also satisfy as usual. Director Steve Loter, who has worked the Kim Possible TV series and the Buzz Lightyear of Star Command TV series definitely knows how to make the action fun. There's plenty of explosions, fight sequences and other things that not every cartoon now a days displays for younger audiences. Lastly, the music provided by TV composer Adam Berry is fine. Berry continues to play the Kim Possible theme and even includes "the naked mole rat" number for Rufus. Any scene in between is used appropriately too. Not much else to say other than a fun time.

Except for not being longer than 70 minutes for Kim Possible's last TV movie, all the other components work like they have been. The voice- actors, action animation, music and comedy continues to entertain fans of the series.