Princess Protection Program - Mission Rosalinda

With all the hype that the Magic Kingdom has been giving this film over the past several months, I expected something a lot better from the Princess Protection Program. I think most kids even those who look at stars Demi Lovato and Selena Gomez as role models and they're not bad ones either, would find this film just too much.

Selena is the daughter of widower Tom Verica who is the owner of a bait shop in the bayous of Louisiana and also works for the CIA. He just finished a mission where he rescued a princess from a small Caribbean island nation which just had a military coup. Now he's deposited Princess Demi Lovato with his daughter and drawn her into his other life.

Selena's mission and she's got no choice but to accept it is to make Lovato blend in like a normal teen, at least a normal teen in the Disney view. From the politics of Lovato's nation to the politics of Gomez's high school, the two girls get off to a rocky start, but in the end become great pals.

In the pattern of what they do at Disney Studios when they have successful stars from successful shows they always try to mix and match and team these stars in film projects. This was one case where the film idea was so preposterous no matter how appealing these two young women are, they simply couldn't put it over. They're both far better at their Disney shows than in this film.

I mean really, CIA dad gets daughter to help out on one of his missions? I don't think Princess Protection Program would have ever been made if Disney himself was around, though perhaps for different reasons than I didn't like it.

Every time I watch this movie I always think of Princess diaries cause you've got a girl who is a princess she runs away from her country and befriends a girl named Carter(Selena Gomez) and she learns what its like as an ordinary girl. The plot is easy enough to follow but the ending is a bit of a letdown. I saw it on Disney Channel so many times I think it was a nice film suitable for teenagers who are 12 up.

Demi Lovato and Selena Gomez star in this fairytale all about friendship and being royal.

The cast is OK Selena Gomez was alright and Demi Lovato was a real princess.The music is average and the whole story is a bit like Cinderella meets princess diaries in a way.

If you have any one who loves fairy tales and who likes DCOM's then I suggest that you should see it.

I'll give it a 6/10 as it was a decent flick with an OK message.

Carter Mason (Selena Gomez) only has her father Joe (Tom Verica). He goes away to protect princess Rosalinda Montoya (Demi Lovato). General Magnus Kane (Johnny Ray) takes over her country. She escapes with colonel Mason under the International Princess Protection Program. She is relocated to live with Joe in Louisiana under the new identity of Rosie Gonzalez. Now she must adjust to high school life in America while being harassed by mean girl Chelsea (Jamie Chung).

The premise is silly. It's nothing unexpected from Disney. One must accept the stupidity and go on with the movie. This is about the performances of the two girls and their chemistry. They are good actresses and they have good screen presence. They are compatible together. They're really the only saving grace in an otherwise weak high shool movie.

Witness Protection Program is the first Disney film I watched for 2009. Like many other Disney films, this is educational, entertaining, albeit highly predictable. No points in figuring out the ending, but it's still nice to watch the entire film, to see how the film progress.

I am not giving any plots away, because doing that, then you wouldn't have to watch the film altogether.

The film is educational. It deals about father-daughter relationship, about growing up, and about how perception makes people treat others differently.

Teens, especially are quick to judge a person simply based on how, say, a person dresses, or how a person talks. Wear a thick glasses people may think that he/she is geeky/nerd. Have a stud in the nose, and one quickly judge that he/she is a cousin/niece of the cow family.

But it is not that simple. It is not clear cut, black-and-white thing, after all. No one can judge a person without knowing the other person first.

And this film deals with exactly just that. About how a princess is immediately perceived as being shallow, and does not know how to do chores. It teaches us that it doesn't matter who we are, what color our skin are, what language we speak, what matters is what's inside.

Enough typing. Bring your pre-teens to watch this film, and impart onto them that they should not judge quickly their friends, to take the time to know others better before making their judgment.

Should have given this film an 8, but I think it deserves only a 7 because of the highly predictable ending.

This is a pretty good formulaic movie from the Disney people as a princess gets placed in a witness relocation program and relocated to a teen's family in Louisiana. She has to try and fit into high school life with fairly funny results. Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato make a good team in the lead roles. My favorite scenes are the hamburger scene and the yogurt store scene. You might like this if you are a Disney fan.

** 1/2 out of ****