Princess Protection Program - Mission Rosalinda

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 ****

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.

Lovato and Gomez are great actresses in a movie that overall is about as Disney Channel Original as you can get, but it'd be unfair to say it's bad. It's not, it's just kinda cute and charming.

Adults be warned: if you don't have kids, or if you don't enjoy yourself when they do, then you need not watch this movie. If you want to feel young again, go watch Star Trek or something.

This is Disney in its lightest form, without pain, just some bullying at most. This goes for the school environment as well as for the international political environment. Sure, Mr. Evil himself is about as scary as the lion Alex in Madagascar. He did a good job though, learning from cartoon characters, which I'm sure is a Disney trademark.

Also, don't focus on the international part. I speak both French and Spanish, and it hurts me to see them massacred so much. On the other hand, it makes me think I'd make excellent royalty. Apart from the caring part, that is.

The acting is not as bad as described by others. Actually, everybody seems to be having a good time, hoping it wears off to the audience. It works, sometimes. I liked the camera-work, the attention paid to dressing details, the displays of dignity and style. Also, when I said that it was a light movie, I also meant that there's no scenes at night. Vampires abstain.

Nah, it's not like this movie is advisory entertainment, but when they throw all these kid musicals on your plate, it's nice to have something else for dinner. But, again, be in the right mood, or with the right (very young) people.