ZoeBean

Forgive me for not having a whole lot to say about this title, since my memory of it is foggy. I do know that it aired during the early evening on July 4, 1997 and, for about five July Fourths after that, I checked the TV Guide hoping it'd be on again, but so far I haven't seen it.

The story focused on a family -- Ryan Merriman played the son -- and was set, I believe, in the near future. It was a kind of sci-fi "what if" scenario, in which -- I believe -- people who needed organs and who also happened to be rich & special could receive them through a kind of black market for organs. Ryan's character was abducted and taken from his family.

There was something else going on in the movie, too... I just remember a kind of apocalypse-like situation.

But I really liked it! I wish it was available on DVD or SOMETHING.

When I first saw this movie, I wanted to run far, far away. The cheese! The corniness! The horror! But years later, I have come to appreciate it. Everyone who's familiar with the BSC will definitely watch this movie looking for any discrepancies from the series, and discrepancies abound. As for the actresses who play the Baby-Sitters? Well, one's wearing a wig, another is way older than the others, and one just seemed like a bad casting choice altogether. And as for the plot? Kristy's dad coming to town and everything involving that was a real downer. Plus, the Stacey/Luka thing (despite the fact that Luka is HOT!) was just WEIRD. The best parts in the movie were those involving the play group. What also saves this movie is its hidden talent(s) -- look for Kyla Pratt, Scarlett Pomers ("I've been to the moon!"), Larisa Oleynik, Rachael Leigh Cook, Marla Sokoloff, and Austin O'Brien. So all in all I've chosen to look past the cheese and realize that this movie is just a G-rated romp about friendship that really isn't a waste of your afternoon to watch. 7 stars out of 10.

1995's Freaky Friday remake seemed like a good idea at the time. You've got two great actresses -- Shelley Long and Gaby Hoffmann -- to play the mother and daughter. You've got half the cast of 1995's "The Baby-sitters Club" (Asher Metchik, Natanya Ross, Marla Sokoloff). And then there's the cameo appearances that every Disney film should have (Carol Kane, Drew Carey, Sandra Bernhard). So what's the problem? First of all, as another reviewer suggested, it should NOT be compared to the original. The plots are nothing alike except for the mother-daughter switching thing. Their lives, predicaments, and personalities in the original and the remake are completely different. Even so, I'm going to compare them just long enough to say that in the original, you could believe Ellen was in Annabel's body and vice versa. With this 1995 version, Ellen and Annabel's personalities were so similar to begin with (both kind of loud, bold, etc.) that I was totally NOT convinced they'd even switched places. What's more, the film just goes on and on. Alan Rosenberg's character gets to yell a lot. And the end is really anticlimactic. Despite all of this, it's a decent movie and I'm surprised it hasn't been picked up to air on the Disney channel every once in a while. And if they would be so kind as to start airing these older movies they should definitely consider "The Great Mom Swap" -- another ABC gem from the same year.