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ChatGPT wrote this Disney movie | Episode 32: Upside-Down Magic
34 Plays23 days ago
Join us for this magical mess of a movie! Upside-Down Magic is a knock-off Harry Potter, and definitely not in a good way… but we all know a bad movie makes for a good podcast episode 😂
Let's discuss:
– This upside-down plot 🙃
– Budd is actually Hagrid ☂️
– Did a computer write this script? 🤔
All that and more in this episode!
Upside Down Magic is a 2020 movie starring Izabela Rose, Siena Agudong, and Kyle Howard. It is based off of the books by Sarah Mlynowski, Lauren Myracle, and Emily Jenkins. You can watch it now on Disney+.
Welcome to Once Upon A DCOM Podcast where we rave (and sometimes roast) classic DCOMs! We're rewatching every single Disney Channel Original Movie.
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Transcript
Introduction to 'Once Upon a Decom'
00:00:00
Speaker
When we were watching the movie, I turned to my husband, Nick, and I just laughed and was like, her Natalie has to do the recap for this plot.
00:00:09
Speaker
Yeah. it's It's a very long recap, and yet nothing happens, and yet I left so much out. You know? Yeah. that So little actually occurs when...
00:00:24
Speaker
But the details are all, there's just so many of them and they're disconnected, but you can't leave one out. It's like trying to explain the Harry Potter universe to someone who has no idea.
00:00:36
Speaker
I think it's even harder than that because at least Harry Potter has some kind of a foundation, like some kind of grounding. This was so insane to me. Like, oh, there's so much to talk about for this movie. Oh my gosh.
Discussion of 'Upside Down Magic'
00:00:57
Speaker
Welcome fellow Disney Channel babes, whether you're from the nostalgic 90s or the awkward odds or you're giving Gen Z, we're glad that you're here. I'm Gabriella. And I'm Natalie. And this is the podcast where we rave and sometimes roast classic Disney Channel original movies. You're listening to Once Upon a Decom.
00:01:16
Speaker
Hi, everyone, and welcome back to Once Upon a DCOM, the podcast where we take you down memory e lane talking about your favorite Disney Channel original movies and some new ones.
00:01:27
Speaker
I'm Gabriela. I'm here with my friend Natalie. How are you today? Hello. i am doing great. Well, I mean, I just watched this movie, so i don't know. I don't know anymore.
00:01:39
Speaker
Yeah. So ah this was not one of our childhood classics, guys. This movie, Upside Down Magic, came out in 2020, so not too long ago.
00:01:50
Speaker
And it was adventure to be generous. i I want to say, just right off the bat, it was not a bad movie, but it was also a bad movie, you know?
00:02:02
Speaker
Like somehow both those things are true. Yeah, I think production value high, storytelling very low. Yeah. Script, garbage.
00:02:12
Speaker
Garbage. Acting, depends who you're talking about. Some of them phenomenal, some of them absolute trash, just to be honest. I'm so sorry. Anyway, I i i don't know where I land is what I'm trying to say.
00:02:25
Speaker
Yeah, I'm not really sure I do either. I honestly watched this movie two weeks ago when we first said that we were going to watch it.
Exploring the Movie's Themes and Differences
00:02:32
Speaker
I got on it pretty quickly. And remember that scene in Pitch Perfect when the girls are singing for the first time together and it's really bad and the frat dude is like, this makes my beer taste bad.
00:02:43
Speaker
Like, that's how I felt. We were eating dinner and I was like, this makes my food taste bad. I don't want to finish this movie. But since then, as I've reflected, I'm like – Did I like it?
00:02:56
Speaker
I think I just have questions I want answered and that's why my brain keeps going back to it. Sure. Well, let me give you guys a little bit of background on Upside Down Magic since you probably don't know anything about it. If you listen to this podcast and you're like us, you probably have like your childhood classic nostalgic favorites like Cheetah Girls and High School Musical. This was not that.
00:03:15
Speaker
So um it was directed by Joe Nassbaum, who has like nothing else to his name that I knew of or cared about. It stars Isabella Rose and Sienna.
00:03:26
Speaker
Oh, I'm so sorry, Sienna. Agudong. Agudong. I think it was based off of a book series by the same name by Sarah Milonowski.
00:03:37
Speaker
Evidently, deviated significantly from the source material. People were very upset about this. people were very upset. i You know, I did pull reviews. I didn't pull lot of them, but I would say the majority of the negative ones are like, this is nothing like the book.
00:03:54
Speaker
That's exactly, yeah. I didn't read the public opinion. I just saw on IMDb and like the trivia facts that people were wildly upset that it was so different from the book. And funny enough, it was the last DCOM to attract over 1 million viewers, as subsequent DCOMs have seen lower premiere numbers, reflecting a trend of decline in live TV audiences.
00:04:16
Speaker
I don't know how it did that well, to be honest. um That was back when people had hope, um and then they watched this. They were like, never again. Also, COVID hits, so.
00:04:28
Speaker
Oh, well, yeah. That might have something to do with it. Maybe. Right. Yeah, so that's all I have to say. Natalie, can you tell us what happens
Plot Overview and Character Challenges
00:04:36
Speaker
in this movie? And I do mean, can you actually tell us? Because I don't think I can.
00:04:42
Speaker
I tried my best. So here we go. Nori and Reina are best friends and surprise, they both have magical powers. While Reina can shoot fire from her fingertips, Nori can transform herself into animals.
00:04:56
Speaker
Both of them are pretty inexperienced, so Reina can only do like little bits of fire at a time. And Nori always mixes up animals and becomes like an elephant with chicken wings in the head of a pig. The like weird combos like that.
00:05:09
Speaker
Anyway, they get accepted to a prestigious magic school called Sage Academy. And there, students with each ability gets like separated into different classes, kind of like the houses in Hogwarts, but like specific to the magic they can do.
00:05:22
Speaker
There are five. The flares for students who can control fire. Fluxers for students who can turn into animals. And flyers for students who can fly a few feet off the ground, which if we're going to talk about it, seems completely useless of it as a skill.
00:05:36
Speaker
You can only go a couple feet in the air. Why? Anyway. um Flickers who can levitate items. And fuzzies for students who can talk to animals.
00:05:48
Speaker
What is with these names? Uh-huh. If you were weirded out by the name fuzzies, you were not the only one. i was like, what? ah They're definitely the Hufflepuffs of this castle. Yeah. Sure are. They sure are.
00:05:59
Speaker
Anyway. All right. So every student has to show off their powers to see if they will be put into the honors level. And during the test, Raina excels, but Nori unintentionally transforms into a cat slash dragon hybrid thing while trying to just be a normal cat.
00:06:18
Speaker
And so Raina is placed in the honors flare class while Nori is put into something called UDM. Side note again, i was trying to figure out what that stood for before the movie said it. And I was like, oh, it's like underdeveloped magic. Or maybe they're trying to be clever. It's like, you don't matter.
00:06:37
Speaker
But nope, it's upside down magic. Literally the title of the film. I'm just kidding. You didn't that? No, no. I was trying to be all clever. Nick didn't either. And was like...
00:06:48
Speaker
It's the title of the movie. Once they said it, I was like, oh, wow. I am the dumbest human being alive.
00:06:58
Speaker
Any whom? So Upside Down Magic is a class with exactly four students, and they are told that they have been placed in this class because their magic is, quote, upside down or wrong in some way.
00:07:11
Speaker
And there's no hope for them at all. They are supposedly easy targets for shadow magic, which is an evil force that could destroy everyone. So they are supposed to just sit down in this basement bunker thing and do nothing for the next six years until their powers eventually fade away.
Climax: Confrontation and Resolution
00:07:29
Speaker
Super encouraging. Super great stuff. I know. They're like, you can't leave because then the shadow magic will get you. But you really can't stay because we're not going to teach you anything. So you're just going to sit here quietly. And also you can't play music or have fun.
00:07:41
Speaker
What? Yeah, it's basically like eternal detention. Yeah. The UDM kids decide that it's not going to fly for them. So they start trying to perfect their magic in secret.
00:07:53
Speaker
In other news, Raina isn't doing so great in her honors classes. She's getting bullied a little bit and her magic isn't as advanced as everyone else's. And so one night in the library, she finds a mysterious book that she thinks might help her and also a friend named Chandra.
00:08:08
Speaker
chip like Sandra with a CH. So I think it's Chandra. I will be honest. I think they said it a different way in the movie every time they said her name. But anyway, she thinks that maybe these two can help her get better with her magic and feel like less of a loser.
00:08:22
Speaker
Nori attempts to crash a competition to show that the UDMs can be just like the normal kids. But of course, it all goes completely wrong. She turns into an elephant slash cat slash dragon.
00:08:35
Speaker
um And Reina ends up having to use Nori's favorite flare spell in order to snap her out of it. Problem is, for some reason, Reina is unusually strong and she burns Nori instead.
00:08:48
Speaker
And I'm only halfway through the movie. I'm actually tracking. You're doing good. Okay. Okay. Okay. After that whole debacle, the headmaster berates the UDM kids for even trying. When she's done, their teacher, Bud, who is the only good character in this movie, decides that he has had it. He doesn't want them crushed like this. And so he reveals that he is someone with his own upside down magic.
00:09:13
Speaker
He can talk to animals, but he has to sing instead of speak in order for them to hear him. i don't know if this was the best or the worst choice in the film, but I think I liked it.
00:09:24
Speaker
The auto-tune music every time Bud sings really was jarring to me. i did not know the movie was going to go in that direction. it was weird, and I loved it.
00:09:38
Speaker
Jarring is the perfect term. I was so taken aback. I'm like, wait. What? Where is this movie going? immediately texted Gabby and said, wait, what is this a musical?
00:09:49
Speaker
What is happening? I thought it was going to become a musical, but nope, just Bud. That's it. Bud. Yeah. Yeah. Anywho, Bud decides that he's going to train them all to master their own unique brand of magic.
00:10:02
Speaker
Meanwhile, the book that Reyna was reading starts appearing everywhere magically, even when she tries to get rid of it. I'm sorry. it's It's the kind of plot that that voice comes out. Anyway.
00:10:13
Speaker
Mm-hmm. There's also the fact that her new friend Chandra is acting increasingly weird and oh yeah apparently no one else can see her. She's the embodiment of shadow magic in human form and she decides to possess Reyna.
00:10:29
Speaker
All right. At Founder's Day, Reyna goes on stage to show off her skills and ends up becoming a shadow-like demon thing. And surprise, the only ones who can stop her are the UDMs led by Nori. They use their weird skills to save everyone and return Reyna to normal.
00:10:48
Speaker
After the incident, the UDMs are officially accepted as a part of their respective classes. And Bud also becomes a teacher for the official fuzzies. um Students are encouraged to think outside the box and embrace their magic and their
Critiques and Audience Reactions
00:11:02
Speaker
individuality. And apparently everybody's happy until the post-credit scenes where maybe the book is coming back to life and the shadow magic isn't defeated. We'll never know because why would this movie ever get a sequel?
00:11:14
Speaker
Wait, what? There's a post-credit scene? I missed that. missed it? I turned it off the second it was over.
00:11:22
Speaker
Uh-huh. Yeah. What happens? So, okay, so you see the book and it like flips open and like the little like magic comes out of it and you're like, no, it's shadow magic.
00:11:35
Speaker
So like, oh, mate maybe something else going to happen. But no, never. This will never have a sequel. Okay, well, I don't really think that's that surprising that it'll come back because they didn't destroy the shadow magic. They just removed it from Reina. But like the book still existed.
00:11:51
Speaker
Chandra never went anywhere. Like, I don't know. I just feel like, ah duh, because this has happened before. And you like, quote, got rid of it, but it keeps coming back. Like there.
00:12:02
Speaker
Yeah. This gets into one of my discussion points, which I will wait. So finish what you're saying. And then. Oh, no, that's the end. That's the movie. That's. that's it oh i just it's okay it was wildly underdeveloped here is a list of things that i cared more about than the movie did so if you haven't seen the movie you're going to be really confused okay first of all what is the lore of this world and the magic i need backstory two do humans know about magic because that's never addressed and i feel like it should be Three, what was the history with Nori's mom at this school? Because there's like a whole undertone of her mom's time at the school and we know nothing about her mom.
00:12:42
Speaker
Four, is her dad magical? Like, he seems surprised, but if the mom went to magic school, maybe he shouldn't be. Also, what's the origin of shadow magic and why is no one researching the true cause so they can actually destroy it?
00:12:53
Speaker
Also, why are some people's powers different? And finally, why is it always kittens? The movie didn't care about any of these questions. hu adding on to it's always kittens why is the most important spell for first years to learn when they have fire magic popping popcorn why oh my gosh why is that in what situation And why is that the only thing they do in every class they're doing in the first few weeks of this school. Like, why? Yeah.
00:13:24
Speaker
And why aren't they allowed to sit with people from other classes? I get them separating the UDMs because they're, like, obviously being prejudiced against them. But why why can't the other groups sit with each other? Yeah. it Mm-hmm.
00:13:38
Speaker
There's a lot lot of questions. It was such a strange, like, and blending together of Harry Potter, but also like Divergent and like a little bit of Avatar The Last Airbender and like so much, so all much influence. so No real landing spot.
00:13:56
Speaker
Yes. Get ready. Here is my explanation for this entire production being greenlit. Okay. I think, and I don't want to be disrespectful to these writers, but I'm about to be.
00:14:08
Speaker
for it. think perhaps this was the first attempt to At AI writing a script. Really? And they give us a DCOM for the 11 to 13 year old age range that is like Harry Potter with all the vibes you just mentioned.
00:14:29
Speaker
And this is what came out. Because that opening scene, what was that? That it was so painfully generic that I could almost say the words with them. Having never seen this movie before in my life.
00:14:42
Speaker
And yeah I was like, this is so painful. This is every movie that's ever existed. computer wrote this. Yes. I would not be at all surprised if ChatGPT wrote this entire thing. You are so smart.
00:14:54
Speaker
That has to be it. Right? And it explains all the plot holes, right? Uh-huh. Yeah. And even if not AI, right, it they clearly put the least amount of effort in.
00:15:09
Speaker
Because what are the names of those magic schoolhouses? Like, tell me that doesn't sound like a computer or somebody who has put in the minimal amount of effort.
00:15:20
Speaker
I just keep coming back to the word underdeveloped because that's literally the only way I can describe it. And I want to know, like, the lore. It could have been good. There was a lot of potential for it to be good if they had given some backstory, some character development, and honestly just cast a better main character. Because I'm sorry, the girl who played Nori was awful.
00:15:41
Speaker
Like, it was so painful to watch her. I get what she was going for. um And i didn't necessarily dislike the actress, but I can understand why you didn't like her.
00:15:51
Speaker
I felt like she was too bright-eyed, optimistic, and like she was trying to convince everybody of everything. And that just kind of got on my nerves. And then you have these very generic, stereotypical other characters who are like the least interested in anything.
00:16:06
Speaker
So, of course, she's got to be their cheerleader. And I'm like, you're just really annoying me. But I will say, Reyna, I thought, was pretty good. I thought she was a great little actress. Yeah, she was great.
00:16:16
Speaker
She's real cute. I would love to go back to the underdeveloped other characters besides those two. Because um no character growth, except for Bud, which we will come back to because I love him.
00:16:29
Speaker
But everyone else, the other UDMs, what is, they had no, they had one personality. They had one personality trait per child and no character growth. Yeah.
00:16:39
Speaker
yeah What was that? said And there was like a weird, are we supposed to be getting a romance between the kids who can kind of fly and Nori? But like, no, there wasn't. And I was like, why do we keep getting this weird tension between them?
00:16:52
Speaker
I know. It was uncomfortable. I'm assuming the books like maybe have something or they were like in a sequel. Girl, did you read the script you wrote? You're not getting a sequel. Yeah.
00:17:03
Speaker
I keep forgetting that it was based off of books. So it must have been that they just put the entire book into ChatGPT and were like, write a movie. Yeah, right? I don't know. We might have to go read these books and do some further research.
00:17:15
Speaker
Although I don't think I want to. But if it's that different, maybe it'll be good. That's what I'm thinking. That's what I'm thinking. Okay, um back to Bud, one true love. He was a delight.
00:17:27
Speaker
When he first showed up, like they're all waiting at the bus stop and he just emerges from the forest in his long johns and shorts and boots. And he's like, hey, come this way. I'm like, I love this man.
00:17:39
Speaker
I love him as much as I ever loved Hagrid. I love him. He is the Hagrid of this plot. He's literally the groundskeeper with magic that doesn't quite fit the norm, who's a little bit of an outcast, but everyone keeps him around. He's literally Hagrid.
00:17:57
Speaker
This movie was written ChatGPT. Oh my god.
00:18:02
Speaker
Oh, he's holding the film on his back and the plot. I mean, everything rests on him. Correct. Yes. But he was hilarious the second he started singing.
00:18:12
Speaker
That was the first time I laughed watching this film. Yeah. Agreed. Agreed. He was just such a sweet guy, too. Like, I wanted more of a story for him. i wanted a love interest for him. Like, let's just rewrite it with him as the main character. i Thank you.
00:18:28
Speaker
i agree. i completely agree with you.
Character Dynamics and Realism
00:18:31
Speaker
I do think I laughed one other time that had ah something to do with him, but not totally. When she thinks that the brooms can fly, I laughed out of like, because mean. Oh, I did laugh at that. And I was like, hey you're an idiot.
00:18:43
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. As soon as just they opened the door and I saw all the brooms, I was like, oh, she's going think yeah she did. She's dumb. he laughed as much as I did. And I was like, yeah I love you. We're we're agreeing on this. Yeah.
00:18:57
Speaker
This movie, again, to bring it back, I don't think this is a bad movie because he is in it and I think everyone should watch it for him and fast forward through all the other parts.
00:19:11
Speaker
Yeah, because the friendship dynamic between Nori and Reina is so weak, it falls apart. There is no sustenance to it. It's as if they met At orientation.
00:19:21
Speaker
Like that's the level of commitment that they have to each other, even though they're supposed to be these lifelong friends who have known each other forever. They barely communicate and they don't really fight to communicate with each other. And then at the end, the whole climax is supposed to be based on like the depth of their understanding of one another. And I'm like, no, I don't buy it.
00:19:40
Speaker
Yeah. And they only share other than the beginning and the end. They only share like two scenes together. Yeah, and it's when they're trying to be pulled apart by everybody else. Yeah.
00:19:51
Speaker
So, like, I don't know. This would have benefited from being a TV show instead of a movie. I guess. I don't really want more of it, though. And different actors and different writers...
00:20:03
Speaker
And maybe aged up. Aged up for sure. And then maybe completely about Bud. I want him to be the main character. I want to hear his backstory. Like I said, I want a love interest for him.
00:20:15
Speaker
i think he could do a good job giving us the lore. um And make it a musical. I could get on board with that. I don't need it to be a musical, but that would be cool. And have Kenny Ortega do the choreography.
00:20:29
Speaker
okay, I'm sold. Yeah, it could be good. Now we're back, right? This could be a great film. This is the new Disney franchise. Yeah. But also, I don't want it to be. Do something else. Because it's so bad. That's fair. Should we talk about something serious?
00:20:44
Speaker
ah Sure. I didn't know there was anything serious in this movie. So you talked about Nori's positivity, i.e. how you hated it. um But I wanted to kind of talk about – How positivity can like positivity versus the system, like if the system's trying to get you down or like institutional bias and things like that, is that amount of energy a good thing?
00:21:09
Speaker
Is that positivity a good thing? Is it realistic? Is it idealistic? That's a good question. don't think that her optimism and positivity was misplaced or bad.
00:21:22
Speaker
It was the way it was portrayed by the actress that bugged me. She felt – I don't think she had enough motivation – Disconnected? disconnected is a good yeah that goes with what i was saying about the motivation i don't think she had good enough reason to be this optimistic about her chances of changing the entire school she is brand new she's a first year her magic is one of the weirdest ones of them all and other than the fact that she really wants to fit in she has no reason to like she doesn't know anything about this school
00:21:56
Speaker
They clearly all suck. Like, if I were her, I'd be like, I'd be better off not being a part of the school because they're yeah crazy and biased and rude. Literally the teachers are terrible human beings. Yeah.
00:22:07
Speaker
Yeah, they're terrible. So I'm kind of like, what is your reasoning? What is your motivation for thinking that you can change the status quo and be the change you want to see in the world? Like, I just didn't get enough of her backstory or her yeah motivations to actually connect it to this like level of like, we can do it. And none of the other UDMs want to. like Also, it would have been one thing if all of them were like so down at the dumps and so sad and like,
00:22:34
Speaker
I just wish there were a way. And she was like, I think there's a way. That is not what happened. They accepted their fate instantly. They were like, okay, whatever. We'll just lose our magic. Moving on. And she's like, guys, we can fix it all. And I'm like, why?
00:22:49
Speaker
Why are you like this? So that's me. I think, again, like all the bad DCOMs that we've seen, they were trying to say something really important and it just didn't translate.
00:23:03
Speaker
It didn't. It could have with more information. Yeah. Okay. I have one more question before we're done with discussion. ah So last episode, like we asked each other what magical ability we would want. And you said flying always. Right. And I said stopping time.
00:23:21
Speaker
here's my question. If we had those magical abilities, what would it look like if it was upside down? Oh, well, the flying one is in this movie. He can only go up. Yeah, but ignore his. He can't come down. different. Make yours different.
00:23:35
Speaker
Okay. um like, mine's in the movie. I think it would be really funny if for flying you could only go like side to side. Like you could fly horizontally, but not vertically. That be so funny.
00:23:49
Speaker
You imagine just, I'm seeing you barrel through walls. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Like you could just like basically speed run because I thought it was dumb that he could only go up and not come down.
00:24:02
Speaker
it's like, that's a really, that could be, you could get stuck. That could be really bad situation for you. Also the fact that he can go higher and faster than everyone else and that's not seen as good.
00:24:15
Speaker
Sir, they can only go like five feet in the air. Why are we, anyway, that's not what this is about. Yeah. How would yours be wonky? I don't know. i feel like, because mine is stopping time, maybe it would be like I can only stop time for like five seconds at a time or I could only stop time at the same time every day and it's always like 2 to 3 a.m. and I'm like, this is useless.
00:24:38
Speaker
I like that one better. That feels more upside down to me. I'd be like, my powers only work between 2 and 3 a.m. I think we would have to establish what is the norm of the power because in this one, their powers are not limitless. Like you said, like the regular flyers that are like full capacity flyers can only go five feet off the ground.
00:24:58
Speaker
And like the people who can transform into animals have very limited. it They can transform into kittens. And like if you're really advanced, a goat. Or a chicken. That's a special. forget the chickens.
00:25:10
Speaker
Oh, or a chicken. Sorry. If they're really, really lucky. So like they don't even have unlimited potential. and So I guess you'd have to determine like what is your power in this limited universe, you know, and then make it weird.
00:25:25
Speaker
That's what I think. Well, yeah. I can't imagine what other people thought. Please tell me. Of course. ah So welcome to the public opinion section, everyone.
00:25:36
Speaker
ah We've shared our opinions. Now what did everyone else think? ah So there was only one critic review, which I will read to you now. It says, "...its familiar tropes will keep the ten and under crowd occupied for a few hours." However, older audiences will struggle to find the magic in this formulaic tale.
00:25:58
Speaker
So even that guy knew it was written by ChatGPT. Good job. That was an excellent review. Uh-huh. Okay, so the audience rating of everybody who reviewed this was, to me, shockingly high.
00:26:12
Speaker
48%. I do feel like that's high, but at least it's under 50. I feel high. Yeah, I feel like we should have gone 30s, high 30s maybe, that's where I was going. I mean, it had good production value.
00:26:24
Speaker
I'll give it that. That's about all I'll give it. And Bud, that actor deserves an award. Absolutely. Okay, I got two positive reviews.
00:26:37
Speaker
Surprisingly, there are some out there. And I got two negative reviews. So here we Were they written by 10-year-olds? But no, I'm going to go with adults. Wow. All right, let's hear them. This movie really takes advantage of the fantasy elements and merges it with charm, heart, and ultimately the stakes of the world that's being built.
00:26:55
Speaker
The two leads complement each other while being very much independent. The story is also well-developed and manages to deliver a fulfilling ending.
00:27:06
Speaker
I think they're talking about Harry Potter. Yeah, they might have gotten their magic movies upside down. That was good. Thank you.
00:27:16
Speaker
Thank you. and Came up with that on the spot, everyone. and thats That was good. and All right, next one. Pure, unfiltered joy with a heartwarming, wholesome, happy ending. 10 out of 10, watch it again and again.
00:27:29
Speaker
Disney's take on Harry Potter is one hell of an adventure. More people should check it out. Confused Emoji. Okay, then we get to the negative ones. In direct opposition to the one I just read, this one says, Harry Potter ripoff.
00:27:44
Speaker
So boring. Kids go to a magic school via a special bus stop. Is Disney so la it can't come up with an original idea anymore?
00:27:55
Speaker
magical bus stop. That's true. It's so random that they're at like a regular person bus stop where they don't take the bus. They just walk through the forest. Anyway, it's fine. All of the magical kids for this year just in the town where the magical land is.
00:28:13
Speaker
And where are their cars? Where did they park? Oh, there are just so many questions that need to be answered. There's so many questions. Okay. Last one. Passably boring.
00:28:23
Speaker
It's fine to show to your kids, but anyone above 12 will probably not like it. I never read the books, but this movie is cliche, predictable, and kind of dumb. The world building is clumsily done and filled with holes like a Swiss cheese.
00:28:39
Speaker
The special effects are mostly well done, though. I can agree with her on that. Yeah, that's true. Yeah. I mean, it was 2020, so it's like I don't even give them that much credit. You had way more resources than, like, Smart House did in the 90s or whenever that came out.
00:28:55
Speaker
i like ah I like filled with holes like a Swiss cheese. All right, Gabby, please put me out of my misery and let's move on. So spoiler alert for the where are they now.
00:29:06
Speaker
These kids are young. They're not many places. Like it's a little disappointing after we had Selena two episodes ago. And then like last week was kind of cool. This is it just is's not that much fun. Okay. That's fine. I only care about Bud. It's fine.
00:29:20
Speaker
Okay. Well, here we go. Isabella Rose, who played Nori. She has been in Secrets of Sulphur Springs. She was in nine episodes of that. She was the lead in The Curious Case of Dolphin Bay.
00:29:33
Speaker
And she is currently, apparently, on a tour for her music, maybe? But it doesn't really seem like a big thing. And but that is all I can find on her.
00:29:44
Speaker
i i i don't love for her, but I love that you just said... ah Apparently, her music tour is not a big thing. Well, because the only way I knew about that is from her personal Instagram.
00:30:00
Speaker
And she's touring at like local malls. And I could only find one okay song selection on Google. And it's through a company that I've never heard of. So I'm like, what is this?
00:30:14
Speaker
I found her music. Oh, it was released on my birthday. Okay, listen. um um
00:30:25
Speaker
um
00:30:37
Speaker
Well, you know, if you're touring and you only sing one song, it's probably a very short tour. Yeah, yeah. So she's, you know, a kid, being a kid, I guess kind of pursuing what she wants to pursue, which is great.
00:30:51
Speaker
Good for her. Then we have Sienna, again, I'm so sorry, Ogdong, maybe, who played Reyna. So she has been acting since 2013, and she has continued acting steadily since this movie, including being in eight episodes of Resident Evil and and starring as Nick in the Netflix original series No Good
Sienna Agudong's Career Highlights
00:31:13
Speaker
Nick.
00:31:13
Speaker
Resident Evil, which is not the comedy Resident Alien, but in fact a scary movie. No, yeah, it had a really creepy cover. I did not pursue it any further than that.
00:31:25
Speaker
And also, she made an appearance in one episode of Raven's Home in 2020, which is like the reboot of That's So Raven. Love it. Yeah. Gotta recycle your child actors, Disney Channel, like the olden days. 100%. All right, we have Allison Fernandez, who played Pepper.
00:31:42
Speaker
She has the most acting credits of all the kids working since 2012. She's been in 10 episodes. Yeah, I recognized her. <unk>d her Uh-huh. Yeah, you did. Just wait. I'll tell you from what. Okay.
00:31:53
Speaker
Well, I don't actually know one of these things, but you will know her from one of these things. Okay. She's been in 10 episodes of Law & Order Special Victims Unit, four episodes of Orange the New Black. She was in Logan.
00:32:04
Speaker
She played Lucy in 24 episodes of Once Upon a Time. She was in four episodes of Jane the Virgin. One episode of Raven's Home and her last credit was in 2022. Okay, so I've seen her in three things, but I specifically was thinking of Jane the Virgin.
00:32:21
Speaker
Okay. I knew her from Once Upon a Time. I do recall her from that show, yes. Yep. So she's doing well. And I i just have to read you verbatim her Instagram bio because, oh my gosh, prepare yourself.
00:32:35
Speaker
Okay, I'm ready. Okay, so this is from like the second half of it. So just know the beginning was talking about her acting. Allison also likes to spend her downtime enjoying taekwondo, hapkido, gymnastics, parkour, martial arts, choreography, swimming, ice skating, dancing, singing, diving, target range shooting with NRA certified instructors, running, horseback riding, tennis, skiing, skateboarding, and bike riding okay queen i see you like what you know share time she doesn't get bored i'll tell you that much except for when she was on set for this movie but other than that and she's incredibly athletic i mean sweet go her yeah all right we got two more we're almost at the good one we have max tarina who played andres is that how they were saying it she kept saying weird
00:33:22
Speaker
um She did say it weird every time. A lot of these names, like, very culturally diverse, but also quite randomly selected and not necessarily directly related to the actor's ethnicity. Yeah.
00:33:37
Speaker
Anyways, ah he was in eight episodes of Raven's Home in 2020 to 2021, and he has no credits since then, no acting credits. um But according to his Instagram, he seems to love adventure. Yay. Yay.
00:33:50
Speaker
All right, sure. This is literally all I could find on these people. Well, this was like five years ago and they were 12, so they haven't done much.
00:34:04
Speaker
They haven't done much. ah But you know who has done a lot? Kyle Howard, who played Mr. Scriff. Kyle! um Okay, I looked and I could find nothing about him being a singer.
00:34:17
Speaker
I thought for sure there was going to be something, but no, sadly. He did just miss the cut to be in the first DCOM, which was the movie The Paper Brigade, which was a movie that released on the Disney Channel in 1996.
00:34:34
Speaker
And it was the year before Under Wraps came out when they branded the disney channel movie is disney channel original movie so like he just missed the cut be in the first one and ah how old would he have been in that i don't know he had to be like 12 or 13 i didn't do the math but young yeah but apparently that is his like claim to fame when i google him like that's what comes up and there's like interviews of him talking about being in that movie Like as an adult.
00:35:02
Speaker
So while he's acted a lot since then and is consistently booked, he hasn't done anything like super standout-ish since then. Except for this movie.
00:35:12
Speaker
Except for this movie. Obviously. So I'm just like disappointment after disappointment, guys, but whatever. That that was where they are now. I didn't like that. I didn't like any of those.
00:35:24
Speaker
It wasn't fun at all, was it? No. Sorry. Well, again, it's not a bad movie. It's just like, it's a bad movie, you know? I don't know. It's, yeah. Let's move on to something else now.
00:35:36
Speaker
Yeah. Hopefully next week you get to watch something good. Yeah. Something from before 2018 would be great. Sure. Okay. Are you ready? I'm ready. All right. If you are new here, um i am so sorry that you started on this episode.
Teaser for Next Episode: 'Den Brother'
00:35:51
Speaker
It's very random of you. But anyway, if you are new, we have a list of every single DCOM ever made and we use a random number generator to figure out what we will be watching for the next episode.
00:36:02
Speaker
Gabby, it's happening. I'm excited. You just made me realize if someone did start with this episode, if this is how they found us, they were probably looking for something about this movie, meaning they probably love it.
00:36:14
Speaker
So we're so sorry. My my bad. you were for a podcast episode about how awesome this movie is, this was not the place for you. We're sorry. All right. The movie has been selected for next week. Are you ready?
00:36:27
Speaker
Yes. Gabby, I feel like you mentioned to me once that you like this movie. I have no idea what it is. Yay. But we are watching Den Brother. Yes.
00:36:39
Speaker
I love this movie. You don't know this movie? I don't know. I've never heard of this. Okay. Actually, I can't blame you. The reason I know this movie is my husband, Nick. I was introduced to it like maybe four years ago when he and I were dating and he was like talking to me about Disney Channel movies he loved. And this was one of his favorites, probably because it was marketed to him as a boy because it's like about an older brother. You know what i mean? And I was watching all the girl movies.
00:37:03
Speaker
But he showed me this movie and I loved it. So I haven't seen it in probably three or four years, but it was so good to me. And it's funny. It has the guy from Zeke and Luther, which I didn't watch, but I know he's like a big name.
00:37:18
Speaker
So there's that, you know. Sure. It looks like it came out in 2010. So it's recent, but not as recent. I guess that was 15 years ago. What am I talking about? I'm so old. I was like, girl, recent.
00:37:31
Speaker
yeah To me, I'm like 2010. Yeah, that was just few years ago. That was like two short years after High School Musical 3. Yeah, and that's when time stopped. So I don't know what this movie's about, but we'll see you in two weeks to watch Dead Brother.
00:37:46
Speaker
It's actually really cute. No, wait, let me just tell people a little tidbit so they get excited. Okay, okay, okay. Because you guys should get excited. It's really good. It's actually about like a sibling relationship between this guy and his younger sister, and they have this really cute dynamic. I think I remember this correctly. Watch, all of this is going to be wrong, and you're going to completely misremember the entire plot.
00:38:06
Speaker
That's, I mean, I thought Luck of the Irish was completely about a potato chip factory, so you could be correct.
00:38:13
Speaker
But like, basically, he somehow becomes like the den mother of her Girl Scout troop. And it's really cute and funny and they get along. Anyways, I think it's good. All right.
00:38:24
Speaker
Well, we'll see what I think of it. You're going to hate it and I'm going to cry. We'll see. I can be positive sometimes. Okay, we'll see you guys in two weeks for Denbrother.
00:38:35
Speaker
bye! Thank you all so much for listening to this episode of Once Upon a DCOM. Like what you just heard? Leave us a rating and review. We'd love to hear your thoughts. Also follow us on Instagram and TikTok at onceuponadcom.podcast and share this podcast with your Disney-loving friends.
00:38:51
Speaker
A big thanks to Gabby for editing this whole podcast together. Thanks, Fran. Plus, shout out to Kaori for sweetening the audio on this track. And don't forget to subscribe because there's always a new episode on the way.
00:39:01
Speaker
This is Gabriela. And Natalie. Signing off with a sprinkle of pixie dust. And a whole lot of nostalgia.