Back with another Disney Channel Original Movie review. When I saw the movie Can of Worms earlier I thought nothing would top it as being the most random thing I have seen from a DCOM. I was way off. This movie is somehow the weirdest thing I have seen for sure. Funny enough it also manages to be terribly dull. I’ll explain.
The Story
The plot follows Megan who has her life turned upside down when she very quickly gets a a new stepfather and step-sister. They are incredibly weird and blame it on being from Yukon(Canada). What Megan wanted was for her parents to get back together. Things are about to get worse though because the new members of her family aren’t what they seem. They are aliens.
Now what makes this movie weird is the script and tone. A weird movie doesn’t mean a bad movie. There are spoof movies that are very entertaining as long as they are done well. There is a joke about windsurfing. Megan is talking to a boy she likes and the boy says “Wind surfing is cool right? Cus it’s wind and it’s like surfing”. It was juvenile but I thought I knew exactly what movie this was going to be. I was wrong.
There are many scenes throughout that are odd but many that just drag that are full of cliches of things we have seen before. Like I said, you can be weird and silly but do not be boring. Ariel and Cosmo are stepdaughter and stepfather and they are aliens who have taken human form. What are their alien forms? Bubbles. Yes…bubbles. They are from a gas planet and they are alien bubbles.
Other odd things occur such as they have a huge fear of wind. I guess because the wind scares bubbles. I don’t know. This is dumb. The movie is told from both girl’s perspectives and it comes off like a novel. I checked and it was indeed based on a novel. After watching this, it doesn’t make me wanna read it.
What Doesn’t Work?
The biggest problem is that this movie isn’t funny. It is just annoying. There is a scene when Ariel goes to school for the first time. She does everything wrong and while Megan thinks this is embarrassing, everyone else finds Ariel refreshing and rebellious. This is good. That is funny the way they see this weird girl talking to a bubble and think of her as a poet. Unfotually they don’t lean into that and randomly try to give us serious moments.
We get conversations about missing dads, failing relationships, etc. I’m sorry but a movie about a gas bubble that is named Cosmo is not going to make me feel something. The tone is off and this mixed with unfunny jokes makes the length feel too long.
The step-siblings lack chemistry. The parents lack sense even though it’s nice to see Lance Guest as Cosmo. He is incredibly wasted here. Disney Channel’s take on a spoof movie leaves much to be desired. There is something in here but it’s done poorly.
At the end, there is a villain randomly and he gets stopped by a hair dryer. I guess those are the enemies of bubbles. Also, Megan doesn’t find out her new sister is an alien till the end and that even feels wasted. If she had known earlier we could have gotten more interesting conversations and scenes. Instead, we get typical “you aren’t my real family” stuff.
Overall
I don’t have too much to say about this one which is also odd because the movie is all over the place. I feel there are moments when Disney Channel could have had a decent spoof movie for kids here. It feels like executives somewhere said that there needed to be a message and a bond between siblings and it ruins just about everything.
I love dumb movies. All I ask is to be entertained. Not everything has to be an Oscar film. Unfortunately, Stepsister From Planet Weird is unfunny, boring, and annoying. After it was over I asked myself what the hell I just watched and how could I have spent my time more wisely. I also thought that if I never saw a bubble again, things would be okay.
