2143. Zapped (2014)

Starring: Zendaya, Chanelle Peloso, Spencer Boldman

Director: Peter DeLuise

Running Time: 92 mins

Zapped is an American film about a high school girl who, after moving into a house full of boys, finds an app on her phone that allows her to completely control boys.

Given that this is a Disney Channel Original Movie, I wasn’t expecting anything particularly special from Zapped. In the end, it’s a lot like the majority of those films, however it’s by no means as bad as the worst. While it may not have a particularly interesting or in any way realistic story, it’s a light-hearted and silly enough affair not to be an annoying watch, and fulfils its job as a fluffy kids’ movie.

If there’s one thing that I really did like about Zapped, it’s the fact that it focuses on the fantasy element of its plot more than anything else. In general, these Disney Channel movies are absolutely identical simply because they focus solely on the tedious and trivial hierarchies of middle school students, a plot that’s been constantly repeated and almost never come off well.

Now, while I wasn’t all that enthralled by the film’s ridiculous fantasy elements (the fact that this girl can control boys with an app on her phone), I was happy to see that it was just having a bit of silly fun with something really fluffy, and never getting too bogged down in the idiocy of middle school social life, only occasionally using it as a simple context for the events of the film.

Yes, the premise of the film is preposterous, and for anyone over the age of 7, it will likely grow boring fairly quickly, however it gives the movie its pleasantly light-hearted atmosphere, and as such makes for a far more enjoyable and far less annoying watch than is normally the case from these movies.

Away from that, there’s not all that much to praise about Zapped, but that’s largely because there’s not all that much else to take notice of. Zendaya’s performance is perfectly fine, and she’s surprisingly likable in a role that Disney manage to make more infuriating than anything on most occasions.

The humour, too, isn’t anything to write home about, and although there are a couple of genuinely funny moments that make this undoubtedly one of the most comedically entertaining Disney Channel movies, the majority of the humour is very basic and repetitive, again directed at the young audience.

Overall, there’s not all that much to say about Zapped, simply because it’s a very basic and generic Disney Channel movie. It’s by no means the worst that the channel has ever made, thanks to a likable central performance, silly and fluffy premise and a couple of good jokes, but it still doesn’t have anything to it that would be able to engage anyone more than 10 years old, and that’s why I’m giving it a 6.2.