So, Ryan's party is tonight, and I was wondering if I could, like, have a later curfew.
Your dad and I were thinking no curfew.
Really?
Because it's so much better if you don't go out at all.
What? But it's just right down the street.
It's not a good night.
We go through this every Halloween.
There's a bad element out there.
What? Little kids dressed as pirates? And that is the best joke in the whole movie.
And that's it. Remember when you texted me saying I'm gonna love it?
Gotcha.
Hey, Val. Hey, Al. Welcome to the commentaries.
Thank you. Welcome to you, and welcome to our listeners. Today, we're talking about girl versus monster.
And and, girl, I'm a monster after watching this movie.
These girls lost. These girls lost. Watch this movie.
Happy New Year, Val. I know we have already had a new Episode. Episode in 2025, but this is the first time you and I are seeing one another in the flesh That's true. Happy new year. New year
to you.
To you and you. And always with you. And always with you. January 4th be with you. It's not January 4th.
It's January 4th. It's January 2nd.
Alright, Val. Maybe we should talk about this movie that we watched. Yeah.
Let's do it. Let's get to the business. Yes. Girl versus Monster came out, unsurprisingly, October 12, 2012. So it was the October release, the Halloween release of Yes. This year. Yes. Mhmm. It was directed by none other than Stu Gillard.
Stu 2? Stu 2.
As a reminder, Stu directed Scream Team, which is very connected to this, I feel like. Full Court Miracle, Going to the Mat, Twitches, Twitches 2, Hatching Pete, as well as some episodes of Charmed and 90210. So big d com guy, Stu. This might be his last, but I keep saying that, and then we discover more because I'm not as familiar to names.
Not as versed as so which ones they are.
Exactly. So maybe we'll discover another one down the line. Okay. Annie De Jong, who also wrote, Johnny Kapahala back on board and versus Halloween Town. Yep. And, Starstruck. So those 2, we did not like,
but the
first one we did. She also wrote this as well as Ron McGee, who didn't have, like, a huge resume. However, he wrote some episodes of Rosolie and Isles, and he has been the showrunner on both NCIS New Orleans and NCIS Hawaii. Wow. Yeah. The cast is as follows. Olivia Holt played Skyler Lewis. She was in Kickin' It, I Didn't Do It, Cloak and Dagger, Cruel Summer, and most recently, she's been in a few episodes of Laid. Oh, that's new. Yeah. Very new.
Yeah. It's I heard it's supposed to be good.
Yeah. I I haven't seen it yet, obviously, but, I have also heard that. And I wasn't sure because, like, I don't know how many episodes are actually out, so she might be a lead in it because, like, she was in, I don't know, 4 episodes or something. Brendan Mayer played Henry, who was her friend. He was in something called Dino Sapien, show called mister Young, Fear the Walking Dead colon, flight 462. So there was a spin off of the spin off. Oh. This Netflix show called The OA, which I always
Oh, I've heard that's really good.
Yeah. I always had it on my list, and I've never watched it. And then something more recently called Camp, which sounded familiar to me, but I didn't know what it was. Carys Dorsey played Sadie, her other friend. She was in Walk the Line. She was her most, like, probably memorable credit from, like, the majority of people is probably she was one of the kids on Brothers and Sisters. Oh. Yeah. That's definitely what I knew her from. Brothers and Sisters was, like, the proto parenthood.
Mhmm. Like, it was sort of
It was always on, like, after Grey's Anatomy or something. So we had always see, like, the beginning of it.
Yeah. I liked it. I watched it straight through. But, yeah, she was one of the kids on it. She was also in Moneyball, which people might recognize her from. She's the daughter of Brad Pitt in that movie. And most recently, she's been on Ray Donovan. So she has a recurring role on that, perhaps also as a daughter. I don't know. But she's probably pretty grown up at this point.
Mhmm. Luc Benward, who we would know from Minutemen, played Ryan Dean. He was also in We Were Soldiers, Because of Winn Dixie, Dear John, Good Luck Charlie, Girl Meets World, and Criminal Minds.
Mhmm. Mhmm. There is our Disney Channel star. He also is currently dating Ariel Winter of Modern Family.
Oh, another intermodern family dating thing Mhmm. With the DCOMs. Interesting question. Yes. Yes. Yes. Katharine McNamara played Myra Santelli, who is Ryan's ex girlfriend and the original lead singer of his band. Mhmm. She's sort of played as the villain at the very beginning or, like, the antagonist, and then she's kind of not really. She was in Shadowhunters, Arrow, and Walker: Independence, which I'm assuming is some kind of Walker Texas Ranger reboot thing.
Mhmm. Tracy Dawson played Dymata, who was the, like, main big bad. She actually stopped acting in 2013, which I thought was interesting. She the only two things where she was on, like, multiple episodes, were something called the Gavin Crawford show and Call Me Fritz.
I also saw that she was in the movie on the line, which is the movie where Lance Bass falls in love with Emmanuel Sharik on the brown line in Chicago. Oh. And all of NSYNC is in it. She is credited as goth girl, so she didn't have, like,
a big part.
But, I love on the line. So if anyone ever wants to talk about on the line with me, I'm right here.
That is so funny. Anna Galvin played Theodosia, one of the other baddies. She's a character actor, so she's been, like,
Baddies in, like, current terms means, like, bad bitch. She's good looking. It's just funny that you classified her as a baddie when she's, like, a goon.
Yeah. She's a bad guy. I okay. I'm old. Sorry. Apologies. So funny. She's been in, like, you know, one episode of everything. A couple of things that she was in more episodes of was mister Young, which also someone else was into. Brendan Mayer, the guy who played Henry.
She was in Loudermilk and a recent show called Van Helsing, which I didn't even know they remade Van Helsing into a television show. Jennifer Aspen played Julie Lewis, who was Skyler's mom. She's also a pretty prolific character actor. Some notables for her, party of 5 and something called Rodney, which I had not heard of. Brian Palermo played Steve Lewis, Skyler's dad, and he's also a very prolific character actor.
And a couple of notables for him, Significant Others and Digimon Data Squad. Wow. Yeah. Both of them, I had a hard time finding, like, you know, long term gigs, but, like, their resumes are a mile long. So big character actors. Okay. The synopsis is, a tween discovers on Halloween that she is a 5th generation monster hunter. The monsters are out to stop her before she begins her calling. No. And that basically spoils the whole movie.
Yeah. That's so funny. That's not it at all. No. But I'm not shocked that someone was confused by the plot of this movie.
At this point, these have to be AI. Like, who's writing this?
I don't know. Here's a fun fact. Olivia and Luke, dated in real
life. Yeah.
And, also, this DCOM was rated PG, and that was only the 10th time that that had happened.
Wow. Do we know the other 9? We do not.
I could probably look it up. But That's good. So that is the business.
Mhmm.
Business is done. Al, I would love love to hear your first impressions of this flick. Thank you
so much, Val. Well, it's funny that you use the word love because you texted me the words you're going to love this. And, that was at the time where I thought we were watching Teen Beach Movie
this week,
and I said, I think I will. And then I looked at our doc, and we are not. So I didn't love this movie, but I can see how if you were the age where this came out, how you could. Interesting. Make sense? Like, I think watching it now for the first time, I'm like, this is terrible. But if I was 9 years old, I think that I could have, like, seen it. But I think that it's not good because it is it is
bad.
I'm gonna rate it a 4. It you know, like, I've seen worse decoms. I I can't give it, like, that 50 50 mark because I feel like my 50 50 mark is like, if I have to watch it again, I will.
Yeah.
And so I can't get it up to that 5 that 5 marker that I have set for myself. It's although it started very, like, traditional decom, like, they were kind of doing the overacting, like, oh, mom. You know, like, doing that kind
of stuff. Mhmm. And then
I really just hated the monsters. Wow. And it makes sense too because you brought up that this is due too, which is also screen team, which makes a lot of sense. Yeah. So you definitely have, I feel like, some similarities. But I feel like it could have been a better movie, and it wasn't.
Yes. Yeah.
Yep. Belle, first impressions?
Yeah. I definitely agree very much with your final statement there, which is that this could have been a good movie. This could have been a good movie. It's an interesting idea. I feel like I say this a lot lately.
Mhmm. It's an interesting idea that, like, the concept of, like, someone who either is without fear or too fearful, and, like, how do you kind of manifest that in something literal as as a metaphor to help them overcome that or, like, deal with that. Right? That's interesting. But what this movie did was it tried to be, in my opinion, three other things, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Ghostbusters, and Hocus Pocus.
Like, there are literal scenes from each of those movies or shows that are lifted and put in this movie and, like, just slightly altered to, like, make sense within the plot. But it's like, like, like, to the point where if you've seen Hocus Pocus, there's a scene where the witches are singing and like, kind of hypnotizing everybody. There's literally a scene in this movie that's almost exactly like that. It's it's just such a bummer. Like, it's such a bummer because they it's, like, feels lazy to me.
Like, they could have done more. I also wrote virtually no jokes because there weren't any.
It was all plot.
And and the ones that they had, they, like, undermined the joke immediately. So it made it less funny. Like, one example is, like, the, the, like, assistant, like, the tech tech or whatever, like, asks, how much are you gonna pay me to babysit? And then the dad's like, how about nothing? And he's like, okay.
Nothing. It's like, if he had just not said anything, it would have been like a better joke. You know what I mean? Like but he, like, responds, and then it, like, completely takes the air out of it. So I was just very disappointed in this movie.
I also another thing that was kind of, like, a rope thing at this point is this prissy self obsessed girl who's like an antagonist. I feel like we've seen 4 movies in a row where we've had that character. And I'm like, can we come up with someone else in high school who is antagonistic to the main character? Mhmm. If anything, I think it would have been very interesting if you're gonna have the premise be that this person has no fear.
Right? Make them the prissy self obsessed person at school. Mhmm. Right? Because they have no fear. They think the sun shines out of their butt. Right? Like, that's more interesting to me than, like, just adding this extra character in that isn't really actually the villain. Yeah. And it's just the same person we've seen a 1000000 times.
So that is my those are my first impressions. My many first impressions. I would have honestly, if I wrote this, I would make Sadie the main character instead of Mhmm. Skyler. I think that would have
been
a more interesting story.
Mhmm.
Okay. That's it. Al, did you have any favorite quotes or moments?
I had a couple.
Okay.
I liked, so her parents are supposed to be like, they're they're disguised as well, I guess they are, like, mold and fungus doctors. What are they called?
They yeah. They're mycologists. Mycologists.
So they are, but they're also monster hunters. But, because they're mycologists, their license plate says doctor mold, and I liked that. My least favorite moment is when Myra gets possessed
Oh, yeah.
And they have a completely different singing voice that's not her voice or the other lady, and I didn't like that at all.
Yeah. It was stupid.
I also didn't like that when she was reaching down to grab her parents in the end, She's literally, like, so far away from them and is, like, literally not even trying.
She's
like, grab my arm with your 8 feet away. What are you doing? You're not even leaning. Hated that. Those are my least favorite moments. Quotes. Will you please tell mom she's being ridiculous? Oh, she hates when I tell her that. The Twilight shout out was kind of funny. Vampires are in, except they're romantic vampires who fall in love.
I am the babysitter. You are the baby that sits. And then the bad lady telling the dad to to she was, shut up, Steve. But then my favorite line, delivery, is when the friend, Coop
is Coop? The boy?
The no. The the doctor friend.
The babysitter. Yeah. I think it was Coop. Yeah.
Coop. He calls the parents. He goes, damn badass Luz? The way that he said Luz was so funny. I wrote it l e w s e. Damn badass Luz? And that was so, so funny to me.
Val, favorite quotes and moments? Thanks, Val. I wrote exactly one quote down other than the school open. Woah. Not a babysitter. Teen social companion. Coop it's funny, actually, because Coop wasn't actually in the cast list because he basically doesn't have a resume, but he was, like, the best actor in this movie in my Yeah. I should have added him that yeah. Back in, but I will do that later. Favorite moment.
I'm hard pressed to find a favorite moment. I think if I had to pick 1, it would be at the end, and it's kind of spoilery, so I won't say it. I'll mention it maybe later when we get to spoiler city. K. Otherwise, I just anytime you know what?
Okay. One thing that I found that tickled me slightly was the woman, scary thing, whatever, bad baddie, who was not, like, the main one. She's like a evil school mom or whatever. Mhmm. Basically, each of the kids has, like, a a monster, kind of like Monsters Inc, which also this movie is kind of ripping off.
And Sadie, her friend's monster, is this, like, mean school mom because Sadie's really into school. And we know this because she's at the beginning, she's reading a biology textbook, except it's the size of, like, a Vogue magazine. So it's so funny. I'm like, what textbook is this? Anyway, her scarer, her monster, speaks in a very specific British accent.
It's a Yorkshire accent, and it's like this woman. It's clearly not her natural accent. Yeah. And she just, like, was, like, I can do a Yorkshire accent. I'm gonna do it in this movie. And it's so funny. It's so funny to me, because it does nothing. Like, it it, like, doesn't you know, it's it's unnecessary, but it's very funny to me that she picked that of all accents. That's it. That's all I I liked about this movie. Are you ready? Belle. Oh, go ahead.
Am I ready? Are you ready? My don't. Belle, you you are you are you are you're asking the wrong person. I need you to look in the mirror and say, are you ready?
Okay. Okay.
Because you know who's ready? You know who's standing in a graveyard top off? Me.
Standing in a graveyard.
We're just But
we have stand. But we have those welder's helmet, son.
Yeah. And the steampunk bracelet.
Yep. Yep. Steampunk them. Yeah. They were very steampunk. That's true.
Yes. Alright. Welcome to Spoiler City where I spoil the city. Okay. So we open up on a graveyard and a haunted house, and then there's a band inside of the house playing. It is a young band, so it's, like, high school band. Not high school band. Not a late marching band. Like, your friends have a band.
Kids from high school. Kids from
high school in a band. Okay. For some reason, something's going on with the banner, and she's like, I really need to do this flip. So I'm gonna back up, and then you're gonna boost me up. I'm gonna, like, touch the banner. Everyone's like, what are you doing? And she's like, I've had 6 years of gymnastics. So I literally wrote I don't know why she did that. And then later, we kinda find out what she like, it it comes back, but, like, still
It's so dumb.
Make any sense. So dumb. So, they have a music number with the band, and then the mean girl shows up. She's like, I'm the professional singer. It's Myra. Right? Myra. Mhmm. Myra. And, the lead guy from the band is, like, smitten with not Myra, but Skyler, the girl who did the flip.
And she's like, please, we've been friends forever, and I just don't understand why he won't ask me out. So at this point, we are seeing that Skyler, the lead of our movie, has just, like, no fear for anything, and she's just really cool and confident.
She can't understand fear either. Like, she doesn't like, her friend says, well, he's probably scared to ask you out. She's like, why would he be scared to ask me out?
Like, she just doesn't get it. Yep. That is important. Mhmm. Then we see that this gargoyle is following her and her friend, who is Sadie, through the cemetery, and it's taken down by this beam of light and then these two people protecting them from this, you know, monster gargoyle and said that this is no ordinary Halloween.
Did you know that that was her parents immediately excited?
Oh, yeah. Immediately. Immediately. So the parents on Halloween night, say that they are going to some sort of party for mold because they are mycologists. And mom is like, no. You have to stay home. You can't go out tonight because it's crazy out there. And so she goes to dad, and she's like, dad, can I go out? And he's like, yeah. And he she goes, tonight around Halloween?
And he goes, no. And him and his friend are molding. They're, like, doing mold stuff downstairs. For what we know at this point, they're molding. So he says no to Ryan's party, and Ryan, the cute guy from the beginning, his party is in the mansion. So they were, like, in the mansion setting it up, and it's just like old McCreary's mansion. Like, can't believe my dad got me the rights to have my Halloween party in old McCreary mansion. This is all important.
Yep.
And then they're like, we have to protect her until she's 16, which doesn't ever really get clarified, but they were very like, when you're 16, when you're 16, when you're 16.
There's one line that sort of explained it.
Yeah. So then we're at school. Everyone's mad. She can't go to the party, and then the party's happening in the mansion. And Myra wants to fix the banner that's hanging up in the school, the mean girl. And so she's like, I'm gonna do what Skyler did, and everyone's like, why are you gonna do that? And she's like, I'm I'm gonna do it. And so she, like, tries to do the flip. He, like, lifts her up. She falls down the stairs. She, like, hits the banner, but she breaks her neck.
Like, no injury.
Right? Like, she does. She shows up in a neck brace, and she can't talk. So then we are like we see, like, a cutaway of, like, people going trick or treating, and there's a puppy on the street, but then it turns into a monster. Mom and dad are revealed as the monster fighters, and they're, like, protecting the town that they're in, which you can totally tell is just, like, one street that they used. Like, it's like is this a real street?
I don't
know. It's shot in Vancouver, so who knows? Then we have another music number of the band practicing. Myra's in a neck brace. Anne Ryan hates singing, and he wants Skyler to do it.
And she says, yeah. Okay. I'll sing because once again, she's not afraid of anything. So then mom and dad say, you know, oh, there's something different about this Halloween with the monsters. And then they have a special monster that's, like, trapped in their orb they have downstairs, which then I couldn't think of a word for, so I said orb. But then later, they said tank. So it's in a tank.
It's a circular tank.
So it's Circular tank. So orb is not too far
off. Mhmm.
And then there's, like, lots of monster movement in the area, and they're like, something is drawing them in. Like, the monsters are here. So then his sidekick, dad's sidekick, Coop, is there, and he's supposed to babysit Skyler so she doesn't go out on Halloween. And they are locked inside. And then we cut away to mom and dad, and they're like, their monsters are, like, following her blood.
We should have trained her earlier. Like, we should have told her, blah blah blah. And they're like, no. Not telling her is protecting her, which okay. And then Bad parents.
Bad parents.
Yeah. Mhmm.
Very bad parents.
And she calls her best friend to come over. So she comes over, Sadie, with Henry, her 2 best friends. She's like, get over here. I'm gonna cut the power to the house. So she does it, but then the entire downstairs basement, which we think is a molding basement and is not, is a monster basement, all of that technology gets shut off.
And so the orb is orbiting. The monsters break out of the orb, and then the floating woman threatens everyone. So we have a floating monster woman, and she, like, needs to find her parents. They're gonna take down the hunters because she wants to possess this soul of Skyler. So the the floating woman wants to, like, take over Skyler, but can only do that if her parents are captured, deceased?
I don't know. Yeah. Are protecting her. Basically. She just needs to get them out of the way because she wants to basically, she wants to scare Skyler until she dies.
Yeah. So bay so but that's a good point, Val, because these monsters are like everyone has their own individual monster, and the more fearful you are in general about something, the more that it's, like, working against you and haunting.
Them.
Yeah. Yeah. So because Skyler's monster was in the orb for 15 years, which we will cover again later, she never experienced fear. She didn't know what it was. It was a feeling she didn't know she had. So now that her monster is out of the orb, she is starting to experience fear for the first time. So there's even couple throwaway lines where she's like, what is this? I don't even know what I'm feeling right now. And her friends are like, you're scared. And she's like, I don't can't relate.
So as, she's, like, talking to mom on the phone and then the monsters attack her parents and then the line goes dead. And so she's experiencing fear. And, now that is loose, she's experiencing it for the first time. If the fear is too much, the monster will take over their soul. And that's how her grandfather died 800 years ago, but her parents became monsters to protect her, and then they captured a diamada.
So, basically, I just, like, said everything too early because it was coming up next. So then, Coop is sending the kids out. He's like, okay. You're gonna go get the monsters. I'm gonna fix everything here in the basement. And so he gives them, like, steampunk metal stuff to, like Weapons. Weapons to
And can contain containment units.
Mhmm. So, like, basically laser guns and then, like, a makeup palette that can capture the monster until you can get it back at home. So Diamana lured mom and dad into a warehouse so she could capture them, and then she has her little goons, Bob and Theodosia, who are Henry and Sadie's monsters.
Mhmm.
Then the kids are out, and they get attacked in the forest by a little tree stump with legs, which was my favorite monster throughout. He was so cute, and he was just, like, running. It was so cute. So then Henry gets lost, and he gets attacked by his fear monster, Bob, and he's frozen. He's petrified Mhmm.
As if he's seen the basilisk. Then Cobb saves them because he was wearing this helmet that had a GoPro on it that connected straight to Henry. Then, the parents were captured, but then put into the haunted house from the beginning, which happens to be the lab of her father, the one who died by De Amata. And, so then they're in the lab, which we find out that old man McCreery is her grandpa. So he was trapped there out of, you know, fear and whenever he died there.
So kind of fun kind of funny. Then the what's her name? I wrote it wrong. I wrote Diadara. Yeah. So dia Diamada takes over the body of Myra, the mean girl for the Halloween party. So she, like, finds her and, like, her neck brace is gone. She, like, takes over her body. Skyler shows up at the Halloween party to sing, because she's, like, there, you know, trying to fight the monster. She's gonna go sing, do it really quick, then she'll I'll keep fighting.
But she has stage fright for the first time, so she didn't, like, know how what it was like to not have stage fright. So then Ryan helps her out. She, like, kinda pulls it together, but really not so good. But then Myra shows up to sing and pushes her out of the way. This is where we get a musical number that's just like, whose voice is that?
And then Skyler has a heart to heart with Sadie, and she looks at the mantle on the haunted house. It's her mom and her grandpa, so maybe old man McQuarrie monsters are everywhere outside the mansion. So she figures out that she's part of the family who owns the mansion. Cobb wakes up and Cobb. His name's Cobb.
It's not Coop. It's Cobb. Cobb wakes up Henry using some sort of science, and they work together to fix the the tank, but then Henry leaves him alone to go help Skyler and Sadie fight the monsters at the haunted house. So he's, like, got this newfound, like, I can do anything.
Cobb builds them up.
Yeah. He's like Like, you got this, my guy.
Because he was too fearful to leave at first, and then Cobb kinda gives him a little therapy.
Yeah. So then, Sadie and Skyler now have to fight the monsters in the house. So they're kind of doing it alone because there's only the 2 of them with their laser guns. But then the monsters plot to get, like, her friends and everyone. So then when she leaves Myra's body after she's, like, done with it, she falls down the stairs again, but then she falls down the stairs again after that.
So ends up being kind of silly. Then, Henry's monster is back. He defeats him by not being scared of him for the first time, and he, like, is fully defeated. He is, like, shrunk to the ground, like, done. Then Dia D'Amato uses all uses all the other monsters in the area to take over the ballroom of the mansion, so they're, like, taking over all of the children that are here for this party.
And Harry yells at her how to defeat them and says, whatever scares you, do it. So you have to do what scares you the most to defeat your monster, which is very much,
I have what you don't have, love.
And so she runs to the microphone and tells Ryan to get the wireless guitar.
So
she's gonna sing in front of everyone, which is facing her fears. But then Dia Diamada goes into Ryan's soul. Not the cute guy. And so then they all get trapped in the graveyard. All the kids are trying to run out, but then they close the gate.
So they're all trapped in the graveyard outside of the mansion. But then, because Diamata is in Ryan's body, he's being mean, and he's you're the worst singer on the Earth. You look like an idiot. And then finally, he's, like, fighting back against, and he's like, do something you're scared of. Or she says that to him. She says, Ryan, do something you're scared of. And so he asks her out. He says, will you go out with me? And so she, like, leaves his body. She's like, then we get a music number.
This is, like, the 4th music number at this point.
Yeah. See, but the music numbers here don't really help the plot, which is what a musical should do is help the plot. But these are just kind of like, we're just gonna sing for the element.
Right.
So then she runs after Diamata because, it leads her to her parents, and her friends run after her. And her parents are being, like, held in the sky, like, if you were to hold, like, 2 rotisserie chickens by the legs. And then she she's, like, offers to switch places with them, but she, like, tricked them. And then she her parents are, like, falling off the roof, and her useless little shadow gun is not doing anything to fight the lady in the sky. So then Sadie distracts.
Everyone falls. The parents are slipping. All 3 are blasting them. Her parents talk the fear out of their own heads. Right. This was
this was my favorite moment. K? So they keep saying, you can't show fear. She's feeding off your fear. Her parents keep saying this to Sadie. Mhmm. And then finally, Sadie goes, I'm not afraid. She's feeding off of your fear. Mhmm. And I thought that was really cool because Yeah. They didn't even they were so worried for her. They were so scared for her that they didn't even realize that that
was what
was actually happening. Yeah. Sorry. Keep going. Yep.
No. That's perfect. So her parents talk the fear out of their own heads, which helps destroy D'Amada, and then, they collect her in the makeup palette, and then they just need somewhere to put her. And then, Val, you know what? Freaking happens, it ends with a narrator. We didn't have a narrator this whole movie. The whole movie. Why do we need one now? We don't. We don't need one.
You never
need a narrator. So then she talks about how everyone's beats their fear. So we kinda get a montage of, like, this person's beating her fear. Sadie's, you know, talking in person now, and Ryan's singing and blah blah blah. And then it ends with her and Ryan singing together, and and Myra, sings with them too, and everyone lived happily ever after.
Yeah. Yeah. This whole movie, I couldn't help but think that it would have been so much more interesting if, like, her issue was that she was so fearful. Mhmm. You know, like, that her parents had made her so fearful because that is something that actually happens.
You know?
Like, it's kind of like generational trauma. Right?
Like Right.
It's that's something that this could be a metaphor for. Right? Mhmm. And then sort of having to, like, overcome that fear, I think, would be much more interesting to me. And, like, I think Sadie kind of had that arc a little bit, but Sadie, it was kind of didn't make sense.
Right? Like, she's so fearful, and then all of a sudden, she's like, no, Henry. We have to stay and help Skyler. You know, she's always like being brave when it matters, like to, like, take care of her friend. And like, it goes unremarked upon. So it's sort of like inconsistent, you know, with her character. It's like, okay. Yeah. But like, if it was the main character doing that, it's sort of like, see, you can be brave. You just need the right, like, motivation or whatever.
Like, that's more interesting. So, yeah, I don't know. I was just kind of like, this doesn't make sense. Also, like, so they overcome their fear. So now no one experiences fear, like, at all. You know what I mean? Like, I I don't understand. Because there there's a healthy amount of fear that we need to, like, be safe. You know?
Yeah. And, like, who everyone has a monster.
Right.
So if they're fighting the monsters, then then and they take them away from people, then they just don't have fear anymore because they're trapped in the tank.
That's what I'm saying. Like, you just have literally no fear whatsoever. Also, like, how convenient that, Diana's 2 goons happen to be her best friends. Fear
Ironic. Isn't it ironic?
That worked out really well.
Don't you think?
Yeah. So I don't know. It's just there was so much about this movie that, like, had so much potential, and it just ended up being really lame. Mhmm. Yeah.
Alright. It's time for bingo.
Al, do you wanna start?
Oh, sure. One hit wonder song.
I mean, were these I mean, I don't even know. There were hits. They were just random original songs for the CD.
I didn't you know, though, I didn't hate the music.
I didn't either. In fact, I really liked the song that Brian sang Yeah. Like, quite a bit, but they're not, like, hits. It's not like High School Musical. Yeah. You know what I mean? Mhmm. Okay. Breaking the 4th wall or looking into the camera. I guess you could probably count, like, when they zoom in on the orb and Diana's in the orb. She, like, figures out at right at the camera.
Yeah. I'll take it. Holiday themed Halloween.
Halloween. Clunky metaphor. Yeah. I mean, their fear is literally physically manifested. That's Yeah. A metaphor.
Yes. Parents who just don't get it.
I guess.
I mean, to your point, though, they don't let her like, they don't tell her.
Right. Which is that means they don't get it. I feel like everybody's parents in this movie failed them. Like, we don't even meet Sadie and Henry's parents, but, like Yeah. They're so fearful. Like, what are they doing? And then Yeah. Yeah. Obviously, Skyler's parents are annoying. Mhmm. Cool non parent adult. Cobb. Cobb. Coop. Coop. Cobb.
Someone too famous for a TV movie.
No. No. Not a one. Competition to resolve central problem.
No. No. A montage sequence.
I actually don't remember one from this movie.
The only one that would count would be when she's, like, narrating. But
Oh, yeah. I guess. We can count that.
But I don't know if that's, like, a true montage. Yeah. I mean Alright. Val says yes.
Cliche villains. Yes. Yes. Monsters. Monster. Mhmm.
Clothes or items you owned? I did have a monster orb in my basement. I couldn't even get through it.
I think at this point, like, it we're so far past, like, when I was this age that I rarely see something that I like, we're gonna have to get to a point where, like, the parents are dressing the way that I dress in order for me to, like, see something I Mhmm. Own. Rotten Tomatoes 40 to 60. For the love of God, I hope that this is, like I'll keep it in the range. I'm gonna say 42. 53. Come on. No. We get the square. We do get the square.
No. Val says no. Happily ever after.
Yeah. Yeah. They have to tell us with the narrator. Yep. Almost kissing. No.
Someone who became famous. Is Luke Benoit pretty famous?
I actually feel like
Oh, isn't what's her name more famous? Myra?
I would say that Olivia Holt and Luke Benoit are, like, equal amounts. Carys Dorsey is maybe more famous, but I don't know if she's, like, famous. You know what I'm saying?
I think combined. I like them being combined.
Okay. Alright. K. Fine. Betraying of one's real friends or values.
She sneaks out. Or, like, she's, like, gonna turn the thing off because she doesn't wanna listen to her parents, but she doesn't, like, betray her friends. If anything, she, like, works really hard with them.
Yeah. And she is she's also not, like, betraying her own values even when she does leave. Yeah. Because, like, you could argue her parents are wrong, very wrong to, like, literally lock her in her house. Yeah. So, yeah, I think she I don't think she does.
Narrator. We got it.
Just in the nick of time. Mhmm. Obviously, bad special effects or stunts.
Well, I mean, all of the special effects The whole movie. The monsters. But when she does this the flip at first, the, like, wig god. Is like a
platinum blonde wig for the person who
actually did the flip. I person who actually did the flip.
I
know. And it was so wild.
It's so bad. The whole thing.
Disney Channel star.
Yeah. Yeah. Right? Luke Benoit. Mhmm. Yeah.
He's in also Good Luck Charlie. So
Yep. Yep. Yep. Musical number.
Musical number.
Somehow.
Magic.
Magic. Wow. We so rarely have both of these in one movie.
Yeah.
Wow. Cool. Someone says the title of the movie, not a one time. No. Scooby dude. I mean, kinda. Yeah. I would say so.
Yeah. They had to. Everyone else was
captured. Mhmm. The heroes create the problem. Well, no. She does because she
cuts her power. Oh, wow, Val. Okay. Lead is a fish out of water. No. No. Well, we got one bingo. Hey. It's one we haven't gotten in a while. It is our all the way down, diagonal up. So magic, narrator, happily ever after, montage sequence, and parents who just don't get it. Wow. Wow. Wow.
Wow. Wow.
Pretty cool. Alright, Val. Well, we've come to a game that we've never played before. Oh. And it's because I didn't know what to do for that. So I did some research onto our our director friend, Stu 2. Oh. Saw that he's won a lot of or he you know, not a lot. He hasn't won a lot. He was nominated for for a few director Guild Awards Okay. For outstanding, like, youth programmer child
program. Okay.
Okay. So I'm gonna give you a year, and I'm gonna ask you a question, and you're gonna have to name a decom. Okay. Okay. It sounds complicated.
No. I I I think I get it. Yeah.
Okay. So this is called the Director Guild Awards. Okay. In 2005, Stu 2's going to the mat beat this movie, Dwayne Dunham's only nomination.
Okay. Wait. 2,005. Dwayne Dunham was the one who was, like, the he did, like, stunts and stuff. So it would be something with, like, physical activity, maybe.
This is the only director guild award that Stu two won. Really? Mhmm.
I can't even think of other d cons from 2,005. This is really hard, Al. I don't know. What's the weird one with the science with the no. That's too early.
Genus?
Yeah. Sure. I don't I I don't remember when Genius came out, but I think it's before that. But sure.
I think
he was in the nineties.
Going to the mat beat Tiger Cruise.
Okay. Okay.
2008, Paul Hoans jump in, beat this Kenny Ortega movie.
Kenny Ortega. So let's see their High School Musical. 2008? Did he do Cheetah Girls? Cheetah Girls 2.
Incorrect. It was High School Musical 2.
Oh, I thought that was too obvious.
I know. Kinda crazy, though, that jump in beat High School Musical 2.
Yeah. That is weird.
Alright. 2009. You're not gonna know one of these people,
but you'll know one of them. Okay.
So, in 2009, the 2 DCOMs lost to, a show called classical baby I'm a grown up now.
And
it is 1 Paul Hoenn movie and 1 Matthew Diamond movie.
Oh, jeez.
They are both sequels. Oh, I'm just kidding. 1 of them is a sequel. 1 of them is not. Okay. But one of them is very well known.
I can't I literally cannot remember.
You can look at a list, Val.
I just don't wanna accidentally cheat and see the years. Okay. Cowbells and Cheetah Girls 2. Incorrect.
We have Cheetah Girls 1 World
Oh.
And Camp Rock.
Oh, okay.
Okay. 2011. Stu two's Avalon High lost to a Nickelodeon movie called the boy who cried werewolf. It has Victoria Justice in it along with 2 other movies, 1 Paul Hoenn and 1 Michael Grossman. It is a well known sequel and a movie we hate.
Okay. Well, it's Camp Rock 2 Yes. And Den Brother.
Close. Starstruck.
Alright. And in We just hate all of these movies.
We do.
Oh, okay.
And in 20, 2013, girl versus monster lost to this Paul Owen movie.
Was it Radio Rebel?
We just did it, pal. It was Let It Shine.
Oh, I I couldn't remember if he had directed that. For some reason, I thought someone also
Okay. Well Paul Owen with the wins.
Yeah. Interesting. I mean, he he has better than stuff.
A very hard game, but sometimes I have to make it hard. Sorry.
No. That's fine. I'm not mad. Sorry. I'm not mad.
Actually, not sorry.
Good. Don't be mad.
Oh, before we leave, I did wanna say that I did reach out to resident gen z, one of my friends' sisters, who's now my friend. And I would just like to quote her on her thoughts because I said, as resident gen z, need to know your thoughts on the movie girl versus monster. Okay. Girl versus monster is not the worst DCOM in my lifetime. This was also the start of the big Luc Benoit phase because shortly after they got me good with good luck Charlie love triangle moment, and I fell in love with him.
That is neither here nor there. I remember the plot being pretty good, and I surely watched it 5 times in a week at one point. The music, oh, man. I was moving and grooving. The lyrics in fearless are crazy.
Look them up because she literally says, we're face to face. I think I'll rearrange it, put you in your place, which is insane. If someone put had me at hello on the club, I would scream and run to the dance floor because the speaker is blowing up to this dance song. Okay. Sorry for the spam. That's it. Would need to watch it again to see if it holds up. So definitely had an impact on some people.
For sure. And, I mean, clearly, like, you know, it it kind of feels like it was of the same like, they were trying to recreate a lemonade mouth moment. You know what I mean? With the music and, like, the team up of friends.
Cannot wait till next episode.
Yeah. And I have actually seen parts of Teen Beach Movie. Isn't that the next one?
Yes. Val, what are we watching next week?
We're watching Team Beach movie. Oh. So I'm excited. I'm excited as well. I have higher hopes for that one than Yeah. This one. And I'm I I'm I'm I wanna believe that we are entering a new era here. So this is the last movie of 2012. You know, we're we're moving forward into a new new time.
Absolutely.
So I I believe that, hopefully, we're at least close to done with these wackadoodle films that I don't fully get.
We can only hope. Great.
Well Great. As always, regardless of what the movie is, I always enjoy spending time with
you. Oh, tell me again.
Regardless of what the movie is, I always enjoy spending time with you.
Oh, that's so nice, Val. Thank you.
You're very welcome.
And IU.
Oh, thank you. Oh,
and we're watching Team Beach Movie next, and, we're going on 4 years of DCOM and Terry's.
Yeah. And I can't remember if we mentioned this in our last episode, but, we still direct the Improvised ecom Mhmm. That takes place in Chicago.
Yes.
And not only is it still going after, like, going on well, I guess
After getting a 7 week run, it is now indefinite. Right.
But it's also because it's one of the best performing shows in our in our group, in our whatever it is theater that we're at, it is moved to Thursdays at 8. So a more doable time, I think, for most people. So if you are in the Chicago area and you're looking for something fun to do on a Thursday night, please, come by IO Theater and check out Improvised Decom.
Yeah. Yeah. Alright, Val. Well, love you.
I love you.
And have a day.
Thank you. You too. Thanks. Bye, Val. Bye, Al. This podcast was produced by me and me, and it was edited
by me. The music was composed by Michael McNally.
You can find us online at the trinet network dot com slash dcommentaries hyphen pod.
And you can find us on Instagram and TikTok at d commentaries.
D commentaries is a part of the Trident network. To learn more about our videos, live shows, and other podcasts, please visit the trident network dot com.
Disney Channel Original
Movies. Damn it, Ali.