Greetings,
A lot of interesting things get recommended for me on the Netflix for reasons at which I can only guess. A while back a little Disney TV movie called Read It and Weep popped up. Maybe because I watch me a lot of Disney cartoons. What? Many adults do it. Anyway, I hadn't planned to watch it, but I read the synopsis and thought, 'Oh, now I get it'. So, I put it in my queue for a while until I finally decided to watch it. And here are the results of that event.
Read It and Weep is a 2006 Disney Channel original movie about a young girl named Jamie played by Kay Panabaker. She's nowhere close to being the most popular girl in school, of course, and she is reminded of that constantly. She also has a crush on a guy named Marco who just happens to be involved with actually popular, "mean girl" Sawyer, played wonderfully as expected by Allison Scagliotti of Drake and Josh fame. However, Jamie does have a few very good, close friends that keep her going. Not to mention a loving family, which includes her guitar playing brother Lenny, a supportive mother and a father who is slightly delusional about the recipes he serves at the family's pizza parlor. Seriously, I don't know what his problem is.
The plot gets going when Jamie's personal journal is mistakenly turned in as an English assignment. And I should point out that it's not just some journal with writing in it about her daily life. It's in the form of a story, complete with some visual art, about a girl names Isabella or Is as she is called, who is super popular and has some super powers. She is the alter ego of Jamie, who uses her to tell the tale of everyone in her life. In fact, Is actually comes to life, for Jamie anyway, as someone she actually talks to, and she is played by Danielle Panabaker, Kay's real life older sister. More thoughts on that later. Anyway, the teacher praises the writing and before you know it, the journal gets published as an actual book. Because that's how it happens in real life. Yeah, look, Disney, I appreciate the way you teach the children to believe in their dreams and whatnot, but let's try to keep at least a little reality on the plate here.
After the books comes out, Jamie's life is expectedly turned upside down, for better or worse. Now, it's at this point where certain aspects of the plot may become slightly predictable. Many things, I saw coming. But then again, I'm a grown up. Maybe it can keep its target audience, which is kids, guessing. And I'm not saying this in a disparaging way. I think this is perfect storytelling for the age bracket they were aiming towards, which seems to be the 10 to 12 area. That, as I recall, is a very transitional time in life. Not so much a child anymore, but certainly not an adult, so making entertainment things for that age can be tricky. I think they did a good job here, though. Nothing too heavy, but also not talking down to the youngsters. And I find the core idea is kind of unique. In fact, due to the creativity that this movie has when it comes to the journal and Jamie's imagination, I can forgive a lot of these tropes.
Although, going back to Netflix, it seems that some of the people who reviewed it were appalled at this story, accusing this young girl of having multiple personalities and a mental disorder. Uh...calm the heck down, people. She's fine. She just has a very active imagination, something that may seem odd, I understand, as she seems to be going to public school, those places that often think creativity is not something to be bothered with. Or spent money on. But I digress. I love the fact that this girl has a vivid imagination. Come to think of it, she reminds me of myself as a young writer. Oh, who am I kidding? My characters ARE still real to me.
Also, I have to say, I did love the idea of casting sisters in these roles. Kay and Danielle Panabaker do look alike, and, whilst I don't know if this was intentional, Jamie and Is act like sisters a bit in the movie, though Jamie considers Is another part of herself. Jamie looks up to Is, wants to be just like her and takes her advice whether that's a good idea or not. But I love the way these two act together. They should do it more often.
So, what about the movie as a whole? Well, I think this may have been recommended for me because I tend to watch movies about writers. And, like I said, Jamie reminds me of myself at that age, so, if you're an adult writer who started young, this might spark a bit of nostalgia, in a way. And if you have a kid that's the target age for this, I say it's a pretty good thing for them to watch. It teaches a few lessons, which may seem passe to adults, but to a kid this age, it might give them some insight. And as far as these Disney Channel Originals go? Well, I thought it was better than High School Musical.
Love and full moons,
Becky the Writer
