Hello, Spongey here and welcome back to DCOM-vember!
When I reviewed the Even Stevens Movie, I said I finally reviewed all the DCOMs based on their shows. Well, I actually knew I was wrong but I was more referring to their sitcoms. That and sometimes I forget there exists Live Action Disney shows before Lizzie McGuire.
Here we have a film based on The Famous Jett Jackson, a show I had never ever heard of before hearing about this movie. As such, I know very little outside of what Wikipedia tells me. Thus, I can’t fairly say if this works as an adaptation so hopefully I don’t get anything wrong.
I actually watched this one because I threw it on a Twitter poll and it won, so my followers already know how I feel about this one. Either way I’ll get to go into more detail at least. The writer is Bruce Kalish, who is best known as a producing on Power Rangers for a few seasons and he also made Aaron Stone for Disney XD.
The director is Shawn Levy, known for such classics like Like Pink Panther 2006, Night at the Museum and The Internship. Quite the creative team, let’s see if it results in a solid movie.
This, is Jett Jackson: The Movie
Sixteen-year-old Jett Jackson’s role as the action hero “Silverstone” in his hit TV series has catapulted him to mega-stardom. But Jett’s finding it increasingly difficult to juggle the demands of show biz with school, family and friends.
Then, a freak accident on the set causes Jett and his on-screen character Silverstone to trade places.
Now, Jett must save the world from the clutches of the evil Dr. Kragg, while Silverstone faces his own challenge in Jett’s world: teenage life! With no script to follow, can Jett and Silverstone safely find their way back to the realities they knew?
As I established, I’ve never seen the show and I felt like it would be more fun to approach this blind. But on its own, I can say this movie was pretty good. Nothing great but even it’s flaws are nothing too bad compared to some other DCOM’s, even ones from this era.
Honestly, this has less of that DCOM feel compared to others from this era. It’s more serious in tone and is less cheesy. It’s still clearly Disney of course, but it’s not even as silly as The Poof Point.
This mostly focuses on how Jett juggles both lives and of course how he and Silverstone deal with living each others lives. The former is done pretty well. It’s not exactly new but they do show how hard it can be to be live a normal life and be famous at the same time.
There’s nice moments with him thinking about what to do especially after he lets some people down here and there. He has to decide if he wants to keep playing this role not, and it more or less plays out like Hannah Montana the Movie done right.
It can almost have the same issues but it plays out in a less forced way. They focus more on WHY he should come back, like how this show actually gives the town most of its jobs.
That’s an angle I found to be interesting. While there’s not a ton of comedy, what’s there isn’t too bad. The fish out of water jokes are toned down so when it happens, it’s more amusing, like how he attacks one of the actors who plays a bad guy.
Speaking of bad guys, the main villain is played Micheal Ironside so of course he’s the best part. In terms of complaints, it can be a bit slow. It’s short but it can feel longer due to it being more slowly placed than you may expect.
We can spend too much time on one world at times, and I feel like some minor fixes could have raised the tension in the 3rd act. Not spoiling what goes on, but the climax could have had better stakes, which is odd given what happens.
And yeah, the element of going into this TV Dimension is kinda out place but it does at least tie into what the show was about, unlike some movies that do odd things like this.
But since I haven’t seen the show, I can’t comment too much on that. So yeah, it can be slow and have the odd logic issue but overall, I quite enjoyed this. I liked the slower pace and how it fleshes out the issues Jett goes through.
It’s reasonably well-directed and the stuff in the show world is done pretty well given the budget. It balances both sides well enough and it creates a pretty decent viewing experience.
It’s not one of my faves but it was pretty interesting and I did like watching it. As far as the Series DCOM’s go, it’s better than even something like The Suite Life Movie, but still not as good as the Wizards Movie.
So yeah, looks like Doug and I confirmed that even those who haven’t seen the show can enjoy this film for what it is. An interesting take on its topics even if it’s a bit slow at times.
(…Yeah, that’s how early this one was written, I was able to say his name, ew)
Rating: Good
Next time, we go back to this decade.
See ya.
A Taste of Spongey 