Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior [2006]

[Cross-posted on the Bad Movie Night Facebook page.]

We've had overall mixed results when it comes to Disney Channel Original Movies. "High School Musical 2" and "Descendants 2" were both rewatch quality but for every one of those we have something like "Starstruck," not very good and ultimately forgettable. Adam, in spite of being so amused by the concept of the movie that he put it on his watch list, was sure this one would be of the latter sort but he got out-voted by Kay, Sarah, and Erik so it was our feature for the evening. We were all pleasantly surprised.

The film follows Wendy Wu, a girl who only cares about being elected homecoming queen and knows absolutely nothing about her Chinese heritage. All of that changes when a monk comes looking for her because she is the reincarnation of some female warrior who is destined to defeat a demon that was being contained in an artifact Wendy's mom acquired for a museum exhibit. Wendy's mom, in spite of the fact that she works for a museum, also knows nothing about China. The demon inhabits random people while the monk, Shen, and Wendy go on adventures like shopping for Shen's new wardrobe and training montages. Eventually, the family all gets in touch with their heritage and eats a lot of moon cakes. In the final showdown, the demon infests Wendy's homecoming rival who gets an amazingly silly demon voice and they fight to the death. Shen, who was destined to die in the final battle, is saved by Wendy, proving that you can change your destiny. Wendy abdicates the homecoming crown to her rival even though that's not how high school royalty works.

Most of the joy in this movie comes from the demon girl but there are some decent laughs throughout. The over-the-top Disney acting is really quality in this one. Have a night of it. Eat a moon cake.

Spoon Rating: 6