Zapped (2014) Reviews

• Disappointing

  eatthis12342014-07-10

  This had potential. Could have been better if they would have found a talented actress for the lead in the film. It is obvious that Disney is trying to make something of Zendaya but honestly she just can't handle the part. She turns in a cardboard performance, and the final dance scene didn't even appear to be choreographed, but instead just thrown together. Even the "evil" character was very bland and just so unbelievable. The actors were all obviously too old for high school as well. I would not recommend this unless you are a big fan of Zendaya or Spencer and want to watch it for that reason only.

• Disappointing and Demeaning to Boys

  Todda75122014-06-28

  I have always liked Disney movies primarily because I can watch them with my kids without worry of them hearing or seeing something I would prefer they didn't, until I saw Zapped. Even my kids made comments about how it was "about controlling boys" and was "kind of insulting to boys". Those we're they're words, not mine. The movie is about a girl who downloads an app to her phone. The app is for training "dogs". The app turns out to have magical powers. The magical powers are that it allows the owner to control boys (implied dogs) with verbal commands. Anything the owner says into the phone, boys have to do. It's a dog training app, that controls boys. Does anyone see the (probably unintentional, but still there) unspoken message there? But that isn't all. Boys are presented as immature, "untrained", disgusting, farting, and ridiculous fools. And that is before the controlling app is even introduced. It was one of those movies that I kept growing more uncomfortable with the more it went on. I kept thinking, "OK, the whole demeaning-to-boys thing will end soon and it will get better". But it never did. If the gender of the characters were reversed in this movie and it portrayed girls like this, it never would have been released. Remember, the target audience of this movie is kids. What message is this movie relaying to kids? To boys, it says, "You should be embarrassed of yourself". Disappointing.

• A movie about a girl with a phone that controls boys. What could go wrong!?

  CruaverVoidDrake2014-09-03

  This is a movie about a girl without any logic of any kind. Her step family is all male thus in her attempt to find some control she gets a dog obedience app. This app gets mutated by some means that doesn't make logical sense. The result of this is that the app controls all human males. This results in a girl without any understanding of the consequences of her actions to make vague commands that spiral out of control changing stereotypical boys. She even forgets to lock her own phone. The obvious thing to do with any power you gain is to make sure no one else can use it without your permission. Not to mention this movie contains clichés such as "the tough guy is really a secret softy that comes through for the main character at the last second" and "the popular girl is always evil." This movie is a piece of trash that I suggest no one watch it.

• Dancing Queen "Bee"

  aimless-462014-07-12

  Ill-conceived and poorly executed Disney movie, probably the worst since "Princess Protection Program". The tone is "I Love Lucy" slapstick, arguably dumbed-down several notches even from that. Zendaya is not a dramatic actor (actress), nor are most of the cast members. She does a good comic monologue at the start of the movie and then the wheels fall off. She would make an excellent news commentator, game show host, or comedy club performer, but her dramatic acting is borderline embarrassing. Oh for the days of Kay Panabaker or Amanda Bynes, who could have brought something (audience identification or actual comedy - respectively) to this role. The strength of the production is Emilia McCarthy, who shows an unexpected range in the role of bad girl queen bee, nicely overplayed. It's extremely unusual to find a young actor with this much versatility. Like Juno Temple, McCarthy could believably play anything from an extreme airhead to an over-the-top queen bee like this one. And her physical appearance is the sort than adapts to sell a variety of personality types. Although McCarthy helps attract boy viewers (who otherwise would despise this thing), she is the kiss of death for the rest of the cast because her scenes with them expose the staggering talent disparity for all to see. Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child..

• Everything Is So Typical

  phillipsmike712014-07-21

  I watched this film out of curiosity just to see what it was like and it was the worst film ever, it was rather offensive to me. A magical phone app that controls boys in the hands of a teenage girl who apparently refused to accept boys for who they are, even if they have flaws. They tried to make it seem like all girls were perfect and boys were the cause of all problems but it showed that girls are not all that perfect as they claim to be and that they blame boys for their personal problems that boys are not the cause of. The mean girl in the film, she actually annoys me, she's proves that when she has the phone with the magical app that she's a criminal, well, she only acts like one and her friend, although not as mean as her but even the mean girl is mean to her. But this whole film is demeaning to all boys, I'm a boy and I found this to be the idea of a woman, even though it was a man who directed it. This whole film seems to be screaming the term "Man-Haters" all over it. Zendaya as usual had to dance, the acting in this was horrible, the plot and story was nothing but garbage and insulting to boys. The whole time I watched it, I couldn't be more offended and I felt like hated every minute of it and everything about it. I find it demeaning and insulting to boys, I actually couldn't stop talking back to the film and the characters in it. I'm surprised this film didn't bomb. Although the thing about this film that satisfied me was that the girls in this finally learned that all boys are innocent and the girls were guilty of every evil thing through the whole plot and story. This film should never seen the light of day the minute they thought of it. I never hated any film in my whole life and this film is hateful to all boys and I think this film deserves to be hated for being the worst film ever and demeaning to boys. This film is nothing but an attack on boys and it screams "Man-Haters" all over.