"Kim Possible" Feature Talkback (Spoilers)

[RoyalRubble]

Use this thread to discuss the new live-action adaptation of Kim Possible! Premieres tonight at 8:00 p.m. EST/PST on the Disney Channel!


Kim Possible
Debut - February 15th, 2019
Screenplay by - Josh Cagan and Mark McCorkle & Bob Schooley
Directed by - Adam B. Stein and Zach Lipovsky

Synopsis: Based on the global hit animated series, the live-action “Kim Possible” Disney Channel Original Movie follows everyday teen hero Kim Possible and best friend and sidekick Ron Stoppable as they embark on their freshman year of high school, all while saving the world from evil villains. By their side every step of the way is teen tech-genius Wade and new friend Athena, who also happens to be a Kim Possible super fan and is eager to join Team Possible. While Kim and Ron have always been one step ahead of their opponents, navigating the social hierarchy of high school is more challenging than the action-hero ever imagined. With Drakken and Shego lurking in the wings, Kim must rely on her family and friends more than ever. Now it’s up to Team Possible—Kim, Ron, tech-genius Wade, new friend Athena and Rufus, a naked mole-rat that Ron meets along the way—to stop these super villains.

Cast list:
Sadie Stanley as Kim Possible
Sean Giambrone as Ron Stoppable
Ciara Wilson as Athena
Todd Stashwick as Drakken
Taylor Ortega as Shego
Alyson Hannigan as Dr. Ann Possible
Connie Ray as Nana Possible
Issac Ryan Brown as Wade Load
Erika Tham as Bonnie Rockwaller
Nancy Cartwright as Rufus

Special Appearances By: Christy Carlson Romano and Patton Oswalt

Comments?

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[ToonJay723]

You can see it now on DisneyNow.

The opening part with Dr. Dementor was bad, but to my the rest of the movie is pretty good. I thought Sadie Stanley and Sean Giambrone did a good job playing Kim and Ron, and the movie does have most of the same style as the animated series. Although there's a fair amount of more drama in this movie, while the show is more comedic and action oriented.

I'd say the only bad thing about this movie is the opening bit and the special effects, but the latter is expected since this is a low budget TV movie.

 

[RainbowCupcake]

Well that was a fun way to waste an hour and a half. I should preface this with the fact that I have never seen the original series, so I can't say how true this is to that. However, I feel like the movie had "cartoony" nods sprinkled throughout, which was fun (Kim saying that wearing the same outfit everyday was cartoonish, the characters being able to change immediately and Ron questioning it, etc.) I also liked the easter egg of the sign outside of the school having a different message on it each time.

The characters I thought made this really stand out. All of the actors were excellent. I loved the two villains in particular (Shego was hilarious); the chemistry between them really worked. It makes me want to go back and watch the original series just for them. Patton Oswalt's role was also amusing. I actually didn't recognize him at first. Ron was also very good, a little annoying at times but I guess that's in his character. Sadie Stanley did a good job as the lead for being a fairly new actress. It seemed like a lot of the characters got to shine: the villains, the genius sidekick/friend, Kim's mom and Nana, even Rufus had his little "save the day" moment at the end.

The story was typical for a DCOM/superhero kids movie, nothing mind blowing. Also

Spoiler

I totally saw the twist with Athena being evil coming. The literal first thought I had about her character was "I wonder if she's an evil clone/robot created by Drakken..." Annnnnnnnd I was right!

I didn't come in expecting a super crazy, hard-to-predict twist, so this wasn't surprising or disappointing. Other than that, the story was at least interesting, lots of fun action scenes. For such a low budget, I didn't think the CGI or the special effects looked that bad.

I see a sequel forthcoming with

Spoiler

Drakken trying to take over the world as a kid

so I'll prepare myself for that. I wouldn't mind seeing a series of movies honestly, if Disney decides to go that route.

Overall, I was entertained.



Also, Villainstagram.

 

[LinusFan303]

It felt like a normal Disney Channel original movie but it was alright. They did their own thing with some nods to the series which was nice and it was a little predictable but I didn't hate it, was pretty good. The actors for Drakken and Shego did a great job playing the characters, but yeah it wasn't awwwwful.

 

[Fone Bone]

Take my negative review with a huge grain of salt. I am not the target demographic for this.

Kim Possible

After about a half hour of this nonsense I was going to start off my review like, "More like Kim Passable", but by the end I realized that joke would be overly generous.

So here is my relationship to the original show. I was an adult when it premiered, and didn't feel any affinity towards it. Not enough to have to want to ever put up with the creepy adult male fandom (which is the precise reason I'm avoiding My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic too). So I'm coming into this movie with few judgments. And the original creators are involved, so maybe it won't be so bad.

I could go over how bad the dialogue and the story are, but ultimately that seems like a pointless complaint. It's possible this was a problem on the cartoon too, but nobody minded because people forgive a lot more in cartoons than live-action projects. And I just don't have it in me to go over why this project, obviously designed for teenage girls, doesn't meet my personal standards as an adult male. Maybe my complaints should be a little more general than that.

I'll bite. This was the wrong movie for the debut project. The movie seems to be more about Athena's arc than Kim's, which is completely unwise for the first project in the continuity ever. The producers of Star Trek Generations, in my mind the very worst Star Trek film, were very regretful that they had Picard cry in his first ever big screen appearance. And while I think that is actually the least of that movie's problems, I see the argument. Making Kim such a mess who is jealous and feeling inadequate throughout the movie is a really dumb place to put the character in her first ever appearance. Now the audience will think she's ALWAYS like that. It makes a bad first impression to see her going through this in the first movie. The first movie should be pretty basic I would think (they are totally overthinking making Athena a robot and partial traitor) and just have Kim be Kim, and not have Athena in it at all. Athena is the character you introduce in the second (or in my personal opinion) third movie to spice things up. She is not a first movie character, and it's troubling that the creators of the long-running series wrote a movie without realizing that.

Other complaints. This might go for society in general, so maybe I shouldn't have it out for this movie about this: But I think the movie, and most Disney Channel stuff, teaches little girls to value the wrong things. It's not like boy's entertainment doesn't do the same thing, but most boy's shows are sort of made under the understanding that they will attract adult nerd fans too, so they write it on a couple of levels. Disney Channel projects for girls are always all about the lipsticks and the make-overs and things like that. And as an adult male, maybe it's not something I should be judging the movie for. But maybe it's something I should be judging society for.

The kid who plays Ron Stoppable alarms me because he is far more cartoony and arch than Will Friedle's version ever was. There was a large contingent of animated series fans who were SERIOUS, borderline creepy shippers of the two leads, but Ron here is such a cartoon that there is no way anyone would want to see these characters pushed together. This could be good or bad depending on what's next. If the series simply decides to eschew sexual tension and romance in the live-action version, more power to them. I would actually love that. But if they try to push them together anyways, it would be like if Kimberly from Power Rangers ended up with Bulk or Skull.

I also feel like it's probable that the fight scenes are worse in live-action than animation. Granted, the old show was made before the era of tightly boarded action scenes in animation (the technology wasn't there yet) but I do seem to remember it was more impressive than most other cartoons. Because of budget considerations, the fights in live-action are slower and involve less people. Also since the project is G-rated, they have to make the punches land less hard than they do in a cartoon. I feel very little real jeopardy in the project for that reason.

I imagine fans will go into conniptions for how little Rufus is in the movie, but again this is the downside to live-action on a TV budget. He doesn't effect the plot, and is involved in none of the spyjinx. But truthfully I'm not surprised at all.

The one thing I liked was Todd Stashwick as Drakken. Stashwick has always been a solid character actor, and Stashwick did good here. What drives me bonkers about Stashwick is that when he was slightly younger, he wasn't a bad lookin' dude. He could have gotten lead roles if he wanted them back in the day. It's just he's SO good at playing psychopaths, that nobody was ever willing to cast him as anything else. Who knows? Maybe he tried out for hero roles once upon a time, and was all wrong for them. But he was definitely handsome enough to be cast in them if he COULD have done a proper good guy performance. I would have been curious to see what that would have looked like.

Part of me really wishes that adult women were into girl's cartoons and projects, because then maybe producers would put a little effort into better plots and dialogue. But since they aren't and they don't, I have to accept the movie on those terms. I don't have to like it though. *.

 

[Light Lucario]

I thought that the movie was pretty good. I actually liked the opening since seeing Patton Oswalt play Professor Dementor was pretty funny. The actors were all pretty good for the most part. Kim and Ron's actors in particular have great chemistry with each other and they fit their roles pretty well. I liked how Ron would often try to support Kim throughout the movie. That made their friendship much more genuine and helped to build their chemistry. I also appreciate that they didn't throw in a love confession or anything like that. I like how Kim and Ron became a couple near the end of the series, but it would have felt too forced to do something like that in this movie. Not to mention it wouldn't fit with everything else they wanted to do. Still, I liked that they showcased a friendship between a male and female character without throwing in a developing romance subplot. It was both refreshing and fitting with the source material.

Even though the twist itself was fairly predictable, I liked that they made Kim more emotionally vulnerable. Throwing in that fear of electric eels was a bit weird and everyone praising Athena right after one fight was also just a tad too quick, but Kim losing her confidence after finding out that she wasn't the best at everything she does made sense. It isn't uncommon for perfectionists, especially teenagers, to associate what they do with their whole identity. I thought that worked as a central conflict for Kim, as well as something that kids watching the movie could possibly relate to. Granted, I think that the twist with Athena weakens the message a bit, but it still generally worked.

I liked the little nods to the cartoon series. The references to other villains were pretty neat and Athena's mission outfit was similar to what Kim wore during season four. It was also pretty cool to feature a cameo from Christy Carlson Romano too. They really had some nice details like with some of the buildings being almost exactly like how they were in the show, along with the jokes from the high school front gate board. Although, some of the props still looked pretty weak to me, mainly Kim's gadgets. I'm not sure if that was due to budget issues, how some of the designs wouldn't work in live action or a combination of both. Rufus still looked pretty cute and I kind of liked how the experiments served as an explanation as to why Rufus is able to help out with the day. It took longer for Rufus to appear in the movie than I thought, but I doubt that they could afford have a CGI Rufus for a large portion of the movie, or pay Nancy Cartwright for more lines for that matter.

I wasn't a fan of Drakken though. He looked and sounded just a bit too intimidating to work as Drakken. They still show him being an incompetent villain, but he just didn't act it enough to make it work. Showing him right after Patton Oswalt definitely didn't do him any favors either. Honestly, the kid he transformed near the end of the movie had a better flare for Drakken's behavior and voice than the adult actor did. Shego was fine though. She had her typical sassy and smug behavior towards Drakken, so she worked out fine.

I had a strong feeling that Athena would turn out to be a villain, although I was expecting an enhanced clone rather than a robot. While I like the message they were going for with Kim accepting that she doesn't have to be the best at everything and being the best isn't her entire identity, the fact that she was comparing herself to a robot designed to somehow take her spark away weakens it a bit. Even Athena pointing out that Kim was an awful friend right when she started to surpass Kim fell flat given that she was designed to break Kim's confidence. She wasn't wrong exactly about how Kim may have seen her as a pet project, but it just doesn't work when it's coming from the villain. Drakken trying to transfer Kim's spark to make himself so great was a fitting plan for him, but it was just kind of weird to never explain what that spark was or how it could be transferred over.

It was pretty neat to have Kim's mother and grandmother help in the climax. The three actresses really do look alike. Part of that could be the similar hair, but the mother and grandmother really look similar too. Of course, Athena was willing to sacrifice herself, but she turned out fine after they got rid of the evil programming. Actually killing Athena off would have made her sacrifice more meaningful, but that would also be a bit too dark for a Disney Channel movie and they'd want to end the movie on a happier note than that. I was not expecting such blatant sequel baiting from that ending though. I'm not against a continuation and I'd kind of be up for seeing how kid Drakken attempts to take over the world, but it was just such an unexpected twist.

Overall, it was a pretty fun movie. Most of the actors were pretty good, the chemistry between Kim and Ron was quite nice, I liked the general message they were going for, there were a few moments that made me laugh and it was pretty engaging from start to finish. It's nothing ground breaking and I'm not sure how other fans of the series will feel about it, but I thought it was fine. I'm still kind of glad that Disney is doing something with Kim Possible after all these years, especially when they rarely do much with their original series after they finish their runs, and hopefully it will help give the lead actors more attention so that they can land other projects as well.

 

[zoombie]

Is just me or the whole secret evil robot was done already in So The Drama. It is pretty much the same plot.

 

[Roxas_Sora]

I'm sorry to say it, but this movie has been a great deception, unworthy of the legacy of the real Kim Possible. There are a lot of points to critic:

1º) The action is not even worthy to see it. A movie made in the real world has a lot of restrictions compared to an animated one. The characters don't move as spectacular as the original ones. This Live-Action Kim doesn't have at all the same fighting spirit of the real KP, and her Shego is no better at all. I thought I was seeing a silly dance instead of a real fight.

2º) There are a lot of alterations about the original story, and these changes show little respect about the real thing.

• Rufus appears to be a text subject from a scientific experiment, which ruins the original story of being a regular naked mole rat that became awesome alongsime Team Possible. Not to mention I hate the new version of the Naked Mole Rap. (Why did Wade have to replace the female singers?). It doesn't have the same "spark" at all.
• This Kim didn't look as Kim at all outside the mission's field. She was as insecure at her first year as the original one was in "A Sitch in Time" during the kindergarden. Kim was supposed to become a strong girl right after kindergarden.
• This Ron is embarrasing, even for the animated one. I mean, the animated Ron was quite dumb, but this one looks like an idiot. Even his "Booyah!" doesn't have any funny.
• I know nowadays everyone can have a "Kimmunicator 1.0" with a Smartphone, or a "Kimmunicator 2.0" with a Smarthwatch; but trying to make the new version exclusive for Kim with an holographic version, it's not fun at all. Not to mention it reflects one of the big problems nowadays, people is getting to dependant of the most advanced and "shinning" tech.
• This wade doesn't look like worthy either. Wade should have a look similar to, let's just say, Kyle Massey back when he was "Corey in the House".

3º) I'll give you the fact that they made a good CGI Rufus for the movie. They managed to do something balanced between the animated version and a REAL naked mole rat (avoiding the fact that the animal is really gross in reality). But even so, it should look a little less "chubby". This version in the movie looks like a combination between the animated one and its "descendant" Rufus 3000, as he was a clone created in a lab.

4º) The ending's twist with Drakken as a kid and infiltrating at Kim's school... Seriously, no one noticed that's exactly what Drakken tried to do in "A Sitch in Time" with the Tempus Simian's time traveling powers?

5º) Athena looked like a good point for the movie, until I realized it combined the concepts of other characters already seen: the Killer Bebes and Eric the Synthezoid. No fun at all.

I truly wish they won't do neither a tv show or a sequel with this movie, because it's not worthy. If I have to guess, the most logical thing would be a movie focused mainly on Ron and his stories from the series: Monkey Fist, Yamanouchi School, Yori, the Mystical Monkey Powers; and possibly Gill, Camp Wannaweep and DNAmy.

If they truly want to bring back Kim Possible, do it in the right way: The original animated series, showing us Kim and Ron's lifes in collegue, after collegue and/or as adults. (I always wanted to see them married and with kids).

 

[SweetShop209]

Is just me or the whole secret evil robot was done already in So The Drama. It is pretty much the same plot.

Well, both movies had the creators as the writers (though this movie has a third writer), which would explain the similarities .

 

[Light Lucario]

Is just me or the whole secret evil robot was done already in So The Drama. It is pretty much the same plot.

Not really. The synthodrone in So The Drama was Kim's boyfriend, not her new best friend. It was an attempt by Drakken to find Kim's weakness, so it is similar in that regard, but I don't think it would be similar enough to be considered the same plot. This Kim was much more emotionally vulnerable dealing with high school life and her crushed self-confidence, while none of that was an issue for Kim in So The Drama. The plot of that movie led to Kim and Ron becoming a couple, but that didn't happen here.

 

[Roxas_Sora]

Is just me or the whole secret evil robot was done already in So The Drama. It is pretty much the same plot.

Actually, like I said in my comments it's a combination of two ideas of Drakken: the Killer Bebes and Eric the Synthodrone.

 

[zoombie]

Well they turn the robot, and I guess might be used an ally in the future, so that is different, though it was done in Get Smart.

 

[Fone Bone]

I want to reiterate for original series fans slamming the movie, that this movie is NOT FOR US. In fact, it seems to be geared towards an entirely younger and more explicitly female audience than the cartoon was. I was a little surprised by Athena being shoe-horned into this because the entire appeal of the original series was that Kim and Ron were the best friends. And maybe modern day Disney Channel thought modern girls would be a bit threatened by that, so they gave her a girlfriend she can make-over and do girlie things with. It is obvious they are going for a much narrower demographic, whereas the original series, despite dealing with female empowerment, was gender neutral in its target audience. This movie is designed to appeal to the same girls Descendants did. Now it's better than Descendants, but that's not actually a reasonable bar for quality.

Face it. All Disney Channel movies suck, and are lazy, and badly written, and dumbed down for kids. You can't truly be either surprised or offended this one is too. The bigger shock to me would be if it didn't suck.

 

[Viper]

I finally had a chance to see it and I thought it was great!!!

I'll start off by saying that Sadie Stanley was excellent as Kim Possible herself! I also thought Sean Giambrone was fantastic as Ron Stoppable because he really fit the part! I also thought the people playing live-action Dr. Drakken & Shego were fantastic too!

I thought the person who played Mr. Barkin was pretty good. Also, live-action Bonnie was just as mean as the original.

I thought all the action was intense & exciting! That included when Kim fought against Shego!

Oh, I absolutely loved seeing the live-action version of Rufus! He was so cute and he really helped out!

I felt Athena made a pretty interesting character. I knew she was really a bad girl but finding out that she was a cyborg really surprised me! It was really touching how she was willing to sacrifice herself just so everyone else wouldn't be killed. I'm glad she was able to survive the explosion.

Finally, I loved Christy Carlson Romano's cameo as a pop star. She looked so lovely and she had very nice dialogue!

An excellent live-action movie! I give it 5 stars!!! I'll always love Ron Stoppable & Kim Possible to the very end!

 

[Red Arrow]

I haven't seen the movie yet, but thanks to that, we got this brilliant clip

Kim and Ron are married and have a child!