In an attempt to get back onto a consistent release schedule before the busy period of the year comes up, I'll be skipping the show this is based on, and tackle one of the movies. Due to the popularity of the show (one of the better "teenage girl double life" stories on the Disney Channel from what I've personally seen and experienced), multiple movies were made for Kim Possible, a show focused on the title character who fight's supervillains with combat skills gained from cheerleading, along with a handful of secret gadgets, with a rogues gallery including an evil scientist, a rich old man and his son, a half-human, half-monkey that has an army of ninja monkeys, a golfer, certainly a... interesting rogues gallery to say the least, and that's not including the standard "High school students are a b*!&$" members of it. A good way to tell though what you're getting into when it comes to these kinds of shows though is to look at the movies, which tend to blow up the positives and the negatives. So, welcome to Kim Possible: So the Drama. Be grateful this isn't that live-action movie, do not even bother asking because you have to actively convince me that a live-action Disney Channel movie is good.
In terms of the plot, there are two main sides to it, the first being the superheroine side, where Dr Draken (the main bad guy of the series) is plotting to take over the world by stealing a toy design from a Japanese toy designer, making that toy with special technology that makes me think of Transformers (the technology is called Cybertronian, and it mass shifts!), buying out a Mexican restaurant chain and making the branches sell the toy to all the kids who want it, and then using control signals to use the robots to take over the world. Like I said, far more streamlined then Xemo's was. The A story is very interesting and leads to some interesting set pieces, especially the opening shots before the intro credits, it's the B story that I'm not a big fan of.
Stop me if you've heard this one before, prom is coming up, main character hasn't been focusing on dating, thinks she's an outcast at school as a result of this, mostly because of one particular girl rubbing it in, doesn't view boy she's known for a long time as boyfriend material, but all of a sudden a new boy comes to school that she finds cute and drives a wedge between the two friends, but by the end of the movie the two friends will get together because *insert justification here*. While the teenager drama of Kim Possible hasn't been a thing I've viewed in a positive light normally, mostly because I swear it's the exact same things Disney Channel shoves into all these kinds of shows, here it really feels out of place, and kind of sexist in places. This is a girl who frequently saves the world and many, many lives all across the world... and she's having dating issues because...? Why does she view herself as an outcast in the school? Why is Bonnie even a thing? Aside from the fact that this feels very "been there, done that lots of times", it just feels out of place, stuck on for the sake of making this go for over an hour.
As for the rest of the production, it's solid, though there isn't a lot that's spectacular when compared to the show itself. There are moments where the animation becomes more intense, stronger fight scenes, rain, thunder and lightning in the background of the final battle, even some obvious 3D for the giant robots, but the majority of the movie plays out like a standard episode of the show, which probably goes to show how good the animation of the show is. Sound design is solid too, with the effects and score being great, though the opening is very weak when compared to the original shows intro song. A minor nitpick with the animation is that backgrounds can feel rather lifeless at points, which while more forgiving for the show, becomes more of an issue when going to a movie format, even a small budget, direct to tv movie.
The biggest problems with this movie come from it being direct to TV movie. It's not objectively bad, but it's not as fulfilling as a more traditional movie, and the longer length brings out the flaws of the show a lot more. Good if you're a fan of the show, but may turn newcomers away.
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