Emily Osment (Lily on Hannah Montana) has a rival for the affections of her dad, Neal Morris (George Newbern, Father of the Bride), who is a famous author. That rival is the super-spy star character in her father's novels, Tripp Zoome! He shows up all the time, teasing her about her shortcomings and telling her how she isn't her father's favorite and such. Add to this the fact that dad is always letting her down and it doesn't make things much better. All of that is set to change since Dad has promised that they are going away on vacation on a camping trip and Melissa can't wait! Naturally, she is once again disappointed when Dad pulls a typical move in having them stop over for a quick convention appearance in the sleepy little town of Mercury, Utah. The convention is one based on the Tripp Zoome novels, so how could Neal say no?
Assured that it will only take one day away from their camping trip, Melissa reluctantly agrees and they check into the rundown Merc Hotel, where the convention is taking place. The Merc Hotel is a total throwback to the 70's and run by a sleazy dude named Merv (Jason Earles, Hannah Montana), but Melissa is trying to make the best of it. Not long after Neal makes an appearance, a group of rabid fans use a trick from one of Neal's books to flood the place with onion fumes and kidnap him! They don't have evil intentions, but instead just want to know all the secrets of the Tripp Zoome universe. Although Tripp's hallucination picks on Melissa about her inability to save her dad, she uses her instincts and is able to unravel the mystery, only to have her dad then out-kidnapped from the kids by yet another group, this one with far more evil plans. They plan to have Neal fix and finish writing a terrible novel one of them started, but can't complete. Melissa will have to team up with the charming fans who first took her dad to save the day.
This movie was really cute and aside from the first few minutes, where there was some over-acting, I really enjoyed it. Emily Osment really is a good little actress and the guys who played the fanboys were pretty good as well. Her romantic interest was Wheeze (David Henrie, Wizards of Waverly Place), the main comic relief was Andre and boy was he funny (Moises Arias, Hannah Montana), and Sheldon (Denzel Whitaker) wrapped up the kooky group. The bad guys were comedic crooks and worked well in their parts. Skunk (Charles Halford) and his little brother Maurice (Phill Lewis) didn't have bad intentions, they just got mixed up with an evil mastermind. Overall, Dadnapped was an enjoyable movie with pretty good acting.
Next was Hatching Pete, starring Mitchel Musso (Hannah Montana) and Jason Dolley (Cory in the House and The Minutemen). Cleatis (Musso) is the school's mascot, a giant rooster, but he is terribly allergic to the feathers in the new costume the school bought. Sadly, it is his family legacy to be the mascot, so he has suffered through it until now. One day, he begs his shy best friend, Pete (Dolley) to don the costume so he can get a break. Much to the surprise of both boys, Pete is a natural and has the crowds on fire and the coach and team aggravated with his teasing antics. Overnight, Cleatis becomes a sensation, much to the annoyance of his shy friend. In the meantime, Pete has a crush on Cleatis' younger sister, Carnie (Madison Riley), but soon comes to realize that school newcomer Angela (Josie Lopez) is a much better match for him. Too bad she has fallen for the guy in the chicken suit!
Hatching Pete is a classic Cyrano de Bergerac tale, where someone falls in love with another person, not realizing they have really fallen for someone completely different and in disguise. I actually enjoyed Hatching Pete even more than Dadnapped, but both are really cute and the kids who play in them are very capable actors, really funny and completely charming. There's also some great Disney tunes for kids to rock out to included in the movie's soundtrack. While the special features are lean, they do have a making-of featurette on Hatching Pete which talked about the challenges of making the film and also about how a mascot-making company operates, plus an extended ending for Dadnapped and an animated graphic novel. This would be a good DVD pick for kids who are fans of the Disney Channel and its original movies. I can definitely see kids watching these movies more than once.
