Top 10 Disney Channel Original Movies
As a guy born in 1987, I was part of the target demo for the Disney Channel in the late ’90s and early 2000s. As such I watched pretty much every movie the network produced, which was about one a month at its peak, for several years. Here’s a list of my 10 favorites.
Honorable Mentions: Don’t Look Under the Bed, Double Teamed, Miracle in Lane 2, Full-Court Miracle
10. Jumping Ship
The Lawrence Brothers taking on and outsmarting pirates. Ballin’.
9. Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century
I had a huge crush on Zenon aka Kirsten Storms and still occasionally bust out the lyrics to “Supernova Girl” by Microbe. “Zoom! Zoom! Zoom!”
8. Eddie’s Million Dollar Cook-Off
One of the more underrated DCOMs was about a kid on a terrible, but improving baseball team who wants to become a chef more than play baseball. He’s ridiculed by friends and family alike, but they eventually accept him. Cameo by Bobby Flay. I’m still upset there was no Home Economics class at my school. I had to learn how to cook on my own, which is why I’m still not good at it.
7. Alley Cats Strike
A much younger Kaley Cuoco is one of the main characters in this movie about a bowling team full of misfits — later joined by the town’s “Golden Boy” — who battle their rival school’s team in a contest to decide who wins the Mighty Apple trophy and the right to keep their school’s name when the two merge. The girl who decides to sit out of the starting four comes in and picks up a 7–10 split in a wickedly awesome way. That girl went on to grow huge boobs, and it was implied that she was going to hook up with Turtle on an episode of HBO’s Entourage.
6. The Luck of the Irish
I still yell, “I am the saint of the step!” every once in a while. A leprechaun loses his lucky coin and tries to get it back. Finally, he realizes the luck was inside him all along. LOL.
5. Motocrossed
A girl chops off most of her hair and pretends to be her brother in order to keep her family’s motocross team in the running for a factory sponsorship. This is also the movie that introduced me to the song “We’re at the Top of the World” by The Juliana Theory, which boosts the nostalgic value and ups the ranking for Motocrossed. The main character also uses her beloved *NSYNC tickets to help her secret crush land a date with his dream girl.
4. High School Musical
The phenomenon known as High School Musical was a little bit past my childhood, but the first one was really cool to watch with my younger cousins. Catchy songs and budding stars like Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens and Ashley Tisdale helped. Also, it was directed by Kenny Ortega (Choreographed the film Dirty Dancing and directed Hocus Pocus).
3. Smart House
Who didn’t want this house? Who?! I always wanted to play putt-putt in my living room with an awesome simulator. A house that throws its own parties and makes the best-looking girl like you. A lot. Count me in. I loved it. Even the “Slam Dunk (Da Funk)” by 5ive dance routine done by Ryan Merriman and his two pals.
2. Johnny Tsunami
The battle of the Skies (Private school kids) and the Urchins (Public school kids + Johnny). A kid from Hawaii is forced to move to Vermont because of his dad’s job. He was a promising surfer who was pictured in magazines “Going Richter!” He found snowboarding and getting along with his classmates to be slightly more difficult than life in Hawaii. But he ended up with Zenon herself, Kirsten Storms, and was given a cool hat by the recently passed Jett Jackson himself, Lee Thompson Young.
1. Brink!
Brink! is the obvious choice for the No. 1 slot, if nothing more than the final showdown being between inline skating squads named Team XBladz and Team Pup ’n’ Suds (I hear they get paid in Kibbles ‘n Bits). Add villains like Val and Worm from Team XBladz — who were also villains/teammates as Spike Hammersmith and Sean Murphy on the Cowboys in the movie Little Giants — and this is the strongest of the DCOMs in my opinion. It’s what soul skating is all about.
