If you are a young cinephile, there is no way a Disney Channel Original Movie (DCOM) is not even a little bit responsible for your film buff-ness. Sure, you may not have watched or loved every single one, but you know Halloweentown is a masterpiece. 2015 was a decent enough movie year and 2016 is on its way, with three out of seven box office-breaking superhero flicks (learn more here). But let us reminisce to the days when a guy didn’t have to fight a CGI bear to be validated. Let us go back to 1999 when we were impressed by a house that controlled itself, or a merman-turned boy. These DCOMs did not win Academy awards, but they helped us get through grade school. They are golden in our memory and, therefore, Oscar worthy.
For best achievements in film, the DCOMs are:
Best Visual Effects: Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century (1999)
Set in 2049, this movie does a great job of trying to be ahead of its time. For that, we appreciate it. Also, why aren’t millennials living in space yet?
Best Cinematography: Motocrossed (2001)
Aside from its killer shots of bike races out on the course, this film features a mix of dramatic and romantic irony as well as a Shakespeare inspired plot. What more could you want?
Best Editing: Brink! (1998)
The scenes of these guys shredding the streets on their blades- sick. They come together very nicely, jump after jump.
Best Sound Mixing: Gotta Kick It Up! (2002)
“Si se puede!” There just aren’t many DCOMs besides High School Musical that accomplish the fusion between score, soundtrack, and diegetic sounds the way Gotta Kick It Up! does.
Best Sound Editing: Up, Up, and Away (2000)
Like the previous film, this one has nice sound work. Plus, the superhero effects are impressive for a Disney movie in 2000.
Best Production Design: Rip Girls (2000)
This movie’s production design is on point: Hawaiian bungalows, beaches, skate ramps, costumes, surf boards, etc. The fact that it all looks natural adds to Sydney’s story of returning to her homeland.
Best Costume Design: The Thirteenth Year (1999)
When I watched this, I questioned whether or not mermaids or mermen were real. Just look at Cody’s fin — it’s pretty believable!
Best Hair and Makeup: Halloweentown (1998)
I was thinking that this could win production design, but no movie masters a villain’s makeup the way this one does! Calabar’s transformation is pretty scary; not to mention all the other spine-chilling characters that one meets in Halloweentown.
Best Adapted Screenplay: Tru Confessions (2002)
Based on the book of the same name by Janet Tashjian, this is a moving story that very accurately captures the joys as well as frustrations of living with autism. I find that even on screen, it accomplishes a powerful and emotional response from viewers.
Best Original Screenplay: Johnny Tsunami (1999)
Low key, Johnny Tsunami changed my life. I was in the fourth grade when I became the “new kid” and all I could think of was: Johnny did it, so can I. This movie takes the conventional “new kid is teased” plot and enhances it with surfing, snowboarding, and drama. It’s awesome.
Best Original Score: High School Musical (2006)
HSM celebrated their 10 year anniversary recently. Doesn’t that make you feel old? Seriously though, best original songs. If you don’t agree, stick to the status quo! (Or don’t.)
Best Original Song: “Cinderella,” The Cheetah Girls (2003)
Best Actor: Lee Thompson Young, Jett Jackson: The Movie (2001)
This was about the closest thing we had to Ethan Hunt when we were kids. Jett, played by Young, is a normal teenager with homework, friends, and family. But he’s also a secret agent on a fictional TV show called Silverstone. In this movie, Jett and his onscreen character magically trade places. Upon reading that his character dies in the script, Jett manages the impossible to prevent that from happening.
Best Actress: Hillary Duff, Cadet Kelly (2002)
She slays in Lizzie McGuire and shines in The Lizzie McGuire Movie a few years later. Here, Duff plays an iconic role as Kelly, a city-girl who attends military school where no one accepts her free spirited attitude or interests. Ultimately, she stands up to Captain Stone and shows everyone that individually is not a bad thing.
Best Supporting Actor: Timothy Omundson, The Luck of the Irish (2001)
Before meeting Seamus, played by Omundson, Kyle needs to figure out how to get his lucky coin back in order for him and his family to pass as normal human beings, not Leprechauns. Seamus is an evil, far darrig, a mythological fairy, who teaches Kyle that it takes more than luck to face an adversity.
Best Supporting Actress: Katey Sagal, Smart House (1999)
Sagal plays such a powerful character in this movie. She is Pat, the operating system and voice of the Smart House that Nick, Ben, and Sara move into. Not only is Pat creepy and robotic, she eventually develops emotions. Sagal essentially drives the movie and makes a Disney comedy a suspenseful anti-technology thriller. Imagine Siri becoming a real person who wants to be your mom and just won’t back off. No thanks.
Best Directing: Phantom of the Megaplex (2000)
I think back on this and feel the need to call it a “picture” as opposed to a movie. It just has that old school vibe; “let’s go see the picture show!” This movie is well crafted by its director, Blair Treu, as it is not solely a Halloween flick, but a fun mystery thriller that asks: “Who done it?” An eerie figure looms the Cotton Hill Megaplex. It be could anyone — concessions, tickets, the manager, or perhaps a visitor?
Best Picture: The Color of Friendship (2000)
Mahree and Piper are teens in the 1970s. Piper lives in the United States and Mahree is an exchange student from apartheid South Africa. Piper is black, Mahree is white. These classifications are just as plainly evident during the beginning of the film. However, as the girls get to know each other and ultimately unravel their misconstrued ideas about their race, they become great friends amidst racial tensions across the globe.