The movie begins by introducing Zach Sobiech (Fin Argus), a senior in high school battling osteosarcoma. Zach shares a passion for music with his best friend, Sammy Brown (Sabrina Carpenter) who often urges him to reach out of his comfort zone. Quickly the viewer learns that Zach has a crush on his classmate Amy Adamle (Madison Iseman) who also has a crush on him.
Zach eventually grows the courage to ask Amy out on a picnic date but is instead rushed to the hospital where he learns his cancer has gotten worse and will limit his time left on earth. After the new,s Zach is angsty and trivial about the meaning of his life. His actions lead to a fight with Sammy and leads to a conversation with his teacher that changes his perspective on his existence. After realizing that every day isn’t guaranteed, Zach begins leading a bolder and adventurous life. During the second half of the movie Zach releases a song with Sammy and works towards musical success.
This movie breaks many of Disney’s boundaries considering most Disney originals are directed towards a younger audience. Granted the movie is PG-13, there are many aspects of Zach and Amy’s relationship that are realistic to teenage relationships that Disney may have been reluctant to add to previous stories.
When Zach and Amy begin dating Zach goes on a trip to the healing waters of Lourdes, France. During the bus ride to Lourdes Amy asks Zach to not return wearing a beret and smoking cigarettes. While that text alone is something I wasn’t expecting from Disney, the following was more shocking. Amy follows the text by saying it would be interesting if the beret were all he were wearing. This sexually suggestive text is absolutely out of the norm for the family oriented brand yet is more accurate towards the conversations teenagers are having with their significant others.
Later in the movie Amy and Zach are in Amy’s room making out on her bed. The makeout session becomes more intense as they take their clothes off and Amy gets on top of Zach. This is another accurate yet bold example that this movie represents teenagers without being tacky.
The script also represents the common language teens are currently using in realistic ways. In previous Disney originals, characters will use almost out of date language in a way that makes older viewers cringe. With Clouds, language used was to benefit the storyline and was used without fogging the meaning of conversations or character personality. This movie successfully does what disney was tyring to do previously, it creates a story that is relatable down to the diction the characters use.
The plot of the movie intrigues viewers how Zach could continue to go on knowing he has less than a year to live. Zach’s relationship with Amy and his work towards stardom is inspiring to audiences who may otherwise never live a life battling cancer. Overall Clouds is a Disney movie that was long needed especially in a time where the only thing many people can do is binge movies. I am optimistic that Disney will release more movies onto their streaming platform that are youthful and interesting while inspiring younger viewers with morally sound plotline.