Back in the early 2000s, there was a little show on Disney Channel called “Lizzie McGuire.” Maybe you’ve heard of it. If you have heard of it, you might have also heard about the 2003 movie “The Lizzie McGuire Movie,” which was inspired by the TV show.
In the movie, Lizzie and her friends graduate from middle school and then go on a trip to Rome, where she gets mistaken for Italian pop sensation Isabella. From there, Lizzie goes on the adventure of a lifetime around Rome as her and Paolo, the other half of fictitious Paolo and Isabella, begin preparing for an Italian music award show.
If you’re stuck on the fact that Lizzie had just graduated from middle school and got to go to Rome, don’t you worry. I’m still hung up on that fact too.
As perfect as Lizzie McGuire is, the movie is completely flawed. In what world would a 14-year-old get to go on a school trip to Rome? I certainly wasn’t that lucky. When I was going from middle school to high school, I was still getting permission to go across the street to my friend’s house so we could watch “Gilmore Girls” and talk about which of Rory’s boyfriends were better for her – which, in case you were wondering, is Jess and it always will be Jess – or whether Luke and Lorelai should have been together – duh – or whether Lorelai and Christopher should be given another chance – which is one big load of nope. Getting their permission was totally unnecessary, of course. To me, it was always better to be safe than sorry.
Also, we need to talk about Paolo and how much of a bad influence he is. He encourages Lizzie to lie to her future high school principal, Miss Ungermeyer. Lying to a principal, or any school administrator for that matter, is wrong. I mean, this is the era where Disney Channel had amazing shows that actually taught kids a valuable lesson. Though the movie had a theatrical release, that shouldn’t mean the values of early 2000s Disney Channel should be thrown out the window.
In fact, the only redeeming quality about Paolo is … well … he doesn’t have any. To quote Paula Abdul, “he’s a cold hearted snake.” He was totally going to embarrass Lizzie in front of hundreds of adoring Paolo and Isabella fans at this music award show by making everyone think she couldn’t sing. That is so not what potential-Disney-boyfriends-who-are-actually-villains do. None of them were that cruel. Especially when you consider that Lizzie was trying to get over her fear of public speaking and was publically humiliated by her younger brother after a video of her tripping and ruining graduation was broadcast on “Good Morning America.”
Talk about a loser.
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