JanieJane

Just about any 80's kid who had the Disney channel remembers this movie with great fondness...this was one of my favorite movies, and my sister and I loved to watch it over and over. I wanted to BE Nikki and Mary...I wanted their clothes, their bikes, their rooms, their parents...they even made me want to go to summer school! (Sort of.) Watching the movie always takes me back to when I was 8 years old and a big fan of the "Parent Trap" movies (I saw the original first). This is a great movie to watch as a kid (especially when you're a girl) since it shows the kids trying to control their parents' destinies by scheming to get them together. It's always fun to watch a movie where the kids are in control, instead of the parents!

As for the movie itself, it's a cute and fun sequel to the popular original, but don't expect a movie in the same caliber. This was a made-for-the Disney Channel-movie, after all. And since it's told through the point of view of the kids, it's clearly targeted to a pre-teen audience. Keeping this in mind, you should enjoy the film once you realize that it's completely different than the original in terms of production value, writing, setting, plot, you name it. Fans of Hayley Mills should get a kick out of seeing her reprise her role as the famous twins 25 years later.

This was one of my favorite films as a kid, as I often had runaway fantasies of my own (who didn't want to get away from their parents at some point in their childhood?). This movie parallels a more recent, widely popular movie "Monsters, Inc." Think about it: both movies involve two male characters who are friends/co-workers/partners-in-crime. These characters are encountered by a small, cute, little girl from another world (in "Savannah Smiles", the girl is from a world of wealth while the guys are from "the wrong side of the tracks"; and in "Monsters, Inc.", a girl from the human world enters into the monster world). Also, Alvie and Boots are seen as "monsters" (since they are criminals) and are misjudged by others. (It can be argued that Alvie is like Sulley from "Monsters, Inc." since he's the leader and Boots is a lot like Sulley's sidekick Mike). As in both movies, the two main characters do not want the little girl at first and are desperate to get rid of her (for fear of the repercussions)--but they soon grow to love her, ending in a tearful goodbye when the girl is returned home.

Try watching both movies back-to-back and see for yourself the similarities. I'm not implying that the writers of "Monsters, Inc." stole their ideas from "Savannah Smiles", I just thought it was a neat coincidence that they had such similar themes.