(c) Disney

In an attempt to liven up the plot, what little there is, the script has Paolo convince Lizzie to step into the dancing shoes of his former singing partner Isabella, who just so happens to look just like Lizzie (a sort of Princess and the Pop Star twist, and yes, Duff does get to pull a Hayley Mills-style split screen scene with herself).

This convoluted scenario only serves the studio’s thinly masked desire to get that girl ‘up on that stage and SING!’, thus pushing their star up one more rung on the pop evolutionary ladder, that being best-selling CDs and Top 40 hits. What better way to tap the allowances of all those Lizzie-loving, Radio Disney-listening little girls?

• Along with Hilary Duff, Adam Lamberg (Gordo), Clayton Snyder (Ethan Craft), Ashlie Brillault (Kate Sanders), Jake Thomas (Matt McGuire), Carly Schroeder (Melina), Robert Carradine (Mr. McGuire) and Hallie Todd (Mrs. McGuire) all reprise their roles from the Lizzie McGuire television show. Series regular Lalaine’s Miranda Sanchez is absent from this outing.
• Ed Decter and John J. Strauss, who co-wrote this film’s screenplay with Lizzie McGuire series co-producer Susan Estelle Jansen, also wrote the script for last year’s hit The Santa Claus 2.

Coming Soon:

• A Robert Louis Stevenson double feature has hit DVD players: the original live action classic Treasure Island and the Oscar-nominated animated adventure Treasure Planet, now on sale.
• Get ready to empty your Mickey Mouse piggy banks: May 20^th is a big day for Disney DVD fans, with no less then four new releases: the Special Editions of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, The Love Bug and The Rescuers, plus the video premiere of Atlantis II: Milo’s Return.
• The A Bug’s Life Collector’s Edition DVD returns to store shelves on May 27^th, including an exclusive look at the next Disney/Pixar feature, Finding Nemo, which opens in theaters nationwide on May 30^th.