Growing up on Disney Channel Original Movies aka DCOMs has been a very influential part of my life. Even today, I think about how they've influenced my personality and made me have a different perspective on issues that happen today. But, as most things in life, they change over time and as I got older I felt more distant towards the new ones and didn't have access to the ones created in the 90s and early 2000s. In honor of remembering the DCOMs before 2018, I've compiled a list of the top five movies that Disney Channel has ever produced.
1. Now You See It...
http://www.clevver.com/what-your-favorite-halloween-dcom-says-about-your-personality/3/
This documentary style film follows a reality TV show that deals with the best magicians from around the country. Although the magic seems to be your basic card trick, there is more going on behind the scenes. Danny Sinclair, one of the contestants, finds himself performing tricks that make no sense to not just everyone else, but himself. The host of the show, Max, is immediately interested in the real magic that Danny performs and starts to trick Danny into things that may get him killed. In the end, the team fights off Max and saves Danny through their own magic. This is my all time favorite DCOM just because it makes me question what is real and what is not the entire time...
2. The Even Stevens Movie
A classic TV show that turned into a movie, goes through a vacation gone wrong with The Stevens family. The family is offered a free vacation from Miles McDermott, a reality TV show host, and they are sent away to have their family bond tested. The vacation goes wrong when Louis, aka Shia LaBeouf, destroys the house they were supposed to live in and makes the entire island shun the family away, leaving the family to fend for themselves. They are tested through awful living situations and hunger and we think that this will kill them all, until they come together to realize that they have been put on a TV show. They plan to "Gotcha!" the actual host and make him look like a fool on his own show. This is such a classic movie that never fails to make me laugh and Shia LaBeouf will always be the best Disney Channel actor there ever was.
3. Halloweentown
https://nerdist.com/halloweentown-cast-reunites-in-the-real-halloweentown-to-honor-debbie-reynolds/
The Cromwell's are one of the most beloved families on Disney Channel and it is all because of the charm they have during Halloween. The story begins when the grandmother, Aggie, comes to visit on Halloween night (the only holiday when the Cromwell children are not allowed to celebrate) and tells the story of a place called Halloweentown, where it is always Halloween and all of the monsters they hear about are real and not dangerous. Their mother is reluctant about telling the children they are descendants of a witch, but Aggie encourages her to dwell into her and her children's magic. As the story goes on and Marnie learns about her destiny, an evil plot is made by the mayor of the town, Kalabar, to take over the mortal world. The Cromwell's learn to stick together to defeat him and make Halloweentown safe again and to make sure that magic does not make them less of people.
4. Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0274761/mediaviewer/rm1183590656
Yes, I had to put the second one on here. This movie goes back to the beloved story when Marnie has been training to be a witch for two years now and plans on throwing a party in the mortal world. She makes a mistake by showing a charming boy, Kal, Aggie's spellbook; little does she know that he is the son of Kalabar and plans to make his revenge on the family and the town. This story is suspenseful as they try to lift the "Grey Spell" on Halloweentown and find the spellbook before Kal turns the mortal world into a monster world. Unfortunately, the time portal from the past and the present closes and Marnie and her friend, Luke, are trapped in another time period in Halloweentown. She thinks that she'll never escape but the bond of her siblings makes her have hope and they create a new spell together, breaking the portal and letting them into the present. This is one of the best sequels on Disney Channel, and this story line is so interesting that they even had two more movies after this one.
5. Pixel Perfect
One of the most heartbreaking films of the DCOMs, it goes through the story of an unsuccessful band and a boy named Roscoe who wants to help his friend, Sam, make their music debut. Roscoe decides to help by creating an artist from his dad's holographic system that can do about everything and is perfect for the band's image; he names her Loretta. Loretta quickly charms their audiences and the band rises to fame easily, but everything is not what it seems when Loretta finds out she is a hologram. She desperately wants to be a human and refuses to sing anymore, and decides to enter the internet and email herself to Sam's computer. Later on, they have to perform a gig but Loretta is nowhere to be found, so Sam decides to take her place. Unfortunately, she falls off the stage and enters a coma and only Loretta can enter her brain to help her out of it. In the end, Sam comes back and Loretta is officially gone from their lives but they know they can always hear her sing the extra harmony.
