Wish Gone Amiss

The Disney Studios has been teaching children about wishing on a star for a long time. Ever since a little cricket named Jiminy told a wooden puppet who wanted only to be a real boy to wish upon star whole families have looked to the skies and made their own wishes. It has been over sixty seven years since Pinocchio but Disney has never let a generation go by without such flights of fancy. Now Disney has all but taken over the lucrative ‘tween market of pre to early kids. They have the most successful set of television series for this age group ever. Some of their more popular series are set in the same universe permitting cross over episodes with combined casts. This also lets the writers tie the series together with a central theme. One such cross over even was done with the three premier series on the Disney network; ‘Hannah Montana’, ‘The Suite Life with Zack and Cody’ and ‘Cory in the House’. What binds special episodes of these shows together is each of the leads sees a shooting star and wishes upon it. All three of these episodes are available on DVD with the ‘Wish Gone Amiss’ set. Parents, you may not typically sit and watch these shows with your kids. Do yourself a favor and try it. They might surprise you. Not only are they perfect for the ‘tweens in your home they are entertaining ever for us adults. This three episode set is the perfect way to get to know each of these quality series. I have to admit that since I started to review these Disney shows there are occasions where I watch an episode or so on cable. All three series are fun, wholesome and so much better than what we had at that age. The ‘tween programming back in those days was nonexistent. So take a chance, wish upon a star for some television shows you can enjoy with your kids and pop this disc in your DVD player. You might just find that some wishes come still come true.

This episode is introduced by Kyle Massey who plays Corey Baxter. He has moved from san Francisco to Washington, D.C. when his father Victor (Rondell Sheridan) gets a job as the head chef for the White House. This places the boy in close contact with President Richard Martinez (John D'Aquino) and the first family. In this episode Victor is baking pies for a White House staff meeting and tells Corey to turn off the oven in 20 minutes. Hoping to make the most of the time until he has to do what his father asks Corey decides to earn a profit selling bottled water to the tour groups. He gets so wrapped up in his selling that he forgets to turn the oven off at the right time ruining the pies. Corey and his friends Newt (Jason Dolley) and Meena (Maiara Walsh) see a shooting star and Corey wishes he was the president. He not only gets his wish but his friends are affected as well. Meena is an army general, Newt is Secretary of State and Sophie (Madison Pettis) is the Vice President. The real President is now a vendor in the White House. At first all Corey can think about is how to use his new position to make more money. An urgent report comes in about UFOs and he relegates it to Sophie. Suddenly everybody starts turning into robots and Corey realizes that being president means being responsible for a whole nation.

Miley (Miley Cyrus) seems to be a normal 14 year old but she has a secret identity, Hannah Montana, pop star. She lives with her widowed dad Robbie (Billy Ray Cyrus) and her older brother Jackson (Jason Earles). Only a few people know Miley’s secret identity including her bodyguard Roxy (Frances Callier) and her two best friends Lilly (Emily Osment) and Oliver (Mitchel Musso). Hannah has just finished a concert and three encores. Lilly is angry with her since they have a science project due the next day and now no time to work on it properly. Miley doesn’t want to do the mundane work and is further sidetracked by the appearance of another pop star, Jesse McCartney. She wants to stay with the handsome boy but the project needs to get done. Later she is sitting on the porch with Lilly and a bunch of earthworms and sees a shooting star in the sky. Miley wishes she could be Hannah all the time. She wakes up but now her blonde Hannah wig is her real hair. Instead of her normal bedroom it is a richly decorated pop star room. An angel that looks like Roxy appears and tells her that her wish was granted. She has a caterer who makes her cake for breakfast and her principal comes over to home school her but she automatically passes everything. To her delight Jesse is now her boyfriend. Things look great until she sees what has happened to her friends and family. Her dad is now overly materialistic and has a much younger new wife, Candice (Sara Erikson). Her brother Jackson is now a hermit who lives on the beach and Lilly is part of the air headed popular girls. Miley has to learn that her life is just right as it is.

Zack and Cody (Dylan and Cole Sprouse) live with their divorced mother Carey (Kim Rhodes) in a suite of the luxurious Tipton Hotel. She is a singer there and the suite is part of her contract. London Tipton (Brenda Song) is the empty headed and self centered daughter of the owner. Her best friend is Maddie (Ashley Tisdale) who has several jobs in the hotel including running the candy counter. Looking over everyone is the pretentious general manager Mr. Moseby (Phill Lewis). As usual the boys are playing video games and lamenting how they have now power over anyone in their lives. They see the shooting star and wish to become super heroes. Their wish is granted Zack winds up with super speed while Cody gets the ability to read minds. Their new powers seem cool at first but soon they find out that Moseby has super powers such as heat vision and mind control. When he uses that to force their mother into taking a big pay cut the twins realize that he is a super villain.

Disney originally presented this as a theme night with all three shows seeing the same shooting star. It was a great idea and since Disney typically releases these series in theme oriented sets it is only natural for them to have all three episodes on one disc. This is truly something the whole family can enjoy. There is even a special feature, ‘I Wish I May, I Wish I Might: A Guide to Making Wishes’ It is narrated by Jason Earle of Hannah Montana and goes into wish making with Disney over the years. This is light hearted and fun but also has the message that your life might be great as it is.

Posted 11/28/07