TV Review: Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior

Of all the things Disney is known for, it's always fascinated me that this company has the innate ability to find and cultivate generation after generation of young stars. It has been especially good in the last 20 years or so. The 90's incarnation of the Mickey Mouse Club brought us Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, JC Chasez, Keri Russell, and Christina Aguilera. Lindsay Lohan got her big break in a remake of The Parent Trap and Disney kept her working in TV movies and a big-screen remake of Freaky Friday before Mean Girls really put her on the map. Hilary Duff got her break on the Disney Channel series Lizzie McGuire while Shia LeBeouf started off on the Disney Channel series Even Stevens. Disney even helped The Cosby Show's Raven Symone go from kid star to teen star with her series That's So Raven and the popular TV movie The Cheetah Girls.

Many of the new generation of Disney stars work their way through other Disney stuff before getting a chance to shine on their own. One such actress is Brenda Song. After supporting roles in three Disney Channel original movies as well as supporting roles on two Disney Channel series, she finally has gotten her break in the Disney Channel original movie Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior. This is a surprisingly good movie that combines humor and action in a family-friendly package.

Brenda plays Wendy Wu, a normal teenage girl who is obsessed with becoming homecoming queen. She has an incredibly shallow boyfriend, a lifelong rival who also wants to be homecoming queen, and lives with her parents, older brother, and grandmother. One day, she is visited by Shen (Shin Koyamada), a Buddhist monk who tells her that she is descended from a long line of warriors and that she is in danger. Every 90 years, an evil spirit by the name of Yan-Lo appears and tries to take over the world. Wendy must train in order to fulfill her and Shen's destiny of defeating the evil spirit once again. Of course, Wendy doesn't take the news very well at first. Much of the humor in the early parts of the film comes from Wendy's repeated attempts to avoid Shen. Over time, she not only learns to accept her destiny, she also learns that destiny is what you make of it.

Article Author: Sterfish

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