Ash P
Well, out of all of the Freaky Friday movies that some folks were never a fan of, this is the one where they'd said that it's the worst of them all. Honestly, I would almost agree with them, but I would say that this was the weakest of the Freaky Friday adaptations. I give them credit for wanting them to do something different from the others, like make it into a musical while keeping the spirit of the original book with respect. After seeing this for the first time, it kinda does. Yes, it has some problems of its own, but hear me out until the end.
The day starts with Katherine and Ellie Blake, played by Heidi Blinkenstaff and Cozi Zuehlsdorff, having a fight when it all turns out that Ellie needs to go to an event called "the Hunt" while Katherine has to remind her daughter about her marriage to Mike Harper, played Alex Desert. The little brother, Fletcher, played by Jason Maybaum, took an hourglass that was given to Ellie by her father, got angry with her family, and argued with her mother. As they'd struggled, the hourglass turned out to be magic and swapped the bodies of both mother and daughter, breaking it in a process of panicking. In order to switch back, they have to get the hourglass that Katherine had pawned off from an antique shop. But first, both mother and daughter have to survive the day being in each others' shoes.
It's pretty much how it goes between Katherine and Ellie that they have to go through the day. But I have to be honest, it feels like there are a fair amount of plot holes in this like Katherine losing the house if she doesn't make this deal with this magazine publisher that involves the wedding and Ellie having to go through the day at school or else she would fail and repeat the tenth grade. There were also moments like Adam, the crush, the brother, Fletcher, the soon-to-be husband, Mike. The story goes a little all over the place while some parts were not explained well, like with the hourglass and why it was magic as well as the Hunt and why the whole town is okay with it. However, I will admit that there are some light-hearted moments, like most of them being in the third act. Even the lesson between mother and daughter is still there and works decently for how each others' lives are not as easy as it seems even if they were struggling. To be fair, this is like any low-budget kind of Disney Channel movie, and I've seen a fair amount of them in the 90s-2000s that I'm used to these kinds of movies to exist.
I would also admit that the songs are original for this movie, and musical numbers were good. I do like some of the songs like that intro being creative and pays homage to the original 1976 movie when it's done so. I actually like the "Just One Day" song. The "Parents Lie" was fine, yet it does lead into the brother running away until Adam comes along and talks him out of it. I do like the final score of the movie with both the wedding and the wedding party. I've read that the "Oh, Biology" wasn't good, and I would agree with the reviewer a bit. The thing is, the song was too focused on Ellie and Adam getting close when the song didn't fit much. The other thing to take away was that, yes, it was weird to see it when Katherine is in Ellie's body, but thankfully, the body is Ellie's. The song doesn't offend me or anything. It's just that the song doesn't match well with the premise of that musical number.
I've talked about the songs, what about the acting. I do think the acting was fine except for the kid actors, which I hate picking on them, but they were bad. Everyone is written as they are like this bully character named Savannah who is just there to be a bully and both the best friends being the best friends who'd walked out for a second and suddenly came back right out of nowhere. Then you have this gym teacher, which I hate picking on her without knowing much about her, but she was awful. The humor in this, as well as the dialogue, is so awkward that it'd leave me confused if it was actually a joke or not. I kinda wish that this movie would be a little longer so it would be paced better as you get a song once every five or so minutes as soon as the previous song ends. What bums me out is that Katherine and Ellie wore the same clothes throughout the day with some extra clothing to show, which is different, yet it doesn't help much. Give the previous movies credit that at least they all had to change each other's fashion between the mother and daughter. This one didn't do much of that.
Yeah, I know this might be a bummer of a review, but I gave it a chance, and I'm sure I questioned what was going on with some things that were not explained. I thought it was gonna be a bad movie, but I think this was an underwhelming movie that you would see on the Disney Channel. I wouldn't be surprised that this would have its own audiences as this is more targeted towards kids and tweens. Again, I'll give this movie credit for what it wanted to do differently. It just needed some more time in the kitchen to cook.
For that, I'm gonna give it four Ellie and Katherine holding the magical hourglass during the wedding out of ten. 4/10.
Rated 2/5 Stars •
Rated 2 out of 5 stars
08/15/25
Full Review
Kid R.
I feel bad for everyone who worked on this
Rated 1.5/5 Stars •
Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars
08/09/25
Full Review
Brian O
The main reason I never liked this reboot is because of the dreaded “Oh, Biology” Disney song and dance about an adult woman (in her daughter’s body) falling for her daughter’s school crush. Whoever had that idea, I hope they were fired. Maybe jailed.
“Oh, I know he’s a minor, and I have the mind and experiences of an adult, but let me sing about it and make it seem okay.”
🎶“I know I shouldn’t, but-”🎶💥🤛🏻
No! Shut up! You just shouldn’t!
Rated 0.5/5 Stars •
Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars
03/18/25
Full Review
Gamer Jack Z
I liked it. It was a good movie in my opinion. I’m one of the rare people that likes this movie. I honestly don’t see what’s wrong with it. Sure the song “Oh, Biology” is weird (but catchy as well) but it had good songs. I enjoyed this movie and nobody’s changing my mind! Doesn’t beat ZOMBIES thou.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
05/26/24
Full Review
ella b
I'm about 30 minutes in and created an account just to write this review. Looking at it objectively it's just so bad. First they have lines that insinuate sexual feelings. When the mom switches bodies with the daughter, the mom in the daughters body goes to school and sings an entire song about how a guy leaning over her shoulder makes her feel things and forget all of her knowledge! Also the daughter tells her mom "I hate you" in one of the first scenes which I don't think would be good for younger kids to hear and start repeating that whenever they don't feel heard. The 2003 version has no dirty humor, or crazy remarks such as that. The soundtrack isn't terrible per se I enjoyed the composers use of polyphony. But aside from that they have had the main actor in the same outfit for 2 days, all scenes so far even when they switched bodies she's in the same outfit and when comparing to the 2003 movie when they switched bodies the mom completely re dressed the daughter and it was just fun to watch her dress up you'll understand if you see both the clear difference. I also think the way they portrayed the daughter in the beginning isn't just annoying but she becomes unlikeable. Where as in the 2003 version the daughter is annoying but funny and you're able to sympathize. The actors you can tell are actors where as in the 2003 version you really believe they are the characters. I wish I could have seen this before the 2003 version to be more objective but I bet even if I did I would like the other one more.
Rated 0.5/5 Stars •
Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars
10/20/23
Full Review
s c
If you go into the musical with an open mind and not trying to compare to the Lindsey version.. it is sweet.. good emotional music.. our family enjoyed it
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
04/02/23
Full Review
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