Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior (2006)

Wow. This was probably the worst DCOM ever. I watched the first half hour and I laughed. Brenda Song plays Wendy, the popular girl with the hot jock boyfriend and stuck up friends who is determined to be Homecoming Queen. She is supposed to save the world as a warrior, and Shin comes to her aid to help her with her Martial Arts. Shin teaches her the skills of a snake, tiger, etc. and she has to learn certain techniques to save the world.This movie is great for kids who want to learn about Martial Arts and the Chinese culture but the acting and casting was horrible.Brenda Song is a comedic actress and I can't see her playing a serious role. It was laugh out loud funny watching her cry over Shin. Shin couldn't act at all, and everything was totally unbelievable.I watched this movie and tried to think of something similar, and the thing I came up with was the Power Rangers. This movie is so fake and the stunts were so Power Ranger-esquire that it was just corny and stupid. The characters weren't likable and I just couldn't stand to watch it. Disney really needs to take time to make some decent movies. High School Musical is the only movie that deserves to be on Disney Channel, along with other movies like Jumping Ship, Color of Friendship, Go Figure, Read It and Weep, & Stuck in the Suburbs.If you like action-adventure and corny jokes, you'll like this movie.

Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior is a great movie to see with your family, not to violent, so you can be comfortable seeing it with your parents. Even though some of you might think it's corny because there wasn't enough martial arts, Wendy's training for her big battle looked pretty realistic. Brenda Song did a good job in her first starring role, and it was so different from her role in The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, and considering she had a black belt in Tae Kwon Do, it's hard to believe. She has been on so many movies and shows on Disney Channel, in Get a Clue, Stuck in the Suburbs, the Disney Channel Games, and The Suite Life, and guest starring roles in That's So Raven and Phil of the Future. The casting choice was great, the whole movie was filled with lines and actions that were pretty funny, and the movie delivers a good message about sacrificing what you want to do to help others ( if you call Wendy's not going to homecoming after she won homecoming queen a sacrifice...). I can agree with some of the other comments, such as how Shen's temple would have survived the Cultural Revolution, but then again, it's a Disney movie, so what do you expect. This movie has some facts about Chinese culture that most people wouldn't know, but there aren't enough. My favorite part was the party that Wendy took Shen to, and the swimming pool part after. When they made this movie, though, instead of making the monks her teachers, they probably should have made her ancestors that fought Yan Lo her teachers. But all in all, it's very enjoyable. In my mind, it's up there with Gotta Kick It Up!, High School Musical, Eddie's Million Dollar Cook-off, and Stuck in the Suburbs, and deserves a 10/10.

Worst DCOM I have seen. Ever. Well, maybe not as bad as Smart House. This was just bad. The acting and story was fine, but the effects SUCKED!They were so fake! The only good fight scene was between the brother and Shen. That was probably the only scene in which I was excited.Overall, I found this movie very boring and the film kind of ended suddenly. I will give it a four for Brenda Song who is a very funny actress and that one fight scene.4/10

From the moment Brenda Song walked into the junior high school set of "Stuck in the Suburbs" and flung her retro-1960's hairdo over her shoulder, people who never knew who she was prior to then would realize this is an actress that The Disney Channel could not afford to lose before she grows up. And though she already turned 18 before the release of this DCOM, they couldn't possibly deny that she was a star in the making as far back as "The Ultimate Christmas Present." When I first heard that this was going to be Brenda's first starring role, I thought it was going to be incredibly corny, cheesy and campy. I'm surprised to find I was wrong about the third part.Wendy Wu, is a pretty and popular contemporary Chinese-American California high school girl. She has two friends that envy her, a trophy boyfriend she's not entirely enthusiastic about, and while not the smartest kid in class, she's certainly not the spoiled airhead she plays on "The Suite Life of Zack & Cody." Neither she nor her parents, nor even her classmates make any issue of their cultural heritage, until two things happen; 1)Her mother, a museum curator starts getting newly received ancient Chinese statues, and 2)Wendy herself gets a visit from a Buddhist Monk who insists she's the reincarnation of an old female warrior destined to fight an evil spirit(What I'd like to know is how this temple survived more earthly evils like the Five Year Plan, "Great Leap Forward," Cultural Revolution, etc.). Naturally, she thinks the guy is nuts, but he slowly starts to convince her that he's telling the truth, and she agrees to accept training for the big fight that's to come.The tagline here is "Pretty. Tough." No truth-in-advertising laws were broken here. Her opponent Jessica Dawson(Ellen Woglom)isn't so bad looking herself. The TV-PG Rating was appropriate as well, not only for the standard contemporary martial arts choreography, but for the idea that Shin may have to die, a la Michael Biehn in "The Terminator"(1984). Essentially, Shin Koyamada is Wendy Wu's version of Kyle Reese. Part of the problem with the kung-fu fighting scenes is that like so many of them nowadays, the producers think they have to rip off "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon(2000)." Others detected elements of "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer(1992)," the "Dragonball"(1988) franchise, and numerous versions of the "Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers"(1993). Although admittedly, I saw more Power Rangers elements in "Sky High(2005)," than I did here.Hardcore Martial Arts fans would probably dismiss this because it's a DCOM, and because of the cheesy plot, and far-fetched special effects, but I remember seeing plenty of martial arts movies from the 1970's with less of a plot, and people shooting lightning bolts out of their hands as well as other SFX that didn't exist in the 12th Century Far East. As of this writing, there don't seem to be any plans to put this movie on DVD, however the high ratings may change that. And though there are others who may like "High School Musical(2006)(TV)" better than this DCOM(including those who like this one), I feel the opposite way. All in all, it's not half bad.