I know that some people dislike the science fiction direction this movie took the franchise in and I do understand that complaint. Though for the record Suite Life was never purely slice of life. There was an episode of Zack and Cody wherein Arwin's machine created a portal to a parallel universe and it's then implied to have been a dream only for the ending to reveal that it was real (admittedly as a joke.) And an episode devoted to Arwin creating a robot version of himself named Arwinstein. Another one where London actually got Bigfoot on Yay Me starring London Tipton and interviewed him about his book. While the episode about a shooting star turning Zack and Cody into superheroes was revealed as a dream, Raven Baxter and her premonitions were treated as entirely real.
Even Suite Life on Deck included Bailey being possessed by a ghost, Galapagos Gurdy being real and a smoothie bringing a plant to life and turning it to a monster. (And possibly a magic genie lamp. Not to mention an alternate universe created by a birthday wish.
I know it was generally more slice of life than that and I don't blame people who wished the movie were as well but I'm completely fine with it.
Without getting into spoilers, I like how Dr. Olsen and Dr. Spaulding are used as a foil for Zack and Cody. I think the mad scientist was a well-done villain. I liked the attention it paid to Cody and Bailey's relationship. While the humour in the early parts of the movie was hit or miss (the actors were clearly unaccustomed to performing without a laugh track) it gets significantly better since then. And while the dolphins backstory for the phlebotinum could hardly have been more contrived, the comedy it provided with London was quite entertaining.
I do think that Mr. Moseby, Woody and to a lesser extent London were severely underused characters within this movie but that flaw isn't enough to ruin the movie for me. Not even close.
It's a decent film.
