The Proud Family Movie

For the record, in the world of The Proud Family, nothing normal ever happens, so I wasn't as put off by talking peanuts and the scientific and sociological details of cloning as many were. At least "Kim Possible," it's two TV movies, and "Batman; The Animated Series" had relatively plausible explanations for the weirdness that goes on in their worlds. As another IMDb user indicated about the regular series, some episodes were okay, some were "ehh..." I agree, but I think some were extraordinary, like "Love Thy Neighbor," "A Hero for Halloween," and "The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly." This, unfortunately is not one of them, but that doesn't make it entirely bad. As for me, I didn't find it so confusing at all. But dumb? Well, I have to admit, yes.

After an opening segment on Legoom Island at the villain's(Arsenio Hall) lair, we find Penny and her crew in high school during a driver's-ed course. I know schools complain that they don't get paid enough money, but is the Proud's school district so poor that they still have old Chrylser K-Cars from the 1980's for their Driver's Education course? I'm not so sure the standard demographics of this show/movie recognizes these cars. Penny and her girls are invited to become members of a dance troupe for young rap star 15 Cent(Omarion Grandberry), and when he sees Penny, he falls head over heels for her, and habitually refers to her as "Ponytails." When Oscar Proud(Tommy Davison) finds Penny kissing the young rap musician, he grounds her and cancels her planned 16th Birthday Party. Just then a strange man knocks on their door and tell Suga-Mama she won a trip to Legoom Island. Trudy thinks this is the perfect opportunity for family togetherness, something Penny prefers to do without. In fact, Penny is angrier at Oscar than we've ever seen her on the series, As it turns out, the man who invited the Prouds to Legoom Island wants a secret formula for a preservative Oscar created for his Proud Snacks recipe. At first, he offers Oscar a whopping $10 Million for the formula, but Oscar gets a warning from one of the island's inhabitants, and decides to up the ante a bit more. So, he sends some clones of the family back home to search for it, and Penny and her clone get mixed up on the return trip.

The villain is actually a clone of a descendant of George Washington Carver. And like the evil clone, Dr. Marcus Garvey Carver II tried to make clones out of peanuts. Unlike the real Dr. Carver though, his evil clone is making an army of other evil clones to take over the world, and when Penny finds out about this, she has to stop them. See? Not so confusing after all.

Throughout the series(including the series-ending movie), there are lots of things I wanted to see that never took place, like Zoey gaining a steady boyfriend, viewers finally getting to see Wizard Kelly from the neck up, or some kind of settlement in the would-be romance between Dijonay & Sticky, whether she gives up, or he gives in. It also would've been great if somebody had enough guts to beat the living daylights out of the Gross Sisters. I know of an unearthly character from the "Danny Phantom" episode "Splitting Images," who's got such a grudge against bullies he might actually have an impact on them.

I still think Kyla Pratt is a much more attractive young woman than the character she's been providing the voice of for the past four years. The least sensible aspect of the movie, is that while Penny is turning 16, Bebe and Cece are still the same age as they were when the show began in 2001. Despite a few amusing lines, and the general feel of a series finale, I can't say this was anywhere as good as I hoped it would be.