''Kim Possible'' is a 2019 American

action comedy The action comedy is a film genre that applies to action films where humor plays a much more central role. While early films feature stuntwork and humor, academic Cynthia King wrote that the genre only came into its own as a mainstay of the America ...

television film A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie, telefilm, telemovie or TV film/movie, is a film with a running time similar to a feature film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a Terrestr ...

that premiered as a

Disney Channel Original Movie Since its launch on April 18, 1983, American cable and satellite pay television channel Disney Channel airs and/or releases/distributes original first-run television films under the banner names of Disney Channel Premiere Films until October 1 ...

Disney Channel Disney Channel is an American pay television television channel, channel that serves as the flagship (broadcasting), flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney Entertainment business segment of the Walt Disney Company ...

on February 15, 2019. Based on the 2002–2007 animated series of the same name created by Mark McCorkle and Bob Schooley, the film stars Sadie Stanley,

Sean Giambrone Sean Giambrone (born May 30, 1999) is an American actor. His on-screen roles include Adam F. Goldberg in the sitcom ''The Goldbergs (2013 TV series), The Goldbergs'' and List of Kim Possible characters#Ronald "Ron" Stoppable, Ron Stoppable in the ...

, and Ciara Riley Wilson.

Plot

In Europe, American high school students and crimefighters

Kim Possible ''Kim Possible'' is an American animated Action comedy TV series, action comedy television series created by Bob Schooley and Mark McCorkle for Disney Channel. The Kim Possible (character), title character is a teenage girl tasked with saving ...

and Ron Stoppable have thwarted a world dominating scheme of Professor Dementor and rescued Dr. Glopman, whom Dementor had kidnapped. As Kim and Ron start their first day of school, they meet a new student named Athena and take her on a mission to stop the plot of the evil Dr. Drakken. Athena (a skilled

bōjutsu () is the martial art of stick fighting using a bō, which is the Japanese word for staff. Staffs have been in use for thousands of years in Asian martial arts like Silambam. Some techniques involve slashing, swinging, and stabbing with the ...

ka) defeats Drakken's henchwoman Shego, making her the topic of conversation at Middleton High School despite Kim's jealousy. When the school honors Athena and her good deed, Shego and Drakken force their way into the ceremony. Kim tries to defeat Shego and her army of henchwomen but falls to the ground, leaving Athena vulnerable to kidnap. Athena is kidnapped, and Kim is laughed at. After Kim talks with her family and Ron, they decide to rescue Athena from Drakken's and Shego's lair. At the lair, Kim discovers Athena is part of Drakken's and Shego's plan to steal Kim's motivational essence and transfer it into Drakken with his brain-modulating device. Athena is revealed to be an android built by Drakken, specifically for this. As Kim short-circuits the transfer machine, Drakken is de-aged into a pre-adolescent version of himself. Despite Kim's insistence that she save herself, Athena stays behind to turn off the now-unstable machine. The lair explodes and Athena is presumed killed, but it is revealed that she has survived the explosion. Kim and Ron take her home to be repaired and programmed to be a hero alongside themselves. During the credits, Drakken, posing as a gifted student with Shego posing as his mother, enrolls at Kim's school and begins his plan to defeat her.

Cast

* Sadie Stanley as

as Ron Stoppable, Kim's best friend and sidekick. * Ciara Riley Wilson as Athena, a new student and bōjutsu practitioner at Kim's school. * Taylor Ortega as Shego, Drakken's flame-fisted accomplice. * Connie Ray as Nana Possible, Kim's grandmother. *

Issac Ryan Brown Issac Ryan Brown (born July 12, 2005) is an American actor, rapper and singer. He is known for his role as Booker in Disney Channel's ''Raven's Home'', which earned him a nomination at the 48th Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Principal Per ...

as Wade, a teenage computer genius and inventor. * Erika Tham as Bonnie Rockwaller, Kim's enemy since childhood. *

Todd Stashwick Todd Stashwick is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Dale Malloy on ''The Riches'' (20072008) and Theodore Deacon on ''12 Monkeys (TV series), 12 Monkeys'' (20152018). He played Captain Liam Shaw in the Star Trek: Picard (season 3), ...

as Drakken, a

mad scientist The mad scientist (also mad doctor or mad professor) is a stock character of a scientist who is perceived as "mad, bad and dangerous to know" or "insanity, insane" owing to a combination of unusual or unsettling personality traits and the unabas ...

and Kim's archenemy. ** Maxwell Simkins as Young Drakken *

Alyson Hannigan Allison Lee Hannigan (born March 24, 1974), known professionally as Alyson Hannigan, is an American actress and television presenter. She began her film career with supporting roles in the comedy films '' Impure Thoughts'' (1986) and '' My Step ...

as Dr. Ann Possible, Kim's

neurosurgeon Neurosurgery or neurological surgery, known in common parlance as brain surgery, is the medical specialty that focuses on the surgical treatment or rehabilitation of disorders which affect any portion of the nervous system including the brain, ...

mother. * Matthew Clarke as James Timothy Possible, Kim's

rocket scientist A rocket (from , and so named for its shape) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using any surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely ...

father. * Owen Fielding as Tim Possible, Kim's younger brother. * Connor Fielding as Jim Possible, Kim's younger brother. * Michael P. Northey as Mr. Barkin, Kim and Ron's teacher. * Patrick Sabongui as Dr. Glopman, a scientist captured by Professor Dementor. * Cedric Ducharme as Cool Todd *

Christy Carlson Romano Christy Carlson Romano (born March 20, 1984) is an American actress, podcaster, and singer. On the Disney Channel, she played Ren Stevens on ''Even Stevens'' and voiced the titular character from ''Kim Possible''. Early life Romano was born o ...

as Poppy Blu, a pop star. Romano was the original voice of Kim in the animated series. *

Nancy Cartwright Nancy Jean Cartwright (born October 25, 1957) is an American actress, best known as the long-time voice of Bart Simpson on ''The Simpsons'', for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance and an Annie Award f ...

Rufus Rufus is a masculine given name, a surname, an Ancient Roman cognomen and a nickname (from Latin ''wikt:rufus, rufus'', "red"). Notable people with the name include: Given name Politicians * Marcus Caelius Rufus, (28 May 82 BC – after 48 ...

, Ron's pet

naked mole-rat The naked mole-rat (''Heterocephalus glaber''), also known as the sand puppy, is a burrowing rodent native to the Horn of Africa and parts of Kenya, notably in Somali regions. It is closely related to the blesmols and is the only species in th ...

. Cartwright reprises her role from the animated series. *

Patton Oswalt Patton Peter Oswalt (born January 27, 1969) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. His acting roles include Spence Olchin in the sitcom ''The King of Queens'' (1998–2007) and narrating the sitcom '' The Goldbergs'' (2013–2023) as adult ...

as Professor Dementor, a mad scientist. Oswalt also reprises his role from the animated series.

Production

Development

In between working on the first and second seasons of the ''Kim Possible'' animated series, series creators Bob Schooley and Mark McCorkle had begun writing a script for a live-action film adaptation, which never came to fruition for unknown reasons. On February 7, 2018, it was announced that a live-action film based on the animated series was in production at

. McCorkle and Schooley served as executive producers, as did Josh A. Cagan, Zanne Devine, Adam Stein, and

Zach Lipovsky Zach Lipovsky is a Canadian director, former child actor and visual effects specialist. Career Lipovsky, was a finalist on the first season of the Fox reality show '' On the Lot'' where he placed 5th out of 12,000 directors worldwide. He went on ...

. On April 25, 2018, it was announced that the film would go into production in mid-2018 for a 2019 premiere. The film is a production of Middleton Productions. On December 7, 2018, it was announced that the film would premiere on Disney Channel and DisneyNOW on February 15, 2019.

Casting

On April 25, 2018, Sadie Stanley and

were cast in the film. On May 25, 2018, it was announced that

, Connie Ray,

, Taylor Ortega, Ciara Wilson, and Erika Tham were cast in the film. On June 22, 2018, it was announced that ''

Raven's Home ''Raven's Home'' is an American family sitcom television series developed by Jed Elinoff and Scott Thomas that aired on Disney Channel from July 21, 2017 to September 3, 2023. The series stars Raven-Symoné, Issac Ryan Brown, Navia Robinson, ...

'' star Issac Ryan Brown was cast in the film. On August 11, 2018, it was announced that

and

were cast in the film. On January 14, 2019, it was announced that

was cast in the film.

Filming

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as the ...

began on June 4, 2018 and wrapped on July 23, 2018. It was filmed in

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

, in Richmond at McMath Secondary School, and at the Cleveland Dam in North Vancouver.

Reception

Ratings

During its premiere in the 8:00 pm time slot, ''Kim Possible'' attracted 1.24 million viewers with a 0.22 rating for people aged 18–49, making it the lowest-rated

premiere of the last decade until 2021's Disney Channel Original Movie, '' Under Wraps''.

Critical response

Brian Lowry of

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

wrote: "It's all a good deal of fun, bringing the animated show to life while riffing on those conventions. That said, the tone can be a bit uneven, with Stanley nicely turning Kim into a flesh-and-blood girl, while Giambrone's Ron is played much closer to the cartoon version." Petrana Radulovic of ''Polygon'' said that the film "keeps the true spirit of the DCOMs many of us grew up with — '' Wendy Wu Homecoming Warrior'', '' Halloweentown'' and '' Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century'' among them", and added: "''Kim Possible'' is campy and hammers in its message with the subtlety of a sledgehammer, but that's not a critique. It just means that ''Kim Possible'' is, like most in the DCOM canon, a fun movie, and little else."

Accolades

Sabrina Pitre was nominated at the 2020 Canadian Cinema Editors Awards in the category ''Best Editing in Family - Series or MOW, Live Action'' for her work on this film.

Miniseries

The film was followed by the miniseries ''Kim Hushable'' which aired between June 5 and 24, 2019. The shorts take place after the movie and focus on Kim, Ron, and Athena as they help out in a library during spring break, all while dealing with various rogues and impressing Mr. Dewey. Warhok and Warmonga, who appeared in the original series, make an appearance in the shorts.

References

External links

* {{Disney Channel Original Movies 2019 television films 2019 films 2019 action comedy films 2019 action adventure films 2010s high school films American action adventure films American comedy films Disney Channel Original Movie films Films directed by Adam Stein Films directed by Zach Lipovsky Films scored by James Dooley Films set in the United States Films shot in Vancouver Kim Possible films Live-action films based on animated series 2010s English-language films 2010s American films English-language action adventure films English-language action comedy films