Princess Protection Program

Princess Protection Program (a.k.a. Princess Protection Programme in the UK) is a 2009 Disney Channel Original Movie that premiered on June 26, 2009 in the United States and winner of the Teen Choice Awards 2009 for Choice Summer TV Show. The film is directed by Allison Liddi-Brown, filmed in Puerto Rico, written by Annie DeYoung, and stars Demi Lovato and Selena Gomez.

Contents

Plot

Princess Rosalinda María Montoya Fioré (Demi Lovato) is about to be crowned queen of the small kingdom of Costa Luna. General Kane (Johnny Ray Rodriguez), the dictator of neighbouring country Costa Estrella, infiltrates her palace with his agents during her coronation rehearsal, and attempts to capture the royal family and take over the country. Joe Mason (Tom Verica), an agent of the Princess Protection Program, a secret organization funded by royal families that looks after endangered princesses, whisks her away to safety via helicopter. Kane’s agents however succeed in capturing her mother, Queen Sophia.

The Princess Protection Program hides Rosalinda in Major Mason’s home in Louisiana, where she is to pretend to be a typical American teenager named Rosie Gonzalez. She meets Mr. Mason’s daughter, Carter Mason (Selena Gomez), an insecure tomboy who works at the family bait shop and dreams of going to the homecoming dance with her crush, Donnie (Robert Adamson). Though Carter initially treats Rosie with annoyance and barely-masked hostility, she warms up to her after Rosie explains her situation, and the two become close friends. Carter teaches Rosalinda to act like a normal girl and Rosie shows Carter how to disarm those that scorn them by behaving as a princess. Rosie soon becomes popular at their high school.

In an attempt to trick Rosalinda into exposing her location, General Kane announces plans to forcibly marry Rosalinda’s mother. Rosalinda is distraught and tells Carter that she has decided to secretly return home. Knowing Costa Luna is still too dangerous, Carter secretly devises a plan to pose as Rosalinda and then use herself as bait to lure Kane into capture. Mr. Elegante (Ricardo Alvarez), Rosalinda’s royal dress designer, tells Kane that Rosalinda will be attending the homecoming dance and will be wearing a blue dress that he actually sends to Carter. In the meantime, Rosalinda agrees to help Carter behave like a princess by helping a group of girls dress up for the dance; The girls all wear masks, which helps Carter disguise herself as Rosalinda.

According to plan, Kane and his agents mistake Carter for Rosie and lead her to Kane’s helicopter the night of the dance. However, Rosalinda narrowly discovers and ruins the plan by exposing herself to Kane, insisting that this is not Carter’s fight. Fortunately, agents of the Princess Protection Program, including Mr. Mason, have been waiting inside the helicopter and rescue both girls. The PPP agents quickly apprehend Kane and his henchmen and turn them over to the international authorities.

At the end, Carter realizes what “a jerk” Donnie is and goes to the dance with Ed, her best friend who has had a crush on her for a long time. Rosie is crowned Queen of Costa Luna with Carter, Major Mason, Ed, Queen Sophia, and Mr. Elegante in attendance while the song “Two Worlds Collide” plays.

Cast

• Demi Lovato as Princess (later Queen) Rosalinda María Montoya Fioré/Rosie Gonzalez
• Selena Gomez as Carter Mason
• Major Joe Mason
• Queen Sophia Fioré
• General Magnus Kane
• Jamie Chung as Chelsea Barnes
• Nicholas Braun as Ed
• Robert Adamson as Donnie
• Samantha Droke as Brooke Angels
• Mr. Elegante
• Brian Tester as Principal Burkle

Promotion

The film introduced two new songs: a duet recorded by Gomez and Lovato called “One and the Same” and a song recorded by Mitchel Musso called “The Girl Can’t Help It.” Both songs are featured on the Disney compilation album, Disney Channel Playlist, which was released on June 9, 2009. The film also includes Lovato’s song “Two Worlds Collide”, which was first featured on their debut album Don’t Forget. Disney Channel promoted the movie’s premiere weekend by offering never-before-seen episodes of their original series’ Wizards of Waverly Place and Sonny With a Chance as an online reward if viewers can correctly count the number of times the words “princess,” “princesses,” and “princesa” are spoken during the movie and enter the correct number, 86, into a section on their website.

The DVD was released on June 30, 2009 in the US. It also features the music video for Gomez & Lovato’s duet “One and the Same” and a behind-the-scenes look at the movie. The DVD was released on June 18, 2009 in Germany and four days later in the UK.

Reception

Laura Fries of Variety magazine describes the film as being “light as a summer breeze on the Louisiana bayou”. Although the film does not stray far from the Disney formula, she praises writer Annie DeYoung for providing young girls a nice message about self-esteem. She says the film should be a hit with the channel’s target audience.

Ratings

The premiere was watched by 8.5 million viewers, making Disney Channel TV the most-watched network in the time slot, with nearly double the viewers of CBS at that time.