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TV Review: 'The Cheetah Girls'
submitted by: Lisa D.
source: Hollywood Reporter
Date: August 14, 2003
By Marilyn Moss
LOS ANGELES - Disney Channel's spirited teen movie "The Cheetah Girls" takes off from a platform of noise and bustle and hardly lets up for a second.
This is a movie for teenage and preteen girls, which is unfortunate because it reinforces what many parents of these teeny-weeny women fear most: that their girl kids will spend their time worrying about how they look and how in-your-face they can get in dealing with the rest of the world. In other words, "Cheetah Girls" is your run-of-the-mill nonsense about girls getting in touch with their own power. Hmm.
The movie is based on the "Cheetah Girls" book series, written by Deborah Gregory, so we can't entirely fault scriptwriter Alison Taylor for the goings-on in this pretty shallow tale of four girls who try to make it big (or just make it, period) with the rock group they have started. Nor can we fault director Oz Scott for keeping the movie's pace at a fever pitch from the get-go: He's just doing his job and simulating the hormone-bouncing world of teen girls and their overdeveloped sense of omnipotence in the world today.
The four girls in question are New Yorkers who also happen to make up a mini melting pot every time they get together. Their black, Italian, Dominican/Puerto Rican and Cuban heritages make a nice 2003 rainbow coalition, at least enough so to help Disney boost its ratings by gathering in as much of the teen girl population as it can with this political correctness. Television star Raven plays Galleria Garibaldi, Adrienne Bailon plays Chanel, Kiely Williams is Aqua, Sabrina Bryan is Dorinda, and Sandra Caldwell is Drinka Champagne. Lynn Whitfield also shows up as Raven's mother, but her good talents pretty much go to waste here.
The Cheetah Girls spend their time trying to get their band together without falling apart in the process. They confront all kinds of conflicts, personal as well as external. The movie has a clear message in mind: It's the old rah rah about making sure you get what you want. Make your dreams come true at practically any cost. There is hardly anything new in the formula, and it works now (as it always has) for teen girls feeling under the gun no matter what the circumstances.
"Cheetah Girls' " style is frenetic from start to finish. The camera looks to be on some kind of uppers, and the music is appropriately frantic and, yes, loud. Watch out, it's a jungle out there!
Disney Channel. Martin Chase Prods./BrownHouse Prods. in association with Disney Channel
Cast: Galleria Garibaldi: Raven; Dorothea Garibaldi: Lynn Whitfield; Chanel: Adrienne Bailon; Aqua: Kiely Williams: Dorinda Thomas: Sabrina Bryan; Derek: Kyle Schmid; Drinka Champagne: Sandra Caldwell; Jackal Johnson: Vincent Corazza; Toto: Cappuccino.
Writer: Alison Taylor; Based on "The Cheetah Girls" book series by: Deborah Gregory; Director: Oz Scott; Executive producers: Debra Martin Chase, Whitney Houston; Producer: Jackie George; Co-producer: Cheryl Hill; Costume designer: Resa McConaghy; Choreographer: Troy Liddell; Music composer: John Van Tongeren; Casting: Victoria Thomas, Kim Taylor Coleman.
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