Disney disgrace: Lizzie McGuire' fails to transition

By Nicole Rodriguez

Ever since 2001's "The Princess Diaries" proved that a Pygmalion storyline could still sell to America's youth, every studio imaginable has been putting blatant rip-offs onto the movie market in an undisguised attempt to make a quick buck. Not even a month after Warner Brother's horrific bomb "What a Girl Wants," Disney is throwing out the latest addition to the craze: "The Lizzy McGuire Movie."

Based on the television show of the same name, "Lizzy" stars Hillary Duff as the title character--a geeky thirteen year old who is on her way to spend a few weeks in Rome on a class trip. However, things supposedly take an interesting turn when Lizzie meets an attractive young man at Trevi Fountain.

The man, as it turns out, is Paolo, an Italian pop singer who has just lost his partner, Isabella, because of artistic differences. And, of course, Lizzie is Isabella's identical twin except for the fact that she's blonde and American.

Claiming to want to find adventure in Europe, Lizzie sneaks out of her hotel in order to catch the sites with Paolo, and soon finds that she must choose between the being a typical junior high student or joining Paolo as Italy's newest pop star.

There are many reasons why "Lizzie McGuire" doesn't fit into the genre it claims to come from. First of all, we are meant to believe that Lizzie is unpopular and geekish, but Duff looks no different in the end of the film than she did in the beginning--that's because Lizzie was blond and beautiful all along.

Unlike "Diaries'" Anne Hathaway, who donned a raggedy wig and glasses, Duff looks exactly the same before and after the makeover sequence, just as she acts the same before and after it too.

And we are meant to believe that this girl, who goes from geek to popular over night without changing a thing about herself, magically has the ability to dance and sing like Britney Spears, even though the rest of her class makes fun of her for being a klutz.

Perhaps even more disturbing is the fact that 13-year-old Lizzie is sneaking out and lying to her teacher in order to run around Rome having a romance with a 17-year-old stranger. While four years may not be all that great of an age difference down the road, at 13 the two may as well be decades apart, and the pairing comes off as highly inappropriate, especially given the young target age of the audience.

"The Princess Diaries" may have been a hit with audiences, but don't expect the same to happen with "Lizzie." While "Diaries," was cute, "Lizzie" is bland, stringing one clichéd sequence after another for what proves to be a tortuous hour and a half. And, while Hathaway may have become a star thanks to her performance, don't expect the same to happen for Duff.

If there's anything more annoying than this film's story line, it's its leading lady.