Previously. I wrote about the 1999 Disney Channel Original Movie, Horse Sense, which starred Andy Lawrence and his brother, Joey, as cousins. That movie did really well to the point Disney Channel wanted to do a sequel. Though, that movie really had seemed to wrap things up, pretty well. This is the days when movies- especially TV movies- don't expect sequels as part of the game. Disney had a lot of the youngest Lawrence brother, he was the voice of TJ on Recess, was in the 2000 DCOM, I covered -The Other Me - and he'd do another DCOM later. I'll get to the rest of the cast, in a few.
Back to the sequel element. The idea of a sequel to Horse Sense is kind of hard to think about except Andy and Joey Lawrence. Joey's character, Michael Woods, went through character development in the movie, as one would expect, so the worry here would be the 2nd movie would ruin some of that because 2nd movie.
Jumping Ship first aired on Disney Channel on August 17, 2001. That date will also be important for something else soon. play attention. Also, look how quickly that turnaround is, the last movie was out in November 1999. (wow)
Hello, we're calling about your horse warranty/ Copyright Disney
How does this movie start? With Montana, horses, Andy's character of Tommy, just to remind you that is Horse Sense 2. It also shows that Michael has grown a bit in character and is "farming" in his backyard... by the pool. (As you do) Also, thanks to Tommy's mother talking to Michael on the phone we know they are going Australia. (Random) Michael tells Tommy that's going to charter a private yacht to during their trip. I'm happy that this movie hasn't reset Michael's character just for sake of 2nd movie. It does show that he's not good with spending money still, which is a good way have a conflict and not have it be the problem from first movie. His father tells him he's spending money he doesn't have and tells him he has to pay him back and he has to find a job or he'll have to work with his Dad- as a file clerk.
Son, I'm going to have to sue you / Copyright Diseny
There also seems to be a new conflict for Tommy, since the ranch was saved, he doesn't want this neighbor guy to like his mother and she kind of likes him too, and doesn't want to be part of this, because doesn't want a new Dad.
Michael and Tommy are now on an island as they are on vacation. This movie gives you the Lawrence Brothers doing a great job and makes an enjoyable performance. A lady runs into Michael on purpose and she steals his wallet without him noticing because plot. The duo get to be on a nice boat, oops wrong boat. Oh the woman meets up with a guy on a yacht and he looks through the wallet. So if Michael wasn't so showy three people wouldn't want to be after him now. (there's a moral here, somewhere)
Good thing he didn't notice me stealing his wallet, that I'm holding out here for everyone to see / Copyright Disney
The duo find their boat and guess what? You thought this movie would only have two Lawrence brothers, well, you were WRONG. (ooh I'm sad now) That's right. Matthew Lawrence, the middle brother between Joey and Andy shows up as a character named Jake Hunter. Which is funny. You see, in later seasons of Boy Meets World , Lawrence played Jack Hunter a character who was Shan Hunter's half brother on that series. The other fun part is Boy Meets World , ended it's run 1 year before this movie aired, but reruns were on Disney Channel. One Boy Meets World's production companies was: Touchstone Television, which was owned by Disney. It's fun. Fun fact 2: this movie was filmed in Australia for real.
More after the jump
Michael finds out that the boat is kind of a dumpy boat. He decides to find something better, but that didn't work, that jump cut was too fast. Then later, he finds out his wallet is missing. Things seem to be going well. (For now) I will say I like seeing the Lawrence brothers play off each other and not even playing brothers on a show. Matthew does a great job at playing an off kilter character who owns the boat. Michael and Jake's adversary is fun , and it was nice to see Tommy and Jake bond.
Hey it's me Matthew Lawrence, you might know me from... mom or the sitcom, Oh Brotherly Love/ Copyright Disney
Meanwhile the other trio, who the movie has called pirates, because yes pirates. Are back in the story. They want to take Michael, ransom him for the money, and feed him to the sharks. (I hope they mean metaphorically, right? Hello?) The movie does an alright at job at being comfy group of three on the boat before danger shows up. The movie is not trying to be too fast paced and really does something for atmosphere at least. Michael even gives up his phone for after a while for the trip. Though the plot decides that Tommy needs to think he was able to catch a fish and pull and lose the phone in the water, the movie will need that later.
Oh I see, pirates... they must run a popular anime site / Copyright Disney
Then pirates. (Arrgh) Jake tries to get away from them on his boat, which again isn't the most powerful and lively boat. Jake tells his two guests they are going to have to jump off the boat and get away from the pirates. (Jumping Ship, if you will) The pirates don't like that they sunk the boat and will still continue their hunt because he's worth something and plot. Our protagonist duo is deserted on an island, yeah we lost Jake for bit, he said he'd be back.
I think we are in New Jersey/ Copyright Disney
Now the movie has become "Blue Lagoon" [gets whispered at] oh really. oh ummm "Lord of the Flies?" , (whispers) eh, they are stranded on an island ,ok then. So we have a duo of a rich pampered dude and young ranch boy who both have never been deserted on island. Finally, Jake finds them after playing a joke on them. He tells them the boat is gone, he had to sink it. (Which we knew already) Remember that lost cellphone part of the plot, well it's now important, it fell over board.
Oh the tenseness starts. Tommy decides to be with Jake, but Michael doesn't want to. Jake is a survivor he's good at making a shelter, has food and water. See, some movies give us the 3rd act break up, this was the 2nd act break up. (nice!) Michael isn't doing too well, but he thinks a supermodel has showed up to save him. (This is a strange movie) She did not: it was a dream, so you know.
This isn't Heaven. it's New Jersey/ Copyright Disney
Jake admits to Tommy that is own father died, again to have them bond over the fact that Disney is killing a lot of fathers here. Michael finds Jake and Tommy who seem to be bonding well, then he ends up seeing a crocodile. Jake gets Tommy to get out of the water as he decides to fight the croc, or hit it with a rock, which I think will just make it angrier. The near death here seemed to have maybe changed things for them.
This movie has a slow drama to it with boughs of being excited, kind of like the first movie. It's more focused on the characters and really just giving the viewer Lawrence brothers interactions than trying to make a big dramatic story. It's a very intimate movie. It follows one of the hallmarks of early DCOMs I like is that they can tell stories without being too loud and off the wall for it to work. (Also there's a discussion about why Gilligan didn't hit on any of the girls in the show, interesting )
I could also talk about Swiss Family Robinson. right cousin-brother and stranger brother/ Copyright Disney
Up next, the new plan is to make a raft . There was a montage. The movie does like to take things that were set down and picks them up later, like the flair that Michael wasn't supposed to touch, but ends up doing so. The pirates also find out and decide it's time At first, Tommy sees them thinking they are there to help, but thankfully Jake stops him. He tries to get them to leave fast on the raft to get away from the pirates who find them. Wow one of the pirates has a gun! (Gun on a Disney Channel movie, woah)
You're watching Disney Channel/ Copyright Disney
It was a flair gun, and she uses it to set their sail on fire to stop them. The movie gives us an under water chase, which is something you don't see often. (because we are above water it's hard to see such chases). The pirates got Tommy. (oh no!) They made him their cabin boy. (arrrgh) Jake tells Michael he really doesn't miss the boat, the boat was his father's he was more dedicated to it because of his father's love of it more than wanting it himself. Jake offers to give Michael the watch back, but Michael decides nah. Again the movie is using almost every little thing it showed and bringing it back pretty neatly.
I like Lizzie McGuire more than Even Stevens/ Copyright Disney
Michael decides to confront the pirates with a deal, using the gold coin from earlier, (again nice work) to convince them he found tons of gold to a trade. Woah more gun, this one looks more real too. (eek) It's good to see him pretty much put his life on the line for his cousin. Jake and Tommy sneak up to the pirates' speed boat to get on it. Heh it was a trap, stupid pirates.
Live-action Luca / Copyright Disney
The other pirate gets beaten up by Tommy and Jake. (stupid pirate) They end up taking the other boat (stealing from pirates, ironic) and the pirate guy finds out they messed up the other boat. Michael makes the escape, using a cliff he refused to jump off last time and silly pirate, Disney Channel is not going let you shoot Joey Lawrence.
They make it back to the dock where the family members are there. Tommy wraps up his "bothered" by neighbor guy thing. Later, Michael says he wants to work with Jake and Tommy on a charter boat business. He also is going to work for his dad's law firm as a clerk.
Good thing nobody knows that they are my three sons/ Copyright Disney
This is an alright movie. I'm not going to say I didn't enjoy it. It's not a movie that's focused on really big action or story. Describing it, it really sounds more manic than what plays out. Like I say there's 3 guys stuck on an island and there's pirates it sounds more like Disney Channel pirate fights the movie, but it's not really that. Except for the climax, the pirates are really there for the plot. The woman steals Michael's wallet, the pirates chase them on the boat, the pirates are the reason they end up on the island. Surviving the island isn't a big plot either because, Jake has it done. The first movie didn't even have a villain. Not even the bank. This movie only felt it needed them because it wanted them trapped on an island and give them a conflict that only shows up really at the end to really confront. Most of the movie is pretty much watching the Lawrence brothers interact.
Going off of that, that's really the main selling point of the movie. They are really the only three characters in the movie. Yes, there are the pirates which only play a small part and they are mostly interchangeable as characters. Tommy, Michael, and Jake are the only characters that are in the movie the majority. It's fun to see the characters interactions and play off each other. In a funny way the characters act like brother. They have their squabbles, go back to bonding and a strange mixture of personalities.
As a sequel, it only seems to be that way to just speed run Michael and Tommy's characterization more than doing anything to be Horse Sense 2. I think that's kind of a good thing. They really just went for character interactions and some strange let's throw three real life brothers together for a story and let's spend some money to be in Australia. I'm glad they don't regress Michael's character or anything that would have hurt the story just because story needed it. It's not the best movie or high art, but I don't think it does anything really bad. It's enjoyable. It's a slow moving character based movie more than anything else, it's good.
That's it for now, tune in next time when we wonder where's the third movie, where they'd be in space? And also Disney release the episodes of "Brotherly Love", you cowards.
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