While this movie forced me to suspend my disbelief about the mind of a teenage boy, I was actually pleasantly surprised by the great character moments and touching story. Overall not a bad movie at all in my opinion.
The Swap
2016
Action / Comedy / Family / Fantasy
The Swap
2016
Action / Comedy / Family / Fantasy
high school based on novel or book ice hockey body-swap rhythmic gymnastics based on young adult novel
Plot summary
Based on the book by Megan Shull, The Swap follows the adventures of a rhythmic gymnast named Ellie with a make-it-or-break-it competition, and the younger brother named Jack in a hockey family who's vying for a varsity spot on his school team. But when a simple text causes the two to swap bodies, their paths take an unexpected cross.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
January 27, 2020 at 06:37 AM
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Teenage boy gets his dream of being given free range of Peyton List's body and does nothing with it
Another body transference film
Going back to the original Freaky Friday from the 70s that starred Barbara Harris and Jodie Foster, Disney and other studios have done these body transference films. Absolutely no new ground was broken here with The Swap.
Gymnastic champion Peyton List and young hockey prospect Jacob Bertrand occupy different worlds in the high school social strata. She's got some fierce and jealous competition from the usual mean girls you find in these teen films who always get their's. Bertrand is a young hockey player trying to measure up to his coach father and his two older hockey playing brothers.
Those cellphones that fewer and fewer of us don't have, but that teens have found to be necessary like breathing in this day and age have a magic power and through them the body transference is accomplished. And they have to live with each other's lives.
Both List and Bertrand are stars of Magic Kingdom TV Teen series, Bunk'd and Kirby Buckets. It's always Disney policy to give its budding teen stars TV feature film exposure. The stars are good in their roles and they are supported by a cast of Canadian players.
The Swap is easy to take, but nothing new.
weak Swap
Ellie O'Brien (Peyton List) is a rhythmic gymnast. Schoolmate Jack Malloy (Jacob Bertrand) is a hockey player. Both face difficulties. She is losing her best friend to a rival. He is being bullied by a rival. On one particularly tough day, they both end up at the nurse's station. They text back and forth arguing the other has the easier life. Suddenly, they exchange bodies. They struggle to navigate each other's life.
This Disney movie is a standard body swap movie. It's not doing anything new. The bigger problem is that the standard thing isn't done that well either. The standard thing being that the kids get to play the opposite gender. The problem here is that the characters start at somewhat similar places with similar personalities. She's afraid to confront the social bully. He's scared to talk to a girl. After the body switch happens, the gender change is limited even when they try. The easiest move is for Ellie to dress like a boy which she never does. There is a cute moment when Jack wears a towel like a girl. There are small changes when this type of movie requires big moves. The body switching device is questionable anyways. I've seen Peyton in a couple of things. The two leads admirably soldier on but it's not enough. This is an inferior body switch movie.