Back on my alphabetical run through the films on offer on Disney Plus and I'm back to "Adventures in Babysitting". I watched the original a few weeks ago and was underwhelmed. Controversially, despite a truly cringey scene, I think I actually prefer this one.
After accidentally swapping mobiles, two very different teenagers, studious and reliable Jenny (Sabrina Carpenter) and carefree and rebellious Lola (Sofia Carson) end up babysitting for two neighbourhood families on the same night. Having learned about each other and met up to trade phones, the girls and their charges head into the city to track down Trey (Max Gecowets), the eldest child who has snuck off to attend a concert. Tracking him down, they come to the attention of a pair of criminals and their ferret smuggling ring. (no really).
I'm not trying to be deliberately contrary, declaring this the superior version of the story, and I don't want to give the impression that this film is actually good. It's typical Disney TV Movie stuff, the children are all painfully clean cut, and each has their own 'hilarious' quirk that ends up feeding back into the plot of the movie. None of the performances are that terrible though, which is good, as those are often the case with this Disney originals and that would have made the film unbearable. The scene when they recreated the "Singing the blues" moment from the original, now updated to a rap battle, naturally, is horrible though and I physically cringed all the way through it.
It does, though, have a better and more logical story than the original. Making the reason for heading into the city one of the kids, rather than another teenager who should know better makes sense, as does fitting the film around a concert and neutering the villains of the film from the actual mob, to a pair of "Home Alone"-esque clowns.
Again, it's not good - but I didn't hate every minute of it and with a gun to my head, I'd watch this version of "Adventures in Babysitting" over the original.
