Zoey 102

Nickelodeon was my jam growing up. While Drake and Josh was my favorite live action sitcom on Nick, Zoey 101 was also funky and humorous for teenagers. I can appreciate some of the call-backs they did from the original series (Chase crashing into a pole or the characters' showcasing some of the tech devices).

Years later this didn't have the same warm and fuzzy vibe; I maybe laughed at one or two of the jokes. I honestly don't feel that Jamie Lynn Spears can act. On that basis, I felt that Quinn and Logan's actors dominated the action and had a believable conflict to resolve. Any of the scenes of Zoey at work were over the top.

I was glad that I stuck this one through, I liked the last 20 minutes because it was simplistic and somewhat heartfelt. But in terms of humor, character development, and script, I couldn't care less.

I wanted to go into this not being a bitter hater because Jamie Lynn Spears does not deserve good publicity. But having watched this show when I was young I was intrigued anyway.

1. Too much is going on. There's a subplot about Zoey's job that really takes up to much of the run time.

I'd rather focus on the wedding.

2. For the most part, I feel like the characters have some semblance of who they once were. Like Stacey being an obsessive true crime podcaster makes sense somehow.

Quinn only had like... one moment of being a weirdo.

Zoey... she never seemed like the person who passively accepted misogyny. It's a real world thing, but would she really stay at a job that ignores her for that long? She had more gumption as a teenage girl.

3. I had a few laughs, so the jokes weren't completely horrible. Like PCA being an unaccredited school was a good tongue in cheek joke.

4. I had to grab a drink after the 30 minute mark to be honest.

5. Jamie Lynn being a horrible person to her costars and her sister makes it hard to remember I'm watching Zoey. Or that the show itself was toxic as all get out.

6. iCarly is a better example of how to actually revive a series for an adult audience.

I don't know why Nickelodeon greenlit this but Jamie Lynn needs money I guess.

Overall, if you don't care about the drama behind the scenes, that Jamie Lynn is a monster and just wanna watch your bonus episode of Zoey 101, I'd say go for it.

"Zoey 102" is a movie that I really thought wouldn't work, I was shocked though how much I actually really enjoyed this movie, for the most part.

Starting with the good, I think all the old cast members do a really great job at getting back into character. It was really nice to catch up with everyone. I liked the main story here, I though it fit very well for a Zoey 101 reboot. I also really like some of the new characters, particularly Dean Geyer and Audrey Whitney. I really like both of them and though they were pretty funny. Along with that I also thought the film was decently funny. And finally I was surprised how well shot the movie was. The lighting was very vibrant and overall it was a good looking movie.

However all of the new stuff including the subplot with Zoeys job I thought was very boring. I was really entertained with the main story but whenever it went back to that part of the movie I honestly was getting very bored. I also thought the pacing at times suffered as the movie felt a little longer than it was. And finally I did wish there was some more callbacks to the original series just to make it feel more like Zoey 101.

Overall though, despite a pretty bland subplot and pacing issues I did find this to be a pretty decent catch-up with the old series.

It's not common to find a light movie getting so polarized opinions. 50% in RT, 50% here in ImdB, 4.9/10 in Filmaffinity. I really wanted to give it more than 5/10 but I have to agree with the average, for some reasons I would like to explain.

The movie have just a remarkable 9-minute sequence, the karaoke joint. The revelation of PCA academy as being unlicensed and the "Time of our lives" duet are funny. But in the rest of this is 101-min long mess there are flaws and not very funny things. Zoey being trapped with Chase inside a full automatic car and claiming not knowing how to open the door, when all she has to do is call the owner, that is nonsense. The truth about the fake Zoey's boyfriend in the last scene is unnecessary portrayed. And those feminist references sprinkled here and there in the movie are not funny at all.

As to the cast, it was good to see Mark and Stacey characters practically unchanged, but Quinn should have preserved her black hair at least. Sad thing Lola doesn't appear even when Victoria Justice should accept any role considering the little success she's having in the business.

In summary, this movie is a product of the inexperience, as much in writing as in directing, but has some moments that hardcore Zoey fans will appreciate. But I'm not one of them.

3.8/10

This was not a nostalgia movie we needed. I didn't know it existed until I found it scrolling through Paramount+, and I much rather have liked not knowing it existed. While I can't remember "Zoey 101" completely, it was one of the shows I grew up on as the actors and actresses were, and are my age, but despite a few jokes from the show I feel I got nothing out of the movie. It doesn't need to exist. It shouldn't exist.

There were very small pieces of humour that were funny, but really it feels stale. The acting was rigid. The story was mediocre. The spark of "Zoey 101" doesn't exist. The characters are somewhat relatable, but you can really find that in any other show or movie. Lastly, the pacing is slow. There came a point where I had given up on the movie, but I had to see it through knowing there was no recovery.

The big takeaway is that if you want your childhood memories of this show to stay in tact then don't bother watching this film. In the end I was left with the feeling of "that's it?" I wasn't even happy to see the reunion in the end. I wished for better.

That's all for now. Thank you for reading my review, and until next time.... Enjoy the show!