Disney continues to garner praise for family films, this time for "Genius", a well-conceived, well-paced, delightful comedy with a talented cast. Essentially, this is a story about growing up and feeling the need to belong-- with a twist of slapstick, mistaken identity, college hockey and a particle beam accelerator. Quite an accomplishment.
In the tradition of Merlin Jones--probably Disney's most famous teen genius (see The Monkey's Uncle and The Misadventures of Merlin Jones)--we meet Charlie Boyle, our hero, obsessed with hockey, physics, and fitting in. Trevor Morgan is wonderful in this dual role as Charlie/Chaz...he has a lot of presence for a kid his age, and a lot of promise. Emmy Rossum is very charming and natural as Claire Addison--sweet and tomboyish, she lends a little romance to story. The always incomparable Charles Fleischer is featured as Dr. Krickstein, giving a great performance as Charlie's hero, mentor and friend, and showing of his rollerblading skills in the process...
I'd love to see Disney team up Charlie, Claire and Dr. Krickstein again...there's endless adventure potential here! Take advantage of it!
