The Lizzie McGuire Movie (PG)
Disney Movies; Disney Wiki; IMDb; Rotten Tomatoes; TV Tropes; Wikia; Wikipedia
streaming sites: Amazon; Disney+; Google Play; iTunes; Movies Anywhere; Vudu; YouTube

This 2003 movie is a theatrical spin-off of Disney Channel's series Lizzie McGuire. Even though the series didn't end until 2004, the movie is set after it. I didn't see it until 2021. Like the series itself, I found it reasonably entertaining, but not something I was wild about.

It begins with Lizzie's (Hilary Duff) little brother, Matt, getting up to his usual shenanigans. He later cooperates with a girl named Melina, whom I don't remember from the series, but she was in it. I'm more familiar with Matt having a friend named Lanny, who isn't in the film. But that's not important. What's important is that Lizzie and her classmates graduate from junior high, and Lizzie embarrasses herself at the ceremony. Later, most of the class go on a two-week trip to Rome, supervised by their strict future high school principal, Ms. Ungermeyer (Alex Borstein). While there, Lizzie is forced to share a room with her nemesis, Kate, while her best friend Gordo shares a room with Ethan. Her other best friend, Miranda, isn't in the movie, which kind of disappointed me. Anyway, Lizzie soon meets an Italian pop star named Paolo. He informs her that she looks identical to his former singing partner, Isabella (except her hair is a different color). Lots of Isabella's fans believe Lizzie is Isabella, and that she's just "gone blond". (Isabella is also played by Duff.) Paolo has recently broken up with Isabella, wanting to go solo. But they're supposed to present an award together, and Isabella is off on some island, so Paolo asks Lizzie to pretend to be Isabella and present the award with him. She's reluctant at first, but eventually agrees. Later, she finds out they're also supposed to sing together at the awards show, which she's also reluctant to do, but again eventually agrees. All this means Lizzie has to pretend to be sick so she won't have to go sight-seeing with the rest of the class, and can sneak out of her room while they're gone. Gordo covers for her several times. She also gets some help from Paolo's bodyguard, Sergei.

I don't really want to reveal any more of the plot, but I will say there's a twist at one point. And I guess this movie helped launch Duff's career as a pop singer. Anyway, I definitely enjoyed how the movie ended.