The Lizzie McGuire Movie

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The Lizzie McGuire Movie is a 2003 Disney Channel comedy film based on the Disney Channel show Lizzie McGuire which was released on May 2, 2003. The movie follows main character Lizzie McGuire (played by Hilary Duff) as she is promoted from junior high school and goes on a class trip to Rome. Ciao

Plot

The movie opens to Lizzie getting ready for graduation while her younger brother, Matt annoyingly spies on her with a radio controlled toy truck fitted with a video camera. We are also introduced to Lizzie's pink-garbed animated alter ego who expresses everything Lizzie can't say aloud. This sets the tone for the embarrassments that are to follow.

Her former best friend, Kate Sanders (Ashlie Brillault), who has been an enemy of Lizzie's, is infuriated with Lizzie for wearing the same dress she wore to the school dance (under her graduation gown). She is forced to make a speech in place of the class president, Margaret Chan, (even though she was treasurer and "only handled petty cash" in the Student Council) with no notice by a demeaning teacher (he frequently tells her "you're no Margaret Chan"). Also, it is in this scene that the audience finds out Miranda (Lalaine) is in Mexico City. Then Lizzie McGuire trips on the backdrop, which topples over everyone on stage. The this footage is secretly sent by her younger brother to "Good Morning America". Lizzie's embarrassment is made even worse when CNN broadcasts her "fall" internationally. After graduation, Lizzie and her class embark on a trip to Rome chaperoned by their strict high-school principal, Angela Dominatrixmeyer (Alex Borstein).

When Lizzie McGuire arrives at the airport with her family, her new high school principal, Miss Dominatrixmeyer (played by Alex Borstein) appears driving in a cart, blowing a whistle. She insults parents and students alike using a communications headset connected to a portable P.A. system. She plainly listens to nobody and even calls Lizzie's best guy friend, Gordo (Adam Lamberg) "a sneaky brown-noser with a hidden agenda", and it goes downhill from there. In a reference to "The Lord of the Rings", the principal calls her students Halflings during the trip, emphasizing the power imbalance she's able to maintain. In Hotel Cambini in Rome, to their dismay, Lizzie and Kate are assigned to the same hotel room. She then seems to offer to understand Lizzie's desire to avoid embarrassment and realize her dreams, only to irritate Lizzie the moment she lured her in by saying, "You can't do it alone. In fact, I don't think you can do it at all!"

After Miss Dominatrixmeyer, takes them to the famous Trevi Fountain, she calls anyone who makes a wish there a sucker. Lizzie throws a coin over her head into the fountain. Her wish is to sail smoothly through school (as revealed by her animated alter-ego), but is seemingly answered immediately with a handsome Italian media star 17-year-old, named Paolo, who greets her. He turns out to be a famous European pop star named Paolo Valisari (Yani Gellman), and Lizzie looks just like his also famous girlfriend, Isabella (Hilary Duff), except their hair is a different color (Lizzie is a blonde and Isabella is a brunette). They meet again while touring the city, and fans rush up, calling out "Isabella!" and posing for pictures. Paolo asks her to meet him again and then kisses her hand (the picture makes the front page of a tabloid later on). Lizzie sees a billboard showing Paolo embracing fellow singing sensation Isabella, but Paolo tells Lizzie that he and Isabella have broken up because he wants to go solo.

Gordo suggests that they "seek an Italian adventure together" and that Lizzie goes first (as he had sacrificed wishing at the fountain).

Even before she's finished, Ethan Craft (Gordo's roommate) pops into the room. With a small chuckle, he suggests Gordo likes Lizzie more than a friend, and should tell he like-likes her. Gordo protests, saying he just likes Lizzie as a friend.

Even as a shadow crosses her face, Lizzie nods. Pulling back from Gordo, he says, "Sure, we're just friends."

"Ethan, see I told you," Gordo adds with a satisfied smirk.

"Okay, sure," Ethan replies.

Lizzie dashes away with Paolo for a musical interlude on a motorbike, while Paolo's bodyguard follows in a Mercedes convertible. Paolo convinces Lizzie to pretend to be Isabella at "The International Music Video Awards" that will be televised worldwide.

Lizzie continues to pretend to be sick the next day. As soon as Miss Ungermeyer shepherds the school group.

Little more than an hour later, Paolo takes Lizzie off with Paolo to an expensive dress shop. This time not tracked by Sergei, his bodyguard. Lizzie then gets a makeover, orchestrated by the owner of the dress shop with a scary little dog.

Returning to the hotel, Kate guesses the truth. "You've been out of this hotel room."

"But...how do you...?" Lizzie protested, trying to hide beneath her bed sheets.

"Please," Kate replied. "Your eyebrows finally match. You have highlights." She yanked down Lizzie's bed sheets down. "Fresh manicure! I smelled the acetone the second I got off the elevator."

Filling like a mouse cornered by a big hungry cat, she replied, "But...but...you didn't rat me out to Miss Ungermeyer?"

"Yet," said Kate, sitting down upon her bed with a evil little grin. "Not until I figure out what's in it for me. Now get to work, Dorkerella."

Meanwhile, Gordo notices Lizzie's picture on an Italian magazine and trades an introduction to Ethan, his roommate, to two Italian girls for a promised translation. Despite the Language barrier, Ethan successfully convinces the girls to hook up with them later that night for Spaghetti and Vino. The girls come back to the hotel with the boys.

The next morning, just as Lizzie's scheme is about to be discovered by Miss Dominatrixmeyer, Gordo sacrifices himself, telling the chaperone that Lizzie has been covering for him. Gordo is kicked off the trip. But, just as he's about to board the plane home, he sees the real Isabella at the airport and discovers the truth about Paolo. Gordo and Isabella race to the music event to stop Paolo from making a fool of Lizzie on stage. Paolo's plan was to show the world that Isabella couldn't sing, when in truth it was Paolo that was the bad singer and lip-synched while performing. Isabella and Gordo pull the plug on Paolo's mic, exposing him, and Lizzie ends up singing "What Dreams are Made of" (the "theme song" of the film) in front of the huge audience inside the Colosseum with her parents (who arrive because Matt found out the truth about Lizzie and tricked his parents into taking him to Rome, they found out where Lizzie was from Ethan who was apparently informed of the truth by Gordo) and classmates cheering her on in the crowd (Ms. Ungermyer, the chaperone, knocked the guards out when she got tired of arguing with them, letting the group in) while Gordo stands backstage and watches Lizzie perform. Initially she starts singing with Isabella but after a minute Isabella leaves her to sing by herself. She does a good job and earns a standing ovation.

Later at the hotel, the characters celebrate. Lizzie's parents tell her she's grounded for the rest of the summer but also tell her that they're really proud of her as well. Matt tries to sell his video footage to Giorgio, a former commander in the Italian navy and Hotel Cambini's manager, but Giorgio replies "When in Rome...we do not blackmail our sisters," and he throws the video into a small fountain, much to Matt's consternation. Meanwhile, Paolo's now ex-bodyguard, Sergei, has formed a new relationship with the high school principal. The Principal, Miss Dominatrixmeyer, orgives Gordo and he earns her respect as he's a loyal friend to Lizzie and she respects that. She tells him she's looking forward to high school with him while his expression shows the feeling is not mutual. Lizzie and Gordo sneak away from the after party and go up to the roof to talk. Gordo reassures Lizzie that things

will be just as good when they go back home and that he always believed in her. The two teenagers then share a sweet kiss.

The film ends with the both of them returning to the after party because they can't afford getting into more trouble as we see fireworks spell out the words "The End".