Dadnapped

Dadnapped
The junior novel cover
Written by	Alan Silberberg
Directed by	Paul Hoen
Starring	Emily Osment David Henrie Moises Arias Jason Earles George Newbern Phill Lewis
Theme music composer	Adam Cohen
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
Production
Producer(s)	Don Schain Douglas Sloan
Editor(s)	Terry Stokes
Running time	90 minutes
Distributor	Disney-ABC Domestic Television
Budget	$4.5 million
Release
Original network	Disney Channel
Original release	February 16, 2009 (2009-02-16)

Dadnapped is a Disney Channel Original Movie which premiered February 16, 2009. Starring actors from Disney Channel Original Series, the movie had 4.6 million viewers for its premiere. Although the story centers on a hostage situation, the kidnappers are inept and the film "practically oozes kid-pleasing content".

Plot

Melissa Morris (Emily Osment) desperately tries to gain more attention from her always preoccupied father, Neal, a best-selling author (George Newbern). Melissa lives in the shadow of Tripp Zoome (Jonathan Keltz), the adventurous and clever hero from her father's popular spy novels. Before a long overdue father-daughter vacation, her father gets kidnapped by obsessive fans: Wheeze (David Henrie) with his friend, Sheldon (Denzel Whitaker), and his brother, Andre (Moisés Arias).

However, the tables turn when she must team up with them to find and rescue him from Merv (Jason Earles), and brothers Maurice (Phill Lewis) and Skunk (Charles Halford). It turns out Merv is just using Skunk and Maurice as part of a plan to get Neil to write one final book and uses his daughter as a hostage. Wheeze, Andre and Sheldon get all of the Trip Zoome fans in town to gather together to rescue Melissa and Neil and they attack when Melissa manages to signal them.

The fans attack Merv, Maurice and Skunk and they try to run but are stopped by more fans. Merv sneaks out with Neil while Skunk and Maurice go after Melissa who escapes. Melissa defeats them and ties them up. Merv nearly gets away, but Sheldon, who had been trying to find where everyone went, spots him and alerts everyone else. Neil is rescued, but Merv tries to get away.

As he runs, Skunk and Maurice, still tied up, come out and see this and, regretting what they've done, use the floss they're bound in to trip Merv, knocking him down and ending his escape. The police arrest Maurice, Merv and Skunk while Neil thanks his fans. Wheeze gives his number to Melissa before she and her father leave on their long-overdue vacation.

Cast

• Emily Osment as Melissa Morris
• David Henrie as Wheeze
• Jason Earles as Merv Kilbo
• Moisés Arias as Andre
• Denzel Whitaker as Sheldon
• Phill Lewis as Maurice
• Charles Halford as Skunk
• Jonathan Keltz as Tripp Zoome
• George Newbern as Neal Morris
• Jennifer Stone as Debbie

Reception

Its premiere attracted 4.6 million viewers, outshining Nickelodeon's movie, Spectacular!, which premiered at the same time, by 39%.

Despite its commercial success and positive fan response, it was negatively received by critics. David Nusair called the movie (along with Hatching Pete) "typically underwhelming Disney Channel fare."

Adaptations

Dadnapped: Junior Novel is a book based on the movie, which was due to be released September 30, 2008 in the United States and October 21, 2008 in the UK, but the release date was changed to February 2009 to coincide with the movie's release.

External links

• Official website
• Dadnapped at IMDb