Dadnapped (2008 TV Movie) User Reviews

Tons of Pre-Presentation Hype Doesn't Pan Out

[kalkan4 · 3/10 · 18 February 2009]

After seeing several months of promotions for this movie on The Disney Channel with the kids, I must say I found this to be one of the worst Disney movies ever. I would describe it as a bizarre combination of Misery and the campy Batman series of the late 1960's.

I have to admit to actually enjoying some of the movies produced for this TV Channel, but this one I was really disappointed in, considering Disney's build-up to the premier. I was hoping to see a better performance from Emily Osment, as I think she has great potential.

There's lot's of colorful flying "splooge" that Disney must assume kids (still) like these days, even though it's been done ad nauseam, and the ending is completely ludicrous.

But, like others have said, you can't expect too much from Disney.

Lame at first but gets better towards the end

[Gordon-11 · 8 March 2009]

This film is about a teenage girl whose father is the creator of the popular Trip Zoome man.

"Dadknapped" is a squeaky clean movie for children and teenagers. The script is rather lame at first, especially the annoyingly juvenile and irresponsible father who keeps immersing himself in a fantasy world. No wonder his daughter is so fed up with him! Towards the second half of the movie, when the elements for adults come in, it gets substantially better. Though the nonsense persists, the emotional subplot really strikes a chord with the viewers, because the bond between Mr Morris and Melissa is so real.

Overall, the plot and the humour is silly and lame, but because of this "Dadknapped" is fun to watch.

Pathetic is the nicest word I could find

[shani_dayo · 3/10 · 7 September 2015]

I saw this poor excuse for a Disney Movie a couple of Years ago, but the awfulness still sticks. Dadnapped is in all honesty one of Disney's worst films to date. The writing was utterly ridiculous, there is no way any of this madness could actually happen in real life! Do not, I repeat do NOT watch this film ever! Along with the poor writing, the acting was laughable, they used a cast made up of Disney stars that were already well known, and most haven't had a job since.

So this movie is a about a teenaged girl, who's parents are separated. Yeah, like this has never been done before! The young girl (played by Emily Osment) lives with Her Mother, but is going on a holiday trip with Her Father right after School ends for the break. She is resentful, doesn't want to go, thinks Her Dad is a geek, and the story really starts to kick off! So Her Dad is a comic book writer, and has to attend a convention before they can continue with their Father and Daughter bonding time. But, this strange group of kids kidnap Her Dad and take Him for one crazy ride! In the end as You would expect the Girl saves Her Dad, the kids get of scott free, and these to goons who were in on the plan to destroy This girls Father end up in jail! That's pretty much the sum of the movie, not much to it.

The movie is to predictable and paper thin for words! A 5 year old could write and produce a better film than this piece of mess! This isn't even deserving of a single star but I am being kind! Don't waste time, just don't bother!

Misery Leavened With Galaxy Quest

[bkoganbing · 2/10 · 16 February 2009]

If you think kidnapping even when its for fun from some of your fans is a great subject for a comedy than you'll probably like Dadnapped. You also I'm sure liked Cop Rock when it was inflicted on the American public.

The Magic Kingdom got together several of its stars from its television series lineup like Jason Earles, Moises Arias, Emily Osment, David Henrie and Phill Lewis and got them together for Dadnapped. The plot concerns Osment and her estranged father George Newbern. He writes a popular series of books about a teen superhero played in imaginary sequences by Jonathan Keltz. Which consumes all his time, so the two decide for a father/daughter vacation. But he has to stop at a fan convention first, something like the one that Tim Allen and the rest of the cast had to go in Galaxy Quest.

Three young fans, Henrie, Arias, and Denzel Whitaker kidnap their favorite author as a gag. But then some others kidnap him from them for real. They want his help on a literary masterpiece. At least they keep Newbern and Osment mobile and not bed bound like Kathy Bates did to poor James Caan.

I don't expect much from the Disney Studios, sometimes I'm pleasantly surprised. And sometimes I'm left aghast like I was here. Hopefully some talented people will still have careers after Dadnapped has been forgotten.

Formulaic Fun!

[dabrauer · 7/10 · 22 February 2009]

Keeping in mind that this is a Disney Channel Original Movie, and was not intended as Oscar material, I found this movie very enjoyable.

The plot was actually fairly interesting, several clever twists made it one of the more refreshing made-for-TV, "family" films that I've seen. Aside from the plot, I found the acting in this film better than most of its genre. Although occasionally slapstick, particularly toward the end (what can you expect, it is a DCOM), the acting was generally believable in a crazy/fun sort of way. There was great chemistry between some of the characters as well. I really liked the performances by Osment, Henrie, and Arias.

My least favorite part of this movie was probably just before the end (during the "climax") when the action moved from "expectedly because it's Disney Channel slapstick" to "tortuously unbelievably slapstick." Thankfully, it only lasted a few minutes.

If you're a cynic or a movie critic you'll probably hate this movie. However, if you're looking for a fun, clean, family-friendly movie that teaches some good lessons without being too heavy-handed, and doesn't completely insult your intelligence, you might just enjoy "Dadnapped."

Everybody is kind of annoying

[SnoopyStyle · 3/10 · 1 March 2014]

Melissa Morris (Emily Osment) wants to get the attention of her preoccupied best selling author father Neil (George Newbern) during their vacation. She is constantly talking to her father hero character Tripp Zoome (Jonathan Keltz). Then Neil gets kidnapped by his super fans Wheeze (David Henrie), Andre (Moises Arias), and Sheldon (Denzel Whitaker). Next she and her dad gets kidnapped by brothers Maurice (Phill Lewis) and Skunk (Charles Halford) who want Neil to fix their book. There is also hotel manager Merv (Jason Earles).

It's a cheap Disney production with their stars of the moment. There is a lot of complaining from the daughter Melissa. And her imaginary conversations are kind of annoying. In fact, everybody is annoying to some degree. The dad isn't that appealing either. After they reunite, the father daughter relationship could develop better. But nothing could really save this mess.

Regular...

[RosanaBotafogo · 7/10 · 19 March 2023]

Dadnapped tells the story of Melissa Morris (Emilly Osment) who desperately tries to gain more attention from her ever-concerning father, Neal (George Newbern), a famous author. Melissa lives in the shadow of Tripp Zoome (Jonathan Keltz), the adventurous and street-smart hero of her father's popular spy novel. Before the long overdue father-daughter vacation, Neal was kidnapped by obsessive fans, Wheeze (David Henrie), Andre (Moises Arias), and Sheldon (Denzel Whitaker). But it wasn't until Melissa rescued her father that he was kidnapped again, along with herself, by hotel manager Merv (Jason Earles), and brothers Maurice (Phill Lewis) and Skunk (Charles Halford). Now it's up to the former kidnappers to save Melissa and her father and they're in for a big adventure and a lot of messes.

Initially I really liked my father-daughter family, I loved the somewhat zombie-like, totally bizarre, scatological work, but as it went on it became boring, boring, not very interesting, discouraging... Very childish, with lots of silly action scenes, from the middle to the end, just annoying...

What Were They Thinking????

[rabid_monkey202 · 2/10 · 3 March 2009]

Wow. Okay, I'm a huge Disney Channel fan, have been for more than 15 years, but this movie was just . . . wow. What exactly were they trying to accomplish here? Read It and Weep was basically a flop, so what do they do? They make another movie about a schizophrenic girl who talks to an imaginary literary character. The only difference is that this time, the girl's dad created the character. As if the movie itself wasn't boring enough (and totally lacking any basis for the relationships) it was actually painful to watch Melissa talk to an imaginary person over and over, being very aware the whole time that she's NUTS. And what's up with her dad saying she IS Trip Zoome? He told her before she was boring and NOT in his books. Now she's the main character? Yeah, that's a cop out. Don't waste your time. The only reason I didn't give this a 1 is because there is enough money in the world to make me watch it again, but not to like it.

It was dad-tackler!

[GirlGoneWilde · 10/10 · 3 February 2013]

Very very very interesting. Father gets dad-napped, kids chase after the wannabe cops around town in order to save the girl.

I found halfway through the movie that "dad-napped" is a play-on word. Cause "kid-napped" would imply that kids get kid-napped...but in the case of this film, one of the paternal fathers of one of the stars (Emily O.) is dad-napped.

The movie however was poorly filmed, it reminded me of a short tube clip but what more can you expect from a low budget Disney movie? I felt the 'family' connection. They should have come up with a song.

This film remind me of a beautiful mind, in that is showed a real portrayal of a person with schizophrenia. Can somebody say Oscars? (winky face) I laughed, I cried, I even ate my heart.