OT—last summer Matt turned me on to this flick “Sky High,” a surprisingly entertaining Disney film with plenty of laughs, grade A cameos, and an amazing soundtrack of 80s college rock covers (including ’Til Tuesday’s “Voices Carry”—swoon). So when the Disney Channel original “Avalon High” came on this evening, I figured it was a sequel of sorts and that I’d be in for a treat. Not so much. Instead, the folks at Disney decided to go with a bowdlerized take* on one of my favorite childhood cartoons, King Arthur & the Knights of Justice. Unfortunately, gone are the wicked battle gear and badass spirit animals that made that cartoon so provocative, replaced here by teenage angst, transparent deceit, and a high school curriculum alarmingly focused on Arthurian legend. Basically, new girl Allie discovers her oblivious classmates are reincarnations of Arthur et al. who have brought glory back to their school on the field of battle aka the gridiron. Youthful indiscretion, the plotting of an unseen foe, and a last second defeat to a Minnesota-tier opponent, the Crusaders (ah, I see what you did there), all threaten to bring the proverbial castle down. Long story short, Allie saves the day/wins dreamboat. All told, I’d rank “Avalon High” around the top of the bottom half of the Disney originals I’ve seen—a far cry from classics like “My Date with the President’s Daughter,” but still ridiculous/cringe inducing enough to hold your attention and provoke the occasional chuckle. The main character’s ridiculously awkward (but apparently incredibly effective) running style is probably worth the price of admission on its own.

Anyhoo, the entire movie is available for streaming here if you’re so inclined.

Update: someone at Disney must be reading the Tracks, because they just aired Sky High. As remembered, the film strikes all the right chords. Fave scene is definitely techno-phile super villain Royal Pain struggling to assemble an infant car seat—seriously, though, from experience, it’s a real bitch to get a kid in one of those things correctly….

*The movie is actually based on some book by Meg Cabot.