SeeQuant
Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction
Sammy-Jo Cervantes
There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.
Sameer Callahan
It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.
bkoganbing
In Cadet Kelly, Hillary Duff takes her Lizzie McGuire character and does a Private Benjamin by going to military school. Instead of the cartoon Lizzie revealing her inner most thoughts for the audience, Duff does a narration over the action of the film.To bond with her new stepfather, Gary Cole, who is a retired career army man, Duff is put in military school where Cole came from and where he's now the commandant.A lot of the same situations that happen in comedies like Private Benjamin and even further back with Rosalind Russell's Never Wave at a WAC occur here. Nothing new added and Hillary Duff is certainly no Rosalind Russell, but she's an appealing young lady, if she wasn't that Lizzie McGuire series would not have run for any length of time.Another Disney regular Christy Carlson Romano from Even Stevens is also along as Duff's military school tormentor, her Eileen Brennan.It's not Citizen Kane or The Godfather, but there are worst ways to kill two hours than watching Cadet Kelly.
future-domination
Hilary Duff takes a stab at Cadet Kelly Colins, an artistic individual girl who's sent to military school. There, she makes friends, enemies and falls in love. Oh, and she saves her father. As if that was predictable enough! In theory, this is a bad movie. When you actually watch it, it's much, MUCH worse. Don't get me wrong, I'm usually a fan of Disney Channel Original Movies, but this was absolute trash! Hilary tries too hard at playing the perky girl who everyone hates, and hopefully makes the audience feel sorry for her. She tries to be the upbeat, positive girl who would actually go up to someone and say "Can I borrow some spit?" Not only is she perky to the extent of being excessively annoying, but all I see her as is a Mary-Sue //(character with no flaws at all making you want to vomit).This is probably OK for the target audience - 6-10 year olds, but anyone older than that will find this the most annoying piece of trash in the world. And if any real military people actually watch this film, they'll probably loose all faith in the movie industry. Remind me... how does playing around with bits of ribbon help the Army in war? Exactly, it doesn't. So please don't waste 101 minutes of your life and watch something as bad as this.
nils-33
Kelly, a bubbly (well, ditsy) teenage girl is yanked out of her New York school by her incredibly selfish mother en dull stepfather and put in a military school. Her boring step-dad is the new headmaster you see, 'commandant' even. She doesn't like it at first, in a (as a lot of people have already mentioned) Private Benjamin kinda way. Hell, who can blame her, she had absolutely no say in this pretty drastic turn of events. When she's about to quit, her extremely self absorbed mom announces she's pregnant, and Kelly decides to make it work after all, so the baby(!) won't be upset. Luckily, there's the gun twirling team to sort her out. Believe me, it looks as lame as it sounds, but at least Kelly can now put her girlie girl skills to some good and decent military use. And, after jeopardizing the twirling contest to get her absentminded (and selfish) birth-father out of some non convincing danger she is finally turned into a fine specimen of Disney Jugend. Since this movie was made in this newest of millenniums, they don't actually win the contest, of course, but they are the moral winners.So, the message is this kids: Conform, but do it in a quirky way! Thank you Disney. Still, Hillary Duff and Christy Carlson Romano are irresistible as usual, so it is pretty fun to watch, if you like high school type movies, like I do. But if that's the case you're still better off watching Mean Girls or a John Hughes classic.
Viddy24
Kelly Collins is a typical teenage girl. But when she has to go to a military camp... things change. This movie includes great laughs and is a heart warming family movie. Hilary Duff and Christy Carlson Romano bring so much energy and talent onto the screen. This charming film which premiered in 2002 was announced the highest rated Disney Show of all time. (Unfortunatly in 2003, You Wish stole the title - But for us Hilary fans, Cadet Kelly will always be the number 1 movie of Disney) The film is based around the age group of 6-15. It is good for both genders and doesn't include any bad language or gestures. I loved watching this film because it is so awesome and has a great plot. Overall, 7/10