Jump In!

Reviewer: Alyice Edrich

The Movie

Jump In!, 2007

Starring

Corbin Bleu, Keke Palmer, Patrick Johnson Jr., and more.

Plot

When Izzy Daniel’s mother dies, his father uses boxing to keep their bond alive. But when Izzy’s neighbor, Mary, needs his help as a Double Dutch Teammate, Izzy discovers a whole new world and finds balancing the two worlds difficult.

In the beginning Izzy Daniels can find nothing good about Double Dutch. In his mind, jumping rope is nothing more than child’s play and he has no problem teasing his neighbor, Mary, and her friends. But when one of Mary’s teammates decides to leave the team—to join a rival team, she’s faced with a dilemma—ask Izzy to step in until they can find a permanent replacement, or walk away from this year’s event.

Embarrassed by the idea of jumping rope with a bunch of girls, Izzy agrees to stand in as long as they can do it behind closed doors, and early in the morning—before the gym opens up. But what starts out as a “reluctant favor” for a friend soon becomes a fun, challenging event. Not only does Izzy discover that Double Dutch is just as hard as training to be a professional boxer, but he realizes that it is a fun sport. In fact, he begins to enjoy the various moves, training, and energetic performance.

There’s only one problem—his father. Izzy has been trained to carry on the family tradition—to become the third family member to win the Golden Gloves Championship—and he doesn’t know how to tell his father that he’s done with boxing.

The more Izzy trains with the girls, the more he wants to compete. But hiding his love of Double Dutch begins to cause many problems: fighting with his father, ridicule by classmates as they discover his “secret”, and disappointing his teammates.

Will Izzy be able to continue juggling boxing and Double Dutch or will he have to choose? And which will he choose? To discover the answer to these questions, you’ll have to watch Jump In!

Review

Jump In! is a high energy film with lots of action and tons of heart. Not only did I enjoy Jump In! but I believe it offers valuable life lessons. The film’s message is quite clear: It’s okay to be different. It’s okay to change directions in life. It’s okay to follow your dreams—even if they’re different than what you’ve been taught or those around you. And it’s okay to try new things. But what’s not okay is to push your loved ones out of your life or to force them to do things they don’t want to do. And in the end, whether it is sports or real life, you must learn how to work as a team player.

While many seem to argue that kids movies, such as Jump In!, all follow a familiar formula—a formula that grows tiresome and predictable, I have to disagree. Yes, we can sometimes predict the outcome, but that doesn’t lesson the value on the lessons being taught, or make for a less entertaining film. In fact, my 12 year old daughter has seen the film a total of ten times and has yet to grow tired of it.

Order Jump In! today!