Based on the popular book Boys are Dogs by Leslie Margolis, Zapped is an enchanting tale about teenager Zoey Stevens (Zendaya) who is a bit of a perfectionist and a highly skilled dancer. When her mother remarries, Zoey is stuck in a new house and a new school with a loud obnoxious stepfather, and three high-energy and accident-prone stepbrothers who hog the bathroom and create disasters at every turn, often facilitated by their dog. Zoey has a hard time with this scenario, and the boys at her new school don’t help matters.

Just when nothing seems to be going right, she lands upon a dog training app on her phone that experiences a series of electrical adventures and becomes able to control boys’ behavior. Zoey is excited to discover that she is finally able to create the change she longs for in the men around her by using this new-found power to manipulate their behavior. Her love interest, Jackson (Spencer Boldman), the boy Zoey’s dance nemesis, Taylor (Emilia McCarthy), wants for herself, stands apart from the other boys in that he doesn’t seem to need changing; he is perfect for her!

The film humorously follows the antics and misadventures that these unique circumstances bring upon everyone, and at one point Zoey’s best friend Rachel (Chanelle Peloso) cleverly calls attention to these very types of films from this genre. She bemoans that it never seems to work out well in “those movies.” She, along with the boys in the film, provide many comedic moments, and the movie clicks along at a rapid pace, highly polished and well-acted like most Disney productions.

Zoey ultimately reflects on her own behavior through experiencing the apprehension that Jackson conveys toward her and begins to question whether it is the best choice to try to fix and manipulate other people in her life, especially that of her family and the dance crew she is directing. Her hopes of winning the dance-off competition and making her inept team the best by way of her app are threatened when Taylor challenges her in unforeseen ways. It is when Zoey chooses to focus on the log in her own eye before trying to take the speck out of others’ that she sees the power of a motivation that comes from their heart and not from any outside force. When Zoey chooses to accept people as they are, she is able to integrate herself into their lives more fully, and everyone experiences success!

We are proud to award Zapped the Dove Seal of Approval for All Ages!