15 of Disney’s most underrated characters

10. Miss Ungermeyer (The Lizzie McGuire Movie)

Entering high school can be scary. Knowing you’re going to be under the rule of a principal like Miss Ungermeyer can make it even scarier. She was an admittedly nerve-wracking character. But she deserves a whole lot of credit.

Perhaps one of the biggest plot holes of The Lizzie McGuire Movie is that these freshmen go on a trip across the ocean with only one chaperone. There’s no way that would work.

But that’s the hand that Miss Ungermeyer was dealt, and she plays to her strengths. With that many kids, being a cool, laid back chaperone would have gone south very quickly. By keeping the kids on their toes, she keeps them in line.

Miss Ungermeyer clearly did her research, too. She knows about every landmark they are visiting, so the kids don’t have to have their heads buried in pamphlets. And, though she keeps them on a tight schedule, she does also schedule stops the kids would enjoy.

When she warns Lizzie and Gordo about keeping their money in their front pockets, that’s valid advice. As it turns out, she was right about Paolo being untrustworthy. Sure, it’s in a much different sense, but her instinct was dead on.

At the end of the day, Miss Ungermeyer is an intimidating, rigid leader. But she has her soft spots too. Never forget that she praises Gordo for his loyalty to Lizzie. She even cut loose and danced it out during Lizzie’s performance.

Miss Ungermeyer is the principal we needed, even if we didn’t know what wrong move we had made to deserve her.