Revisiting Disney Channel Original Movies: The Cheetah Girls

Age doesn’t matter when it comes to Disney Channel Original Movies. They have lived on for years! Although Disney has focused less on creating new movies for their television audience in recent memory, there is one that stands out across the entire movie library – The Cheetah Girls. Here’s why.

The significance of The Cheetah Girls

Parents, kids, and young adults credit singing on television to Hannah Montana, but before Disney created the singing sensation, Adrienne Bailon, Kiely Williams, Sabrina Bryan, and Raven-Symoné debuted as The Cheetah Girls. The Cheetah Girls were not only a multi-talented group of performers but were also multi-ethnic and made history starring in the first musical for the Disney Channel in 2003.

While Raven had already begun making a career for herself on The Cosby Show and her series on the Disney Channel, the role elevated her career to new levels.  Her castmates also saw additional success.

Their collective success, however, allowed not only for the later introduction of shows like Hannah Montana, but fellow musicals like High School Musical and Camp Rock.  It showed Disney Channel that there was an audience for characters that had creative talent and wanted to express their emotions. These characters could be both female and male and come from different backgrounds. They highlighted characters coming from a lower socio-economic background (Camp Rock) and focused more on the role creative arts has on males (High School Musical).

The best representation of this was shown in the film Let It Shine.  The 2012 Disney Channel Original Movie featured a predominantly African American cast and focuses on hip-hop and rap music.  In the film, the main character has his friend rap his lyrics to his love interest due to his shyness. Although it follows the “musical” arc of previous films, it diversified in music type of cast proving the effect of the original musical in the Disney Channel Original Movie franchise.

What is your favorite Disney Channel Original Movie? Sound off below in the comments. We would love to know.