mischievouslyradiant
I've only seen a few movies that is centered around a sport, and I really love Cloud 9. Who cares if it's cliché or similar to those other movies? It's a fresh, new take on a similar idea...for me, I don't even notice it, unless I'm thinking about it rather than enjoying it and letting the movie entertain me. What is wrong with you, people? You should just steer away from entertainment as a whole, if you're just going to observe all the similarities and details and criticize it!Anyway, this is one of the best sports movie I've ever seen. I grew up with The Cutting Edge (1992), I used to watch Go Figure (a Disney movie, like Cloud 9), and my Dad introduced me to Ice Castles (the first movie and its recent remake) a few years ago. All centered around figure skating, as that's the sport I grew up with. This is the only snowboarding movie I've ever seen. I think Disney should do more movies like this :) They should do a sequel to this, really.This is just me, but I did get offended with Will at first. Appearances are important to girls, very important for some. Nothing wrong with wanting to look good, and I don't think Kayla was overboard with it. Her attitude just seemed to make it appear as if she was going overboard with it, since she grew up spoiled.I love it when they become friendly, and Kayla's so sweet when she becomes friends with the dog. The snowboarding scenes were awesome, although some people who do snowboard might get offended at the average-ness of it.I give this a 10/10 rating! It kept me viewing throughout, and I can't believe I didn't see it sooner.
kendabenward50
A snowboarder Kayla Morgan (Dove Cameron), the best girl shredder in Summit Valley, Seattle, competes in a snowboarding challenge and wins for the girls' division. With her Swift snowboarding teammate/boyfriend, Nick Swift (Mike Manning), who is also the son of team coach Sebastian Swift (Jeffrey Nordling), she trains as a part of the Swift Team to win the "Fire and Ice" snowboarding competition. A year ago, a viral video branding the famous, legendary snowboarder Will Cloud (Luke Benward) as an "epic failure" caused Will to end his snowboarding career. He wiped out attempting a move he created in Fire and Ice, called the Cloud 9, and almost died, allowing the Swifts to take the win. Now, Will works at his family's dog-kennel with his mom, Andrea (Amy Farrington). During a prey-Fire and Ice party for the Swifts, Sebastian Swift tells Nick that he needs to do whatever it takes to win Fire and Ice. After the party, Kayla, Nick, and other their two other teammates find Will's sled that he left behind while taking a customer's dog for a walk. Kayla and Nick get on and ride the sled, however, Nick is unable to control it and apologizes to Kayla before falling out of the sled. Still riding, Kayla crashes into the mountain lodge sign, demolishing it and breaking the sled in the process. A security guard finds her and takes her home, and Kayla was abandoned by her teammates to take the blame. Will was informed that his sled was broken.Her parents, Richard (Patrick Fabian) and Madeline, tell Kayla and Will that they will fix the sign, but Kayla has to work at the dog-kennel every day after school to pay for Will's sled unless she told them who else was there at the incident. She refuses, and she and Will argue about her presence at the kennel. In the midst of their talk, Will blatantly tells Kayla that even though she had won many medals, her board technique was rusty and she was only on the Swift team because her dad owned the resort and supplied the team with money.After school, Kayla hurries into the kennel, hoping not to be spotted. While Will took a dog for a walk, Kayla fills the dogs' food bowls. She receives a message from Sebastian that she is kicked off the team because of her misconduct. Furious, she marches up to Nick and they have a serious discussion. He and the others knew about her dismissal from the team but wouldn't do anything about it. When Kayla presses further, Nick comes straight out with the truth he's been trying to avoid and explains that she can't win Fire and Ice, due to her faulty riding. She and her father argue about how he doesn't think Kayla's good enough to try to reach for the stars.The next day, Kayla is seen mopping the floor and arrived at the kennel earlier than Will. When Will arrives, he is with his friends, Dink (Carlon Jeffery) and Sam (Andrew Caldwell). Sam had taken a nasty fall attempting a snowboarding move, and Will lectures Sam about following the exercises he recommended for him and figures out where Sam went wrong. Kayla realizes that Will truly does know what he is doing. Later, Will and his friends leave for some pizza, leaving Kayla in charge. After she locks one of the dogs, Donald, in his cage, Kayla gives another, Buford, a bath. Donald mischievously unlocks the cage and lets the other dogs out. She discovers their escape and chases them through town. Later, she talks to Nick again, and he decides it that they should break-up, thinking she is a distracting him from the competition. When Kayla returns to the kennel with the dogs, she pleads to be fired, but Andrea refuses. Back at home, her friends try to comfort her and bring themselves to watch the viral video and see how Will got injured.Kayla asks Will to train her for Fire and Ice so she can really know snowboarding and work on her technique. She also offers to remodel the kennel to bring in more customers. Will denies that he still loves snowboarding and refuses to coach her. Infuriated, Kayla keeps trying to talk reason into him. He blatantly replies that she did not have a team to compete with, and so there would be no point in teaching her anyways. Kayla sees his old teammates and decided that they could be a team together. Kayla then notices the really famous shredder, Skye Sailor (Kiersey Clemons), and realizes the Swifts have replaced her with Skye. She tries to reason with Will again, telling him not only the Swifts replaced her, but they beat Will too and he hasn't snowboarded since. Will then agrees to train them.At school, she tells her friends that Will will coach her and introduces them to Sam and Dink. She sees Nick and is incredulous when he silently 'what-upped' her. Spotting Skye, she points her out to her friends, who comfort her by reminding Kayla that Skye was wearing double studs, which was "so last season." Later, Skye spots Kayla and offers to give her an autograph. Realizing this was the girl she replaced, she decided to make the autograph to 'Kayla, Everyone's favorite Daddy's girl.' Angrily, Kayla remarks that she will be the winner of Fire and Ice. Will frustrated tells Kayla that she has to prove that, and they started serious training. Kayla isn't doing great at the start, but she is later shown steadily improving and also working on the makeover for the dog care. At one point, Nick sees Kayla and Will together and he doesn't seem happy about it.
je_and_la
Once again the Disney Channel has provided us with a typical story of self-discovery, laced with conflict and the formation of new friendships. In this story we meet Kayla Morgan (Dove Cameron), a pampered snowboarder whose Father owns the ski-lodge where she snowboards. Also heading the cast is Will Cloud (Luke Benward), a snowboarder turned dog groomer after a particularly memorable fall during his failed attempt at the coveted Cloud 9. When it is revealed to Kayla that she only won a place on the snowboarding team as a result of her Father owning the resort, she turns to Will to learn the Cloud 9 to prove to everyone that she truly is the best female snowboarder around.Both Cameron and Benward delivered good performances throughout the film, though there were times when their chemistry together was not very believable. The entire cast, including Mike C. Manning (Nick Swift), Amy Farrington (Andrea Cloud) and Jeffrey Nordling (Sebastian Swift) brought this story to life in a very believable and enjoyable manner. It is a shame that Kiersey Clemons (Skye Sailor) did not have a more prominent role in the film as her acting was very enjoyable to watch. Praise must be given to the stunt coordinator Kathy Jarvis and to the stunt doubles who did an incredible job with the snowboarding scenes. My eyes were glued to the screen, anxious to see whether they would land their jumps or not, and I found myself breathing a sigh of relief when they did.The story itself progressed at a reasonable pace despite its predictability. There never seemed to be a time where the story was lacking or where the pace of the film was too fast. Two big thumbs up to the screenwriters Don D. Scott, Justin Ware and Katie Wech for penning such a captivating film.Utah, USA is a beautiful place and that beauty was reflected in this film. The scenery in Cloud 9 was incredible and was a perfect back-drop for a film centered on snowboarding.The ending let this film down in as much as it was disappointing and relatively anti-climatic. The film itself was very enjoyable to watch and I found myself waiting anxiously to see what the final outcome would be, and though the film was very predictable, I found myself disappointed with how it ended.All in all this was a very enjoyable, although predictable, Disney Channel Original Film, and is deserving of the 7/10 rating given.
