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Parents Television
Council Reviews
PTC reviews aim to provide you with advance information about an entertainment offering so that you can be the final arbiter of what you and your family see.
 Cow
Belles
by Christopher
Gildemeister
Release Date:
September 19, 2006
TV Rating:
TV-G
Starring: Alyson ("Aly")
Michalka, Amanda ("A.J.") Michalka, Jack Coleman, Michael Trevino, Sheila
McCarthy, Chris Gallinger
Genre: Teen
drama/comedy
Recommended Age:
8+
The most recent of
the Disney Channel's weekly made-for-TV movies, Cow Belles features both
comedy and drama in a fish-out-of-water story of two devoted sisters who learn
lessons in responsibility and helping others.
Taylor Callum (Aly Michalka)
and her younger sister Courtney (A.J. Michalka) are rich,
spoiled and careless teenage girls addicted to shopping, and who have
condescending attitudes towards fellow teens whom they consider their social
inferiors. Their father Reed (Jack Coleman) is the owner of a dairy which
provides employment for many people in their town of River City. Courtney is
excited about her upcoming cotillion at the town's exclusive country club, in
which only the wealthiest families participate. But after the girls'
carelessness almost burns down their house, Reed dismays them by deciding that
the girls must stay within a budget and work at the dairy. The girls get a taste
of the condescension they've dealt out to others when the hard-working dairy
employees snub the rich dilettantes and laugh at the girls' mistakes.
Trouble begins when
Reed's assistant at the dairy generously pays for Reed to take a lifelong dream
vacation; but once Reed is gone, the assistant embezzles money from the dairy
and absconds with the funds, leaving the dairy workers facing financial ruin.
Exposed to the lives of average people from which she had previously been
insulated, both by the dairy workers and her romantic interest with hunky
farmboy Jackson (Michael Trevino), Taylor feels a responsibility to help the
employees. She begs Courtney to use the money set aside for the cotillion to pay
the workers' salaries, saying "If the dairy goes under they might lose their
houses. Their kids won't get to go to college. Its serious stuff they're dealing
with...we have some sort of a duty there." Courtney thinks that Taylor is
jealously trying to ruin her party and refuses to give her the money. Taylor
goes behind Courtney's back and takes the money anyway, paying the workers'
salaries and causing a split between the sisters. When even that amount is not
enough, Taylor also sells her beloved new car to provide additional funds.
After she is
ostracized for not having enough money, Courtney realizes how shallow her former
friends are. Then another crisis looms: due to Courtney's anger at Taylor
she made an error at work which ruined an entire production run. She goes to the
cotillion and begs the attendees to help the dairy workers, saying ""Everybody
in this room is so lucky -- and it's just an accident of birth. We have no clue
what most people are up against, but it's not too late to learn. Seriously, it
feels really good to help other people! It's an amazing rush to give something
back." Some of the selfish teens laugh, but when Reed returns he convinces
them to help out. The dairy workers' jobs are saved, the entire community has
realized how each member depends on one another, and Taylor and Courtney have
learned the importance of caring for others.
Cow Belles
provides an affirmation of important values in a clean and family-friendly
fashion. Though there is some focus on Taylor and Courtney's romances with
classmates and some banter about "hot guys," such is not done in an offensive
fashion. The male teens are shown as hard-working and responsible, and all
adults are treated with politeness and respect. The movie also provides a good
message about the importance of hard work and viewing others respectfully.
Incorporating valuable lessons about family loyalty, duty and responsibility and
hard work into a story with music and humor, Cow Belles can be enjoyed by
the entire family.
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