I would like to say that I’ve grown out of my Disney Channel Original Movie (DCOM) phase, but I have to be honest, movies like Halloweentown and Luck of the Irish will get me every time. As part of a generation that worships worshipped boy bands and Beanie Babies, the DCOM has a special place in my heart. Smart House is no exception. With its delightful 90s lexicon (“rad!”), spiked hair, and Puka shells, Smart House represents a classic flick out of Disney Channel’s Golden Age.
The Coopers are the recent recipients of a new house, equipped with a brand new Personal Applied Technology (PAT): a cyber-maid which basically does everything for the family. She cleans, cooks, throws illicit house parties for the Cooper children (sans alcohol and suggestive dancing of course, this is Disney we’re talking about) and makes the lives of the Coopers generally “rad!” But when Mr. Cooper begins to show a love interest in Sara, the inventor of PAT, his son Ben begins to feel as if Sara is trying to replace his recently deceased mother. By changing the computer settings on PAT, Ben is able to make her act more motherly, so that his father won’t feel the need to find a new wife. What ensues is a comical and Orwellian struggle between the Coopers and the new cyber-mom PAT, as she puts the family under house arrest and monitors their every move.
At this point, I could talk about the weighty themes brought up in the film—technology’s role in contemporary society, the psychological effects of growing up without a mother—but that would ruin the fun, wouldn’t it? Much better to embrace the general fluff of a DCOM like Smart House and reminisce about the days when wearing flared jeans and hair wraps was socially acceptable.
