Jump In!

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Jump In! is a 2007 Disney Channel Original Movie, which premiered on January 12, 2007. It was released on Disney Channel UK on April 27, 2007. The film, starring Corbin Bleu and Keke Palmer, revolves around a young boxer, Izzy Daniels (Corbin Bleu), who trains to follow in his father's footsteps by winning the Golden Glove. When his friend, Mary (Keke Palmer), who harbors a secret crush on him, asks him to substitute for a team member in a Double Dutch tournament, then, Izzy discovers his new love for jumping rope and in the meantime, he soon discovers true love in Mary. Filming took place from June–July 2006 in Toronto, Canada.

Plot

Seventeen-year-old Isadore "Izzy" Daniels (Corbin Bleu) is a star boxer in Brooklyn. His father Kenneth, a golden glove champion and widower, coaches him and encourages him to do his best, while his sassy eight-year-old sister, Karin, is much more interested in Double Dutch. Mary Thomas (Keke Palmer) is a teenage girl and competitive Double Dutch player, part of a team called the Joy Jumpers, who lives next door to Izzy; the two have a complicated relationship, always arguing when they see each other, but Mary's teammates and Karin know that they have crushes on each other. Izzy's boxing skills are great enough that he stands only one exhibition match away from going to the Golden Gloves; his opponent is Rodney, the only other undefeated boxer in the gym. Mary and the Joy Jumpers, meanwhile, are training for the regional championships, in order to make it on to the city finals.

On the day of the competition, Izzy is forced to take Karin and her friends to watch it when his father has to deal with a problem at the gym. His two best friends Chuck and Earl, fellow boxers, tag along to try to convince him to join them for the movies, as they previously planned. On their way, they meet Rodney, Izzy's competition and the neighborhood bully, who asserts that he'll destroy Izzy in the ring. Arriving at the site of the regional competitions, Izzy witnesses as Mary and her teammates Shauna, Keisha, and a girl named Yolanda who moved to Brooklyn from Atlanta, deal with trash talk from the Dutch Dragons, the four-time regional champions. The competition is divided into three stages: compulsory, speed, and freestyle. Despite his best efforts to disguise it, it becomes clear that the more Izzy watches, the more he likes. In the end, the Joy Jumpers take fourth place, barely qualifying for the city finals, and after dealing with snark from Lina, the leader of the Dutch Dragons, Yolanda criticizes Mary for her freestyle routine, blaming their poor performance on them. Izzy and Karin leave as the team begins to argue.

Shortly before Izzy's match with Rodney, he witnesses him receiving a bag of clothes from one of the teachers; while he was the toughest guy on the street, he was just a poor kid dealing with problems at home. Rodney angrily throws the bag away when he catches Izzy staring. Later, the two meet up at the gym, and Rodney maintains his merciless attitude before and during the match. He proves to be strong, but in the end, Izzy wins. Later that night, he retrieves the clothes and drops the bag at Rodney's door, fleeing before the latter sees him, but lingering at a safe distance to watch as he takes the clothes inside. Meanwhile, Yolanda quits the Joy Jumpers, informing Mary that she cared most about winning. In a complex way, Izzy helps to cheer her up after seeing her crying from her balcony.

The next day, Rodney confronts Izzy at the school, saying that he won due to a trick and demanding a rematch. Izzy declines, but Rodney refuses to drop the subject. Elsewhere, Mary, Shauna, and Keisha debate about who can replace Yolanda, bringing up several potential candidates, all with fatal flaws. Izzy overhears them, and Shauna and Keisha explain that Yolanda joined the Dutch Dragons, leaving them down a player. Izzy scoffs at the alleged difficulty of jumping rope, and Mary subsequently challenges Izzy to speed jump. She demonstrates her own skills first, and then allows Izzy to try. He gets a false start the first time, but upon his second attempt, he demonstrates as much skill as Mary, leaving the girls (and an unseen Karin, who watches from nearby) astonished. Later, at the gym, Izzy is jumping rope as part of his training, and confides to Felix, the gym's wise head coach, that he was still upset about Rodney's attitude, and Felix replies that boxing doesn't solve those kinds of problems. As he leaves, the Joy Jumpers enter the gym and ask Izzy to join their team, stating that they needed his skills, but he refuses because of what his friends might think. Later, he meets Shauna and Keisha at a restaurant when he orders a pizza for dinner, and they present him a different offer: to serve as a stand-in, so that they can practice with a fourth player until they find someone to serve as a permanent replacement. Izzy considers the offer, and after they coerce a reluctant Mary into asking him to agree, he does so, on the condition that they practice in the gym before school, where nobody can see them.

They begin the next morning, where Izzy learns that while compulsory and speed jumping are easy for him with his training, freestyle is more problematic for him. He develops his skills quickly, however, and the next day, demonstrates enough skill to leave the three girls astonished once more. Over the next several days, Izzy spends more and more time with the Joy Jumpers and improves tremendously at Double Dutch, though his boxing skills and punctuality suffer as a result. Tammy, the only girl boxer in the gym and subsequently the object of much ridicule, confides to him after beating him in a match that she knows about his practicing, and promises to keep it a secret in exchange for ceasing the jokes about her, particularly around Chuck, whom she has a crush on (which is reciprocated). One day, on his way to practice, Izzy spies some girls in the street jumping rope, which gives him inspiration for his team. He explains to the Joy Jumpers, particularly Mary, that the freestyle routine needed to be redone due to being too boring; he tells them that freestyle should be based on fun, and brings up their childhoods when they enjoyed jumping rope and singing along with it. He takes them to see the girls he saw, which gives them the inspiration to change up their team. Walking back, they pass by Rodney, who is quick to belittle Izzy and begin to get violent. Mary dumps a cooler of water on his head, and the four run away, Rodney giving up the chase quickly but angrily. That night, Izzy and Mary talk on their balconies, Izzy admitting that he likes Double Dutch, but having difficulty due to his father's passion for boxing. Mary confides that she once felt the same way about ballet, but eventually confessed to her mother that she hated it, and her mother easily accepted it. Izzy states that it's not that easy with him, and Mary gives him a quick kiss before going back to her room. Going back to his own, Izzy meets his father, who sternly confronts him about missing his curfew and a practice match that day. Izzy promises not to be late again, and his dad leaves, leaving Izzy alone with his thoughts.

The following day, Rodney and his crony, Hooks, gang up on Izzy, but are quickly called off thanks to a passing teacher, who puts them in detention. Later on, Rodney runs by the gym, and upon hearing the music inside, enters to see Izzy and the Joy Jumpers practicing. Gleefully pondering his revenge, he and Hooks snap pictures of them and leave, unseen. After practice, Mary brings up that they have yet to find a fourth player, and Izzy agrees to join the team permanently, on the condition that they change the name to Hot Chili Steppers. They happily agree, and decide to enter a Double Dutch showcase that will be happening three days later. When Izzy tries to leave for the event that day, however, his dad intercepts him, showing that he had bought tickets for the two of them to watch a boxing match. Izzy is left with little choice but to agree to go, leaving his team to put on a disappointing performance, and leading Mary to expel him from the team, despite his apologies.

Shauna and Keisha try their hardest to convince Mary to reconsider her decision, but Mary remains obstinate. Her grudge is soon forgotten, however, when Rodney publishes the pictures he took of Izzy and posts them on flyers all over the school, making Izzy a laughingstock. She tries to talk to Izzy that night, but he ignores her, forcing her to give up. His father goes to his room the following day to leave the prize he had received when he won the Golden Gloves, and finds a pair of Rodney's flyers in the trash can. He immediately confronts Izzy about it, and Karin, despite her brother's objections, tells their father that he had joined Mary's team. She is ordered to her room, and Kenneth asks Izzy why he didn't tell him. Izzy angrily admits that his father was obsessed with boxing, that it was all that they talked about since his mother died, and that he no longer liked the sport, and only did it for him. He finishes by saying that Kenneth had no right to take his life away because he no longer had one, visibly shaking him. Izzy apologizes, and his father quietly accepts the apology before making an excuse to leave.

Izzy takes out his anger through training at the gym, where Mary finds him and asks him to rejoin the team. Izzy coldly refuses, stating that he needs to focus on boxing, and rejects Mary even when she begs him. She leaves, heartbroken and disappointed, and Tammy comes over to hold the punching bag Izzy is using. She breaks through his anger by reminding him that she, as a female, had to endure a lot of trash talk from others, but didn't let it get her down, allowing her to become the best girl boxer in Brooklyn. Felix encourages Izzy to listen to her advice.

That night, Rodney arrives at the gym as Izzy is leaving, bringing a large crowd with him. He demands again that Izzy gives him the rematch he had requested, and after some mocking, Izzy agrees to it. In the ring, Izzy keeps a cool head, responding to Rodney's mockery with fact, that he was angry because his father was out of work, and everyone thought of him as a loud-mouthed bully. He uses the tricks he honed in freestyle practice to dodge Rodney's attacks and push him against the ropes repeatedly, finally stating that they both had a lot of things to be mad about, but fighting would not improve them. He leaves the ring, and Rodney angrily follows, but trips on the rope and falls on his back. Everyone urges Izzy to finish him, but he refuses, stating that he's tired of being mad before leaving the gym. Rodney looks after him, the narrator revealing that he too was tired of being mad, and was impressed that Izzy had stood up to him.

Meanwhile, Mary, Keisha and Shauna meet up for the city finals, having found an abysmal replacement for Izzy with Shauna's cousin Alberna, who is practically blind. Izzy arrives and apologizes to Mary, who jokes around with him and smiles before handing him a uniform, and all is forgiven. They once again face the Dutch Dragons before the match, Lina and Yolanda snarking at them, confident that they would win. The Hot Chili Steppers ignore them and affirm their solidarity before beginning the competition, Chuck, Earl, Tammy, and even Rodney showing up to watch. With Mary's stellar performance, the Hot Chili Steppers take first place in the compulsory competition, while the Dutch Dragons take second, much to their astonishment. In the speed competition, Yolanda beats Izzy by just six steps, tying them for first place and leaving freestyle to determine the winner. Other teams compete while the Hot Chili Steppers look on, and then the Dutch Dragons take their turn. The Hot Chili Steppers take the stage immediately after them, and while doing so, Izzy sees his father and sister entering the arena, greeting him with a smile. Thus encouraged, the Hot Chili Steppers take the stage, performing a series of freestyle jumprope tricks and then a dance number, for which they earn tumultuous applause. Izzy meets his father afterwards while the judges decide the winners, and he apologizes for pushing boxing so hard, having done it motivated by wanting to connect with Izzy. He accepts that boxing is his dream, not Izzy's, and says how proud he is of what he had done. He then meets his friends, who state that they've been enlightened, and Chuck embraces Tammy while Earl feigns nausea. Finally, seeing Rodney, he confronts him, surprised to find his hostility gone and him admitting that the Double Dutch was cool. They agree on a truce, and Izzy agrees to teach his moves to Rodney later to use in the ring.

At last, the judges announce the winners of the State Championship, announcing the third place winner as the Kung Fu Flyers, and the second place team as the Dutch Dragons. As he is about to announce the first place team, however, the scene cuts to the gym, revealing that Rodney, a couple of years after the event, was telling the story to a group of kids, boxers in training. He reveals that the Hot Chili Steppers went to the State Championship, but did not win until the following year, and that Izzy and Mary were still going strong as a couple. His voiceover states that he tells kids that story all the time, but you would have had to be there that day. The scene cuts back to the judge announcing the Hot Chili Steppers as the first place winners, who ecstatically accept their first place trophy while the Dutch Dragons look in disbelief. The final scene in the movie shows the Hot Chili Steppers and Karin outside of Izzy's house, teaching his father how to jump Double Dutch.

Cast

• Corbin Bleu as Isadore "Izzy" Daniels, a boxer and son of widowed golden gloves champion. He joins Mary's Double Dutch team after Yolanda quits. He is bullied by Rodney Tyler, who is insecure and he pretends to like fighting because of his friends.
• Keke Palmer as Mary Thomas, the leader of the Joy Jumpers (later turned Hot Chili Steppers), she does Double Dutch and hopes to get into the city finals. She and Izzy later on become attracted to each other.
• David Reivers as Kenneth Daniels, former boxer and Izzy's widowed father.
• Shanica Knowles as Shauna Lewis, a member of the Joy Jumpers and Mary's best friend.
• Patrick Johnson, Jr. as Rodney Tyler, the school bully who wants the golden gloves as much as Izzy. He has a lot of problems at home and Izzy hates fighting him because it does them no good.
• Laivan Greene as Keisha Ray, another member of the Joy Jumpers and Mary's other best friend.
• Kylee Russell as Karin Daniels, Izzy's Double Dutch-crazy sister.
• Rebecca Williams as Tammy Lewis, the only girl boxer at the Daniels' gym. Although she is picked on by Izzy's friends, she stands strong and loves boxing. She thinks of herself as one of the guys and doesn't care what people think of her because she likes being herself. She helps Izzy with his problems and gives him advice after people start harassing him because he grows into liking Double Dutch. She has a crush on Chuck.
• Jajube Mandiela as Yolanda Brooks, Mary's ex-best friend who joins the Dutch Dragons because she wants to be a winner more than being Mary's friend.
• Micah Williams as L'il Earl Jackson, a boxer at the gym and one of Izzy's best friends. He has a joking personality.
• Harrison Hapin as Jump Rope #2
• Mazon Elsadig as Chuck Coley, a boxer at the gym and one of Izzy's best friends. He has a crush on Tammy.
• Paula Brancati as Gina, the arrogant and snarky leader of the Dutch Dragons, the four-time regional champions of Double Dutch. She takes joy in every opportunity she gets to belittle Mary and her team.
• Gene A. Mack as Felix, the gym's wise referee and training coach.

Production

The film was originally set to star Raven-Symoné and be named Double Dutch, but due to unknown reasons it was later revamped into Jump In! with Corbin Bleu.

Jump In! is the 69th Disney Channel Original Movie and went into production in 2006. Earlier titles for the film included "Jump", "Jump In" and "Jump Start", with some early trailers even showing the "Jump Start" title.

In the movie, the group that Izzy Daniels is in is called the Hot Chili Steppers. This is an obvious parody of Red Hot Chili Peppers, a real-life rock band. The version in Spanish dubs the name Salto Extrapicante. This led to a failed lawsuit in March 2007 .

Promotion for the film began in the Summer of 2006, with a poster appearing in the program for the High School Musical Tour. Advertisements highlighted Corbin Bleu's association with High School Musical and ran heavily during re-airings of that film. Several videos from the film were also put into heavy rotation on Disney Channel, airing during breaks in regular programming.

Corbin Bleu became very good at jumping and even performed some of his own stunts like the donkey kick and pushups, but he did have a stunt double for some of the jumping like back flips and individual jumping. At the end of the movie, Andy Royalle makes a guest appearance as one of the jump-ropers. During the final contest, an actual champion Double Dutch team from Brooklyn makes a cameo. They just happened to be in Toronto for a tournament at the same time the movie was being filmed.

"Jump In!" was the last Disney Channel Original Movie to use the 2003-2007 Disney Channel Movie intro; later DCOM films used the remixed version.

Reception

Jump In! broke the record previously set by The Cheetah Girls 2 as the highest rated DCOM premiere with 8.2 million viewers. and garnering a 5.4 at the Internet Movie Database. At the time it marked Corbin Bleu's second #1 hit for the Disney Channel and Keke Palmer's first. It was later beat out for highest ratings by High School Musical 2 (Corbin Bleu also starred) on August 17, 2007 which gained 17.24 million viewers, making it Bleu's third #1 hit DCOM, compared to Jump In!'s 8.2 million. The story of Jump In was originally written by Sherwyn Smith, who now works as a teacher at an elite private school on the Upper East Side of New York.

Special screenings

• Jump In! and Dance It to the Limit: A special screening of the movie with a special dance-along to Push It to the Limit, hosted by the male announcer of Disney Channel.
• Jump In! Jab & Gab: A special screening of the movie, in which viewers play the online game, Jab & Gab and send shout-outs to their friends, family or the cast of the movie.
• Jump In! Pop up Edition: Gives viewers an inside look on different parts of the movie, while popping up on your television. This special screening aired Friday, June 1 on Disney Channel.

Home media

The DVD release of Jump In! carried the subtitle "Freestyle Edition" and was released on April 3, 2007. And July 2, 2007 in the United Kingdom.

Special features include the following:

• Keke Palmer's "Jumpin'" Music Video
• T-Squad's "Vertical" Music Video
• Behind the Scenes Featurette - "Learning the Moves"
• Making of Featurette - "Inside the Ropes"

• Rooa Abdelrahim and Alyssa Gallagher, who appeared in High School Musical (1 and 2), made a cameo in this film during the song "Push It To The Limit"; the two also appeared in the fighting match between Izzy and Rodney.

Soundtrack

Jump In! Soundtrack

A soundtrack featuring songs from the movie was released on January 9, 2007. The full soundtrack could also be heard on the official Jump In! website. It was removed on January 5, 2007. It debuted at #5 on the Billboard 200 on January 17, 2007, with 49,000 copies sold, and rose to #3 in the next week, selling 57,000 copies. In its third week, it fell to number nine with 44,000 copies sold. In March 2007, the album was certified Gold by the RIAA. As of July 8, 2008 the album has sold over 600.000+ copies within the U.S.

Frank Fitzpatrick composed the original score for the film and wrote and produced two songs for the soundtrack, including the single "Jump to the Rhythm", a co-production with Nashville’s Keith Thomas featuring Jordan Pruitt.

Track listing

1. "It's On" - NLT
2. "It's My Turn Now" - Keke Palmer
3. "Push It to the Limit" - Corbin Bleu
4. "Vertical" - T-Squad
5. "Where Do I Go From Here" - Sebastian Mego
6. "Jump to the Rhythm" - Jordan Pruitt
7. "Jumpin’" - Keke Palmer
8. "Go (Jump In! Mix)" - Jupiter Rising
9. "I’m Ready" - Drew Seeley
10. "Gotta Lotta" - Prima J
11. "Live It Up" - Jeannie Ortega
12. "Jump" - Lil' Josh
13. "Let It Go" - Kyle

External links

• Official Disney DVD website
• Jump In! at IMDb