Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior

**Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior** is a Disney Channel Original Movie that was released on June 16, 2006.

The film was written by Vince Cheung, Ben Montanio, Lydia Look and Mark Seabrooks, and directed by John Laing.

## Plot

Wendy Wu is a popular Asian-American teenager, whose life is turned upside down by a visit from Shen, a young Buddhist monk. He claims that Wendy is the reincarnation of a mighty female warrior and the only one who can prevent Yan-Lo, an ancient evil spirit, from destroying the world. Shen begs Wendy to wear a powerful amulet, which will protect her from evil until he can fully train her in martial arts.

Wendy is too busy campaigning for Homecoming Queen against Jessica Dawson, her school rival, to be concerned about saving the world. Wendy's traditional grandmother knows that Shen is speaking the truth. Her mother (Wendy's great-grandmother) was the previous Yin Warrior who defeated Yan-Lo in China ninety years earlier. However, the others in Wendy's family have lost touch with their Chinese heritage. Shen's discussion of Chinese culture inspires Wendy's mother, a researcher at Fair Springs National History Museum and Shen's mooncakes do the same for Wendy's father. However, faced with the choice between fighting evil and going shopping, Wendy is off to the mall in a heartbeat with her best friends Tory and Lisa.

Yan-Lo soon materialises and sets out to destroy Wendy before she can attain her full Yin Warrior powers. In quick succession, Yan-Lo possesses a security guard at the museum, Wendy's brother, her dog, her principal, her teachers, her best friend Tory and even Jessica Dawson. Wendy breaks up with her boyfriend Austin after noticing how much of a jerk he is and starts to bond more with Shen. With Shen's help, her teachers are possessed by the souls of the Five Animals of Chinese martial arts to help teach Wendy. Mr. Medina becomes the Tiger, coach Gibbs becomes the Snake, Mr. Tobias becomes the Crane, Mr. Garibay becomes the Leopard and Shen himself becomes the Dragon.

Wendy completes her training and learns that she has become Homecoming Queen. She then discovers that her battle takes place the same night of the Homecoming Dance. Feeling betrayed, she opts out. On the night of the Homecoming, her grandmother insists that Wendy fulfill her destiny, but Wendy refuses. She finally changes her mind upon learning from the monks that Shen has gone to the battle alone. Wendy and the monks arrive to save Shen just in time. Wendy's martial arts training unleashes her inner heroine for a final showdown with Yan-Lo. In the last scene, Jessica thanks Wendy for lending her the Homecoming crown and the Queen status, and the conflict between the two is put to rest. Everyone is about to leave, but Yan-Lo returns in his actual form, and the battle continues. Shen begins to sacrifice himself, as it is his destiny, but Wendy saves him by changing his destiny. Wendy and Shen both kick Yan-Lo together, destroying him forever. The monks tell Shen this is his last life and they ascend. In the end, Wendy and Shen leave to get cappuccinos and chocolate that Shen said he loves earlier in the movie, implying that they might begin dating.

## Cast and Characters

* Brenda Song as Wendy Wu
* Shin Koyamada as Shen
* Hadley Hudson as Yan-Lo
* Ellen Woglom as Jessica Dawson
* Tsai Chin as Grandma Wu
* Justin Chon as Peter Wu
* Michael David Cheng as Kenny Wu
* Susan Chuang as Nina Wu
* Paul A. Willis as Principal Frank Nunan
* James Gaylyn as Mr. Medina
* Sally Stockwell as Coach Gibbs
* Timothy Raby as Mr. Tobias
* Michael Saccente as Mr. Garibay
* Andy Fischer-Price as Austin
* Sally Martin as Tori
* Anna Hutchison as Lisa
* Heff DelFino as Pizza Delivery Guy
* Geoff Dolan as Museum Security Guard

## Cancelled Sequel

In October 2007, Variety reported a sequel to Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior. It was hinted in the DVD's alternate ending where Yan-Lo is revealed to be possessesing the Wu family's dog, unbeknownst to everyone else. Filming would have been shot in early 2008, but the sequel was eventually cut from the schedule and no further announcements have been made. The sequel to Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior has since been cancelled.

## Production

### Filming Locations

The movie was filmed in Auckland, New Zealand to accommodate action unit director Koichi Sakamoto who also choreographs Power Rangers in Auckland, though some scenes were filmed in Disney Studios, United States. It took 24 days to shoot the movie in New Zealand according to Brenda Song. The cast then promoted the movie and the trailer to Disney Channel fans. The sequel is set to be shot in New Zealand. Disney promoted the movie in various countries including Malaysia, Japan and Australia. Although the movie was set in California it was shot on location in New Zealand with parts of it shot at Long Bay College, a high school in Auckland. Many drama students from Long Bay College were used as extras, and can be seen chiefly in the school scenes.

### Casting

The film was shot on a budget of $5 million. Song trained for more than 2 weeks, 16 hours each day. Although Song had stunt doubles for some scenes, she did most of her own stunt work for the film with guidance from Koichi Sakamoto, executive producer for the Power Rangers franchise. Song was inspired to endure the stunt training by the way her mother dealt with breast cancer in 2005.

Several actors from this movie have been in the Power Rangers series. Sally Martin and Anna Hutchison both portrayed actual Rangers: Martin was the Blue Ranger (also named Tori Hanson) in 2003's Ninja Storm, and Hutchison was the Yellow Ranger in 2008's Jungle Fury. Additional actors in this film that appeared in Power Rangers include James Gaylyn (Ninja Storm, Dino Thunder, S.P.D, Operation Overdrive and RPM), Geoff Dolan (Mystic Force, Samurai, and Megaforce), Sally Stockwell (Mystic Force) and Shin Koyamada (Wild Force).

This film contains so many martial-arts sequences that Disney had to rate it TV-PG. Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior is the sixth DCOM to receive a TV-PG rating; before it were Tiger Cruise, Don't Look Under the Bed, Halloweentown, Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge, Jett Jackson: The Movie, Mom's Got A Date With A Vampire and Twitches.

Song commuted during film breaks to film the second season of The Suite Life of Zack & Cody.

### Setting

The movie takes place in the fictional city of Fair Springs, California. According to a local weather report that Wendy sees on TV, Fair Springs is located around the actual city of Modesto, California. The evil spirit Yan Lo is named after Yamarāja, the lord of death in Buddhist and Hindu philosophy. The name Yan Lo is a shortened Chinese transliteration of Yamarāja's name.

In one scene a mural, with the letters "LBC" on it, can be seen in the background. This is an Acronym for "Long Bay College".

## Broadcast

The premiere of Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior aired at 8pm Eastern Time on June 16, 2006 and included a telecast hosted by Brenda Song and the movie's cast. The movie premiered on Toon Disney on May 12, 2008. The film aired on ABC Family on June 20, 2006 as part of its Jetix block, the only time when a Disney Channel Original Movie was aired on that channel.

On Saturday, August 18, Disney Channel aired "Wendy Wu: Homecoming Chat", in which the stars of the movie answered questions posed by fans.

Advertising used the taglines "She's pretty... she's pretty tough"; "Part Teenager. Part Warrior. All Hero."; and "Homecoming Warrior: Queen."

Disney Channel On Demand debuted the movie in January 2007.

The "Kick'in" version of the film first aired on February 19, 2007 in United States and on April 14, 2008 in Canada, in which the cast had a chat and a did you know section. The version also included 5 never before seen scenes and extended endings.

The "Remixed" version aired on September 8, 2007, in which the entire cast answered questions and taught the viewers easy kung-fu moves.

The "Pop-Up" version of the film aired on November 23, 2007, in which random movie trivia appeared throughout the film in boxes at the bottom of the screen.

The "What's What" version of the film aired on March 7, 2008 at Disney Channel Asia, in which random movie trivia appeared throughout the film in boxes at the bottom of the screen, like the Pop-Up version.

The movie premiered on May 2009 on Disney Channel Latin America.

## Reception

UltimateDisney.com said that the movie relies on stereotypes, but Song shone as the title character. The San Francisco Asian American Film Festival considered the character a strong protagonist and good role model. In an interview with Asiance magazine, Song described how she identified with the character struggling to keep her heritage. While commending Disney for the strong Asian cast, a BellaOnline review noted that it is rare to see a female martial arts star with a black belt.

### Ratings

Wendy Wu had more than 5.7 million viewers on the night of its premiere, making it the fifth highest viewed Disney Channel Original Movie (DCOM) at the time. The film was originally set to air on June 2, 2006 but was pushed back by Disney Channel because they had trouble putting up the film's official web site. It exceeded the basic cable competition, ranking No. 1 in the time period with children 6-11 (2.1 million/9.5 rating) and adolescents 9-14 (2.1 million/8.6 rating). The movie also grew by 1.2 million viewers start-to-finish, with 6.0 million Total Viewers tuning in for the movie's final quarter-hour (4.8 million to 6.0 million).

Wendy Wu jumped over year-ago time period numbers, delivering triple-digit gains in total viewers (178%, 5,649,000 vs. 2,050,000), Kids 6-11 (132%, 8.8/2,129,000 vs. 3.8/933,000) and Tweens 9-14 (187%, 8.6/2,120,000 vs. 3.0/731,000).

## Home Media

It is the third DCOM on DVD to be certified Platinum in DVD sales; the first is The Cheetah Girls. The Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior sold more than 13,933 in DVD on amazon.com making the DVD the #14 most popular Kids DVD ever sold on Amazon.com. Despite being filmed in the 16:9 aspect ratio, the original and Kickin Edition DVD releases featured a 4:3 "full screen" version (though not pan and scan as the camera stays directly in the center of the image), the format of the film as shown on the Disney Channel.

## Merchandise

### Clothing and Dolls

In 2006, Claire's and Disney released necklaces and hairbrushes on the face of Wendy Wu and Shen. They later released a full line of accessories. Postcards and coloring books were also released. Brenda Song and Shin Koyamada got the opportunity to design some items in the line. A calendar for the movie was released in 2006 and 2007.

Asian toy distributors teamed with Disney to release a line of Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior dolls exclusively released only in Malaysia, Japan and South America.

Most of the merchandise lines are mainly available in Asian retailers in Asia though some postcards and coloring booklets are available in the United States and in Europe. The merchandise depended on the film's popularity in states. A video game was also released in various countries.

In Japan, Bandai (The movie's sponsor in Japan) made Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior toys, with a Gashapon series released on the day of the DCOM's release.

### Books and Video Games

In June 2006, Disney Press published Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior: the Junior Novel, the novelisation of the successful film. This novel hit number one on The New York Times best-selling list and remained on the list for several weeks. As of August 2007, the novel has sold more than 3 million copies, with 1 million copies of the novel's follow-up, Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior 2: the Junior Novel, being shipped to American retailers

#### Novels

* Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior: The Junior Novel (June 30, 2006)
* Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior 2: The Junior Novel (December 2008)

#### Book Series

* Poetry in Motion by Alice Alfonsi (May 12, 2007)
* Wendy to Shen by Helen Perelman (November 17, 2007)
* Yan Low is Back by Catherine Hapka (February 26, 2008)
* Homecoming Dance by Alice Alfonsi (April 28, 2008)

Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior Kick-in Challenge is a video game in which Wendy Wu travels across America in a competition hoping to win the "Homecoming Queen" title with the help of Shen and the others. The release date was originally set for September 14, 2007 for the Nintendo DS, Wii and PlayStation 2. The release date was later delayed to November 17, 2007.

## Awards and Nominations

 Outstanding Cast Ensemble
 Best Asian American Cast Ensemble