Jump In!

**Jump In!** is a 2007 film and Disney Channel Original Movie. It was produced by Davis Entertainment and Hop, Skip and Jump Productions, and released by Buena Vista Television. The film was written by Doreen Spicer-Dannelly, Regina Y. Hicks and Karin Gist, and released on January 12, 2007.

## Plot

Isadore "Izzy" Daniels is a star boxer in Brooklyn, hoping to win the Golden Gloves, like his father and coach Kenneth. Izzy competes in an exhibition match against Rodney, his classmate and the neighbourhood bully, and wins using strategy and focus, giving him a chance to go to the Golden Gloves.

Izzy's neighbour, Mary Thomas, is a competitive Double Dutch player on a team called the Joy Jumpers; though the two often argue with each other, their friends know that they have mutual crushes. Izzy brings his younger sister, Karin (Kylee Russell), and her friends to the Double Dutch regional competition, to watch Mary and her teammates, Shauna, Keisha, and Yolanda. Though Izzy tries to hide it, he actually is impressed by the competition. The Joy Jumpers take fourth place, barely qualifying for the city finals. Upset with Mary's freestyle choreography, Yolanda leaves the team and joins their main competitors, the Dutch Dragons. The Joy Jumpers need to find another teammate, or they can't compete in the city finals. Not taking Double Dutch seriously, Izzy mocks them. Mary then challenges him to jump rope and prove that it's easy. Izzy manages to pull it off, having done jump roping to train for boxing. The girls convince Izzy to be a temporary replacement until they can find someone else. He secretly practices with the Joy Jumpers before school at his father's gym.

Over the next several days, Izzy spends more time with the Joy Jumpers and improves tremendously at Double Dutch, though his boxing skills and punctuality suffer as a result. His fellow boxer, Tammy, finds out, but promises to keep it a secret if he stops teasing her. With some help from Izzy, the Joy Jumpers are able to put together a better freestyle routine. Izzy agrees to join the team permanently, and suggests they change the name to Hot Chili Steppers instead, which Mary agrees to. Izzy plans to perform with them at a Double Dutch exhibition to practice their routine. That day, though, Izzy's dad shows up with tickets to a boxing match. Reluctant to tell the truth, Izzy goes with his dad, bailing on Mary and the Hot Chili Steppers. Upset, Mary kicks him off the team, although Izzy apologizes.

Rodney, meanwhile, is furious over losing to Izzy, and demands a rematch, though Izzy ignores him. He discovers Izzy's secret, and takes pictures of him, leaving them all over their school, exposing and ridiculing Izzy. After seeing this, Mary tries to convince Izzy to come back, but Izzy coldly turns her down. Kenneth gives Izzy a gift for his boxing match, but discovers the pictures Rodney posted, and confronts Izzy about it. Izzy admits that he didn't tell his dad because ever since Izzy's mother died, all he ever talks about is boxing. Izzy admits that he no longer likes the sport, and only does it for his father. Izzy apologizes, while Kenneth accepts the apology, then leaves the room.

Izzy takes out his anger practicing at the gym, until Tammy comes over, and reminds him that she's been teased by him and others constantly for being a female boxer, but she's overcome it to become the best girl boxer in Brooklyn. That night, Rodney shows up at the gym with a large crowd. He demands again that Izzy gives him the rematch, and Izzy agrees. In the ring, Izzy responds to Rodney's mockery with cool analysis about Rodney’s behaviour as a loud-mouthed bully. He uses the tricks he homed in freestyle practice to dodge Rodney's attacks and push him against the ropes repeatedly, finally stating that they both had a lot to be mad about, but fighting would not improve matters. He leaves the ring, and Rodney angrily follows, but trips and falls. Everyone urges Izzy to finish him, but he refuses before leaving the gym. Rodney is impressed, admiring Izzy for standing up to him.

The Hot Chili Steppers come to the city finals with an abysmal replacement, until Izzy shows up. He apologizes and Mary forgives him. The Dutch Dragons show up, with Yolanda and their leader, Gina, making snarky comments toward Mary and her teammates. Mary shows a new attitude, not letting it get to her. During the compulsory, the Steppers stun the Dragons by taking first place, while the Dragons take second. The Dragons take first in the speed, while the Steppers take second, which means the Freestyle round is the tiebreaker. Tammy shows up with Izzy's friends, Chuck, and Earl, to support the Hot Chili Steppers. Rodney also comes to watch. Just before the freestyle routine, Izzy is surprised to see his father and Karin. The Hot Chili Steppers take the stage, with Izzy showing the skills he's learned, impressing his friends and family. After they finish their performance, Kenneth apologizes to Izzy, explaining that boxing was his way to stay close to Izzy after they lost Izzy's mom. He tells Izzy that he's proud of him, and the two make amends. Rodney also tells Izzy that he's impressed by the Double Dutch and hopes Izzy can show him the moves he made in the ring. Izzy agrees, and they call a truce.

The results are announced, and the Dutch Dragons take second place. Before the winner is revealed, the screen suddenly freezes, and cuts to a group of kids at the boxing gym, who are listening to Izzy's story narrated by Rodney. He tells them that the Hot Chili Steppers went to state, but didn't win until the next year, and Mary and Izzy are still together. As he sends the kids to gear up, Rodney remembers that day, revealing the Hot Chili Steppers won. They happily accept their first-place trophy, stunning the Dutch Dragons. The movie ends with the Hot Chili Steppers and Karin teaching Kenneth how to Double Dutch.

## Cast and Characters

* Corbin Bleu as Isadore "Izzy" Daniels
* Keke Palmer as Mary Thomas
* David Reivers as Kenneth Daniels
* Shanica Knowles as Shauna Lewis
* Patrick Johnson Jr. as Rodney Tyler
* Laivan Greene as Keisha Ray
* Kylee Russell as Karin Daniels
* Rebecca Williams as Tammy Lewis
* Jajube Mandiela as Yolanda Brooks
* Micah Williams as L'il Earl Jackson
* Harrison Hapin as Jump Rope #1
* Mazin Elsadig as Chuck Coley
* Paula Brancati as Gina
* Gene A. Mack as Felix

## Soundtrack

### Charts

**Weekly**

 U.S. Soundtrack Albums (Billboard)

**Year-end**

 U.S. Soundtrack Albums (Billboard)

## 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.

Actress and singer China Anne McClain, who later went on to star in the Disney Channel series A.N.T. Farm, auditioned for and won an undisclosed role in the film but turned it down to instead star in the television series Tyler Perry's House of Payne as Jazmine Payne, after catching Tyler Perry's attention.

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, Izzy Daniels is in a group 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 push-ups, 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 2002–2007 Disney Channel Movie intro; later DCOM films used the remixed version.

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.

## Release

### 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.

## Reception

Jump In! broke the record previously set by The Cheetah Girls 2 as the highest rated DCOM premiere with 8.2 million viewers. At the time it marked Corbin Bleu's second #1 hit for the Disney Channel and Keke Palmer's first. Its ratings record for highest rated DCOM was beat out for later that year by High School Musical 2 (in which Corbin Bleu also starred) on August 17, 2007 which gained 17.24 million viewers, making it Bleu's third #1 hit DCOM.