The Lizzie McGuire Movie

Lizzie McGuire prepares for her junior-high graduation with one of her two closest friends, David "Gordo" Gordon. Their other best friend, Miranda Sanchez, has chosen to skip the graduation ceremony in favor of a trip to Mexico City to visit her relatives. During the junior high graduation, Elizabeth "Lizzie" McGuire (Hilary Duff) is forced to make a speech in place of the class president, Margaret Chan, where she trips on stage, and brings the curtain down on everyone who is onstage. This causes her to be teased by her younger brother Matt and her former best friend Kate Sanders. Lizzie lives with parents Samuel "Sam" McGuire (Robert Carradine), Joanne "Jo" McGuire (Hallie Todd) and younger brother Matthew "Matt" McGuire (Jake Thomas) Lizzie and her friends then leave on a class trip to Rome for two weeks, accompanied by her rude and strict new high school principal Ms. Ungermeyer (Alex Borstein) and her ex-best friend Katherine "Kate" Sanders (Ashlie Brillault). The rest of the class chose a trip to a water park instead. After discovering she is sharing a room with Kate, Ms. Ungermeyer takes them to the famous Trevi Fountain where Lizzie throws a penny into the water for good luck. A few seconds later, she meets the famous European pop star, Paolo (Yani Gellman), who exclaims how much she resembles his singing partner, Isabella (Hilary Duff). Paolo promises to meet Lizzie at the Trevi Fountain the next day if Lizzie wishes to see him again. The next day, Lizzie pretends to be sick and sneaks off to meet Paolo. Paolo explains that he and Isabella are booked for the International Music Video Awards, but she left Italy after their partnership breakup. He tells Lizzie that Isabella lip syncs and begs her to pose as her for the ceremony so that they won't be fined for canceling. Lizzie reluctantly agrees but soon begins to enjoy the experience and falls for Paolo. Later, Lizzie discovers that she also has to lip-sync "What Dreams Are Made Of" but agrees to do that too. Kate quickly figures out her secret. To Lizzie's surprise, she agrees to help her and they become friendly again. Lizzie continues to pretend to be sick, but when her scheme is about to be discovered, David "Gordo" Gordon (Adam Lamberg) covers for her by telling Ms. Ungermeyer that he was the one who was sneaking out. Ungermeyer then has him pack his bags to go home as punishment. Back home, Matt finds Italian gossip sites with pictures of Lizzie as Isabella. He initially tells his parents he misses Lizzie, convincing his parents to fly them to Rome, during which his parents find out about Lizzie's exploits. Just as Gordo is about to board the plane home, he meets the real Isabella who is upset that someone has been impersonating her. They realize that Paolo is planning to have a nervous Lizzie unknowingly sing live at the ceremony, as Isabella actually does, creating the impression that Isabella is a fake, which would damage the latter's career and embarrass Lizzie. Meanwhile, when Lizzie is looking for Gordo, Kate tells her that he's been sent home because he told Ungermeyer he was the one sneaking out. Lizzie is shocked when she learns from Kate that Gordo sacrificed himself to protect her. Lizzie is confused as to why he' would do that, and Kate tells her to "wake up" and see that Gordo likes her more than a friend which Kate has obviously noticed. When the McGuires arrive in Rome, Ms. Ungermeyer learns that Lizzie is missing. Gordo's roommate Ethan Craft (Clayton Snyder) reveals that she is performing at the International Music Video Awards, and Lizzie's family and the class also rush to the ceremony. Gordo and Isabella race to the music event to stop Paolo from making a fool of Lizzie on stage. The two reach Lizzie in time to warn her and they convince her of the truth. Lizzie does not believe them at first, but Isabella reminds her that she's only known Paolo for a few days but has known Gordo her whole life and thus he's less likely to be lying. Paolo's plan was to show the world that Isabella is lip-syncing; ironically, it turns out that Paolo was lip-syncing. Isabella and Gordo expose Paolo by pulling the plug on his recorded tape and turning on his microphone, causing him to be shown for the fake he actually is. Angry that he's been exposed, Paolo leaves where he's ambushed by the paparazzi and Sergei (Brendan Kelly) Paolo's bodyguard, quits out of disgust to what he did to Lizzie. Isabella then introduces Lizzie to the crowd and has Lizzie sing live "What Dreams Are Made Of" in front of the entire audience inside the Colosseum who cheer and applaud when she's done. Among the crowd are her parents, brother and entire class who Ms. Ungermeyer got in by beating up the bouncers. When Isabella leaves the stage, Lizzie finishes the song solo, displaying a newfound confidence. Later at the hotel, Paolo's ex-bodyguard, Sergei, has formed a new relationship with Ms. Ungermeyer. Ms. Ungermeyer talks to Gordo, saying that she has come to respect him for being a loyal friend to Lizzie and looks forward to their years in high school. Lizzie's parents tell her that while they're proud of her, she's grounded for the rest of the summer and Matt's attempt to embarrass Lizzie once again is thwarted by the hotel concierge. Lizzie and Gordo sneak away for the last time from the after-party and went up to the roof to talk. Lizzie asks him to promise that things will always be the same between them to which Gordo reassures her that will be and tells her that he always believes in her. Lizzie then kisses Gordo as thanks for being there for her throughout the whole Paolo situation. They both decide to go back to the after-party before they get in trouble again. As the film ends with fireworks spelling "The End", the animated Lizzie does a parody of Tinker Bell, winking at the audience.