The Snapshot:  Four terrific female comediennes bring nostalgic charm, heart and laughs to the rare family comedy sequel that's better than the original.

Freakier Friday

8 out of 10

G, 1hr 51mins. Family Fantasy Comedy.

Directed by Nisha Ganatra.

Starring Lindsay Lohan, Jamie Lee Curtis, Julia Butters, Sophia Hammons and Manny Jacinto.

Now Playing at Galaxy Cinemas Sault Ste. Marie.

Get ready to get your freak on: the Coleman family is having a funnier, freakier Friday this weekend, and families in the audience are about to have a lot of fun.

Disney really doesnt make live-action, family comedies with the same kindness and unapologetic joy that defined their family entertainment in the late 20th century. 

That alone is what makes their goofy sequel Freakier Friday so entertaining: its not pandering, modern, or capitalizing on contemporary pop culture. Its good, old-fashioned fun set in the present day.

Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis both return as daughter and mother Anna and Tess Coleman from Disneys 2003 hit (which came out on this weekend 22 years ago), re-uniting one of the greatest family pairings in Disney history.

While Freaky Friday films have been made since Jodie Fosters original in 1976, this sequel only follows the 2003 reboot, where single mom Anna meets newcomer Eric (Manny Jacinto), and their daughters cant stand each other or their parents upcoming wedding.

Thats when things get, well, freaky: a four-way body swap occurs between Anna, her daughter Harper (Julia Butters), Tess, and the soon-to-be-stepsister Lily (Sophia Hammons), and the four women must begrudgingly work together to get back to themselves.

Dont worry if the plot seems a bit confusing: the character web is made clear in Jordan Weiss brilliant script, and the cast sells the premise masterfully, embodying a wide variety of characters.

Newcomers Butters, Hammons and Jacinto especially all do a great job bringing humour and clarity to the story.

Director (and Canadian!) Nisha Ganatra is a comedy veteran known for great films like Late Night and 2020's little-seen  The High Note that focus on common themes of female ensembles and artists learning to work together and trust one another.

Read more here:  The High Note is a shining hit

That commitment to theme and great use of situational and scripted comedy does wonders here in Ganatras first G-rated project. Shes led this outstanding cast with great love for all past Freaky movies, including the 2003 original with both Lohan and Lee Curtis.

The crew slipped in several winks to the last film, but new audiences will follow the action just fine if you havent seen past films in the franchise.

Theres also a few fun cameos, but they dont add much to the action - with the big exception of Chad Michael Murrays return as exboyfriend Jake.

While many vignettes playing comedy off the wrong age groups and life experiences being trapped in others bodies work well, the one complaint is that sometimes the second hand embarrassment is taken too far for audience comfort. Harpers first flirt as Anna, for example, takes the scene too far.

Between the Coleman hijinks, the new Fantastic Four and Dreamworks hit Bad Guys 2 last weekend and, the late summer multiplex is exploding with a staggering amount of great all ages entertainment.

It is also true that Julys releases were all heavily male-leaning in their styles and casts. That makes Freakier Fridays girl-power comedy powerhouse all the more exciting - and Im saying that as an adult male without kids, who laughed often and laughed hard.

Families of all kinds and ages are going to have a great time with this time-bending, genre-bending, culture-bending comedy.