Rowan Blanchard and Paris Berelc are two of the most interesting Disney personalities to come around in a while. So it’s pretty disappointing when they’re teamed up to star in a DCOM that’s pretty limp from the get go. Aside from barely being about Halloween at all, the entire notion of the movie never plays out effectively. The movie struggles really hard to find stuff for characters to do, and when it’s failing at that, it somewhat concoct subtle religious commentary. When it’s not doing that, it creates a series of plot holes that just leave the movie feeling incomplete and incredibly far fetched even for a kids movie.
Cleo and Molly are two total opposite sisters that have their own cliques and circle of friends. Cleo is a wizard at science who’s accidentally created a potion for invisibility that her sister drinks the night before a big day at school that demands her utmost attendance. Upon awakening the next morning, Cleo learns Molly has completely disappeared and now has to figure out the formula to get her back to her visible state. But not before Cleo goes to school as Molly and masquerades as her. For some reason. Really the whole film is an excuse to get the sisters to understand one another and learn about the others’ world. Molly’s assumption of Cleo being a cold scientist is undermined by the support of her friends and genuine care from her science teacher.
Meanwhile Cleo learns the joys of conformity when she blends in to Molly’s sports team and general circle of friends. Despite being a different build, people somehow buy that Cleo is Molly based around her wearing a domino mask for the duration of the day. Cleo learns a lot about Molly’s devotion to a higher cause and even declares that she loves being a part of something bigger than herself, which is a somewhat subtle implication to the whole idea of science versus faith that resonates throughout “Invisible Sister.” From there, the narrative slogs through a lot of filler, including a sports game involving Molly knocking down players to help Cleo, and fishing for a moth in a graveyard.
Surely, the locations the film is shot in are beautiful, but not much is accomplished during “Invisible Sister” as the dynamic between Berelc and Blanchard is solid, but lacking a larger conflict in the film. “Invisible Sister” has no real villain to it, except for time, and they all run against midnight on Halloween to get Molly to become visible again. The climax creates a whole slew of questions, as if Molly helped Cleo cheat and steal, Cleo’s somewhat sudden rise to fame for creating the potion would allow for a large array of backlash and humiliation for other people not directly in the narrative. “Invisible Sister” really just revolves around selfish characters working for themselves, and never rises above mediocre returns in the way of entertainment and drama.