Cadet Kelly is a 2002 Disney Channel Original Movie starring Hilary Duff.
When Kelly Collins's mother marries a retired general, they move, giving Kelly a surprise—she has to go to George Washington Military Academy. She wants to assert her individuality by wearing accessories and carrying around her old blanket, but keeps on getting punished for that by Cadet Captain Stone. Eventually, she can't take it anymore and takes revenge on her. Kelly gets court-martialed and forced to clean the gear of the school's rifle team, leading to acceptance of her stepdad and of the school.
Tropes associated with Cadet Kelly are:
- Amicable Exes: Kelly's birth father and mother are alright with one another, but it's a little obvious why they divorced.
- Artistic License – Military: Had Jennifer and Kelly been in the military for real, they would have both been discharged for what they did to each other instead. While it may be justified for how they are in military school, kids in military schools are held to (albeit watered-down) military standards.
- The Bully: Cadet Captain Stone towards Kelly.
- Character Development: Kelly and her stepfather Joe eventually give each other the signs of respect and affection which they respectively wanted, Kelly saluting Joe and Joe giving her a fatherly hug.
- Deliberate Values Dissonance: Kelly of course exhibits much different values than her peers and her stepfather. This is actually not a bad thing for this movie, and it is done pretty realistically.
- Disappeared Dad: Averted - surprisingly for a Disney Movie. Kelly's father is a big-time nature buff and explorer, thus he can't exactly take care of Kelly.
- Fire-Forged Friendship. Kelly and Jennifer are this to a degree by the end of the movie. At the beginning of the movie, Jennifer sees Kelly’s free-spirited nature as a sign of weakness. At the end of the movie, she sees all the hard work Kelly puts into drill team and gains some respect for her. The two end up rubbing off on each other, with Kelly a little less free-spirited and Jennifer being a little more relaxed. At the end, Kelly is actually disappointed that Jennifer is leaving the school.
- Hard-Work Montage: When Kelly is learning how to twirl the rifle to audition for her school's rifle team.
- Hidden Depths: One of the fellow cadets who drills Kelly turns out to have a poetic spirit when she reveals she does often think of the beaches from back home.
- Malicious Misnaming: Captain Stone often calls her students "maggots".
- Military Brat: Kelly becomes a military brat because her mother married an ex-general turned commandant of a military school. Jennifer is a much more clear-cut example, revealing at the end of the movie that she has to move away because her father got reassigned.
- Military School:The main setting of the film.
- Order Versus Chaos: Kelly just wants to express her creativity and individuality, while Jennifer just wants to enforce the rules. Ultimately, Kelly finds a way to be creative through her school's rifle team.
- Revenge: Because Cadet Captain Stone destroyed Kelly's blanket, Kelly gets back at her by painting her hair while she sleeps.
- Serious Business: The Drill Team. As anyone can tell you, this is actually Truth in Television - It's considered to be a big honor to be in the Drill team or the Color Guard.
- Wicked Stepfather: Surprisingly averted with General Joe Maxwell, Kelly's stepfather. He is strict and authoritative, but mostly because he's a military general in charge of a military school and is trying to learn how to be a good father. It causes some strain, but in the end he and Kelly do warm up and compromise with each other.
