The Lizzie McGuire Movie - Plot

Plot

During the junior high graduation, Lizzie McGuire (Hilary Duff) is forced to make a speech in place of the class president, Margaret Chan, where she trips onstage and brings the curtain down on her fellow graduates. She 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, Kate Sanders (Ashlie Brillault).

After Lizzie discovers that she is sharing a room with Kate, Ms. Ungermeyer takes them to the Trevi Fountain where Lizzie throws a penny into the water for good luck. A few seconds later, she meets a famous Italian pop star, Paolo (Yani Gellman), who exclaims how much she resembles his singing partner, Isabella (also played by 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. She goes on a drive with him, agreeing to sing with him as Isabella to prevent Isabella from being sued for lip-synching. Later, Lizzie discovers that she also has to lip-synch "What Dreams Are Made Of", but agrees to do that. Kate later finds out the truth but helps Lizzie instead.

Lizzie continues to pretend to be sick, but when her scheme is about to be discovered, Gordo covers for her by telling Ms. Ungermeyer that he was the one who was sneaking out. Ms. Ungermeyer then has him pack his bags to go home as punishment. Just as he's about to board the plane home, he meets the real Isabella at the airport and discovers the truth about Paolo. Meanwhile, when Lizzie is looking for Gordo, Kate tells her that he's been sent home. Lizzie is confused as to why he'd do that and Kate tells her to "wake up" and see that Gordo likes her more than a friend. Gordo and Isabella race to the music event to stop Paolo from making a fool of Lizzie on stage. The two reach Lizzie on time to warn her and convince her the truth, with Isabella reminding her that she's only known Paolo for a few days. Paolo's plan was to show the world that Isabella is lip-synching; ironically, it turns out that Paolo himself was lip-synching. Isabella and Gordo exposes Paolo by pulling the plug on his recorded tape and turning on his microphone, causing him to be shown how fake he actually is. Angry that he's been exposed, Paolo leaves where he's ambushed by the paparazzi and his bodyguard, Sergei (Brendan Kelly), quits out of disgust. Isabella then introduces Lizzie to the crowd and has Lizzie sing "What Dreams Are Made Of" live in front of the entire audience inside the Colosseum. Among the crowd are her parents, brother and her schoolmates and Ms. Ungermeyer who got in by beating up the bouncers.

Later at the hotel, Sergei has formed a new relationship with Ms. Ungermeyer, Ms. Ungermeyer respects Gordo 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 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 will always believe in her. Lizzie then kisses Gordo as thanks for being there for her throughout the whole Paolo situation. As they both go back to the afterparty, the fireworks spell "The End" as the ending for both the series and the movie.