After making plans to spend spring break with his girlfriend Bailey Pickett, Cody Martin decides to leave the SS Tipton, a large cruise ship where he attends school, to work as an intern for Dr. Donald Spaulding at a prestigious research firm instead. He does so in hopes of obtaining a scholarship to Yale. When Cody's twin brother Zack reveals Cody's plans to Bailey before Cody could, she becomes infuriated that Cody canceled his plans with her and refuses to speak to him. Meanwhile, Zack asks Cody for his car, which their parents will give to Cody when he goes to college, but Cody refuses. However, after Zack runs a billion-dollar submarine into the seawall in an attempt to impress a cute science assistant, and Cody does the same trying to stop him, the equipment is lost and Cody is kicked out of the program and fired. Furious, Cody disowns Zack and vows to never forgive him, claiming they may be twins, but they definitely are not brothers. Elsewhere, London Tipton accidentally eats a fruit given to the dolphins which allows her to understand them. The Martin twins later learn that although Cody will no longer be eligible to work as Dr. Spaulding's intern, both boys are ideal for the Gemini Project, a massive project by Dr. Ronald Olsen, who studies the physical and emotional connection of twins. Though it takes them much thought, the brothers agree and land themselves in a camp among hundreds of other twins. Dr. Olsen explains the purpose of the project is to create an emotional bond between people with the hopes of putting an end to evil in the world. By doing this, according to Dr. Olsen, he must form a bond between twins. Over the course of the project, which uses the same fruit as Dr. Spaulding's experiments, Zack and Cody form a bond: first a physical bond, in which they can sense what the other is feeling, then empathy, or an emotional bond. After they develop these bonds, they overhear a conversation that reveals Dr. Olsen has evil intentions. Meanwhile, Bailey discovers Cody's letter and reads it. She realizes Cody only wanted to obtain a scholarship to Yale and goes with London and Woody to find him. At the institute, London learns from a dolphin that Zack and Cody are at the Gemini Project and alerts Dr. Spaulding who claims that the Martin twins may be in danger. Bailey calls the manager of the SS Tipton, Mr. Moseby, to the site of the Gemini Project while they all go to save Zack and Cody. During this time, the brothers attempt to flee the island and the army of twins, who are now mind-controlled to go after the two. The army succeeds, as Zack and Cody are captured and taken back to the laboratory, where Bailey, London, Woody, and Dr. Spaulding find them. Dr. Olsen reveals that he is Dr. Spaulding's evil twin and explains that he spied on Zack and Cody earlier. After telling each other off, Zack and Cody begin to merge, but the merge is unsuccessful because the twins get into an argument that escalates into a fight, ultimately destroying the Gemini Project and freeing all the other twins from Ronald’s control. Ronald attempts to reboot the machine, but he is stopped by Cody who quickly forms a plan, and he and Zack give the special fruit to the Spaulding twins, who finally understand each other by telepathically discovering they wanted to be like each other all along. Mr. Moseby comes in with the police who arrest Ronald. Zack and Cody now understand that they make a "pretty good team." Afterward, Cody and Bailey have reconciled and visited landmarks together and Zack is driving his car, which Cody finally agreed to let him have. On the dock, Zack parks the car in a shipping area and sees his friends and brother on the SS Tipton. Unfortunately, the car is crushed by a shipping crate containing London's summer clothes. While Zack stares in shock, the movie ends with Mr. Moseby saying, "Well, spring break's over. Now if I could just make it to summer vacation."
The film was made available on iTunes starting April 5, 2011 and on Netflix to stream on April 24, 2011. As of November 12, 2019, the film, along with both Suite Life series, have been available to stream on Disney+.
Reception
Sarah Peel of BSC Kids was positive about the film, saying the film was "typical" but said she was surprised at "just how funny it was". She later went on to say that it was a good film for younger children to watch. She gave the film a 7 out of 10. The movie premiered with 5.2 million viewers. There were 780,000 viewers when it premiered in the UK and Ireland on February 17, 2012.
