Review of Camp Rock (2008) by Kyle Clarence D — 01 May 2009

So I was feeling kind of sick today and didn't want to type up a paper. I also had a few hours to kill before Lymelife and as I flipped through the channels I saw that this film was supposed to start around 11 or something so I figured that I'd give it about 15 minutes or so and see if it's anything worth watching. I made it all the way through, so I guess that's a good sign. The direction was a lot more solid than in any of the High School Musical films, the camera usually worked professionally with very few sloppy sequences. Nothing incredibly special, but it was competent, and I can enjoy that it did not suck. I sort of feel the same way about most of the songs. For a film that advertises Demi Lovato and the Jonas Brothers the film does not have nearly as many songs from the two as I would have hoped, especially after developing an appreciation for Demi as a singer. The big songs are good, but most of the non-Demi stuff is pretty forgettable, though the "Too Cool For You" song is a lot of fun I guess. The story is not all that compelling and a few plot lines are left untended to or dropped entirely, so that was kind of upsetting. I recall in my review of the Jonas Brothers concert film that I commented on two things that I found again in this film. Demi is an odd girl, she just strikes me as out of place when she's on screen and moving around. She's likely Disney's best singer, but she's just a very odd girl. Also, this Joe Jonas guy really has not reason to be famous, nor should he be the main draw of this film. He doesn't really act all that well and he's not a great vocalist, it's sort of disappointing that the two other brothers did not get nearly as much screen time as he did. I don't think the film was paced very well either, I had the same problem I do with the High School Musical films, there is no sense of time at all. They try to establish that the whole time at camp is leading up to some big competition, but until the last 20 minutes or so I never got a feel that they were building to anything or that the competition was even close. I really did like how, unlike the High School Musical films, this film made the musical aspect feel natural. Sure it didn't act in the same way Once did, but aside from the choreography in some scenes the musical sequences blended with the reality and never felt they were there simply to be musical scenes. Not a horrible film, just nothing incredibly special. I'd probably watch parts of it again, maybe. I'll give it a pass.

C/C+ or 3.18214670923745013895101.