Okay, I bet some of you are wondering why there's a part two. Well, I feel a bit like I "sugar-coated" the first review I made because, frankly, I didn't feel like getting bombarded with comments from tweens defending their beloved JoBros. I know what it's like to be young and able to get easily carried away with these things. They make it sound like it's so much fun and it's the bestest thing ever in the whole entire world, but in reality it's really not. Not to sound like an old fart, but sometimes it really is best not to follow the crowd; mainstream isn't always a good thing. Instead of thinking for yourself, you end up allowing other people to give you your opinions without even your realizing it. It's very easy to get sucked into this. Don't make yourself vulnerable to being "fed" and "brainwashed." So yes, that's my mini-soapbox for the day.
I stumbled upon this review on IMDb that I thought was really well-put. I think it explains it better than I could, so here it is:
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"Disney Channel Movies no longer what they used to be"
I have always been a fan of Disney Original Movies. They don't try to be more than what they are, and get the most out of the obviously limited budget they have. Disney had a great run of Original Movies in the late 90s/early 2000s, but ever since Disney caught lightning in a bottle with High School Musical in 2006, the production brand has been on a decline.
High School Musical was the pinnacle of what Disney Original Movies were. Low budget but good film, believable characters, and plot that fits the movie. What kept High School Musical's integrity in check was the fact that none of the movie's stars were household names yet. They may have been known, but no where near mainstream. High School Musical is what made the stars of the movie into household names and into the mainstream.
Disney was obviously so blindsighted by the success of High School Musical that they have tried to recapture that success with High School Musical 2 and Camp Rock.
HSM2 was the DEFINITION of sellout. Not only did Disney basically recycle the plot of HSM, but the entire movie was fanservice. Fanservice to appeal to the preteen/teenage girl demographic who spends hours a day online looking up the latest news on "Zashley" or "Zanessa" or whatever you call it. Disney knew its High School Musical fanbase wanted to see more of Zac Efron/Vanessa Hudgens romance on screen, as well as Zac Efron and Ashley Tisdale romance. The producers sold out their artistic integrity for the sake of appealing to the fanbase. High School Musical 2 of course was a success and "THE BEST MOVIE EVER!" for the fanbase, because it was fanservice. But as a neutral observer, HSM2 was terrible. Like I pointed out before, they took no risks at all.
Unfortunately, Camp Rock suffers the same fate. After seeing the movie last night, I was disappointed. Once again, Disney sells out to its fanbase.
The movie is basically High School Musical at a summer camp. It uses a similar plot line with the same "types" of characters. It's obvious that Disney was just trying to capture the HSM lightning in a bottle again with this movie.
Disney takes its hottest property this side of Hannah Montana with the Jonas Brothers and makes them the centerpiece of the movie. That automatically will draw in millions of teenage fans who adore the Jonas Brothers. Unfortunately, the Jonas Brothers do not perform their roles well at all. I really think that this movie could have been far better if they replaced the Jonas Brothers with lesser known actors. This way the screenwriters may not have sold out with their scenes that involve the Jonas Brothers. The Jonas Brothers roles are exactly what the fans want. Love, singing, and romance.
At least Disney channel saved some of its dignity by casting Demi Lovato for the role of Mitchy. Disney could have easily slotted someone like Miley Cyrus or another bigger teenage star in her role, but didn't. Like I said, a key to High School Musical's success was using lesser known actors in their roles, and I think using Demi Lovato was the main character in this film helped save it from total disaster. She did her role well, and could have been much more if the Jonas Brothers were replaced with lesser known actors to give the film some genuinity.
Other supporting/minor roles are filled with lesser known Disney Stars.
The movie's plot is basically High School Musical at a summer camp, like I stated before. I don't want to spoil anything, so I won't go into detail, but there are too many cheesy/unnecessary scenes in the film, obviously for fanservice.
The songs and choreography are very stale. No memorable songs, and all of them are rather generic and similar to each other. I would say the songs are worse than both High School Musical movies, but maybe because they are too similar to the High School Musical songs rather than being creative. The choreography is also boring. Can't we get creative like "Stick to the Status Quo" was in High School Musical, or do we have to be treated to the same generic "triangle formation" choreography that has plagued High School Musical 2, and now, Camp Rock?
In conclusion, I think that the film could have been much better without the Jonas Brothers. They are not fit for the roles, and were put in there to gain viewer interest. The movie would not have suffered with out them, and actually would have improved.
By no means am I telling fans of the Jonas Brothers or Disney to not watch this movie. If you liked High School Musical/High School Musical 2 and love the Jonas Brothers, you will love this movie. You will love Demi Lovato. I fully expect dozens of "Jonato" watch blogs(for those who will inevitably wish for Demi Lovato and a Jonas Brother hook up after seeing this film) to sprout up by next week. She will be the next "big thing" for Disney. This movie is made just for people like that.
But for neutral observers, and people who are interested but not really fans of the Jonas Brothers/Disney Original Movies, or who don't really know what Disney Original Movies/Jonas Brothers are all about, avoid this movie. It's too generic, cheesy, and linear. If you hated High School Musical 2, you will hate this.
I love the Disney Channel, as a 21 year old Radio-TV-Film Major in College, I adore many Disney Movies and Programs. But not this. I actually think the word "Original" in "Disney Original Movie" should stand for something, not just the generic garbage they have pedaled out since High School Musical.
Was High School Musical the last great, full of integrity and dignity, non-sellout, non-fanservice Disney Original Movie that Disney made? I hope not.
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3 comments:
So I agree with most of the article, but not all of it.
Yes -- the first paragraph, 100% correct. Disney put out some great DCOMs in the late '90s and early 2000s. They were simple and cute films that didn't deserve Oscars or anything but people liked anyway as guilty pleasures.
Halloweentown, Tru Confessions, Cadet Kelly, Get a Clue, Gotta Kick It Up, You Wish, The Even Stevens Movie, Luck of the Irish, A Ring of Endless Light, Zenon, The Color of Friendship, Pixel Perfect...
Once High School Musical exploded, everything changed. The movie exploded into superstardom and Disney started overhyping ALL its movies... and a lot of them just ended up having the exact same plot of HSM. Jump In, anybody? They overhyped that movie so much and it ended up just being subpar.
But High School Musical really did deserve its hype. Every character was unique and independent... which I really liked. Whereas Mitchie really wanted to be popular in Camp Rock, Gabriella tried to break out of her shell without giving in the easy way (ie, making friends with the "popular crowd"). Sharpay was a bitch, but she was an entertaining one and made her character unique. The songs carried the story. People have slammed the acting, but honestly, after watching Camp Rock, the HSM kids deserve Oscars for their performances!
What I don't agree with this review is what the person said about HSM2. I personally really, really liked HSM2. Yes, they gave in to audiences. But whatever. They gave us what we wanted, and I soaked in ALL the cheesy Zanessa scenes like a sponge. The thing was, the songs were catchy and some of the dance numbers were so silly, but you loved them anyway because it was part of the charm. Somehow, in reasons I can't describe, the actors made the cheesiness work and you loved them for it. It wouldn't be HSM without the silliness. But you can't just say "oh, cheesy movies work well no matter what" - the characters have to have an established background, they need to have personality, and they need to be likable. HSM had both of these in both HSM and HSM2, and that's why it worked so well.
On the other hand, Camp Rock had barely any character development, characters who were annoying and who you really weren't rooting for, awful acting, unrealistic situations, songs that didn't really have anything to do with the movie, a theme that they shoved down your throat every five minutes, etc. They kept airing the commercials constantly on Disney Channel, putting radio commercials on every mainstream station, putting tv commercials on all possible channels, airing the movie on four different channels, putting out all different types of merchandise to be purchased BEFORE the movie comes out, and a sequel already planned. Unlike HSM, which they didn't know would be a hit, they were trying to milk Camp Rock for all that it was worth.
And as I've learned in my Media Relations class, organizations usually over-publicize products or services that they know aren't that great. If a product truly is great, it will find its own way towards popularity. Camp Rock = overly publicized. Therefore, not so great.
Also, the Disney Channel people should learn about psychology or something. Or maybe some common sense. Don't they realize that by over-hyping movies, people will have HIGH expectations that will most likely fail to meet? Why not just keep the promotion to a standard level, so people can come in with an open mind and then judge? Yes, they over-publicized HSM2 as well, and I have to admit I was somewhat disappointed when I *first* saw it. But then it eventually grew on me and I loved it. If it wasn't so overpublicized, I probably would have enjoyed it the first time. Also, I can bet you that the movie still would have brought in 17 million viewers without all that advertising, just because of the sheer popularity of the brand. Basic lesson = don't over-promote if you don't want your audience to be disappointed. You're Disney... people WILL know about your new movie somehow or another.
I agree with the person when he/she said that they really sold out by casting the Jonas Brothers. I mean honestly... how OBVIOUS can you be. They have no acting talent whatsoever, didn't even try out for the parts, just basically approached by Disney so that promoting this movie could be easier. Right then and there, they knew that they would already have a huge audience just because of all the Jonas Brothers-obsessed tweens (which I can't even explain to you WHY they even exist...). I also think casting Demi Lovato was another sell-out move because everyone knows she's Selena Gomez's best friend and will be given a new Disney show as well as a new DCOM later this year... and as we saw from this movie, she obviously wasn't that great of an actor either... people just wanted to see her because of all the Selena hype. But AT LEAST they didn't cast Miley or something... oh gawd that would have officially been awful.
And to finish this all off... I loved High School Musical 1&2, and I hated this movie. Camp Rock is NOWHERE near the HSM brand and actually made me redeem my love of HSM, something that has been lost these past few months. Now I'm actually really looking forward to the new film. Let's hope they don't pull a "Camp Rock" and promote that movie to excess. But hey, this is Disney... I wouldn't be surprised if that's what they end up doing.
Okay, it's really late and I'm super tired... I don't know if half of what I wrote even made sense...
One more thing... High School Musical really did stand on its own and deserved every bit of its hype.
Let's take another musical example that Disney has approached: The Cheetah Girls.
In 2003, that movie was hyped up SO much. Yes, the songs were good. The commercials kept playing constantly. The final result? A movie that just... wasn't so great. It did well, but not AMAZINGLY. People just really... didn't like it. But I think Disney was so adamant on making it a brand that they didn't care whether people liked it or not, so they just kept the brand going. So here we are with The Cheetah Girls 2... and now Cheetah Girls 3... and tons of albums. Do people honestly care? I really don't think so...
Point is... Camp Rock was a failure, but Disney won't care. They will just keeping shoving it down our throats like TCG.
Times like this I really wonder why exactly I love this company so much.... yes, they're brilliant with helping the bottom line. They're geniuses when it comes to raking in the money. But what happened to the "magic" of the company? It really has been lost... and it's a shame.
Wow. I just totally got blown away with everything you just said. YOU probably should've written the review for CR instead of me! I have to say... *applauds & gives standing ovation*
First off, I like how organized and thought-out all that was. You made your points VERY clear and I really understood where you were coming from. With all honesty (and I'm sure you know this already), I've never been as huge of a Disney fan as you. I've never had that passion and love for the merchandise, movies, tv shows, etc but I still liked them. I really do think it's wonderful and amazing and I don't think you should ever let that go, because it's what makes you *you*. I've just never really took anything shown on DC too seriously ever, and I guess I've always just taken it at face value and never analyzed it too much, because it's mainly targeted towards a very young audience (who don't know any better). On the flip side, it does sometimes annoy me that it's come to this.. that these are the things that little kids are thinking as acceptable and okay... when a lot of it is really NOT okay at all. DC is seriously one of the only channels I can really tolerate, since I hate practically everything else that's shown on tv nowadays. I hate almost all the new reality shows, sitcoms, music videos, etc. DC is cute, entertaining, and fairly innocent. But unfortunately, lately, the DC has been getting on my nerves because of all the latest crap that's shown (*coughHMcough*). Wizards and Cory are *almost* up there. Wizards is just SO corny and it gets irritating after a while (at least to me it does). And I've never liked Cory. I really miss the good stuff, the "classics", like POTF, Even Stevens, and heck, even Lizzie McGuire. And of course, TSL. TSR was never a favorite show of mine, but a part of me misses that too. I really like LWD for its family values; I really admire the familial relationships on that show (ie Derek and Marnie, Lizzie and Edwin). And I actually love the fact that it's not as popular as HM and the like, and I kinda hope it stays that way.
I love that we see things practically identical on these matters, as well as other non-Disney related matters. I guess the only real difference with our Disney views concerns HSM. Don't get me wrong, I liked both HSMs, but I can't say that I "loved" them, ya know? Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I remember HSM1 only being hyped up like crazy only *after* it premiered, which resulted in HSM2 being soo incredibly hyped up even before it premiered. It seems, to me at least, that that's when Disney started going downhill. I think that's when I started losing some interest was after HSM1 got hyped so much, what with all the special premieres with the dance moves and the sing-alongs, etcetc. HSM1 was definitely unique, but I felt like HSM2 lost a bit of the spark that HSM1 had. But hands totally down: both HSMs are wayyy better than CR and TCG. The songs in both HSMs really did make sense and followed the storyline, tots agree. In CR, it really was kinda random, now that I look back on it, especially "What It Takes." I really didn't pay too much attention to the lyrics at the time, usually when I hear a song I tend to focus initially on the beat/tune/etc, and the lyrics are kinda secondary to me. Maybe that's why I love hip-hop/rap so much, LOL.
I really liked how you incorporated what you learned in your class. I could not agree more with what you said, it makes total and complete common sense. It is SO true, if you stop and think about it. It applies to soo many things, not just in movies, but in real life too. I don't know if you've ever heard a saying that goes something like... if you bang on an empty drum it'll produce a really loud noise, but if you bang on a drum filled with water it will hardly make any noise at all. I guess that saying is only in my family, but it's pretty much equivalent to the more common "filled with hot air" saying.
Lastly, I'm also pretty disappointed with Disney. It's really unfortunate that it's become more about the quantity instead of the quality.
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