#....yes I have lots of dcom opinions I never got to share and yes I will use my blog to scream my frustration into the void

[thissmycomingofage]

Everyone (rightfully) criticizes the ending of Teen Beach 2 and how it unceremoniously destroys the main characters' relationship, but the movie already destroyed it when it thought it'd be a good idea to retcon their relationship into a summer fling! Who, while watching the first Teen Beach Movie, thought Mac and Brady knew each other for just a few weeks?!?! Their bond seemed so strong and well-established, Brady even personally knows her grandfather! And you're telling me they actually barely know each other?!?! Bullshit!!

[destressjournal]

DCOM Rankings #72: Camp Rock

Ahhh the high school musical wannabe featuring the Jonas brothers....

As you can tell I’m not completely in love with the camp rock movies as much as most people. That doesn’t mean I don’t think these movies are great, cuz they are, but let’s talk!

So, flaws.

- right off the bat, the Joe bros can’t act to save their life. Nick I know has had Broadway experience so he was actually a little bit better, and I know they tried, Joe really tried his hardest but they just couldn’t do it, and I hate that they made Kevin a dummy, maybe he requested to be the funny dim witted one, I’m not sure. But yes these guys are cute and talented, just not actors. This isn’t the biggest flaw but it’s the one I thought of first.

My biggest grip is actually with Allison stoner’s character Kaitlyn. She is so annoying she keeps bugging Mitchie about her social life, just stoppp it’s none of your business. Just warn her once, give it back to her when she starts running and crying, but that’s it!! don’t berrate her every 3 seconds “how’s life with Tess? The Queen awaits” over and over again. We get it, you don’t like her. Idk it never bugged me before but now I’m like wow she’s so obsessed. Kaitlyn blamed mitchie for something Kaitlyn started!. Her grudge against Tess is her problem, not tess’es.

And I’m a little disappointed that the movie didn’t take the route I was thinking about just now, that Tess should have straight up stolen mitchie’s song so Shane would think that Tess is the girl. Cuz that would have been brilliant. But I think they went this direction in the final movie for three reasons 1) they didn’t know how mitchie would correct the mistake in time, 2) they wanted her to sing another song for the camp rock album 3) and a song meant to reflect tess’s personality and struggles with her mom. But I kind of wonder what would happen if Tess did sing the “this is me” song. And maybe later they would find mitchie’s songbook and be like “oh no she was telling the truth!” Idk I think that would have made for more drama than we got.

This is yet another “be who you are” kind of story, which is of course a great message, but it’s starting to get a little old. Like, do you have any other life lessons to teach kids other than “be yourself”? this isn’t a flaw in this movie specifically, but it’s a small contributor to all the other movies that have this exact theme, and it always stars someone who wants to be “cool and popular”. I get that it can be a common want teens have, but there are other stories you can tell that kids and teens need to hear.

All the other flaws are just little logic nitpicks I guess. The logic in this movie is actually pretty sound compared to lots of others.

Okay, the good things!

The songs themselves are good, but not as good as HSM songs, I will say. But the best Camp rock songs are better than the worst HSM songs! My favorites are probably We Rock, Too cool, this is me, and play my music. And wow a lot of the songs are actually rock, I mean it’s pop rock but still.

The acting, besides the Joe bros, is very good! I love most of the characters and they al have their roles, like Tess is the main antagonist and is VERY good at it. I have personally met some girls like her who always want to be the best at everything and is threatened by competition. This actress nails it, arguably, a bit more than sharpay in HSM, only because Sharpay is actually still likable and is really fun, but Tess is just an ass. Just my opinion though.

You can’t deny that Demi is a good singer. Like, you just can’t. She sung with no help from auto tune on set during filming, obviously not the whole movie but some of it!! Cuz it’s different than the recorded version. Demi’s voice has clearly matured since her Disney channel days. I actually prefer her younger sounding voice to her older one. But still good nonetheless.

I like summer camp movies! I like that there were different “jam” sessions throughout the summer. I feel like this is a really cool camp that I would love to go to! They really make the camp feel appealing. The location is gorgeous! I think it’s somewhere in Vancouver. But anyway it reminds me of all the summer camp stuff I used to do as a kid/teen. The camp wasn’t as lavish as camp rock is but you slept in cabins, there was a shared bathroom, there was a beach and a lake. God I miss it.

The plot and the story flow very nicely. It felt a bit laggy in places, to try and create more drama. But it wasn’t nearly as bad as say twitches too. The drama was mostly to make us hate Tess more. I felt that Shane and Mitchie’s relationship was cute, it could have developed a little more but it was good enough in my books. It’s one of those movies where the main character lies at the beginning and tries to keep up with the lie the whole movie. It’s a dumb lie because her mom is RIGHT there, but she’s also probably 16 and a dumb teenager, so there you go! I like how it shows how when you lie about something that big, you’re only going to make it worse for yourself, sooner or later, people will know the truth. Wanting to fit in is one thing, but lying about your entire identity just to please one person, yikes. Don’t do it kids. It’s not worth it.

Do I like the movie a lot? Of course I do! Is it an A+? Ehhhhhhhhh I don’t know. I’ve put a lot of movies at the A+ level lately. It’s A range that’s for sure! If it’s A+ then I know I’ll find room for it! But I’ll definitely be switching movies around before I reveal my final ranking. Less than 40 movies to go!!

The next movie is another sequel. I’ve NEVER seen this one. We’ll see how good it is with one crucial character missing....see you then!