Walt Disney's latest attempt to re-create the magic that made High School Musical a full-blown phenomenon takes viewers to summer camp. Fitting. After all, what does Disney Channel do better than serve up marshmallowy treats that leave tweens wanting s'more? Welcome to Camp Rock, which drew 8.9 million viewers when it debuted June 20, making it the network's second most-watched original movie ever behind High School Musical 2.
Mitchie (Demi Lovato of As the Bell Rings) is Camp Rock's official damsel in distress. She has been blessed with a strong voice and killer smile, but she's not as well-heeled as most of her fellow campers. She only got to attend because her mother is catering the thing: Not too glamorous, particularly when Tess (Meaghan Jette Martin), the camp's queen bee, boasts a superstar mom who commemorates her own Grammy wins by buying her daughter "blingalicious" bracelet charms.
To fit in, Mitchie announces that her mother is a music TV executive in China. This risky lie and others let her assimilate into tyrannical Tess' clique, singing backup to the diva's oversized ambitions and falling prey to her petty jealousies.
However, Tess isn't necessarily the biggest pill in camp. Early on, that distinction falls to Shane Gray (Joe Jonas of Jonas Brothers who, in late June, seemed to be on every magazine cover in America), a petulant pop star atoning for bad behavior by teaching a few classes. For him, Camp Rock is the rehab you enter when you're addicted to your own awesomeness. "I've learned my lesson," he whines over a cell phone to his bandmates (fellow Jonas Brothers Kevin and Nick). "I've showered in cold water. I've looked at a tree. It's been three hours. I need hair product!"
The story (which borrows key plot turns from Aladdin and The Little Mermaid) ends happily ever after, but it's how we get there that's especially encouraging. The characters actually learn something. Shane decides he and others are happier when he's not a jerk. Tess puts her jealousy aside and celebrates the success of others. And Mitchie? She learns the emptiness of living a lie, and that it's best to be yourself. Parents are shown as positive influences, and we even get a hint that Tess' awfulness is fueled by the fact that her mother is never around.
Caveats are few: The most violent act is a food fight; the closest we get to a profanity is "butt;" and the romantic leads don't even kiss at the end. Attire is modest, though there is some mildly suggestive dancing.
"Aimed at kids who feel themselves unrecognized and invisible, which is to say practically all of them, it exhorts viewers to be themselves," wrote Los Angeles Times television critic Robert Lloyd. It's the same "believe in yourself and you can do anything" message Disney perennially phones in, this time with an all-hail-rock 'n' roll ringtone. Still, for a sugary musical s'more, Camp Rock is innocently sticky-sweet.
