Get in the Picture Sucked!

Last night was the premiere of ABC's new High School Musical-based reality show "Get in the Picture". And, well, it wasn't great.

The show failed to be entertaining, in several ways, which we'll explain. First, let's just set up what's happened so far. The did the Eastern auditions last night - that means, only those from the eastern United States were auditioned. There were open casting calls, where thousands would line up and audition for one of the three judges. And there were also on-the-spot auditions where a family member or teacher would tip off the show by sending them tapes of a talented youngster (16 to early 20s in terms of age). In both cases, if the judges liked what they saw, they would move the person on to the semi-finals.

Well, this is extremely unfair. From what the show told us, the people who audition need to be good actors, dancers, singers, and have an all-around good personality. In the auditions, all they did was sing. And they only sang in front of one judge, whereas if you had three judges you'd have a higher chance of getting passed through.

No one who auditioned really stood out to us. The judges turned away some acceptable ones, in our opinion, but allowed others through who didn't deserve to advance in the competition. And none of people who auditioned had meltdowns. They were all calm and understanding. There was a tear hear and there, but none of them went ballistic, which is a little disappointing.

The judges were too kind, also. If someone, well, sucked, they didn't comment on that. The problem with being nice in that kind of judging is that it doesn't really help people improve because all they are told is "I'm not going to move you further, you just need more time" or something to that affect.

Now, as for our host, the washed-up Nick Lachey, well... he's no Ryan Seacrest. It was awkward as he congratulated or consoled the auditioners. He didn't have the same kind of people skills that other TV hosts do. Even his brother, Drew, is a better host than him!

Maybe it just got off to a bad start, but so far, this show sucks!

Nevertheless, as we run a High School Musical blog, we feel compelled to continue watching this show and reporting back. A new episode airs tonight at 8pm|7 central!

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Picture This Review

The reviews for the ABC Family Original Movie Picture This! starring Ashley Tisdale were not exactly kind. While some of those reviews were unfair, it is easy to see why this film is a TV/direct-to-DVD movie instead of a summer blockbuster.

The film has a simple plot - so much so that it's almost like an elongated episode of a teenage sitcom. Mandy Gilbert (Tisdale), an unpopular high school student, is asked to a party by the hottest guy in school, Drew Patterson ("Life With Derek"'s Robbie Amell), but is unfortunately grounded by her overprotected father. Mandy convinces her father that she is going to study at her friend's house while she and her two sidekicks dodge several bullets to get to the party including buying a dress, paying for save Mandy's father's car from impoundment, and Drew's jealous girlfriend, who is one step ahead of Mandy the whole time. Oh, and then there's the fact that Mandy and her father both have new video phones, which her father uses to make sure she is indeed studying (she cleverly is able to disguise whatever she's doing at the moment of his call to look like something completely innocent).

Okay, maybe it's not incredibly simple, but there is one twist: Mandy's friends know that Mandy was only invited to the party so Drew could lead her up to his tower, get her in the shower, and take away her flower. (Don't know what it means? Good!).

The entire plot is almost like a modern Cinderella story. The only trouble with this movie (well, there's more trouble than we'll list, because after all, it is a TV movie) is that Mandy's character goes from geeky pet store clerk to instant hottie in the matter of a day. She traded her glasses in for contacts and even performs an upbeat pop song in order to earn money.

Mandy goes through all these changes just to get the guy who, following the family tradition, does take her up to the tower, as Mandy's friends predicted. She leaves after suspecting that he wants to advance their relationship, which truly does not. At the end of the movie, the two end up together at the prom.

Now what is wrong with a teen movie sending the message that maybe it's okay to be happy without the guy/girl and having to go through all these changes?

Wall-E Review

We promised a review for Wall-E, so here it is!

It was amazing!

We've never been so intrigued by a movie with such little dialogue. The title character himself really only said two words: "whoa" and "Eva".

The film takes place hundreds of years from now. As a result of human activity, a trash-covered Earth is no longer a hospitable environment for humans. A series of robots are designed to recover Earth as the humans take a 5-year space cruise. However, several hundreds of years later, only one robot remains and the humans have not returned. That robot is Wall-E and he has developed a personality.

So, when a spaceship lands and sends out another high-tech robot, EVE, Wall-E falls in love.

The rest of the film follows Wall-E and EVE's adventures on the space cruise ship and their attempts to bring humans back to Earth.

Wall-E is Pixar's ninth film, and like its eight predecessors, it amazes the audiences both in its sophisticated animation and ability to tell a story. The audience finds themselves captivated by the heart of a non-living robot, just like they had done with toys, bugs, monsters, fish, and cars in Pixar's previous films. But Wall-E is different. The character is truly innocent. He is timid, yet outgoing. He knows what he wants, but he also knows what is right. That is what separates Wall-E from Woody and Nemo.

The movie is virtually too good for words to describe. (Could that be why there were hardly any words in the movie itself?). For those of you who haven't seen it, we strongly advice you to do so!

And, although the film did not come packaged with a High School Musical 3: Senior Year trailer like we had hoped, there was a comical and cute Pixar animated short before the film began. "Presto" is about a magician, a hungry rabbit, and a carrot. That's all we'll say about that!

Well...

We just finished watching Camp Rock.

And, well, it was good. But certainly nothing like High School Musical.

The first half of the movie was a little dry. Unpopular Mitchie Torres (Demi Lovato) finally succeeds in getting her parents to send her to Camp Rock, a high-priced summer camp where kids with musical abilities go. But there's one catch. In order to afford the camp's fees, Mitchie must work in the camp's kitchen alongside her mother. However, to fit in with Tess Tyler (Meaghan Jette Martin), daughter of a Grammy-winning singer, and the other kids at the camp, Mitchie lies and says she is the daughter of the president of Hot Tunes China. These lies come at the expense of Caitlyn Gellar (Alyson Stoner), who was Mitchie's truest friend at Camp Rock from the start.

Mitchie also forms a bond with Shane Grey (Joe Jonas), a spoiled "bad boy" rock star from the band Connect Three who was sent to the camp to retain a basic attitude. What Shane doesn't know is that that a magical voice he overheard belongs to Mitchie.

The movie does not become good until Tess becomes enraged with jealousy that Mitchie is befriending somebody famous. In retaliation, Tess outs Mitchie as being a kitchen worker and frames her from stealing a charm bracelet, which causes Mitchie to get suspended from camp activities, including the final competition.

The plot shares similarities with two stories our readers should be familiar with: Cinderella and High School Musical. Mitchie's job as a kitchen worker and the oppression of Tess make her a modern-day Cinderella. However, her fear of audiences, innocent disposition, and strong character allow her to easily be a Gabriella Montez clone. Tess, being wealthy and snobby, is clearly the Sharpay and evil stepsister of Camp Rock. And Shane's desperate search to find the girl with the beautiful voice is almost identical to Prince Charming's search for the girl who fits the glass slipper.

The script of Camp Rock isn't as well written as the ones for the High School Musical films. The songs were catchy, but too robotic. They hardly help Camp Rock qualify as a musical.

Also, the cast is short on talent. Though Demi Lovato has a charming singing voice, her acting could use some work. The Jonas Brothers, too, may be great singers. Joe and Nick are decent actors, but Kevin is not. Jasmine Richards is the only other cast member to exhibit memorable singing, and she easily outshines the heavily-computerized and robotic voice of Meaghan Jette Martin.

There is no doubt that this movie will have a large audience (the numbers will be in tomorrow), but Camp Rock is nothing more than a summer movie. High School Musical will always survive in its fans' hearts, but will Camp Rock? Who knows, but its sequel is already due out next year.

High School Musical On Stage: A Butchered Version of the Film?

Last night, we were lucky enough to see the High School Musical On Stage tour, and we were a bit disappointed.

The professional stage tour claims to be based on the hit Disney Channel Original Movie, but the magic the film had was absent in the stage musical. The most notable reason for the lack of magic was the fact that memorable scenes like the New Year's Eve karaoke party were reduced to a two-minute flashback sequence.

Troy and Gabriella also lost their position of central focus in the story line. Additional scenes and lines added the the stage production made Sharpay, Ryan, and Ms. Darbus equally as important. It didn't help that John Jeffrey Martin and Arielle Jacobs were not that good of actors or singers.

On the other hand, Helene York (Sharpay) was a showstealer.

No scenes took place outside of the school, so characters like Mrs. Bolton and Mrs. Montez were understandably removed from the production. However, the character of Jack Scott, East High's announcer, was added and created some mild humor.

Now on to the part where the script gets butchered. "When There Was Me and You", a solo ballad in the film, was turned into a duet between Gabriella and Troy, with the Jocks and Brainiacs in the background. "Bop to the Top" was also turned into a group number. The only song change that we personally enjoyed was combining "Bop to the Top" with "What I've Been Looking For" for the audition sequence.

Also, many of the lines were changed, with no clear reason why. Sharpay's line of "I'd rather stick pins in my eyes" after being asked to watch a basketball game was changed to something to the effect of "I'd rather suck the snot out of a dog's snout until its head caves in!" Not to mention, the winter musical was changed from "Twinkle Towne" to "Juliet and Romeo".

These are just some of the many reasons we did not enjoy the stage production of High School Musical. We suggest not seeing it if you haven't already.

College Road Trip Review

The reviews have been negative. But for most, reviews are pretty off-base from what they think of the movie. College Road Trip, which was released into theaters on March 7 by Walt Disney Pictures, is a kids movie. No adult critic can give a kids movie justice. It's very rare in the least. Take Alvin and the Chipmunks, for example. Opening in December, Alvin was panned by critics but performed above expectations at the box office. In short, it doesn't matter what a critic says. They're here to guide us movie-goers and help us avoid films they have deemed distasteful. Well, here's our first shot at reviewing. Remember, we're here to guide, so don't take our word for law. However, we see College Road Trip in a much different light.

College Road Trip is about a father, police chief James Porter (Martin Lawrence), whose overprotective and controlling manner prevents him from accepting the fact that his daughter, Melanie (Raven-Symoné) wishes to spend her college career at Georgetown in Washington, D.C. rather than at Northwestern, a short distance from home. As a compromise, James and Melanie, along with Melanie's younger brother, Trey, and his pet pig, Albert, embark on a college road trip to Georgetown, where Melanie has an interview. The plot of the movie seems bland but as it unfolds on the screen, it becomes comedic.

Lawrence's portrayal as an overprotective father figure may bring accusations against him as overacting. In truth, he does overact. However, one must remember this is a kids film. Overacting is what the kids like. The kids will also be please with Raven's performance, which shows hints of her character, Raven Baxter, on the Disney Channel series "That's So Raven". Raven also performs her own version of "Double Dutch Bus", one that is slightly entertaining in the film, but is much better when played during the closing credits. While both are comedians, Lawrence's strong points in the film are the emotional scenes that are found in the handfuls and are sure to make any parent who has either experienced leaving home or having a child leave home feel for the characters. Also appearing in the cast are many Disney Channel stars, including Brenda Song ("The Suite Life of Zack and Cody") and Margo Harshman ("Even Stevens") as Nancy and Katie, two of Melanie's ditzy and shallow friends who have their own college road trip that intertwines with the Porters'. Lucas Grabeel of High School Musical also has a small role as a geeky boy.

However, the highlight of the film has to be Donny Osmand as Doug and Molly Ephraim as Wendy, a musical father-daughter pair also on a college road trip. Another highlight is, of course, the pig. While many of his stunts are clearly computer generated, he steels the show for the majority of the film.

The script itself is well-written. Although the plot is somewhat generic, humor is there (albeit, humor for the youngsters mainly). The strong point in the film is that cast, which overall, does a decent job of earning any success the film may have. Characters are not left by the wayside. In fact, most every character that appears shows up again sooner or later.

Critics hated it. Fans did not receive it much better. Us? We liked it. We give College Road Trip at B-.

Reviews on the Way

Although this blog is dedicated to High School Musical, we have decided to post our own reviews of movies aimed at the same age group as the High School Musical movies are. Our first reviews will be for College Road Trip, starring Disney Channel's very own Raven-Symoné. It will be posted later in the day!