I’ve always been a sucker for cheesy movies that take place at summer camp. I’m probably one of five people to remember Michael J. Fox in Poison Ivy. There’s also such non-classics as Ernest Goes to Camp, Indian Summer and Heavyweights, not to mention an infamous mention in American Pie. For the most part, summer camp movies are filled with clichés and predictable plots, but that’s all part of the framework. The familiarity makes for something comfortable, nothing spectacular, but mindlessly enjoyable. The Disney tween machine continues to plug along mixing sugar-pop ballads with the simple structure of summer camp in Camp Rock.
Camp Rock is like band camp for cool, rich kids. Campers get the traditional camp ambiance but rather than the regular activities like archery and orienteering, there’s hip hop dance and evening theme jams. And magically, the meal spreads are much fancier than the generic meal-from-a-can dinners I remember.
Mitchie Torres (Demi Lovato) is the kind of teenage girl who doesn’t attempt to stand out. At least not during the school months. But with her mom on a short-term job at Camp Rock, Mitchie decides it’s time to make her move. The only thing is she does it pretending to be something she’s not – rich. Despite initial success getting on the good side of the popular crowd, Mitchie soon finds it hard to keep up her lie and still maintain her cool.
Camp Rock is filled with the feel-good fluff you expect from the Disney brand. It’s simple and largely harmless, even if there’s a huge marketing campaign behind it meant to outfit the summer wardrobes and back-to-school lockers of its female pre-teen fan base. The plot is entirely predictable, but what Disney family film isn’t? And what that doesn’t make it a “great” film, it never aims to be. Rather it’s a part of a machine designed to sell everything from iTunes downloads, T-shirts and trading cards to impressionable young girls with starry eyes for musical co-stars and heartthrobs-du-jour The Jonas Brothers. If anything’s ugly, it’s that end of the business model, not this cornball film.
Lovato’s bubbly yet down-to-earth personality in the film goes a long way in making Camp Rock bearable. The character of Mitchie is confident, strong and outspoken in all of her imperfections. Although she’s deceptive in who she is, she never tries to be intentionally hurtful. Rather Mitchie has a lapse of selfishness. In other words, Mitchie’s human.
In the summer camp movie formula, camp itself is usually treated as a right of passage – the act of growing up condensed into a couple of months. Usually first love comes into play somehow, either for the campers or the counselors. Camp Rock fits the formula perfectly with Mitchie going from wallflower to standout. Toss in a handful of catchy new tunes, recycle some familiar High School Musical ditties and you’ve got a film destined to be adored for a year or two, disappear for a decade then resurface as pop culture nostalgia.
Camp Rock doesn’t have the phenomenon label attached to it like High School Musical as its success was pre-destined. Yet it’s cute for what it is. That’s not saying a lot, but if you’re a part of the J17-buying target demographic, you’ll get exactly what you’re expecting. If you’re not who the film’s marketed towards, there’s enough to keep you interested, even if at times it’s simply as a nostalgic reminder of the summer camp movies of your own generation.
Camp Rock DVD Review
Camp Rock: Extended Rock Star Edition includes the whole package for young fans dreaming of rocking with the Jonas Brothers and friends. The film is presented in its originally televised full screen format (1.33:1 aspect ratio) with Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround. English subtitles are the only option as far as the set-up goes.
Extras are led by “How to Be a Rock Star,” a tutorial on how to act, sing, behave, dress and even network like rocker. Really it’s just cast and crew offering their opinions on their take on rock stars. So think water cooler talk at work the day after American Idol. There’s separate profiles for both the Jonas Brothers and Demi Lovato. Other features include a pair of music videos, a couple of behind-the-scenes featurettes for a pair of songs, shortcuts to song-specific scenes as well as karaoke subtitling.
Camp Rock Gallery
