The Music’s in my soul!

Yesterday was a day that will go down in pre-teen (& teen… and adult… and, well, basically everyone) history! The premiere of the Disney Channel Original Movie Camp Rock finally arrived! I, as well as I’m sure many many others, sat down on the couch and tuned in for the first showing (out of I’m sure to be many more repeats) of this movie starring Joe Jonas and Demi Lovato. I’m a big fan of the JoBros and have been for a couple of years now, and I have to say, I knew I’d like this movie but I didn’t necessarily expect it to have as much substance as it did.

No, this was no Iron Man, there wasn’t extreme depth – I mean, hello, it’s Disney. But there was that familiar Disney Channel movie feeling and morals that always come through with their movies. Joe Jonas actually was the star of this movie, not the Jonas Brothers, and I was surprised by how well he can act! Yeah, I tuned in for the episode of Hannah Montana they co-starred in and it definitely didn’t showcase any sort of acting ability the boys may have within them, so I was pleasantly surprised to see Joe actually bringing some realness to the movie.

Camp Rock is a place for young budding musicians to go and help achieve their full potential. For a little while there I wasn’t sure if it was a camp for kids to realize their true love for music and help nurture that or a place for kids to turn into rockstars – which I would not have been OK with the latter. Mitchie, played by newcomer Demi Lovato (who surprisingly did not annoy me), came to the camp to further her love for singing and could not afford to go on the money her family had. Lucky for her her mother found a job as a cook on the campgrounds and got her daughter into the camp at a discounted price! Isn’t it nice how things work out this way in movies?

Mitchie lies about what her mother actually does to get in with the popular girls and continues to lie to everyone throughout the movie, including Shane Gray. Shane is the lead singer of Connect 3, the band the Jonas Brothers portray, who comes to the camp to better his bad boy image in the press. What we find out is that Connect 3 have been playing cookie cutter pop tunes just because that is what their label says “sells” when Shane actually wants to play songs with substance (well, eventually, it takes him some time to figure this out). Did I mention he is a complete jerk?

Eventually, of course, Mitchie’s lies are revealed and everyone gives her a cold shoulder. You’ll just have to watch the movie to see if they all embrace her in the end (spoiler: IT’S DISNEY, what do you think happens?).

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this movie, however, even though it was predictable – as are most every Disney Channel movie. I will definitely be giving it another viewing (to show Shooter, of course) and probably still enjoy it. Though I did not like all the music in the movie, it added to their whole “be yourself” moral of the story that definitely was the point of the whole thing. I won’t be surprised to see a Camp Rock 2 on the horizon sometime soon, and I already know there will be loads of merchandise just like the High School Musical phenom. Disney has done it again – and I’m not complaining.