Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam (2010)

First viewing I found Camp Rock (2008) to be empty, but I felt the same about HSM. HSM started to click at my second viewing but this took much longer to take off.

One thing that helped me to like this was tracing the identity of each of the songs and I have listed my findings at the message board.

Another help was its links with Suite Life. For me, Suite Life was powered by Maddie Tisdale, who helped me to appreciate HSM. This has Alyson Stoner as Caitlyn Geller, though she did not stand out so much for me, first viewings. On the Suite sampler dvds she stood out more, for me, as a quality character. So, then she was an 11ish playing an 11ish and here she is a 16 playing a 14ish? Alyson also played Victoria in (the television series? of) Lilo And Stitch, her second ever screen role (?), a long list of screen roles.

So, Suite was a step towards attractive China-ish Asians in the leading role and Camp Rock (2008) is that even more so, very multi-cultural. 2009 partly sank that.

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I get the impression that Camp Rock (2008) tries to have a serious message about being oneself as a curse or a blessing and I accept that is a central question for teens and later and relevant to some Camp Rock characters. I actually find that aspect to get in the way as it dominates some of the best songs in a negative childish sort of way, Camp Rock 1 and 2 can be positive or negative childish. Despite that there is still stuff that I can like. The early dance of Lola, played by Aaryn Doyle, as this story occasionally even being hot steamy Disney?

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My first impression of Camp Rock 2, extended Blu-ray version, is that some of the songs have immediate appeal, but that there is also a flip side, a modern storytelling style of grunging down, an equivalent to gargoyle creation. Could be that Disney musicals are heading to the path that HP features took. Mitchie and Tess have been given horror cow makeovers, my Blu included a DVD version and the lower level of detail allowed Mitchie to be a lot less scary. Tess sings but I did not always notice the sound as two or three of the songs do not have good stereo compatibility with my system and typical volume settings and I first experienced that problem in HSM 1, glaring trouble for many of the support vocals in the cafeteria song Stick To The Status Quo.

I like the quote of the painfully low budget HSM clone Sunday School Musical, the lookalike to one of the female leads, also an echo of Drop Dead Gorgeous. Camp Rock 2 can feel like a complex aspect of the Message Story. I tend to shrug that off and like the many fun bits.

As such I find these stories to be talking about stuff that the dispossessed have big trouble with. But I also need the story to be nice and okay and big chunks are not so bad. Add the Disney - Sandler 'Bedtime Story' and it talks to me of Disney maybe exploring new directions. The storytelling style is not what I prefer in Camp Rock, more like it in Bedtime Story, but this still rates higher in entertainment than many that I have seen recently. Camp Rock 1 and 2 are rather okay as well as being appallingly bad.

As for comments that the Jonah brothers cannot act. For this sort of story I find that they fit in well.