As if you need my opinion to tell you whether or not Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam- Extended Edition is worth your kids’ time. I’m sure they’re already clamoring to get the DVD after seeing the premiere on Disney Channel over Labor Day. But guess what, this is one film that actually exceeds the original both in content, production value, and musical numbers. Whereas the original Camp Rock felt like a blatant attempt to ride the coattails of the High School Musical phenomenon, now that Demi Lovato and the Jonas Brothers are bigger stars than any of the HSM kids, Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam doesn’t need to be tied to HSM in order to succeed. In the new film, Mitchie (Lovato) is eager to return to Camp Rock, the summer music camp
Read More »It may have taken Disney more than 50 years to give Peter Pan’s spunky sidekick her own feature, but now that they’ve kicked off the Tinker Bell film franchise, they’re through fooling around: Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure arrives only a year after 2008′s Tinker Bell, and comes complete with the kind of top-shelf voice cast (including a cameo from Anjelica Huston) and big-budget extras (including a score performed by an 82-piece symphony) that used to be synonymous with Disney. Direct-to-video animated films get a bum rap, and that’s due in large part to the crap that Disney released in the ’90s; between Tinker Bell and its sequel, however, the studio seems to be making a real effort to turn all that around. The official synopsis of the film is as follows: The tale
Read More »Sonny with a Chance: Sonny’s Big Break (2009, Disney) purchase from Amazon: DVD Disney’s Sonny with a Chance is cut from the same cloth as the mouse house’s other tween sitcoms: bright, pretty young ingénue thrown into a crazy situation and surrounded by an ensemble of wacky supporting characters. In this case, the female star is Demi Lovato; the budding young music star that also has appeared in the Disney hit films, Rock Camp and Princess Protection Program. Lovato plays Sonny; she’s a Midwestern teenager brought to Los Angeles to become the newest star on “So Random,” a sketch show that resembles the old Nickelodeon series, All That. With her wide-eyed optimism and Midwestern gosh oh golly, Mickey and Judy “let’s put on a show” enthusiasm, Sonny is a fish out of water and immediately
Read More »Princess Protection Program (2009, Disney) purchase from Amazon: DVD When the DVD for Disney’s latest, Princess Protection Program arrived at the house, my daughter could hardly contain herself. The constant ads on the Disney Channel and the casting of TV stars Selena Gomez (Wizards of Waverly Place) and Demi Lovato (Sonny with a Chance) made it seem like this film was going to be a tweenage masterpiece, or at least something fun. On a Sunday morning while her mom and brother slept in, my daughter and I snuggled up on the couch and watched Princess Protection Program. In the film, Lovato is a Princess Rosalinda, next in line to the throne of Costa Luna. When her country is overthrown by an evil dictator, she is put into the Princess Protection Program, a secret organization funded
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