Excellent, a Must See

Boring

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Disney high school band movies was trending in the late 00s. This was one of them, and in my opinion, it was the best. You know the story. Some high school kids inadvertently find each other and they realize they have a great band together. There are hurdles along the way, but at the end they're a great band, and the movie also includes some great music. They enter a competition; maybe they win; maybe they lose; but at the end they realize they're great friends. And there's a romantic component thrown in there.What I like about this movie, and it speaks to contemporary politics, is one scene with a girl in a wheelchair. They band plays at a school dance or something. I don't know. But the band is playing an awesome song, and shown are people in the crowd dancing and smiling and having a good time. A girl in a wheelchair is shown, and she is smiling and dancing as best as she can in her wheelchair. What that tells us is that first of all a kid in a wheelchair felt comfortable enough to go to the high school dance. Second of all she was having a good time.Years ago that kid in the wheelchair may have just stayed home. But now we're all one. We're all together. Whether we're black, immigrant, handicapped, gay, whatever.. We're all going to accept you, and whoever you are you can enjoy the band, dance however you want to dance, and you're part of us and accepted in the group. That says a lot.

In a world populated by mega pop and rock franchise films such as High School Musical and Camp Rock series I wasn't sure what to expect when flipping through the guide on Netflix and found Lemonade Mouth. I was working on a few things for one of my own screenplays and needed something mindless to watch and I thought..."oh a Disney film, this should do it" as I remember from an add as a Disney Channel Original movie. So I started it up... Let me just say I wasn't able to get much done on my screenplays. This is one of Disney's better films in a while. No it's not High School Musical or Camp Rock, it's different than a lot of Disney films... It deals with questioning authority. Some might say that Disney's done that before but not in this tone and not to this extent. The focus of the movie and how the band came together has the undertone of being heard, standing up for what you believe in. This movie isn't perfect, but there's was something missing from this film... the majority of the cheesiness/corniness factor that you see in a lot of Disney films. This is one film that while scenes were awkward at times it was during situations that would more than likely be awkward in real life. Very well played by the actors. For those that said scenes were awkward - THAT WAS HOW THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO BE PLAYED. Thing aren't always peachy. Lemonade Mouth was dealt with the real issues with realism. It was a welcome surprise. The one thing you may have to get used to is like in High School Musical and Camp Rock music and singing start with little warning like the traditional musical film. While the film attempts to connect the story from rag tag to the instantaneous singing and we are know how to play it's better if you just accept it, otherwise you'll find yourself back in reality when you should be just enjoying the music. There's a good pace and I found the songs are a lot more rock than other Disney Films and were quite enjoyable. All in all this movie I give 8/10. There were a few scenes in the beginning - the soccer scene and a couple others that weren't up to par, but they were kind of necessary. Disney (Channel) seems to be branching out and realizing that it's audience is not just limited to kids and preteens as those that grew up watching the Disney Channel are now in their teens/twenties and those older folks that remember when Disney Channel was still a premium pay channel like to relive their youth.Solid display of different from Disney, but in a good way. The film as a whole is entertaining and if this is the start of a Disney revolution for less cheesy films, the the future is bright for Walt Disney Enterprises.

If it is a theatrical release, you can pretty much be certain that anything coming from Disney will be superb. However, Disney's television releases range from superb down to pure crap. I'm happy to say that, while "Lemonade Mouth" is not up to the theatrical standards, it nonetheless lands closer to the superb end of the scale than the pure crap end. The story and screen-play were very good. The acting was well done. And, the music was terrific. Overall, the movie was enjoyable, and I would recommend it to anyone. That being said, I do have a few nits to pick.SPOILER WARNING - If you don't want spoilers, don't read beyond this line.Message: The general message seems to be, "Stand up for what you believe." This is a "Fight the system." movie, and I frankly don't agree with the way the message was presented. My parents taught me to stand up for what I believe, but they added a couple things to that. First, they taught me to be fair, keep an open mind, and hear the other side out before going to the mattresses over something. And, though the secretary suggested they take the matter up with the principle, they chose instead to surprise the principle by using their music spot at the school dance to stage a major protest. When they're dressed down for their actions, one of them complains that he "shut us down". Unfortunately, the principle doesn't take the opportunity to point out that what he shut down was them "shouting him down". The second thing my parents added was that I should pick my battles, that I should carefully decide if the issue is really important enough to make a fuss over. And, in this case, the removal of a lemonade machine seems like a poor choice of battles. Disney's audience is children, and I don't really think they should be suggesting to their audience that it is okay to take a stand without at least hearing the other side out, or that it is noble to make a huge stink over relatively inconsequential matters.Continuity: There were a few continuity issues, but one was really glaring. The band goes to a pizza place to decide whether they'll continue performing outside of school. It is revealed in the pizza place that the pizzeria owner wants to book them to perform there. Some of the characters decide they don't want to do it and walk out, with the others chasing after them. They turn around and are amazed to see their band pictured on an enormous billboard mounted to the top of the pizzeria. ... What? They didn't see that huge sign when the went IN to the pizza joint? C'mon! That humongous thing wasn't just thrown up while they were eating. Heck! When they left, their backs were to the sign. They had to turn around to see it. THEN they notice it. ...Music continuity: Several times, certain instruments could be heard playing, but the performer playing that instrument was doing something else. This sort of thing happens all the time, since the people producing movies expect the audience not to notice such things. (Examples: I could hear the base line in "She's So Gone" when the base player was doing only vocals, and the vocalist was playing a second guitar rather than the base. Keyboards could be heard during the pianist's rap sequence in "Determinate" and "Breakthrough" while his keyboard was slung over his back. We had base again in "Breakthrough" when the base player was solely on vocals. And, again in "Breakthrough", the drummer is standing and pointing instead of playing the drums, while you can clearly hear the drums playing.)Spawned music videos: This isn't a problem with the movie, but rather with the hype. Disney spawned music videos from three of the songs in Lemonade Mouth. "Somebody", a song that showcases Bridgit Mendler was made into at least two different music videos. The "Breakthrough" and "Determinate" music videos were taken straight from the movie, and seem to largely showcase the group as a whole. What's missing is the "She's So Gone" music video. Bridgit Mendler is a very talented singer, but from what I saw, Naomi Scott is a strong singer, too. And, "She's So Gone" was my favorite song in the movie. And, that particular scene was well choreographed and would have made an excellent video. Do they not want to promote Naomi Scott? Or, are they only showing that video in the UK?

Everyone in my family is 15+ years, but we'd heard a lot about this movie, so we decided to watch it - and loved it! It is an all around good movie for anyone to watch. No sex, violence, swearing, etc. making it a good family film. The music, acting, and story keep older family members entertained - mostly the music, for my family at least. The songs are still going through my head!The only thing that parents might want to be warned about, is that one of the themes, beside friendship, seems to be to question authority. One other slight problem might be that the dad of one of the teens in the movie has a much younger, 28 yr. old, girlfriend.Brigit Mendler is a very talented actress with an amazing voice! Her co-stars are all extremely talented as well. I see a bright future for all of them!