Watch something else. There are very few redeeming qualities to this film.
... View MoreThis is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.
... View MoreAll of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.
... View MoreA film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.
... View MoreI understand any non-African American (particularly Caucasian) person who doesn't understand this movie. Its OK, I get it. I get it if you don't understand why there were no Caucasian leading characters in this movie like you're used to seeing from Disney. I get it if you don't understand the meaning of this movie, so let me break it down for you. This movie was a representation of Black Culture today, the Black Community and what goes on in numerous African American households. I'm not saying only African Americans will fully understand this movie, but again this movie isn't for everyone. Its not for the intellectually weak Disney Movie watchers who request a simple "Everybody Wins" ploy. It's not for anyone who typically watches movies with plots centered around Caucasian culture and issues in the Caucasian community. Its basically not for the closed-minded. Its OK if you get uncomfortable with some of the ideas introduced in tis movie, some of the "language" and even some of the music. Overall it was a great attempt by Disney to realize and show the struggles in the African American community, to show to the world that not only movies with all-white main characters deserve to be shown on their channel. Thank You Disney.
... View MoreMy 11 yo daughter loves this movie. It is entertaining with solid acting performances that even kept my husband and I engrossed. I was puzzled by one reviewer objecting to the cast's ethnicity. Given the usual fare offered at Disney, I can't see why one movie with a majority black cast would rattle the viewer. But given the reviewer's odd orthography, I can only imagine what s/he would consider appropriate viewing material. It is stunning that this family-friendly flick wouldn't rank higher. It presents a nice spin on hip hop music; there is no violence, nothing illicit or morally compromising. We will be adding this film along with other Disney greats to our daughter's collection of Netflix favorites.
... View MoreI saw the previews and promos for this movie and what really pushed me to watch it was the hip-hop sound and the fact that Tyler James Williams was apart of it, seeing as I loved him on "Everybody Hates Chris", and I told 1 of my best friends to see it and he did, but I didn't see it until tonight, pretty funny huh? Anyway, I thought this movie was well done and I found it to be incredible in story(though it was slightly predictable), the music was really sophisticated(especially coming from Walt Disney Records), the dialogue wasn't cheesy in the slightest bit, and overall it was awesome to watch. This is only the 2nd Disney channel movie where the cast was African-American and I was alright with it mainly because I've seen mostly white people on their shows(I'm not being racist it's true)so I'm glad they changed it up for this movie. I didn't like how Cyrus' father was critical towards hip-hop/rap and claiming it was considered "devil music" and that it was going against God, but his apology and turn to accept it made up for it and there were times where "Lord of Da Bling" would just mess with Cyrus and I was wishing he would just fight back and call him out with a freestyle but he didn't and that was really disappointing for me. Also Kris and Cyrus' fight I thought would've ruined their friendship for good, but I'm glad it didn't. The soundtrack was incredible and the songwriters were really good, my personal favorite songs were "Don't Run Away", "Guardian Angel" and "Moment of Truth". I expected this movie to be just OK, but it was awesome and really cool, so I give it a 9 out of 10 and it's one of the more mature and less childish and cheesy DCOMs and for the most part it didn't feel like a Disney channel movie at all. It has its flaws, just as every movie does, but those flaws weren't big enough to prevent me from enjoying it, but I don't think it was quite as good as Lemonade Mouth. This movie gets a 9/10 from me and it was great, but it clearly doesn't have sequel potential, however, these stars could easily go on tour and perform songs from the movie. Keep it up Disney!!!!!!!
... View MoreMy rating of 9 out of 10 may seem extreme, however, for what it's intended to be, this movie was very successful. My rating has a lot to do with the music from this movie, and the diversity this movie adds to Disneys offering. This movie has some of the best music and best raw talent ever produced by Disney. CoCo Jones is an amazing talent and I hope her race doesn't hinder her popularity and/or ability to shine on Disney (or anywhere else). Tyler is also talented. He has a fun actor to watch and has great voice for rap. As a 29 year old, I would definitely listen to songs from this movie outside of watching it. The writing, especially the rap, was pretty impressive for Disney. As someone who is typically 100% NOT a fan of rap, I liked the rap in this film, because the message was clean, and thoughtful and the beats were hot.I was thrilled to see Disney encourage it's minority viewers with this film. I think it says a lot about how far television has come in terms of diversity. I hope America as a whole will support this movie as well.Of course the movie is a bit cheesy at times, but it's intended to be for kids. I believe cheese and clichés in kids movies are totally fine. After all, whats cheesy and cliché to an adult is often a first time experience for a kid.The movie progressed at a decent pace, and was entertaining and engaging the whole way though.My only complaint with this movie is the church scenes. Without getting into too much detail, I would have preferred for the dad/preacher and the church scenes overall to have been a bit less nonsensical. Although I understand that again, this is for kids, so the point often has to be a bit more expressed.Overall, I am proud of Disney for making this film. I think they did a great job all around. As someone who considers themselves a connoisseur of children's film and television, I recommend this movie to any kid or family looking to have a fun, clean, yet contemporary, heartwarming musical experience. .
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