Rating summary

Movie		1.0
Video		3.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		2.5

Camp Rock Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Lindsay Mayer August 24, 2008

Disney's bizarre juggernaut of squeaky-clean teen musicals aimed at pre-adolescents continues ever onward in Camp Rock, a Disney Channel Original Movie that premiered just two months ago on 20 June. Following the like of the Cheetah Girls, Hannah Montana, the Jonas Brothers, and all the other Zac Efrons and Vanessa Hudgens spawned from the family entertainment corporation, Camp Rock is a rather weak effort, even by High School Musical standards. Serving mostly as a vehicle for the three Jonas brothers, who play the parts of over-privileged pop band Connect 3 (imagine that), the film takes most of its cues from several contemporary teen comedies such as Mean Girls. Except, of course, that it has been thoroughly watered down, smothered in forgettable pop music, and not allowed anything close to an interesting storyline.

Do... re... fa... damn! Cut!

What semblance of story that is present is so squirm-inducingly bad that it is honestly difficult to sit through. The characters are as flat as cardboard (and just about as palatable), and there are stereotypes a-plenty here, to boot. The scheming blonde antagonist, as well as the naïve, good-natured heroine and her snarky, bold friend. The mean guy with the heart of gold, check. Ethnic minorities as background filler? Check and check. Are the black kids doing, you know... black things, like hip-hop, gospel, and rap? Indeedy-do! Is there one obnoxious kid tapping on everything in sight with his drumsticks? Naturally! The plot points can be seen coming from two miles away as well, and the music is atrocious and hardly catchy. Which is quite an odd circumstance, given that Disney spent $15 million to produce a film that is supposedly centered around all the "catchy" songs in order to sell, sell, sell those soundtracks and other Camp Rock paraphernalia. I had to allow myself a wry laugh when one character angrily mentions "stupid cookie-cutter pop star stuff" - being as they, and their music, are exactly that...

The 94-minute result was a real bust, in my humble opinion. The film's protagonist is one Mitchie Torres (played by Demi Lovato), the daughter of a caterer and a hardware shop owner - two perfectly average and inconsequential occupations, naturally. Now, Mitchie loves music, and she really, really, really wants to go to a summer camp called... uh, well, Camp Rock. This is a rather high-end establishment that, for some reason, attracts lots of kids with parents who either already work in the music industry or who are simply well-to-do. Little Mitchie is, of course, the underdog, who can only afford to go to the camp because her parents have agreed to sign on as the kitchen staff. Less than five minutes into the film we've already arrived at the impossibly perfect, neatly supplied property of Camp Rock. Can't waste any time - enter the opposition! One Tess Tyler (Meaghan Jette Martin), whose mother is the successful pop star T.J. Tyler. A catty creature with golden tresses, she is accompanied by her two sycophantic back-up singers Peggy Warburton (Jasmine Richards) and Ella Shang (Anna Maria Perez de Tagle). Using her elevated status to bully others into doing her bidding (and sabotaging those who do not), Tess gets Mitchie inexplicably starry-eyed.

Soon the girls have something more to fight over than just the first prize at the musical competitions; one Shane Gray (Joe Jonas), the lead singer of Connect 3 and a spoiled diva of a boy, is forced to be a "counselor" of sorts at the camp when his bratty outbursts have resulted in a cancellation of the group's summer tour. As a consequence, Shane must work as an instructor for the music camp, which his uncle Brown Cesario (Daniel Father) founded and heads. Connect 3 will also record a song with the winner of Final Jam, the ultimate competition on the camp's last day. Mitchie, ignoring genuine comrades like "future music producer" Caitlyn Geller (Alyson Stoner), fibs her way into Tess' clique by stating her mother is the president of Hot Tunes TV in China.

Living a double life nearly all summer, Mitchie comes to be the one to soften the hard edge of Shane, and he learns to be human again and is even inspired by her singing - though in order to make things "interesting," he doesn't know it's her. He only heard her disembodied voice singing in the cafeteria in the camp's first week. Mitchie's compounding deceit becomes too much for her to handle, however, and Tess is the one to call her out on it, purposely humiliating her in front of the camp, and its big star Shane. To further dispose of competition at the Final Jam, Tess accuses Mitchie and Caitlyn of stealing her prized charm bracelet, which of course has been conveniently planted in the kitchen. Sigh.

Though banned by Brown from Final Jam, Mitchie and Caitlyn get in anyway because the camp's head was merely being cryptic in his wording. Ha! The mean blonde antagonist's dastardly plans blow up in her face, and Shane realizes the love of his life was Mitchie all along. Valuable life lessons are learned, and in the end everybody's all friends - even mean ol' Tess (who isn't mean, just misunderstood after all) and her two cronies. She and Mitchie and the token black kids all sing together in Caitlyn's makeshift music studio set in her garage. Yes, everything is sunshine and daisies... just like in real life!

The film really is not spoiled in the least by the above written. It's just that predictable, and that dull. There isn't a whole heck of a lot to recommend about Camp Rock, and it's better that it stays that way. I doubt even the biggest fans of the Jonas Brothers could get into this nonsense. It's a shame that $15 million couldn't go to a more worthwhile, imaginative venture. As it is, it feels like Disney is making a knock-off product of its own properties.

Camp Rock Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Encoded in Disney's trusty ol' AVC (averaging about 20 Mbps), Camp Rock has a decent, but not great, high definition presentation. Characters and their environments seemed overall a bit soft, and the set dressing just never has anything all that interesting to examine in the first place. Flesh tones exhibited some red push here and there, and the textures of skin and clothing weren't quite as sharp as they could have been, hence that "feel" of a soft appearance.

Colors, on the other hand, were brilliant and highly varied, due to the characters' inexplicably endless supply of outfits and costumes (isn't this supposed to be a summer camp?) The musical sequences, especially, pop from the screen, and the practically-perfect-in-every-way Disney-fied summer camp is full of vibrant tones. Blacks and shadows are hardly present (the film has that oddly-lit "soap opera" feel to it), but the levels are satisfactorily deep. The same applies to whites, which shine without blooming.

Camp Rock Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Camp Rock comes with an entire array of audio options. Featuring English, Spanish, Portuguese, and French in Dolby Digital 5.1, the film's single lossless option is a PCM 5.1 track, which is an admittedly ample and satiating mix. Despite the fact that the music itself is blah, the PCM 5.1 still does its best with what it's got. The music "stage" is mostly front heavy, but the rears and LFE channel are used just enough to flesh out the sound and make the songs amply "boomy." Dialogue is mostly restricted to the center channel, but the fronts are used here and there to follow a moving character, and the rears feature a good amount of ambiance and "wilderness noise." Over all, the sound is quite a good mix, and deserves to be commended.

Camp Rock Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Extra features on the Blu-ray Disc of Camp Rock are divided in a fashion typical to Disney's home video disc releases of the past three years or so. Categorized under Music & More and Backstage Disney, most of the material is fluff, aimed squarely at its target audience of "tween" kids. Music & More contains Music Videos for "Start the Party" and "We Rock," presented in 4x3 standard definition with Dolby Digital 5.1 sound. Sing Along With the Movie is a self-explanatory subtitle feature that displays lyrics during the run of the film for viewers to... well, sing along. Camp Rock Karaoke provides instrumentals of the film's songs as well as subtitle lyrics for viewers to try their hand at singing Camp Rock's tunes.

Backstage Disney offers up several spotlights and looks behind the scenes, all of which (save for one) are presented in standard definition with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound. That single exception is The Camp Rock Set Tour, a brief 6½ featurette hosted by Giovanni Spina, who plays drummer Andy in the film. Encoded in AVC with Dolby Stereo, Spina leads the viewer around areas such as the Classroom and Cafeteria sets, as well as the snack truck and cast trailers. The editing is very fast-paced and really does get irritating rather quickly. The tour also includes several "special appearances" by Joe Jonas, who seems baffled and really at a loss for any substantial comments without a script nearby.

The lengthiest featurette is How To be a Rock Star! - which "teaches" kids how to sing, dress, behave, practice, and even network "like a rock star." I can't begin to count how many times the phrase "rock star" was used in all of the supplement's 28 minute runtime, but it certainly was beyond overkill. Platitudes a-plenty are spouted from the various young actors' mouths, as well as extremely frivolous advice about sunglasses and having "sweet moves." In addition the typical "be cool, stay in school, say no to drugs" advice is lobbed out, as well as such savory tidbits as "you gotta schmooze." Indeed.
Jonas Brothers: Real Life Rock Stars is a 15 minute venture with the three musical siblings Kevin, Joe, and Nick Jonas, who reflect on their origins, character quirks, and share thoughts on their career and the music industry as a whole. Again, not the most mentally stimulating of segments, but something's got to pad out the disc, no?

The remainder of bonus features get a bit thin and more negligible. Introducing Demi Lovato is a 5 minute talk with the actress cast as the film's protagonist, intercut with behind-the-scenes antics. The kid is naturally all giggles and smiles and squeaky clean inoffensiveness. Naturally, she's, like, way into music, as well. Camp Memories is about 6 minutes of production photos and a handful of short video clips, all shown in a slideshow style set to 2 of the film's songs. "Hasta la Vista" – From Rehearsals to Final Jam is a quick 5 minutes following the three-week choreography process for one of the film's climactic musical sequences. "Too Cool": Setting the Scene features a brief 3½ minute look at the filming of the dusk bonfire performances for the song "Too Cool," as well as the separate cutaway audience reactions.

Wrapping up, the disc also features several Sneak Peeks for the Blu-ray release of Sleeping Beauty, the Hannah Montana concert, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Tinker Bell, and WALL•E. A general ad for Buena Vista titles Blu-ray is also present, as well as the theatrical teaser for Beverly Hills Chihuahua and a TV spot for the Disney Parks - all of which are presented in high definition.

Camp Rock Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Two dimensional characters, painfully predictable plot turns, and very vanilla music. Camp Rock is so bad, it's reduced me to using alliterative description! It really wasn't a surprise that Disney landed a bomb in their inexorable quest to cash in on the ever-so-wholesome teen musical genre, which marches onward in the autumn theatrical release of - lord help us - High School Musical 3. Aside from some purty colors, everything about the film is just too thin. The Blu-ray Disc release features good picture quality and nice full sound, but it's a pity such wonderful technology is used on dreck like this. It could be worse, but I don't know how!