After the success of the High School Musical movies, Disney
has released a new made for TV musical. Teen Beach Movie is set in the 1960s
and plays homage to surf movies of that era as well as West Side Story and
Grease.
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| source |
The film begins in
the present day with a teenage couple Brady (played by Ross Lynch) and McKenzie
or “Mack”(Maia Mitchell) who live by the
beach. When McKenzie’s mother dies, her aunt suggests that she move interstate
with her to attend a school, that her mother would have liked. Mckenzie
decides to go the school and wants to break up with Brady to avoid the
difficulties of a long distance relationship.
McKenzie goes for one last surf and Brady goes in after her when he sees the water is too dangerous. The pair gets swept up in a big wave
and are magically transported into Wet Side Story, a beach movie from the
1960s. It is a dream come true for Brady as it is his favourite movie. McKenzie
is not as impressed and tries to get out of the movie.
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| Australian actress Maia Mitchell |
Things become askew when the pair unintentionally prevents
the two lead characters from meeting and falling in love. Instead, Tanner
(Garret Clayton) falls in love with McKenzie and Lela (Grace Phipps) for Brady.
Tanner is a surfer and Lela is biker and their two groups hate each other.
Tanner and Lela are the catalyst to a turf war that needs to happen in order
for the movie to continue. Brady and McKenzie realize that they must bring
Tanner and Lela together otherwise they will be stuck in the movie forever.
I thought the film was very cute as the film is conscious of
the silliness of the plot and embraces it. Brady and Mack give off bemused
expressions when facing the quirks of Wet Side Story. My favourite example of this, is illustrated in
the scene when Mack goes surfing with Tanner. It is obvious that the actors are
standing in front of some ocean footage pretending to surf. The scene is a
reference to Gidget, the teen surfer character from the 1960s.
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| McKenzie and Tanner Surfing |
I also enjoyed the songs in the movie which were well sung
and choreographed. My favourite songs are Fallin’ for ya and Like Me. Like Me
is reminiscent of Summer Nights from the movie Grease. The song Like Me,
features the boys and girls singing about the opposite sex and ways to win them
over. The 60s characters sing old fashioned views about courtship such as
waiting for the guy to ask the girl out and how boys should always take the
lead in the relationship. Brady and McKenzie try to convince them otherwise.
I think Teen Beach Movie is a great movie to watch with kids
and preteens as well as the young at heart. It’s a fun movie for a bit of
escapism. I also learnt that the movie was successful enough that Disney have
decided to make a sequel. The sequel is supposed to be about the 60s characters
being transported to the present day. I think it would be entertaining to
watch.
I saw reruns of Gidget when I was a kid, but even without reading your review, when I saw the picture of McKenzie and Tanner in front of the ocean scene screen surfing I thought of the Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon movies like Beach Blanket Bingo.
ReplyDeleteI would like the West Side Story/ Romeo and Juliet whole star crossed lovers aspect. Mixing it with Grease is interesting and might be a challenge to pull off, but it's fitting considering the 1950s setting. I do like that it kind of pays homage to some great musicals of the past. =)