Uplifting, inspirational movie with catchy music and entertaining for kids and parents alike. Very family friendly.
160 Reviews
Very family friendly
cindyjacksoncm28 March 2021
Christian Camp Rock High School Musical
SnoopyStyle1 April 2021
Troublesome orphan Will Hawkins (Kevin Quinn) is on his last chance. He's set to go to group home until foster parent Kristin (Sherri Shepherd) volunteers to take him in. Only he has to join her and her son George at a Christian camp run by David (David Koechner). Immediately, he falls for sweetie Avery (Bailee Madison).
This Christian film is trying to be a Disney TV musical. It's not the worst idea but the first half is a dud. The lead kid is written as a prankster troublemaker but he's played like a lightweight. At most, he's lying to get the girl. He doesn't even try to run away as his first move. He's bland until the second half. Along with the movie in general, it gets better in the second half. The first half is a boring version of High School Musical. Will and Avery don't even get a good meet-cute. Their first meeting is a perfunctory love-at-first-sight moment which turns immediately to a big musical. It's a meet-perfunctory. It's not until 45 minutes when the couple has a good one-on-one heart-to-heart. From that moment on, the movie improves markedly. They even have their first good song by the campfire and they let their God flag fly. It's like the movie decides to land all the big punches at once. If Will is more of a brigand earlier, his character could have a bigger arc. If the Christianity gets let loose sooner, it could set up the internal religious conflict better. If Will and Avery have more moments quicker, they could have more punch in their emotional drama. Bailee Madison could eat up those Emmy moments if she's released. The first half is a missed opportunity.
This Christian film is trying to be a Disney TV musical. It's not the worst idea but the first half is a dud. The lead kid is written as a prankster troublemaker but he's played like a lightweight. At most, he's lying to get the girl. He doesn't even try to run away as his first move. He's bland until the second half. Along with the movie in general, it gets better in the second half. The first half is a boring version of High School Musical. Will and Avery don't even get a good meet-cute. Their first meeting is a perfunctory love-at-first-sight moment which turns immediately to a big musical. It's a meet-perfunctory. It's not until 45 minutes when the couple has a good one-on-one heart-to-heart. From that moment on, the movie improves markedly. They even have their first good song by the campfire and they let their God flag fly. It's like the movie decides to land all the big punches at once. If Will is more of a brigand earlier, his character could have a bigger arc. If the Christianity gets let loose sooner, it could set up the internal religious conflict better. If Will and Avery have more moments quicker, they could have more punch in their emotional drama. Bailee Madison could eat up those Emmy moments if she's released. The first half is a missed opportunity.
Fun teen musical
manubarriosmainou4 April 2021
good movie
shirlone10 November 2021
Will hit rock bottom when he had the choice to either go to camp or to.youth detention center. There he found friendship, love and God and family. When he first got to camp he didn't want to be there but the longer he was there the more he actually liked it. This movie might be a little cheesy but it's better than the 1 star ratings some are giving it.
Netflix Delivers Some Quality DCOM Magic
koltonbrett4 April 2022
A Week Away is High School Musical meets Camp Rock with a little bit of faith thrown in. High School Musical fans will not be able to miss the Troy Bolton likeness of the Will Hawkins character. He's got the charm and talent that's perfect for this type of role. Rather than including original songs, the music is mostly Christian classics from the 1990s. This isn't a bad thing. I grew up with these songs so it was cool hearing them in a modern musical. One of the standout moments of the whole movie is the mashup of the songs Awesome God and the more recent hit, God Only Knows by For King and Country. This movie is a wholesome, feel-good experience. Is the lip-syncing great? No. Is it cheesy? Yes. But is it also lighthearted and fun? Absolutely. It captured a lot of the elements of church camp. There's lots of flirting, lots of competitive recreation, and of course, drama. The only noticeable thing missing from this church camp compared to the church camps I grew up attending, is the Bible study and worship sessions. The faith element is mostly kept in the background. While there are some deep questions that come up regarding God and the problem of suffering, this movie never tries to answer these questions. The story moves very quickly. With all the fun musical and dance numbers, there isn't a lot of time for character development. It's a simple story that isn't very ambitious, but it is likable. Teens should especially enjoy it.
These Films Can Be Better
jmforsyth-3329127 March 2021
Christian films are always a bit of a tough one for me. I understand the value of providing family friendly content but honestly the Christian film industry has so much work to do. The movie is fine I guess - it's a safe watch and parents won't have their finger on the clicker worried about scary or inappropriate content which for some will be enough. But it shouldn't be.
Christian movies can't get a free pass because they mention God in it when the storytelling, editing, acting, continuity, etc. Is below average. It's not fair to take Camp Rock or High School Musical and "Christianize" them and say it's a great film. We (associating myself with the faith community here) unfortunately do this all the time though. It doesn't work. The bar can be so much higher and it should be expected to be. Taking existing stories and giving them the slightest alteration isn't even a "faith-film" problem, the same issue of taking an existing movie almost exactly and giving it a slight remix happens in more mainstream properties as well (i.e. Making all the ghostbusters female) but when that happens with a large studio film it understandably goes through the wringer by its audience.
Here's an example of the difference in expectation for creative output between a faith film and a "mainstream" one: For instance, if a Disney Channel musical just took a bunch of popular tracks and used them in their movie rather than writing original, fun, pieces it wouldn't be accepted. People would put it on blast. This movie took existing Christian songs and "bopped" them up for many of their musical numbers, and I haven't seen anyone bothered by that. It's not the end of the world of course - I'm just using it as an illustration of the low bar Christian movies are able to operate with.
I think it's okay to hold faith movies to a high standard of story-telling and creativity. Sometimes it feels like christian movies can cut corners because the intended audience will give them a break no matter what because it's "family friendly." It's too bad.
Christian movies can't get a free pass because they mention God in it when the storytelling, editing, acting, continuity, etc. Is below average. It's not fair to take Camp Rock or High School Musical and "Christianize" them and say it's a great film. We (associating myself with the faith community here) unfortunately do this all the time though. It doesn't work. The bar can be so much higher and it should be expected to be. Taking existing stories and giving them the slightest alteration isn't even a "faith-film" problem, the same issue of taking an existing movie almost exactly and giving it a slight remix happens in more mainstream properties as well (i.e. Making all the ghostbusters female) but when that happens with a large studio film it understandably goes through the wringer by its audience.
Here's an example of the difference in expectation for creative output between a faith film and a "mainstream" one: For instance, if a Disney Channel musical just took a bunch of popular tracks and used them in their movie rather than writing original, fun, pieces it wouldn't be accepted. People would put it on blast. This movie took existing Christian songs and "bopped" them up for many of their musical numbers, and I haven't seen anyone bothered by that. It's not the end of the world of course - I'm just using it as an illustration of the low bar Christian movies are able to operate with.
I think it's okay to hold faith movies to a high standard of story-telling and creativity. Sometimes it feels like christian movies can cut corners because the intended audience will give them a break no matter what because it's "family friendly." It's too bad.
Christian Camp Rock with the boys of HSM
timikebuda4 April 2021
I quess it says all. (But I can't save reviews this short so..)
For a few minutes I thought the main character was Zac Efron. To make it more like HSM there was a somtemies naughty blonde boy and the afroamerican best buddy of the main character. It takes place in the Camp Rock with a strong christian atmsophere and no rival camp.
To sum up it was an okay teenager movie with catchy music, so I give 7/10.
For a few minutes I thought the main character was Zac Efron. To make it more like HSM there was a somtemies naughty blonde boy and the afroamerican best buddy of the main character. It takes place in the Camp Rock with a strong christian atmsophere and no rival camp.
To sum up it was an okay teenager movie with catchy music, so I give 7/10.
It's fine.
larrybelieverlife29 March 2021
I've been an atheist since I was 8 years old. I went to a Christian summer camp growing up despite that and I loved it. Some of my happiest memories are from that camp. However, I didn't go into this film with the knowledge of it being a Christian film. I thought it'd be just a cute summer camp movie. Imagine my surprise when I was blasted by a God worshipping song within the first 7 minutes. Even with my discomfort, I stuck around and finished the film. While I don't agree with the heavy religious stuff it was still pretty nice. I won't be showing it to any kids anytime soon but for teenagers who already have their own beliefs, I think this is a good film. Definitely something cute to have on in the background.
Breath of fresh air!
coryandkelly27 March 2021
Surprisingly Unsucky
homerhoff3 April 2021
This is Camp Rock for the church crowd with a dash of High School Musical sprinkled in (the two leads will remind you of Troy and Gabriella). You'll especially love the movie if you were into Christian music in the late 80's and 90's (there are even a couple of artist cameos for you).
I am a Christian, but my eyes get sore watching Christian movies because I'm rolling them so hard. They're very typically over-earnest, heavy-handed, and usually far-right in sentiment. One Week Away is none of these things, and if you like Camp Rock you'll enjoy this movie too, whether you appreciate the churchy message or not. The themes are universal: love, redemption, belonging, and the characters play through the themes without being schlocky - or at least more schlocky than any teen musical. I like that Will asks the hard questions that Christians are often afraid to ask, and there's no ready answer for him.
There are many things to criticize - the acting is at times uneven and the music isn't for everyone (although the showstopper is the Awesome God/God Only Knows mashup - brilliant performance), but the movie was short and fun and a very pleasant trip down memory lane for me. Worth watching, and worth watching with the kids.
I am a Christian, but my eyes get sore watching Christian movies because I'm rolling them so hard. They're very typically over-earnest, heavy-handed, and usually far-right in sentiment. One Week Away is none of these things, and if you like Camp Rock you'll enjoy this movie too, whether you appreciate the churchy message or not. The themes are universal: love, redemption, belonging, and the characters play through the themes without being schlocky - or at least more schlocky than any teen musical. I like that Will asks the hard questions that Christians are often afraid to ask, and there's no ready answer for him.
There are many things to criticize - the acting is at times uneven and the music isn't for everyone (although the showstopper is the Awesome God/God Only Knows mashup - brilliant performance), but the movie was short and fun and a very pleasant trip down memory lane for me. Worth watching, and worth watching with the kids.
I wish I could give zero stars
backupjudith29 March 2021
I was looking forward to a light feel-good movie but this was just the complete worst. Save your time. It is so stereotypical, lame plot and for my taste too over-religious. I really despise the narrative of the movie as it is ignoring so many issues which go hand in hand with religion.
Good Family Movie
kemil072828 March 2021
Good fun though predictable
cyclingreimagined5 March 2022
I tried
jeremythomas-6312027 March 2021
I tried, I really tried. I wanted to like it. I just couldn't.
Story has been done so many times before.
Was nice to hear songs I already knew done in a different way but they weren't written for the purpose. Therefore, they just didn't quite fit.
Just like this movie unfortunately. It just doesn't fit.
Why do Christian movies have to be over the top cheese-fests?
Over eager acting, over eager choreography, over eager production.
As another review staid, "we can do better."
Story has been done so many times before.
Was nice to hear songs I already knew done in a different way but they weren't written for the purpose. Therefore, they just didn't quite fit.
Just like this movie unfortunately. It just doesn't fit.
Why do Christian movies have to be over the top cheese-fests?
Over eager acting, over eager choreography, over eager production.
As another review staid, "we can do better."
a peacefilled chime...
ops-5253526 March 2021
Towards the power and spirits of heaven up abovedly satisfaction, a drama like taken out of the holy scripts, happening on a youth summer camp out in the heavenly fields of akkenbom somewhere rural and desolate , near a lake as usual for summer camps in the usa, where everybody, even their opponents and competition of the socalled wargames of the summer camp are nice and cheerful against each other, and where the singalong songs comes everytime some of the main cast takes the high note, and everybody joins the chorusline, bouncing around like electrified newly saved souls of heavenly bliss high on coke(the drink) buzzing around like busy bees, a physical spirit that may asphycsiate a grumpy old man due to exhaustion.
So a religious romantic drama it is , with captivating music and lyrics, and as mentioned extremely intens dancing and jubalong. The acting though is barely average, its more the whole concept of baptismic joy and the returning prodigal son coming home to ''his'' congregation instead of juvenile detention, spiced up with extremely good timing on the filmographic and musical score edition, and i clap my hand for the correographic work done , and a vividly visual and auditorial good product made.
So this film will either entice you or not, good mood and no expectation is a good way to view a film like this, and even though the lack of story originality its well worth a try even christian or not. I'm just a grumpy old man that dont usually like musicals and religious loaded stuff, but this took me as a stormy gust on the ocean that pulled me well into the playtime before i even considered anything. So a feelgood story on a friday evening it is, even though the laws of coronabehaviour is totally forgotten here. So keep the kissing, hugging and handshakes at a mileage distance, and do not do the duetts face to face rather back to back... inhalationistic duets is the new trend my friend.
So a facinating film for the whole family, enjoy...
So a religious romantic drama it is , with captivating music and lyrics, and as mentioned extremely intens dancing and jubalong. The acting though is barely average, its more the whole concept of baptismic joy and the returning prodigal son coming home to ''his'' congregation instead of juvenile detention, spiced up with extremely good timing on the filmographic and musical score edition, and i clap my hand for the correographic work done , and a vividly visual and auditorial good product made.
So this film will either entice you or not, good mood and no expectation is a good way to view a film like this, and even though the lack of story originality its well worth a try even christian or not. I'm just a grumpy old man that dont usually like musicals and religious loaded stuff, but this took me as a stormy gust on the ocean that pulled me well into the playtime before i even considered anything. So a feelgood story on a friday evening it is, even though the laws of coronabehaviour is totally forgotten here. So keep the kissing, hugging and handshakes at a mileage distance, and do not do the duetts face to face rather back to back... inhalationistic duets is the new trend my friend.
So a facinating film for the whole family, enjoy...
Loads of singing and religion
deniesmock27 March 2021
It was predictable.
aggelousia7 April 2021
It's a Christian musical movie. I adore musical movies so I decided to watch it even I knew it's gonna be boring with not so wow songs. The first I love about musicals is the songs. But this one has not so good songs, it's a little be boring. I think thaht I'm too old ( 18) for this movie. I would suggest that for children 10-16 years old.
Same old thing, with a God thrown in.
mrlmann129 March 2021
This plot has been done over and over and over again. Only this time, they had to throw God in the mix. Songs and dancing were okay, plot has been done and has been done, much, much better than this film. The overall plot was corny and bland and the acting was overdone and as corny as the plot. There was really no climax to the film and the so called villain of the film, was very weak. I really did not really care about any of the characters, nether to like or dislike. In addition, I don't mind Christianity in an film, but I would like to know beforehand. Putting "Family" in description does not tell me it's a Christian film or faith based film. I also don't care to have it dominate the film. Overall the film was drab, very predictable and uneventful.
Family friendly
meacree27 March 2021
I thought this would be a cheesy teen/kid movie; however, it was very nostalgic for me since I was a 90s kid who grew up being involved in church. Loved that it highlighted what the camp experience is like for a teenager.
Troy Bolton meets Mitchie meets God
gg250723 May 2021
I'm pretty sure the people behind this movie are, like me, huge High School Musical fans. They kinda remade it in a Christian Camp Rock context just to shake things up. The protagonist acting is like a copy of Zac Efron's Troy, the resemblance is amazing actually. The songs are not that catchy but they are all fun and the acting from the main girl is pretty good. I do think that some things felt way too rushed tho (especially at the beginning and at the climax, which are some of the most important parts of any movie).
It won't go down in history as a teen musical classic but I would still recommend it if you just want to appreciate some cliche cute story with a couple of good songs!
It won't go down in history as a teen musical classic but I would still recommend it if you just want to appreciate some cliche cute story with a couple of good songs!
It's eh...
moraleswillow6 June 2021
The music in this really isn't that bad, but when I watched the trailer I thought it was something different. I'm not really that religious and I honestly felt pretty uncomfortable while watching this. I stuck it through, but like another review said I wouldn't have anyone too young who doesn't already have there own beliefs watch this. (Again I didn't know it was religious until I started watching it, which is annoying)
Very good
lozza1201126 March 2021
Easy to watch family movie. People review movies like this as if the movie is trying to win oscars. The purpose of these types of netflix movies is to be a relaxing heartfelt watch, which this movie did an excellent job at. Acting performances were strong and the songs were far better than I had expected.
Good Music
Star20-749505 April 2021
I liked this film. It was lighthearted and upbeat. Its not a cinematic masterpiece but it is something fun to do for 1.5 hrs. The plot most falls flat except when Bailee Madison and Kevin Quinn have scenes together. However, I really like the music. I know a lot of it is revamped songs that already exist but the originals they did have were pretty good and I like the songs they used from other artists. The soundtrack overall is very very catchy. This movie is not awesome but definitely good for what it is.
Also, I have seen a number of review that are annoyed that there was no warning that it is a Christian film. Well, its not like there is explicit language or something bad so they don't really need a warning but even without one, it is obvious in the first 5 minutes that its a Christian film with worship music. If you don't want to watch it then just turn it off.
Also, I have seen a number of review that are annoyed that there was no warning that it is a Christian film. Well, its not like there is explicit language or something bad so they don't really need a warning but even without one, it is obvious in the first 5 minutes that its a Christian film with worship music. If you don't want to watch it then just turn it off.
Fun. Not groundbreaking, but fun.
shine6710 February 2024
I figured this would be a teen musical with some religious references and average acting, and that's what I got, BUT I didn't expect the kids voices to be so good. The dialogue was expectedly fun and cheesy (if not always clever) without smacking you over the head with god, BUT the choreography was very spirited. (No pun intended, seriously just thought that's the best word to describe it.) The rapport between the 2 main guys was excellent, the lead actor and actress had decent chemistry, and the second lead actress was charming. Only the "villian" guy annoyed me due to a cliche character and hammy acting.
I'm not religious at all, not one iota, but I don't come down on others if that's what they choose to believe, and one of the best things about this movie is even with all the references, I didn't feel like it was trying to convert me. There are MANY mainstream movies with god messages equal to this, where characters pray to be saved or forgiven. My point is, I don't want people to be turned off by the religious aspect of this. They'd be missing out on a fun, cheesy, uplifting, sweet, silly movie.
I'm not religious at all, not one iota, but I don't come down on others if that's what they choose to believe, and one of the best things about this movie is even with all the references, I didn't feel like it was trying to convert me. There are MANY mainstream movies with god messages equal to this, where characters pray to be saved or forgiven. My point is, I don't want people to be turned off by the religious aspect of this. They'd be missing out on a fun, cheesy, uplifting, sweet, silly movie.
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