Teen Beach Movie (2013 TV Movie) User Reviews

accuracy not necessary

[AStrangeOldMan · 7/10 · 1 August 2013]

Having been alive for the original beach movies (with stars like Fabian, Annette Funicello, Frankie Avalon, et al) it is hard not to bring a pretty jaundiced eye to anything that attempts to reproduce the naïve silliness that these films represented in their innocent lack of any serious content.

If you drop your 21st Century cynicism for a bit, Disney did it with this.

Not only did they nail the hyperactive, pun-filled, sight-gag filled recklessness of the originals, (minus most of the pretty-overt sexual content of many of those films) they did it using a storyline that managed to both echo and enhance the original beach films.

Being an early 60's and 'surf music nut', I was more than surprised how close the orchestrations and choral pieces managed to channel the infectious fun of those old tunes - or maybe I'm just being nostalgic for a simpler time.

I recognized all of those old tropes from every film mined for the 'plot' and every song mined for the structure of the film's. Maybe I'm just missing those old simpler days, but I was more than pleased.

People who complain about this film obviously have forgotten that the originals were never 'Academy Award' material (remember "The Monkey's Uncle"?). They were silly, weightless fantasy, and "Teen Beach Movie" (from the company that gave us Beach-Film queen, Annette) follows that tradition without impugning or complicating it. It is what it is advertised to be: silly, harmless summer fun.

There are very few films that I can totally recommend without reservation to both my 92 year old mother and my 10 year old neighbor - and this is one; my mother for the nostalgic look back at a sweeter, more innocent time, and my neighbor for a painless history lesson.

Disney's crystal-ball gazers hit it again - proved by their numbers this week. I don't know how they do it.

Really catchy and fun to watch.

[Shopaholic35 · 7/10 · 4 July 2015]

This is a mix of Dirty Dancing, Grease and Cry Baby (any Johnny Depp fans will know what I'm talking about). I find nothing wrong with this movie at all. It's trying to recreate a genre that was forgotten about for quite a while and honestly they have done a pretty good job. Sure it's a little bit silly and the storyline is rather vapid but that is the point. It's supposed to be imitating something not creating something new and groundbreaking.

It probably helps that I personally enjoy musicals but I wouldn't recommend it to someone who is a bit more serious. The songs are fun, dorky yet pretty catchy...I dare you to not start singing along. Overall I think it's another decent movie from the team at Disney original movies.

Not Bad At All.

[Rascutin · 7/10 · 26 September 2014]

Good storyline (a used one though), great actors and actresses, excellent costumes, beautiful film location, and catchy songs. The TBM was like a combination of the movies Back To The Future, 17 Again, and West Side Story. I had never really been a huge fan of Ross Lynch before so I had no idea how good this movie was going to be. As I was listening to Ross speaking, I didn't find his voice to be "attractive". But then everybody broke out into singing and I was amazed! I later found out that Ross was the lead singer of a band with his two brothers, sister, and close friend called R5 and now I'm a fan. Anyway, TBM was a great little movie. Can't wait for the sequel! 7/10 stars.

Just as corny as you'd think it was

[Ddey65 · 6/10 · 17 August 2013]

When I first heard about this movie, the first half of Austin & Ally Season one was pretty much finished, and I thought Disney was just milking Ross Lynch's fame for another "High School Musical" sequel. Thank God my earlier perceptions turned out to be false. Instead, this DCOM spoofed early-1960's Beach Party flicks, the kinds of movies that came out before the majority of Disney Channel viewers were ever born, and that were on the verge of decline when I was born. So while I naturally was concerned that the intended audience may not get it and would only be interested in it because of Lynch, I still realized this was going to be as corny as all hell, and I was proved right. For the record, yes kids; these movies did have ridiculous cartoon villains like Les Camembert and Dr. Fusion and characters with corny names like "Giggles," and battles between surfers and biker gangs with ridiculous names like "The Rodents," who spoke in 1930's Lower East Side white gangster dialects, even though none of the gang members have ever been east of Arizona.

Brady (Lynch) and MacKenzie (Maia Mitchell) are a contemporary California surfing boyfriend and girlfriend who are having a fun summer and are anticipating the ultimate waves, even as she anticipates and dreads a potential prep school trip that may end their relationship. When Brady isn't surfing, one of the things he likes to do is watch an early-1960's beach party movie called "Wet Side Story," which is obviously "West Side Story" moved to the west coast. Brady and MacKenzie's grandfather(Barry Bostwick) love the movie in spite of the corniness of it and others like it, while Mac herself ridicules the whole thing. I love her general attitude towards it throughout most of the movie.

When Brady and Mac's grandpa notice a storm coming, Brady tries to rescue her, but they both wipe out and end up in his favorite movie. They catch the cast performing the opening theme "Surf Crazy," and Brady is more than eager to join in while Mac's REALLY not into it. After the theme, the surfers hang out at a local beach bar & grille called "Big Momma's" and that local biker gang I mentioned earlier barges in and wants to take it over. The leader of this gang is named Butchy (John DeLuca), and his way of telling the surfers how things are going to go down is done in the form of a song. Brady sees Butchy and his gang perform the song "Cruzin' for a Bruzin'" then jumps in and completely takes it over, and nobody questions it. Actually, I'd go so far as to say it's Ross himself taking over, because I almost could swear he broke character the same way Charlie Chaplin did at the end of "The Great Dictator." Again, the movie is a west-coast surfing version of "West Side Story," so it involves the head surfer (Garrett Clayton) and the sister of the leader of the pack (Grace Phipps) falling in love during a musical number. But while the two real life lovers are arguing about how to get out of the movie, they end up falling into the arms of the characters in the movie, and completely change the whole thing. Both now realize they're in deep doo-doo and have to change everything back to the way it was.

Later on, they find the evil villains working in an abandoned lighthouse. where a real estate tycoon (Steve Valentine), and a mad scientist (Kevin Chamberlin) are using a weather machine to screw up the beach so they can take it over and build a resort hotel. "And this thing never won an Oscar." Oh, Maia, you have the best lines. Of course, Brady and Mac spend much of the movie trying to get the two fictional star-crossed lovers back together with little success. Mac is invited to the Rodent girls slumber party, and as they're all dressing up for their boyfriends, she introduces them to a new concept; Asking the guy you like out yourself. Brady also tries to hang out with the surfers to talk Tanner into not letting the fact that Lela's a biker-girl keep him from going out with her. This sets up another musical number that's some have described as being reminiscent of "Grease" which is a little disturbing, but it still plays up how phony the whole scene is, especially during the bridge of the song. As for me, I'm more into girls who look like Mac... before they gave her the biker-girl makeover.

As if it doesn't get far-fetched enough for our heroine, she suddenly realizes the movie itself is forcing her to sing a song. "Can't Stop Singing" is one of the highlights of the movie reflecting how ridiculous the whole thing is. This is one of the points I think many detractors are missing. It's not meant to be "Citizen Kane," "To Kill a Mockingbird," or "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," and like the kinds of movies it's making fun of, none of them really were. While not without flaws of it's own, it's just a fun TV movie that happens to be a loving parody of a genre of movies that were around before cable TV existed. So don't fret. Just see it for what it is.

A very cute Disney musical throw-back to the 1960s beach blanket movies.

[TxMike · 12 August 2014]

I am a product of the 1950s and 1960s, I remember the fun we had back then and I remember the 1960s beach blanket movies. This one re-visits that time with a "Pleasantville" type of twist to it.

The premise is set up during the first 16 minutes, two teenagers become boyfriend and girlfriend after a summer of fun and surfing in California (filmed in Puerto Rico). She is about to be sent off to an east coast private finishing school to fulfill her late mother's wishes, and wants to get one last, big wave in. That is when it happens!

Riding the special surfboard with the waves getting dangerous and the boy taking a jet ski out to rescue her, they both surface to very calm water. They soon figure out they have been magically transported, along with the surf board, back 50 years into the boy's favorite 1960s beach movie, the fictional "Wet Side Story." It's the bikers vs the surfers for the control of the favorite hangout. So he recognizes all the characters and the musical numbers, he is thrilled and all she wants to do it get back to present time. Not much different from the kids in "Pleasantville."

In fact, as it develops it has both a "Pleasantville" and a "Back to the Future" sensibility, as the new kid saves the girl from falling off a stage and in the process subverts the script in the movie. So part of their task becomes to get the two main characters back together. Much as Witherspoon's character did in "Pleasantville", the girl from the present tells the girls for the 1960s that they have choices, they can do what they want to do, even surf or ask a boy out.

The boy from the present is Ross Lynch as Brady and the girl from the present is Australian Maia Mitchell playing a believable American teen, McKenzie or Mack as she is mostly called. Grace Phipps is the cute, innocent biker girl from the 1960s Lela, and Garrett Clayton is the cute, innocent surfer teen from the 1960s Tanner. All of the kids are capable singers and dancers.

Barry Bostwick has a nice small role as Big Poppa, Mack's grandfather who builds surf boards.

I found it totally fun to watch, with its playing on the time-travel themes and real people influencing characters in a movie.

Then there is the very short scene during the credits, somehow the 1960s kids showed up on the beach in present time, and are taken aback by modern styles and the cell phone that talks to you!

Sucked

[summerfabows · 2/10 · 20 July 2013]

Acting was horrible! Ross Lynch did a terrible job, but I expected it from watching Austin & Ally. Maia Mitchell was okay, the music was meh, but the story and everything and plot was so bad I just wanted to stop watching. I expected this movie to be bad, but not as bad as I thought. How did it even get to a 6? It was one of the worst movies I've watched, but the trailers made it very appealing even though it doesn't deserve it. I hope they think better before they spend money on crap like this. Also, the story was actually pretty okay, but it's completely insulting to an actual good movie, West Side Story. They kind of rushed into it, and Ross Lynch is just HORRIBLE i have to repeat.

546th Review: Very Solid Tweenies Movie With Song & Surf...and Post-Modernity?!

[intelearts · 7/10 · 21 July 2013]

TBM is a movie about being in a movie - as our two stars find themselves going from 2012 back to 1962 and becoming part of a Teen Beach Movie.

This is good solid Disney fare - it looks very Disney - the colors are bright, the mood is up, the song and dance numbers are beyond professional etc; and it is fun - it's fun because we know that they know that we know that this movie in a movie (if you're still with me) - it all just works well.

There is more going here than just a time travel surf movie - there is a real homage and detailing to those Sixties movies that is surprising. Our kids loved it and so did we - on one level its a fun summer movie for kids with dance and innocent romance, on a level it has something to say about film and roles - surprising!

I have never seen a worse movie.

[chimpette · 1/10 · 21 July 2013]

For a tl;dr, I'll put it at the beginning: This movie makes High School Musical and Camp Rock look like Hollywood blockbusters.

I didn't expect it to be good. First, let us compare it to High School Musical - the "original" teen musical movie that Disney created. When HSM came out back in 2006 (or was it 2005? I'm too lazy to check), I thought it would be bad. I wasn't expecting great things at all. However, I was pleasantly surprised when I watched it. HSM 2 was good as well, my family actually watched it together. HSM 3 wasn't as good, but it wasn't bad, and it was a good ending to the series.

Camp Rock was their next attempt. It wasn't as good as HSM, but it was watchable. Camp Rock 2 was monumentally worse than Camp Rock 1, but again, it was still watchable.

I watched this "Teen Beach Movie" on Friday hoping to be pleasantly surprised like some other Disney movies. I was incredibly disappointed.

Terrible acting: the movie exemplifies the "overacting" that Disney is heading towards with their trash TV shows like ANT Farm. Hannah Montana has award-winning acting compared to this trainwreck of a movie. You guys thought Miley over-acts in HM? Well this movie has like 500x worse overacting. It is legitimately painful to watch.

Predictable plot with minimal development: It makes High School Musical look like a Hollywood blockbuster.

Horrible characters: Such bad acting and flat characters. Not fun to watch.

Mediocre music: I was really excited for a Grease-esque feel. I was disappointed. The songs were cheesy and didn't sound good at all.

Bad dancing: It makes the High School musical cast look like professional Broadway dancers. The dancing is so simplistic and bland. That's something that these Disney movies strive for, and it was just trash. For sure they won't be able to make a "dance along" version for this one.

No emotional attachment or feeling: After the movie, I was left with just a sour taste in my mouth. Just a "that sucked" feeling. I didn't feel engaged at all. It was just so stale and bland.

This movie simply felt like a platform for Ross Lynch to promote himself. I can't say enough times how bad it was.

I'm 19 years and male. I still watch High School Musical when it's on. I'll watch Camp Rock if I'm in the mood. But this? This movie was a heaping, steamy pile of trash. Terrible plot, terrible characters, terrible music, and no feelings evoked at all.

Disney has truly fallen into the gutter...

Amazing movie for disney lol

[b-Aslmand · 10/10 · 1 June 2020]

I've always loved this movie for so long and I have watched it at least 20 times. This movie deserves better ratings!!! The songs and choreography are so good. And of course this movie will be a little cheesy since it's a Disney movie. I don't know why I am writing this but ok. I want a Teen Beach 3 since the ending of the second one was really bad.

Goofy

[brookenichole-98054 · 7/10 · 9 July 2020]

This movie is cheesy. It has okay acting and an interesting story but the music is what really won me over. They're upbeat and filled with fun. They're the type of songs that make you want to dance and are super catchy. The characters were not great. I didn't feel a connection to any of them. It's a fun summer movie but it does not compare to High School Musical or Lemonade Mouth.

Anyone notice?

[melaniethecat · 1/10 · 26 June 2015]

Has anyone else noticed this movie is a mixture of Pleasantville, HSM and Grease. Well a wannabe of those movies? When I turned it on I couldn't believe how much it reminded me of Pleasantville. Getting trapped within a movie where the guy knows the movie front to back sounds a lot like how the male character in Pleasantville and his sister get stuck in the T.V. show he knows front to back. Then the girls sleepover come on stop trying to imitate Grease. This will never be HSM, Pleasantville or Grease. Get more creative and maybe you'll have a winner in the future. In the meantime stop stealing other movies ideas.

love it

[mikelela19 · 10/10 · 17 March 2014]

I did have very high expectations for this movie, but on a rainy afternoon, I thought 'eh why not?' Here's why not: It was good. the costumes where hot, the accents where good not bad , and the songs where so cool for the 60's. good turns not bad tunes , good lyrics and it seemed like Maia Ross and Grace where the only people who could actually sing. And then there's the acting. So,so good. I have never been a huge Ross Lynch fan, and this movie popped my respect for his acting to an all time high. the only reason I gave this movie a 10 (a blessing) is because I was genuinely fond of Maia Mitchell as 'Mack.' I thought her acting was very good, as was her singing. I would love to see her in anything else besides, you know, this. To sum it up, do good Disney movies on Disney channel .

Songs and dances are great, but the story could have used a little help.

[rachel13-761-333329 · 7/10 · 18 August 2013]

Disney is pretty good at coming up with unique ideas for their TV movies. Some of them turn out great, like "Camp Rock", while others are just too cheesy and not worth watching. I had high expectations for this one, because the idea of two characters getting stuck in an old movie (a '60s one, at that) and having the movie characters fall for them sounded like it would definitely hold one's interest and it would be hard to go wrong.

I was really impressed with the songs and the choreography. Both were fantastic, and the style definitely screamed '60s, in a good way. The costumes were great, which made the dance numbers especially fun to watch. But the story itself was weak in places.

First of all, it's really confusing how Mack and Brady, the two main characters, even find themselves stuck in the 1962 movie Wet Side Story. Did it have something to do with the magical glowing surfboard? The surfboard was never even fully explained, unless I missed something. And after Tanner and Lela fall for the wrong people, Mack and Brady, they apparently magically realize that they are meant for each other while singing "Meant to Be", but I was expecting Mack and Brady to have to come up with something more creative to get the right people with the right people. They had said they needed to get them to spend more time together, so I guess that's what they were trying to do by telling them to meet them at the beach and then ditching them, but that whole sequence just seems muddled and rushed. I was hoping for Brady and Mack to have to find a more creative way to solve the problem, or maybe tell Tanner and Lela they were actually from the future. That would have made things more interesting as opposed to, "Uh...I'm not who you think I am...". Also, there were times in between songs where it felt like the movie just dragged. It could have used a little dose of humor.

Lastly, no offense to Maia Mitchell, but I felt that her character (Mack) was just overly moody throughout the whole movie. She just never seemed happy, and it kind of brought the fun, happy mood down at the wrong times.

Oh, and, no kiss?! The movie would have felt a lot more complete if Brady and Mack kissed, just saying.

Despite the flaws, it's a fun movie, and believe me, the songs will be stuck in your head for days.

I fell asleep

[artsycutie · 3/10 · 19 July 2020]

I feel like this movie makes no sense unless you have watched west side story before. Also, I'm not a huge fan or musicals, so it felt like I was watching one really long music video, and I don't really enjoy watching music videos much either

Fun, corny musical.

[jebert1066 · 7/10 · 14 November 2013]

If you liked the 60's beach movies, Grease and HSM, you might like this too.

Reviewers who want character development, award winning acting and such should lighten up! This is a spoof of the corny, tongue in cheek "Beach" movies of the 60's.

My 7 year old daughter loved the dancing and musical numbers, as did I. It's very corny, the music and dance numbers were surprisingly good. The wardrobe and hair were exactly as goofy as kid might see them if they saw the 60's films now.

It's a fun, entertaining, corny (get it), harmless film....watch it, expect nothing, enjoy it for what is!!

Very very very very very poor

[titanspride52 · 1/10 · 4 December 2014]

This appeared to be promising as a movie to make fun of musicals the result however is a bunch of garbage. The story it's self is OK it's about a girl named Mackenzie, or Mack meets a boy Brady they go surfing and get suck into a huge way(sorry if I screw up the story a bit it's been a year since I've seen it). They arrive in a surfers movie called Teen beach movie. Here they meet some motorcyclists and beach goers(I can't remember what they are called). It starts going in a romeo and Juliet direction by trying to get one of the beach bums and a motorcyclist to go out. But then takes an odd turn with an evil scientist who tries to make a volcano erupt to destroy the island. Now for the review, the movie begins OK, but drops in goodness every second, the first problem is the music. Completely annoying and lyrics a new born could right. Secondly, the acting while not awful it isn't that good either, they try way too hard to be funny. And forget about actually acting. This is just my personal opinion though.

Not too bad

[SanteeFats · 6/10 · 20 July 2013]

Since this a Disney flick it of course has a preponderance of younglings. Every one in this movie is good looking and athletic, not like in the real old time beach movies. A lot of dancing and songs. I find it nice that the girl (Maia Mitchell) is the one who starts out with the gotta get back attitude. The singing is well done and the dancing is first rate. I have never seen so many good looking and well groomed bikers as there are in this one. When Brady and Mac cause the wrong people to fall in love things go outside the original movie plot of the sub-movie that they have gotten into. Of course all ends well. Bertram from Jessie even appears in this show which is not bad. it is good to see character actors doing other roles.

This is awful. 1/10

[pehhast06 · 1/10 · 22 July 2013]

This is just awful. AWFUL. Disney Channel have been going down a slippery slope recently, and this just proves how bad it has actually become. This movie has the worst plot line I've ever heard of. They are surfing, they get stuck in a wave, and are then in a movie. They then have to converse with the most annoying characters, with even more annoying names. The musical numbers are bland and shrill, even Disney Channel watchers will struggle to like them. None of these points emphasize how BORING this movie is. It is mostly just the protagonists arguing over what they should do. How someone could enjoy this is beyond me. Instead of making these films, Disney Channel should be showing good kids movies, like Ghostbusters, Home Alone and the like. If I can stop someone from seeing this movie, I have done my job. Watch something that will not bring your IQ down.

love it

[amyfarrington10 · 10/10 · 1 July 2014]

Surfer girl McKenzie and her boyfriend Brady are having a perfect summer together. McKenzie tries to tell something to Brady multiple times. Through out the intro, she keeps trying to tell him but he isn't listening. Brady and Big Poppa are watching Wet Side Stroy a movie from 1962. After explaining the plot it is shown that Brady loves the movie but McKenzie hates it. Suddenly Antoinette, Mack's aunt comes and tells to Brady that McKenzie has to leave to a school and leave everything behind. When having her last surf a big wave comes. Brady tries to save her or so he thinks. Crushed by the wave they woke up in another beach and during the first song they find out they are in Brady's favorite movie, the classic surf movie musical, Wet Side Story. After the first song they get suddenly to Big Momma with clothes changed on their own. There the surfers have fun until the biker gang named Rodents come. Arguing the bikers do their song and Brady enthusiastic joins in. After that Tanner caught McKenzie who was about to fall while Lela falls into Brady's arms while she was singing. Then the surfers and bikers don't know what to do. They understand that they messed up the movie as Lela had to fall in Tanner's arms and instead Lela fell love with Brady and Tanner is in love with Mack. They try to make them understand they are not meant to be. Both fail and so they change spots. Brady spends a night relaxing with Tanner while McKenzie spends a night with the bikers girls and spends time with Lela.once again they fail. Going out the tower they find the evil guys and their plan. Later McKenzie hears from Lela about her dream to surf and so Mack tells Brady that shes gonna wait the next morning Lelasgonna be at the beach waiting for Brady. She also asks Tanner to go next morning but after seeing the plan of the evil guys at work rushes to find Brady. When they meet they break into a song against their dream.Suddenly the evil guys capture them. Tanner and Lela meet near their and they understand that the evil guys kidnapped their friends and also their plan. They manage to unite bikers and surfers and head to the tower. After a comical battle the evil guys are blasted away and they all return suddenly to the beach

One of the better Disney Channel movies

[tbcw-32927 · 6/10 · 19 August 2021]

This movie was alright for the most part. Wasn't entirely good but wasn't entirely bad either. It's been a good while since I've seen it but from what I remember it was pretty decent.

a cautionary tale - never spoof a spoof

[A_Different_Drummer · 1/10 · 25 October 2013]

The astonishing success of High School Musical in 2006 , which successfully blended the musicality of the old MGM movies with a contemporary tale of teenagers trying to find themselves, is made all the more astonishing by the simple fact that this movie was ever made. TEEN BEACH MOVIE is nothing more and nothing less than a "cautionary tale," cataloguing in one short but still extremely painful film all the things that can wrong if you actually make a movie without having a clue what you are doing. As the "dedication" off the top makes abundantly clear, the film is meant to be some sort of affectionate spoof or take-off of the original beach movies which, of course, the Disney studio more or less pioneered. Hold it. Stop right there. That was the first monster error in judgement by the producers. See, the original Disney beach movies were themselves social spoofs. The 60s was a time of social chaos and Hollywood elected to respond to that by creating "escapist" films which allowed both teenagers and adults to participate in the insanity from the safety and comfort of a soft theatre seat. The producers of the original beach movies shrewdly understood that the real audience for their films was NOT teenagers living on the beach in southern California -- THEY ALREADY HAD THE REAL THING ON THEIR DOORSTEP -- but, essentially, everyone else on the planet. The larger, and more lucrative, market was offering the vicarious thrill of eyeballing the beach crowd from cities that did not even have much sunshine, yet alone sand and sea. It was a time of change, revealing bathing suits were new, even colour movies were new. The producers of the originals understood this, and used this to their advantage. The producers of TEEN BEACH MOVIE understand nothing, as evidenced by their attempt to "make a spoof out of a spoof" (replete with production numbers in the sand, and, God Help Us, a walk-on by a Mad Scientist). For that strategy to even have a chance of working, their target audience would have to be the SAME audience that saw the originals. See the flaw in logic? What this movie does succeed in doing is seriously threatening the careers of everyone who appeared in it, Even Grace Phipps, who was very effective in the short-lived Chloe King series, looks lost, as though she wandered onto the wrong set. And the Continuity Editor (assuming this production could afford one) did not seem to notice that the young lady had the complexion of Johnny Depp from Dark Shadows, and looked like she had never been on a beach in her life. Bottom line -- shows you what could have happened to High School Musical, if the wrong people had been behind the production.

Enjoyable even for parents!

[cathyg-1 · 8/10 · 29 June 2015]

Two years ago my kids were getting very excited about something new coming to the Disney Channel - Teen Beach Movie.

The idea of a Disney musical about kids on the beach sounded kinda lame to me, but I kept getting drawn in as I walked by my kid's room while they watched it.

Finally, I sat down to watch the whole thing ... and watched it with them again, and again, and again. Yes, I'll admit it -- I was a late-40's mom who fell in love with Teen Beach Movie.

Having grown up on Beach Blanket Bingo films, I loved what Disney did with this parody. It's a cute premise that pays homage to the old goofy classics in a really charming way.

It's fun, funny, and the tunes are so catchy, two years later we still break out into them from time to time in our house.

Don't expect ground breaking cinema here, but it's a fun little romp, suitable for the whole family, that parents who grew up in the 60's and 70's might just get a kick out of.

Carbon Copy Of Grease - Plot needs improvement

[itomatoes · 14 February 2014]

***This review does contain tiny plot key points and character names***

NO. Grease is a brilliant film, and Disney just screwed it up by making this nonsense. The title itself is awful, uncreative and stupid. Why are there 'surfers' and 'bikers'? The plot is complete nonsense, with random characters thrown in unnecessarily. The villains, were driven by appropriate qualities: greed. But they were added in way too late, I think Disney forgot, and chose to add them in later. The film made no sense, and the acting was just downright cringe-worthy. I hope rubbish like this is not re-created.

With the music, it wasn't THAT bad, but it wasn't great either.

Characters: Brady (Ross Lynch) at the beginning, he's a biker. What would've made the story more like Grease would be if 'Brady' joined the bikers and 'Mack' joined the surfers to spite him.

The plot was boring, dull and again, lacking in creativity. Disney need to consider fixing whatever this nonsense they call a 'film' is.

a Disney musical

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 18 June 2023]

Brady (Ross Lynch) and McKenzie (Maia Mitchell) are a cute surfing teen couple. Their grandfathers surfed the same beach together. Brady is shocked when McKenzie reveals her plan to move away. She insists on surfing a scary wave and he tries to stop her. They get swept into a 60's teen beach movie.

This Disney original tries to tap into the same High School Musical waters with a couple of young stars. A 60's teen beach blanket movie is as good of an idea as any, I guess. Maia is a good fish out of water. Ross has that giddy eagerness. They are both adorable and they sing. In the end, the 60's movies are light spoofing of the beach culture and this is a spoof of a spoof. The songs are generally forgettable. I do like 'Can't Stop Singing' although that has more to do with the idea. There is a McGuffin, but it's all rather random. That part feels like Spy Kids rather than a 60's beach movie. The alternate world is just an excuse to do a musical and that's perfectly fine for a Disney channel movie.

And I thought Dog with a Blog was cliché.

[guldtoons · 3/10 · 25 July 2013]

Oh no, Disney Channel did it now. This time, they took the clichéd beach movie idea about bikers and surfers. Terrific, now I have a new thing to criticize!!! Yes, the concept has worked well in many olden movies throughout the years. However, last time I checked, the date was not 1955, and that the Soviet Union has apparently disbanded. So yeah, that era has ended rather abruptly. Before I comment any further, however, let's give them some credit. They finally decided to parody movie ideas, instead of simply robbing the heck out of them, which is a good step. However, the next step they made ended with the entire ground breaking in half and my hope for humanity being burned by Earth's iron core. That is, on the fact of the main problem. My trouble is how stereotypical DC always makes their teen characters, which seems to be dramatically overused in this film. I mean, COME ON!!! "TEEN Beach Movie"?! I can't name one teen that would step three toes into the same room as the movie. But I did, so I'd better take that comment back. The problem is that the target audience is clearly teenagers, which they fail miserably at. Oh, why this movie surpassed "Teacher's Pet" in ratings will be a lifelong mystery.