The unrelenting strength with which Disney markets its rising tween stars has the magical ability to awe and horrify all at once. The awe stems from the unmatched capacity for creating vehicles specifically tailored to promote their Disney-branded youth simultaneously in the film and record industry. No one else does it like them. The films aren’t any good, a fact seemingly dictated by some unwritten rule, but they do well enough to snag the attentions of every adolescent and tweenage girl in North America and beyond as well as their parents. It’s harmless fun and it encourages people to believe in themselves and follow their dreams – what’s not to support? That’s the benefit of this current string of Disney musicals pouring out Mickey Mouse’s run-off pipe, but what makes it so horrifying is the lack of effort and the blinding simplicity of the writing. It’s one thing to write a script aimed at a younger audience, but it’s another issue entirely when you dumb it down to such a level that even the characters bemoan their slavery to plot devices so contrived and tired as these. The original Camp Rock didn’t have this horrific aspect, but the sequel, Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam, desperate in its attempt to make it through another 90 minutes with nothing but a few peppy songs to push it along, plays out like Saw put to music: the characters are trapped in a sinister machination of writers Dan Berendsen and Karen Gist & Regina Hicks, who seem more than willing to leave Disney’s stable of growing rock stars capitulating to a camp rivalry plot whose ending is revealed in the first 10 minutes, with the youthful, angst-filled songs substituting in for Saw’s typical screams.
After last summer, Mitchie (Demi Lovato) can’t wait to get back to camp and see all her friends and reunite with her crush with whom she has been exchanging emails all school year, Shane (Joe Jonas). Shane and his two bandmates Nate (Nick Jonas) and Jason (Kevin Jonas) arrive just in time for the big all-camp musical number culminating in a “Welcome to Camp” presentation by owner/manager Brown (Daniel Fathers). Just as the campers and counselors are about to break from the welcome, two speedboats on the lake launch baskets attached to parachutes with snacks and an invitation to party with the brand new, competing camp/resort across the lake, opened by Axel Turner (Daniel Kash) a former musical partner of Brown’s. It turns out, just like Brown’s protests to the invitation warned, that the invite was nothing but a ruse to get campers over to the new facility to see how luxurious it is and convince them to abandon the more gung-ho, rustic setting of Camp Rock that night. A few campers and lots of staff (except for the main characters played by Disney’s chosen ones) jump on the bandwagon, leaving Camp Rock minimally staffed by Mitchie and the guys, who were originally just there to be cool and act like clowns. Now they’re doing it as staff. Who saw that coming? Really though, that’s not the biggest kick in the teeth, because when you see the huge, concert arena set piece they constructed to serve as the other camp’s lure, you know, without question that there’s going to be a showdown there at the end of the film, perhaps even a “final jam” as the title suggests. You’ll notice how this take on “final jam” allows them to use this title but still have a sequel if they’re so inclined.
What’s maddening about the whole affair isn’t the vacuous hole where a plot should be, or the break every 10 minutes for a Disney star music video, but rather how everyone in the story knows that that’s all this is: a series of music videos set in a woodsy setting. The message of flash versus substance is worthwhile, but the film’s attempt to address it is really just lip service at best; a frame that makes it convenient so sell some Demi Lovato CDs down the road. The element of the movie that stands out is a lack of shame in the writing; the idea that the characters are inextricably bound to a story whose paper-thin qualities even they protest. Brown knows exactly what the invitation to the other camp is all about, he protests going over, and as the person in charge could have prevented it swiftly. But he bows to the fates written out for him for no other reason than it will set up a rivalry which already existed in that it was another rock camp built directly across a river from theirs. The opening confrontation isn’t setup, it’s wielding plot devices like a blunt object and bludgeoning the audience until they submit to a movie about rival rock camps in the most obvious way.
Blu-ray Bonus Features
The combo pack features a copy of the movie on Blu-ray, DVD, and digital copy – though only the version on Blu-ray has unique extras (both the Blu-ray and DVD feature the “Rock Along” feature which is essentially a sing-along prompt with a bouncing ball). The Blu-ray exclusives include user-generated content (music videos) from fans of the film from around the world, and an intro piece to help you get acquainted with the new characters in the movie. As an “extended edition” of the film, it features two songs not previously seen in the film’s release, “Different Summers” and “Walking in My Shoes”.
"Camp Rock 2: Final Jam - Extended Edition" is on sale September 7, 2010 and is rated G. Children & Family, Musical. Directed by Paul Hoen. Written by Daniel Berendsen and Karen Gist & Regina Y. Hicks. Starring Daniel Fathers, Demi Lovato, Joe Jonas, Kevin Jonas, Nick Jonas.
