Following in the tradition of Disney’s made-for-TV movie cash cow, High School Musical,and based on the book by Mark Peter Hughes, Lemonade Mouth attempts to recapture the magic that made the earlier franchise catch on like wildfire. Lemonade Mouth takes the basic blueprint, gives each character a family problem, and then pushes onward with ten original songs and moderately talented would-be pop-stars. Lemonade Mouth deserves some credit for delivering its pro-arts and anti-incorporation messages in a way kids can digest, but it simultaneously suffers from poor resolutions, unnecessary amounts of camp and as much horrible music as there is good.
Mesa High School’s principal (Christopher McDonald) has funded the new school gymnasium with the help of a corporate sponsorship because, like is all too common, sports have reached equal importance to education at his school. As a consequence, all of the academic extra-curricular activities are relocated to the basement where five students (all freshmen for the sake of sequels), Olivia (Bridgit Mendler), Mo (Naomi Scott), Charlie (Blake Michael), Stella (Hayley Kiyoko), and Wen (Adam Hicks), serve detention in the old music room. Asked to clean, they instead pick up instruments and thus their band Lemonade Mouth is born. Their group quickly rises in popularity thanks to catchy beats, and they soon find themselves in competition with the school’s other band Mudslide Crush, a situation only made worse by their stealing Mudslide’s spotlight and becoming their main competition in a showdown whose prize is a record contract.
As all this happens, each of the kids deals with a problem at home, and this would be fine except the way the film resolves each and every one of them isn’t inspiring or positive at all. Charlie, who lives in the shadow of his soccer playing brother, has the burden lifted off his shoulders not by personal success but by his brother’s failure. Wen, aghast at his father’s remarrying to a younger woman, comes to terms with it not because he and his step-mother have a chance to bond but because, hey, it’s better than his dad being in prison and his mother gone, like Olivia. Stella is a rebel who feels out of place in her family of geniuses, a conflict resolved because they show up to support her at a concert where (**Spoiler**) they crash and burn horribly to an unprecedented degree (**End Spoiler). It was a good thought, but overall Lemonade Mouth is horribly lacking in its characters, and its villains are caricatures like a greedy principal on a segway and a boy band that has no real worth.
Even the actors chosen to play the five leads lack the chemistry and charisma that High School Musical’s faithful fans fell in love with. There’s no Zac Efron or Ashley Tisdale equivalent to fall in love with here, and the musical talents on display aren’t too special either. Christopher McDonald, who basically phones in the worthless principal, only serves the purpose of showing why corporations shouldn’t be allowed in schools: besides the sugary drinks being unhealthy, and money granted without the intention of furthering the educational process can have negative effects in a high school. The value of the film’s stance on arts programs is valuable, and it gets across to students, but the vehicle is so clumsy and poorly constructed that it never really makes it to the finish line.
I never thought I’d be saying this, but if you’re looking for something to entertain your children for 107 minutes, the High School Musical franchise has a lot more going for it, even if it does encourage some ridiculous high school stereotypes in the process. In this case though, Lemonade Mouth misses the mark too many times to warrant a recommendation, and thus, other similar properties deserve endorsement in their place.
DVD Bonus Features The set includes a digital copy along with the DVD which has two extras: a sing-along function and an extended musical scene.
"Lemonade Mouth" is on sale May 24, 2011 and is rated G. Musical. Directed by Patricia Riggen. Written by Mark Peter Hughes (novel), April Blair (teleplay). Starring Christopher McDonald, Adam Hicks, Hayley Kiyoko, Blake Michael, Naomi Scott, Bridgit Mendler.
