Teen Beach Movie (2013) Reviews

• accuracy not necessary

  AStrangeOldMan2013-08-01

  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.

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

  intelearts2013-07-21

  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!

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• Just as corny as you'd think it was

  Ddey652013-08-17

  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.

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

  rachel13-761-3333292013-08-18

  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.

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• Not too bad

  SanteeFats2013-07-20

  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.

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