First things first, this is a Disney Channel TV movie, so automatically you can expect the cheesiness, the awkward acting and the catchy songs. This one is particularly tragic! It didn’t quite hit the hype and success of ‘High School Musical’, and definitely isn’t as good. But with all the cringe-worthy moments, I still couldn’t help but feel joyous by the end. I don’t know why I enjoy these terrible Disney Channel TV movies so much, but I seem to have a soft spot for them. Nevertheless, I will fully admit that it is incredibly cheesy and the acting is overwhelmingly awful. You just have to laugh at how bad these films truly are. That is the only way to appreciate them, to laugh at the bonkers hilarity of the entire film.
As five random students are given detention on the same evening, they find themselves in the basement in the old music room. This is when they suddenly find their voice as a band. The entire plot is completely random, it does not have a spine to stand on as it comes out of nowhere. They begin to play instruments, sing and harmonise with no prior warning or any development of any of them being musically inclined (well that’s not entirely true: one of them is, as he’s pretending to play the drums at any possible chance). ‘Lemonade Mouth’ is incredibly dramatic, overly dramatic. Additionally, the acting is not great, truly I think that might be an understatement. It was quite drastically awkward at times. But it has to be in order to be a Disney Channel TV movie, it’s a rite of passage.
I couldn’t help but love some of these songs. Two stood out as definitely better than the others: ‘Determinate’ and ‘She’s So Gone’. I even found myself embarrassingly fangirling at the rap in ‘Determinate’. I just couldn’t help but be swept up in the plot of the film, weak as it was, but with the musical revolution that happens. I somehow was warped into supporting all they were doing for their school, having their voices heard with music. A wonderful idea by using music as their voice, which is excellent! Their voice was mostly used to shout about lemonade, but what this embodied and the rest was meaningful. Whether or not these songs are sung in the moment is completely questionable. There are many times where the moving of lips, the playing of guitars etc is completely out of time with the sound.
I did like the moral that everyone should be celebrated for who they are. A cheesy moral, I know, but what do you expect from a Disney Channel movie? As I’ve said, this was truly cheesy and embarrassingly bad, but I loved the entire thing. It had me laughing and appreciating the songs (two of which I’ve now listened to multiple times since being introduced to them). It ticks every single box of what a Disney Channel TV movie is. Cheesiness; a celebration of individuality; teenagers in school coming together from different stereotypical clichés; the developing of meaningful friendships; and some catchy songs. And I still loved every single second, even when things got extremely dramatic and it all turned for the worse. You can’t help but route for this new band called Lemonade Mouth.
Besides, sport isn’t the only thing that matters, ya know, music does too! Also lemonade saves the day, did you not know this?
Striking Film Reviews 