Be Heard, Be Strong, Be proud. A Review On Disney’s Lemonade Mouth
Camp Rock, Radio Rebel, Girl Vs. Monster– Disney has released plenty of sappy high school movies over the years to fill our preteen hearts. And while most just get remembered for their cringe-worthy performances and over-autotuned vocals, one stands out from the rest.
As soon as it was released on April 15, 2011, Lemonade Mouth became a cult classic in the Disney canon. If you aren’t familiar with the titular movie, it follows a group of high schoolers escaping their at-home troubles through an unconventionally formed band.
While the plot might seem pretty run-of-the-mill for a DCOM (Disney Channel Original Movie), its deep characters and their development throughout bring together a surprisingly profound film to be aired on one of the biggest kid’s channels at the time. For instance, Olivia, played by the iconic Bridget Mendler, deals with grief from her mom’s recent passing on top of her dad’s recent imprisonment. Such depth found in usually cookie-cutter characters wasn’t common for Disney, and it worked well in their favor. Through other issues such as the weight of being an immigrant, questioning your religion, and dealing with racial stereotypes, they flesh out these creatively written characters.
With a movie revolving around a band produced by Disney, you can expect maybe a couple of slightly good songs with heavy autotune and not much else. Lemonade Mouth, though, is a different story. Every song on the soundtrack is a complete bop, from Determinate to She’s So Gone to Breakthrough. Bridget Mendler, Naomi Watts, and Hayley Kiyoko not only bring powerhouse performances but also sing their hearts out on all of the tracks they helm.
“It’s such a great movie. The acting is so good, the soundtrack is impeccable. Really, when it comes to it, it’s the best movie of all time I think.” Tess Kapelke, 11, said. “I rewatch it at least once a month.”
Not many movies send shivers down my spine easily, but the final scene where (spoiler alert!) the crowd performs Determinate after the band messes up on stage is filled with that special Disney twang. And the cutaway to their performance at Madison Square Garden at the end of the movie? That’s real cinema.
Even though there are the occasional awkward voiceovers, two-dimensional problems, and some recycled plot points found throughout the picture, its pros heavily outweigh its cons.
Lemonade Mouth is a generational movie, one that the future underwater children will study alongside Aristotle and Socrates. We are truly lucky to live in the same millennia as this movie.