Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam (2010)

Excellent but underrated film

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

This is not the best teen movie or even teen musical, but it is still worth a look (or listen, rather) due to its catchy and original music. It is a reminder of what the High School Musical franchise has done for teen musicals. However, while HSM's choreography was more naturalistic, this one's over-produced.The draw for teen girls will almost certainly be the Jonas Brothers, who are surprisingly okay film actors. While they do not carry the film alone on their shoulders, they do inject the extra element of fun that will be missing if they weren't in it.The acting was for the most part what is expected from a Disney teen pop movie - bubbly but without much needed from the actors. The draw is and always will be the music and the dancing. Unless you're a teen, you won't care much for the characters as they go through the usual teen 'crises'. The music is upbeat, the songs are original and catchy, and the dance choreography acceptable (although the guys seem to have all the good moves; the girls do little other than shake their heads, chests and hips), which is what are more important here anyway. I have a preteen god-daughter, and even she is more excited by the music and dancing than in the story.It may not rank as high as High School Musical, but unless you're willing to watch that again, this is still a good enough movie for the kids to watch. Even if they don't appreciate the story, it may still bring out whatever musical instincts are in them.

First viewing I found Camp Rock (2008) to be empty, but I felt the same about HSM. HSM started to click at my second viewing but this took much longer to take off. One thing that helped me to like this was tracing the identity of each of the songs and I have listed my findings at the message board. Another help was its links with Suite Life. For me, Suite Life was powered by Maddie Tisdale, who helped me to appreciate HSM. This has Alyson Stoner as Caitlyn Geller, though she did not stand out so much for me, first viewings. On the Suite sampler dvds she stood out more, for me, as a quality character. So, then she was an 11ish playing an 11ish and here she is a 16 playing a 14ish? Alyson also played Victoria in (the television series? of) Lilo And Stitch, her second ever screen role (?), a long list of screen roles. So, Suite was a step towards attractive China-ish Asians in the leading role and Camp Rock (2008) is that even more so, very multi-cultural. 2009 partly sank that. * I get the impression that Camp Rock (2008) tries to have a serious message about being oneself as a curse or a blessing and I accept that is a central question for teens and later and relevant to some Camp Rock characters. I actually find that aspect to get in the way as it dominates some of the best songs in a negative childish sort of way, Camp Rock 1 and 2 can be positive or negative childish. Despite that there is still stuff that I can like. The early dance of Lola, played by Aaryn Doyle, as this story occasionally even being hot steamy Disney? * My first impression of Camp Rock 2, extended Blu-ray version, is that some of the songs have immediate appeal, but that there is also a flip side, a modern storytelling style of grunging down, an equivalent to gargoyle creation. Could be that Disney musicals are heading to the path that HP features took. Mitchie and Tess have been given horror cow makeovers, my Blu included a DVD version and the lower level of detail allowed Mitchie to be a lot less scary. Tess sings but I did not always notice the sound as two or three of the songs do not have good stereo compatibility with my system and typical volume settings and I first experienced that problem in HSM 1, glaring trouble for many of the support vocals in the cafeteria song Stick To The Status Quo. I like the quote of the painfully low budget HSM clone Sunday School Musical, the lookalike to one of the female leads, also an echo of Drop Dead Gorgeous. Camp Rock 2 can feel like a complex aspect of the Message Story. I tend to shrug that off and like the many fun bits. As such I find these stories to be talking about stuff that the dispossessed have big trouble with. But I also need the story to be nice and okay and big chunks are not so bad. Add the Disney - Sandler 'Bedtime Story' and it talks to me of Disney maybe exploring new directions. The storytelling style is not what I prefer in Camp Rock, more like it in Bedtime Story, but this still rates higher in entertainment than many that I have seen recently. Camp Rock 1 and 2 are rather okay as well as being appallingly bad. As for comments that the Jonah brothers cannot act. For this sort of story I find that they fit in well.

Disney Channel hit back with a sequel to the musical Camp Rock with Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam. The movie takes place a year after Camp Rock and is about Mitchie who returns to said place with her friends to find out that there's a new camp open across the lake called Camp Star. As you may guess, they both soon start to get in a little competition and decide to settle the score once and for all in a final jam X-Factor style, performing in front of millions of viewers live on television and whoever gets the most votes win. Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam is actually a very pleasant surprise as it's an improvement from the first one on everything and it's actually a little enjoyable. The plot might be just as cheesy and just as bad as Camp Rock and a little stretched but it's a Disney Channel musical movie so if you expected different, you will be disappointed. The sequel's story is much better and improved and actually felt like a proper movie and not a bunch of people singing songs randomly. Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam has the original cast from Camp Rock and they're much better. Demi Lovato, who plays Mitchie, can be bad sometimes but she did have her moments and the same can be said for The Jonas Brothers, who have also improved a lot.The characters are better written and this time round, the other two brothers from The Jonas Brothers actually have a part in the movie whereas in Camp Rock, they were hardly in it or hardly got involved in any part of the movie. Mitchie and the other characters are more tolerable this time round but Tess the 'diva' and the characters from Camp Star are too irritating. The script and the writing has quite a few weak moments but there were a couple of good scenes. Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam not only has a better story but it also has better songs and dances and there are some songs that are actually catchy (although there is one song that sounds way too familiar to Jason Mraz's I'm Yours which is sang by one of the Jonas Brothers). The singing has improved from the first movie and The Jonas Brothers sound a little better this time but I still think that Demi Lovato can't sing properly. She screams and shouts her lines when she sings. It's not bad in the first minute of the song but as it kicks in, she starts shouting and screaming the notes and you constantly have the remote control in your hand, with your thumb on the volume buttons. With the first Camp Rock, it felt like it was trying too hard to be the new High School Musical and really pushed the boat to try and overtake the popularity and success of High School Musical, however it failed to impress. With the sequel, it could easily rival the successful High School Musical and is very easily better than Camp Rock.Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam might be better than the first movie but that doesn't mean it's a good movie, it's average at best. In this sequel, you can actually see that they've tried to improve the movie from the first one and while it does pay off, the movie is instantly forgettable, even if there are a couple of songs that aren't bad. The messages in the movie is crystal clear and it's your usual Disney message of working together as a team and how you should stick together, no matter what. If you were a fan of the first movie or like Disney Channel shows and movies like High School Musical or Hannah Montana, then the chances are that you may like this. If you've missed it then don't worry because Disney Channel has repeated the movie four times every day so far so you won't miss it so easily. If you're a parent and you're watching this with your children, you may find it alright but it's something you couldn't watch again. I couldn't watch it again, just thinking about it is making me cringe a little.Read more reviews at: www.dudedazzmoviereviews.wordpress.com

I was all ready to love the newest Camp rock movie, but sadly many of the things that were great about the first movie were not there. First of all, did Mitchie change completely over the year because she used to be a girl that just wanted to fit in and become a singer, but now she's a girl that bosses all of her friends around, is mean to some girls and wants to be the star. Pretty much, she turned into Tess. Next, Tess became a character that I actually like. Even though she didn't have many moments in this movie, when she was on screen she was interesting to listen to. Next, I was very disappointed by the lack of character development in Caitlyn, Peggy, Sander, Barren and Ella. They didn't stand up for themselves once while Mitchie was bossing them around. I can't remember one line that Peggy or Sander had in the whole movie and yet they were very likable characters in the 1st movie. Next, for the first time have I thought that the Jonas Brothers acted well. In this movie, they were all very strong with their individual plot lines. Next, Luke Williams was not a character, he was an emotion... obnoxious. The audience got zero background of him and zero motivation or change throughout the whole movie. I did like Chloe Bridges acting in this movie as Dana. Dana had a few mood swings during the movie, but other than that it was fine. Now that I have talked about the plot, let me talk about the songs.Brand New Day was a fantastic first song for the movie. It was sung well, was energetic and was entertaining. Fire was also a fantastic song that moved away from the "disney song", but was still thoroughly engaging and the special effects were great. Can't Back Down was also fantastically energetic and fun. Demi sung this very well. It's On was the first song of the movie that wasn't fantastic. It wasn't fast paced enough to be a fighting song. I think it was good, but not great. Wouldn't Change a Thing was fantastic also. The harmony between Joe and Demi was fantastic to listen to. Heart and Soul was an average Disney song that no one ever remembers after a few days, nothing special. You're my Favorite Song was a nice song that got much stronger when Joe and Demi started harmonizing. Introducing Me was a fantastic acoustic performance by Nick Jonas that was very nice. Tear it Down was not great. I was expecting another performance like Fire, but it was not good. What we Came Here for was also disappointing and I really wish that it had not just been Joe and Demi singing. I think it would have been much better had the other actors also sung in the final song. This is Our Song was a nice song while I was listening to it and I think it would have been a great second last song. It would have been fantastic had they put it in instead of What we Came Here for. What this movie really needed was an ending song like We Rock from the first movie that would have been fun to listen to, but overall the music in this movie was great. In conclusion this movie did not live up to Camp Rock.