Camp Rock 2 Advance Screening Review

Today I attended a special advance screening of Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam The Walt Disney Studios’ Studio Theatre in Burbank, California.

Now, D23’s resident “Disney Geek” and host of today’s festivities specifically asked us not to give away any plot point – particularly the ending. But he did say it was okay to discuss our general feelings on the movie, the songs, and the Q&A session after the film with director Paul Hoen, writer Dan Berendsen, Michael Healy, senior vice president, Disney Channel Original Movies, Disney Channel, and Steven Vincent, vice president, Music and Soundtracks, Disney Channel.

Now that I’ve got that disclaimer out of the way, let me say that Camp Rock 2 was awesome – a huge improvement from the first film. If you read my thoughts about the original Camp Rock, you’ll see that my biggest complaint about the original was the atrocious writing. It was almost as if they wrote the music scenes first and then threw together a few plot points to connect them. That was not the case with camp Rock 2.

As Steven Vincent said about the music, “It was driven by the story .. [we] don’t stop for a song” instead the music moves the story along. In a lot of ways, this film was more musical than the original. It was a full on musical, with a touch of the “Musical about a musical” feel of HSM. Michael Healy said that was a conscious decision to “turn it into a full blown musical” and alluded to a decision as one that made the film less realistic. I can’t really speak to the realism element (I mean, no one ever actually breaks out into song) but I think it was a very good move. The film didn’t have that awkward in between feel of CR1.

As for the overall plot, it’s a very different story than the original. Dan Berendsen explained that “This story is timeless … it’s fighting for something you believe in.” Mitchie is a very different character; she was the outsider before but now she’s a definite leader. If you’ve looked at the soundtrack, you’ll know that Demi has a lot of songs on the soundtrack, and that corresponds to a lot of screen time. Of course, she is the star! Mitchie essentially takes command of Camp Rock following the exodus of most of their staff to Camp Star. The always self-centered Tess Tyler (Meaghan Martin) seemed to learn her lesson from the first movie, but still quickly defected to the other camp thus allowing her to be an antagonist once more. Caitlyn Geller (Alyson Stoner) seemed to have a lot more screen time, although she still didn’t sing much. Joe was actually… dare I say it, kinda good as Shane Gray. The Nate (Nick Jonas) and Dana (Chloe Bridges) subplot was okay; nothing special. Jason (Kevin Jonas) was, as usual, just kinda there. Although there was one good line during the tour bus scene. Maria Canals-Barrera also reprized her role as Mitchie’s mom, but she was hardly even in the film.

Again, I don’t wanna give too much away, but this really is a solid film. Demi gives a very solid performance and the whole team really pulls it together. I give it a 4.5/5, which is among the highest rating I have ever given a DCOM. And what of Camp Rock 3? I think Michael Healy said it best, “Never say never [but] it would be hard to round everybody up.”

But just for fun, I want to share one more though from Senior VP Michael Healy when asked about Disney’s developing talent, he quickly responded “Selena is a fantastic star” then he paused for a moment before continuing, “um, well, Bridgit.” and finally concluding with one final thought, “I wish we had Raven back though.”