Two surfing lovers, whose doomed relationship is nearing to a close, find themselves swept into a dimension-traversing wave that sends them into a beach movie musical in the 60's.
Director: Jeffrey Hornaday
Stars: Ross Lynch, Maia Mitchell, Gracie Gillam, Garrett Clayton, Barry Bostwick.
Jeffrey Hornaday ... choreographer
Christopher Scott ... choreographer
Just passed when I couldn't find this at the time. Then the sequel came around and I watched this trailer, and went for both.
13 songs in the Soundtracks, most performed onscreen by the cast, with lots of good stars+ensemble dancing.
This is clearly spoofing all the Frankie and Annette films of the early 60s, all of which I gave 5/10 (but now I wonder if I'd be so harsh after all that I've seen since. Oh, the IMDb ratings are all in the 4-5 zone for them too.)
These kids all look much closer to being actual teens than did Frankie (b. '39) & Annette (b. '42) in '63-'65. And they are all much more triple-threat super-skilled singer/dancers than were F&A.
The extra plot device of being transported into a movie gives the perfect excuse for why they are singing and dancing, despite the lead girl disparaging the movie that her bf and grandfather love so much: Wet Side Story, which pits bikers against surfers (ala every F&A film), and has a megalomaniac trying to take over the world by controlling the weather. But the version we get has 2 modern kids trying to get back home, away from being in the film and altering its plot..
Songs performed (from menu, with 16 chapters):
- ch1. Oxygen
- ch4. Surf Crazy*
- ch5. Cruisin' for a Bruisin'*
- ch6. Falling For Ya*
- ch8. Meant to Be
- ch15. Surf's Up*
The bonus features consist of rehearsal footage of the *'d numbers and these 3:
- Like Me
- Can't Stop Singing
- Coolest Cats in Town
Next time look for where these are in the film; the last may not be, as it's labeled "Never-Before-Seen" in the extras.
The credits include footage where some of the characters from the film-within-the-film appear on a modern-day beach and confront an iPhone from a mohawked surfer. Was this a foreshadowing? The same director helms TB2 ('15). 81 people (cast & crew) are in common between TBM and TB2, including all 4 teen principals. (TBM has 184 c&c; TB2 has 186.)
Great fluffy fun.
Rated 5.9 (7,978)
Disney, dir. Hornaday; 7+
