Amazingly awesome! (Bandslam (DVD))

Member Name: eatingpinkzebras

Product:	Bandslam (DVD)
Date:	17/09/09 (68 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: It's all brilliant

Disadvantages: Not enough songs!

When I saw the trailer for Bandslam it looked like it was created especially for me. I love romantic comedies, I love musicals, I love teen films, I love Vanessa Hudgens, and even though I'm way past the target age group, I loved High School Musical and its sequels!

Bandslam is a movie about a young boy, Will, played by Gaelen Connell, who moves to a new town. Previously he has always been a misfit with no friends and only his music to keep him company, but at his new school he meets two new friends: Sa5m (the five is silent) played by Vanessa Hudgens (HSM 1, 2 and 3), and Charlotte played by Aly Michalka (a singer from the duo Aly and AJ and a Disney channel regular). Sa5m is also a loner and she and Will have an instant connection, but it is threatened by Will's association with ex-cheerleader Charlotte and the band she is putting together in an attempt to win the local Bandslam competition, where the winners get a record contract. She enlists Will as the band's manager, and things really kick off.

Will Charlotte's band be successful at Bandslam? Will her ex-boyfriend's rival band get in the way? Who will Will end up with, if anyone? And will he finally find a place where he belongs?

I thought this film was absolutely awesome. I can barely find the words to describe how brilliant it is. The acting is top notch from everyone: Aly Michalka plays a complex and many layered character with maturity and understanding, Vanessa Hudgens moves away from her constantly cheery image and portrays Sa5m with a decent amount of sarcasm and hurt, and Gaelen Connell is just brilliant and keeps the film together with his sensitive and hopeful portrayal of a boy searching for someone who understands him. There is also an amusing small part for Lisa Kudrow (Friends).

The film moves along quickly to the climax of the Bandslam competition, keeping you guessing which band will win, and who will be in it when it does. The film never gets boring even when it takes time out from the main plot for random excursions such as Sa5m and Will's day trip to an old music shop. The movie has liberal amounts of romantic tension and also lots of very funny moments. Plus it has some wonderful songs.

Bandslam did not do too well commercially and I think that may be because I am not sure who it is aimed at. High School Musical fans will mostly be too young to appreciate much of it and will probably feel that there is not enough music in it, as all the songs are only performed by the band: there is no random bursting into song in the middle of the street. Plus Hudgens sings only once. On the other hand, older viewers who would like the film will probably be put off by the presence of so many Disney channel alumni.

I hope this film does better when it's released on DVD because I think it has been unappreciated and is one of the best movies I have seen for a long while.

Summary: I'll be buying it when it comes out on DVD!