This movie was neither that good nor that bad, but I would say most elements lean on the bad side... As the other review said a lot of elements of this movie was just over-the-top polished eye-candy-ish, almost like a music video (I get it's a musical but many other high school based musicals don't have this same aesthetic), all the girls and guys (only the lead Chrissy looked under 20) dressed and looked like 20 something Instagram models, I mean faces beat, hair laid, dressed to the nines literally every day, sometimes in really inappropriate clothes for their age and the setting, for school and for just hanging out, even the lead had a full face of makeup with lashes and the works in every scene even when she was waking up. Yeah I get makeup is super popular these days with so many beauty vloggers but I'm pretty sure the majority of high school age girls don't go to school and for hanging out everyday with faces full of makeup that sometimes takes a while to do, and also not every girl can afford or feels comfortable in some of the styles the leads were wearing. I was a teen girl once and couldn't relate to any of these "teen" girl characters, except maybe with Nikki in the one song she did with her dad. Also the heavy makeup ages the already much older female cast. It was just all so inauthentic and that's just how the actors looked. You can tell the production wanted everyone (and everything) to look their best but it kinda takes away from the story for me. And then there were the perfectly manicured sets, cinematography, PG drug-dealing/streets subplot and other elements that took away any realism that could be found. And last but not least, there was the autotune. As if anyone sounding less than perfect on a track or like they were really singing acapella was a sin. It was just too much. Compare everyone else to the noted professional singers Marques Houston and Keith Sweat (they still use some in their songs but not too much). Note to the film-makers: it's ok if all your singers can't even sing that well in a musical. That's the charm. Please listen to Work This Out and Status Quo from the HSM movies to see what I'm talking about. Ironically the only songs that weren't autotuned to death was the rap songs which were actually good unlike much of this forgettable soundtrack.
On the other side of things, some of other the elements seemed half-done and lackluster, like the acting (especially Chrissy, super flat), the lyrics and production of the songs, and so on. It also went on, and the flat and uninteresting or inspired dialogue dragged on far too long. The story was kind of all over the place and a little hard to follow (maybe it's just me because I was watching while doing something else). I feel this movie could've done better if it was made in a previous decade, in a time where movies like this could flourish and be popular, and/or by someone who understands the formula of other teen musicals better not someone trying to make attractive background TV.
