The American Mall

I bought this DVD from a bargain bin, and I still paid too much. I find sappy musicals so annoying, and this one hit a new low for me. I have heard more depth in songs on Jem! The songs are so heavily auto tuned, it was like listening to Britney and Madonna caterwauling! The characters are all so shallow, the dance routines make Glee look like Hamlet. The whole movie was a giant "flash mob" with little flash and a lame mob. The plot line is very similar to many teen dramas (90210, Degrassi, Parker Lewis Can't Lose). I had never heard of any of the "actors" in this movie, and I can see why. All very forgettable performances, although I thought "Ben" (the hot dog guy) was cute. Save your money, don't bother with this one.

I wasn't expecting too much from this movie, but I was pleasantly surprised. The characters were better than I thought and so were the songs. I only wish the janitors at my local mall were as cute as the janitors in this movie.

Before you watch this movie though you have to think about who's producing it and what audience it's targeted towards. Don't expect deep Golden Globe award winning stuff. It's fun and full of music. I will say the actors are a bit more believable than the actors in High School Musical (and that's saying a lot cause I really like High School Musical). There's a lot more silly comedy in this one too (which I really enjoy) and it's targeted toward a slightly older audience than HSM (more toward older high school students than middle school students).

All in all it's definitely worth a watch. Give it a chance. If you like it than good for you if you don't then you probably tried to take this movie too seriously...

I definitely don't think it was as good as HSM. I watched this because I really liked HSM and I knew this was done by the same people that did HSM. Plus I just love Autumn Reeser. She was good in this. Her character is pretty much the same as Taylor in The O.C. I really wanted to like Nina, the female lead, in this movie but she just didn't do it for me. The girl who did her singing had an alright voice. I really liked the male lead and the rest of the cast. They definitely stole the show. The songs weren't as catchy as the HSM ones, although there were a couple I liked. The story and songs were definitely better by the end. Overall it was entertaining and worth watching.

To begin with I have to say I am not a fan of musicals at all. Having said that, I ask myself; what is the difference between this movie and a masterpiece like Grease...? Mostly a moronic script (in the case of this film, of course). Otherwise, the music is not half as bad, it could have befitted a decent musical. Of course the acting isn't top notch either like it was in Grease, etc. etc.

Considering this is a made-for-TV production though, I have to say that the music bails it out somewhat and brings it close to an average movie in spite of the above mentioned shortcomings. I suppose the film could appeal to teenagers and the 'High School Musical' crowd, but nothing more.

I actually enjoyed the movie... it was definitely geared more towards an older age group, even though majority or the actors are probably the same ages as the High School Musical cast, in some cases they are actually younger. From what I've read... the singing voice of the main character "Ally" is not in fact Nina Dobrev, but a singer by the name of Keely Hawkes Pressly her myspace is as follows... www.myspace.com/keelypressly I thought her voice was cute, had range and was probably perfect for the sound they wanted... she was definitely better than some of the younger startlet singers whose voices are so high that only dogs can hear them. LOL. But I will definitely be buying the soundtrack, the songs are very catchy, and I wouldn't mind re-watching the movie or listening to the songs.