The American Mall (2008)
The executive producers of High School Musical keep the good times rolling with this upbeat musical comedy set in the one place every American teenager's home away from home - the local shopping mall. Ally (Nina Dobrev) is an optimistic adolescent singer/songwriter whose hard working mother owns the mall music shop frequented by every teen in town. When Ally shares her music with Joey (Rob Mayes), a janitor in the mall who harbors rock star ambitions, she is thrilled to find someone who can truly relate to her songs as well as her heart. Trouble looms on the horizon, however, in the form of the mall owner's spoiled rotten daughter Madison (Autumn Reeser). Madison is the kind of girl who's used to getting whatever she wants, and what she wants now could prove disastrous for both Ally's ambitions, and her mother's popular music store.
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Waste of time
Nice effects though.
Excellent but underrated film
The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.
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 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.
I just finished watching this show. I agree to a large degree with the review that was posted on here. This show could have been a lot better with more originality. I have read that the main female singer's voice may have been dubbed. This movie was more set up to sell the commercials than to present a musical like "High School Musical," and actually "Camp Rock" were. It borrowed from these sources as well as a host of others I cannot think of at the moment.Frankly I liked some of the songs but Mtv cut off some of the numbers to go to commercials before the ending of the song was actually shown. The last number was definitely borrowed from "Camp Rock." When "High School Musical" came out, I thought it was a good idea and I am sure teenagers could relate. Now we are seeing so many clones or attempts to clone this show, that is getting out of hand.I am sure the "Camp Rock" and "High School Musical" fans will probably watch this or tape it and may even buy the DVD.I wish they could rely on better material.Again, this is one person's opinion.
Took my two girls to see this movie at the Premier in Hoffman Estates,IL this week. Snoozer. Both my kids, one is 15, another the age of 6 were bored with it. Very few dance numbers, the main character (female), her voice was terrible. The musical numbers were good but few. Had I had to pay to see this movie, I would have asked for a refund. I would recommend this movie to those that are easily amused and do not care if the story is weak and predictable. If the acting was better, and more dance scenes were had, I would then give this movie a C+ Perhaps if the story wasn't so poor, the dance and singing scenes may have made a stronger impact. Bad, really, really bad movie. No wonder it is a made for TV movie.