{"id":15783,"date":"2015-06-29T00:15:06","date_gmt":"2015-06-29T04:15:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=15783"},"modified":"2015-06-29T00:35:29","modified_gmt":"2015-06-29T04:35:29","slug":"teen-beach-2-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2015\/06\/29\/teen-beach-2-2015\/","title":{"rendered":"Teen Beach 2 (2015)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"tb2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

As a Disney-phile, I have to admit that \u201cTeen Beach Movie\u201d was a great DCOM. It was also one of my favorite movies of 2013. It was fun, light, and had some genuinely great music. So it\u2019s a shame to admit that \u201cTeen Beach 2\u201d is kind of a let down. Judged on its own merits it misses the point of its predecessor and rides off the rails in to its own new narrative. Not to mention it can be painfully convoluted, which doesn\u2019t help when the original film was so simple. It\u2019s been two months since the original movie, and Mack and Brady are going to school together. After enjoying the rest of the summer, they\u2019re prepared for college but realize they\u2019re on different wave lengths.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Mack is devoted to school, while Brady doesn\u2019t quite know what he wants out of life yet, and this creates conflict. Meanwhile back in the movie, Lela realizes she wants to stop the monotony of her pre-planned life, and breaks out on her own. She finds the magical necklace in the water that Mack accidentally loses during surfing, and she and Tanner end up in the real world. Now Mack and Brady have to find a way to get them home before they change in to human beings, prompting the characters back home to look for a way to get to reality and bring them back. The plot involves a lot of tropes about time travel, and continuity, and never quite explains much of what\u2019s happening. Do other people know what\u2019s happening in the world of \u201cTeen Beach Movie\u201d? Does the movie go out of existence for everyone if Lela and Tanner never make it home?<\/p>\n

And where did the characters go when they were warped out of existence? Most importantly, why does this have such a crucial significance in how Mack and Brady met? There\u2019s also a few new characters introduced that never get their focus, which is a shame. I really wanted to see more of Devon, played by Raymond Alexander Cham Jr. That said, \u201cTeen Beach 2\u201d isn\u2019t a total loss. It\u2019s very well made and features its own memorable musical numbers. There isn\u2019t a \u201cCruisin for a Bruisin\u2019,\u201d or \u201cFallin for Ya\u201d in the bunch, but I did find \u201cTwist your Frown Upside Down\u201d to be quite a funny way of reality bending itself to fit Tanner and Lela\u2019s will. I also thought \u201cGotta Be Me\u201d was a fantastic way to finish off the first half of the narrative. In its own way it felt like a tribute to \u201cHand Jive\u201d from \u201cGrease.\u201d There\u2019s also nothing wrong with the closer \u201cThat\u2019s How We Do.\u201d<\/p>\n

The sequel fixes a lot of the flaws from the original, placing a greater emphasis on the lesser focused but more entertaining characters. SeaCat, Giggles, and Chee Chee get their spotlights, while John DeLuca\u2019s character Butchy plays a larger role when he tries to figure out where Tanner and Lela went. In the same vein, Maia Mitchell and Ross Lynch are just as great as ever, giving great performances as Mack and Brady. They can also handle the musical numbers with immense flair. Lynch is at his top here, especially when \u201cGotta Be Me\u201d starts up. Mitchell and Lynch are dynamic and have great onscreen chemistry. They save what is essentially an inferior sequel, all things considered. \u201cTeen Beach 2\u201d isn\u2019t quite as good as the original, with a surprise ending that just doesn\u2019t work when you consider there\u2019s definitely a third film on the way. However, it\u2019s a film with its own merits, and fun musical numbers, and not a complete waste of time.<\/p>\n