Many of us have grown up watching Disney Channel original movies. These include films such as High School Musical, Halloweentown, and Teen Beach Movie. One of those films celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. That movie is Lemonade Mouth. But how well does the film hold up after all of this time? And to clarify, this review will focus on the movie, and not the original book it was based on.

To begin, I will start with the basic premise, which was based on the Mark Peter Hughes novel of the same name: 5 high school students all wind up in detention on the same day. They play music together, and form a band that challenges the norms of their school. They go over many hurdles, both creatively and personally, but they work together to make a change. And this theme of rebellion and self-expression echoes throughout both formats of the story. But does the film communicate this theme well?

Yes, but there are some minor issues. While the film does manage to effectively write about people united through a connected feeling of revolution, there is a lot of cheesy dialogue. Lines are either cringe-worthy or are so bad that they’re funny. There are also coincidental moments in the plot where either the characters are able to immediately solve a predicament they’re stuck in, or all of them get stuck in personal issues at the same time. These moments don’t stick out too much, but when analyzed, they take the story down a few octaves. But there are things the film does well.

I believe that this movie has one of the best soundtracks of any Disney Channel movie (it’s available on Spotify if you want to listen to it). Every song in the tracklist is fun to listen to, and everyone has their favorite, whether it’s “Somebody”, “She’s So Gone”, or “Determinate”. Even the rival band from the film Mudslide Crush has some good songs here as well. It also isn’t particularly reliant on a nostalgia factor either, which is a common issue among Disney Channel films. Unless you don’t like pop music with a hint of punk from time to time, there’s a lot to love about the music.

The casting in the film was done really well too. Most of the actors/actresses definitely attempt to make the corny dialogue sound natural when spoken out loud. There are some actors/actresses however that either don’t put effort into their lines, or put too much effort into their lines. But most of them hit the mark.

Overall, the film suffers from some cheesy dialogue and moments of deus ex machina. But contrasting that is a great soundtrack, great cast of characters and actors/actresses to play them, as well as a fun plot to tie it all together. I believe everybody should give this movie a chance at some point.