Teen Beach Movie

Compulsory heterosexuality is so powerful that you can get away with writing a boy and girl that have all the chemistry of bickering siblings, then give the girl a deep, heartfelt connection to another girl across time, symbolized by exchanging iconic jewelry, and we're still supposed to read the het pair as lovers. Anyway, fun concept, story that has no idea what its themes or morals are, extremely early-2010s humor, boring but also fascinating, gay gay gay, gay gay.

Self-consciously silly musical that is kind of like a reverse PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO. The well-performed choreography is energetic and effective, with a clever number about finding oneself becoming merely a prop in someone else's production, but the narrative concerning the lead couple's ups and downs is perfunctory, to say the least. Everything is carried out, however, with the expected Disney professionalism (discounting Mitchell's weak tapping, and, in one scene, Boyd's oversized jacket).

my bae

Fans of big, splashy musicals will like this original musical that doesn't take itself too seriously.