Spectacular!

The cast of Spectacular!

Nickelodeon/Michael Courtney

Ever since High School Musical hit the tween scene, the franchise has generated big bucks for the folks at Disney. So it makes complete sense that Nickelodeon would want to get in on the action by launching its own TV-movie musical. The only real surprise about Spectacular! is that it took so long.

After bad-boy rocker Nikko (Canadian cutie Nolan Gerard Funk) is kicked out of his band and dumped by his girlfriend, he decides to strike out on his own. Trouble is, he needs money to record a demo. Enter Courtney (Tammin Sursok), the preppy leader of the show choir for which the movie is named, who’s in desperate need of a male singer so her group can compete for a big-money prize. The “unlikely” pair team up, and soon sparks—and pop songs—fly.

He may not be the next Zac Efron (and he really should come up with a new stage name), but Funk has the smile, the ’tude and the flat-ironed hair that make tween girls melt, while soap-opera star Sursok has got a lot more spunk than bland Disney diva Vanessa Hudgens.

Given its premise, Spectacular!’s musical numbers are seamlessly woven into the story line—real show choirs sing and dance, after all—and the plot isn’t entirely predictable, which makes for a School of Rock–like surprise ending. The songs, cowritten by HSM hitmakers Robbie Nevil and Matthew Gerrard, sound more pop-rock radio than Broadway. Overall, in fact, Spectacular! has a lot more in common with Disney’s second musical franchise, Camp Rock, than it does with HSM.

While anyone old enough to get a pimple will probably think the movie is a big fat cheese-fest, its target demo—HSM- and Jonas Brothers–loving girls ages eight to 12—will eat it up, buy the DVD (which hits stores March 31) and play the songs on Rock Band (two of the flick’s tunes are available for download through the Rock Band Music Store). Who needs reality when you can have singing, dancing and young love?—Toni Cruthirds

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