Forget "High School Musical" and "Camp Rock", because now "Rock it!", the first German teen musical, is coming to our cinemas. True to the motto "what the Americans can do, we can already do", director Mike Marzuk and his team set out to show German youth that not only Troy and Gabriella can really smooch each other.
The story offers little new: 15-year-old Julia (Emilia Schüle) comes to a renowned music boarding school for a six-week preparation period. Actually, the daughter from a good family should concentrate there primarily on the final entrance exam. But when she meets Nick (Daniel Axt), the singer of the band Rock it, and learns that the band is urgently looking for a new keyboardist, the girl realizes that her passion is not the classical piano. Too bad Nick doesn't think much of the boarding school's students and Julia's parents would hardly approve of a career as a rock musician. But with the help of her new friend Francesca (Maria Ehrich), Julia manages to get into the band - and soon wins Nick's heart. But the cocky Betty (Vivien Wulf), who wanted to pass the entrance exam with Julia's help, does everything in her power to blow the whistle on Julia's double life - and with it all her dreams.
"Rock it!" is clearly aimed at its target audience. And they seem to like it. With Emilia Schüle and Daniel Axt two main actors were found, who on the one hand offer the young audience a good identification surface, but on the other hand can also stir up the youthful hormones. The songs, for which Tobias Kuhn is responsible, who has already worked with Sportfreunde Stiller and Udo Lindenberg, are quite catchy - even if the title "Rock it!" is not really appropriate. Because while some tracks are guitar-heavy, it has little to do with real rock - even if the band claims in one song that they rock the house. Uh.no.
Nice songs, attractive leads, and a few good gags might be enough to make the movie appeal to its target audience. And actually, that's the main thing. But that the movie would be really good because of that, still can't be claimed. The whole thing seems too much like a weak copy of various American teen musicals, without really reaching their class. This becomes clear with the character of Betty, who is clearly based on Sharpay from the "High School Musical" movies, played by Ashley Tisdale. But Betty is just plain annoying and unlikable, and as a result can never even begin to achieve the cult status that Sharpay holds among "High School Musical" fans.
However, ranting about the lack of originality and some moments of unintentional comedy actually makes little sense, because "Rock it!" still appeals to young moviegoers. And therefore, if you liked "High School Musical" and don't mind German-language songs, you're guaranteed to like "Rock it!". But those who no longer belong to the target audience will find it hard to follow.
Directed by Mike Marzuk
Length: approx. 99 min.
FSK: o.Al.
Ein Artikel von Frankfurt-Tipp
