Starring Brigit Mendler, Disney’s notorious musical film “Lemonade Mouth” never gets old. PHOTO CREDIT: IMBD
When you hear the phrase “‘Disney Channel Original Movie,” what’s the first title that pops into your head?
I’m willing to bet you were immediately drawn to the classics: something like the “High School Musical” or “Camp Rock” trilogies. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge fan of these films! But what about the more underrated Disney films?
Most people have heard of “The Cheetah Girls” and “The Princess Protection Program,” which are two of my all-time favorites. But do you remember “Lemonade Mouth”?
This was number one on my list of Disney movies as a kid and it proved to stand the test of time when I rewatched it this past weekend.
“Lemonade Mouth” debuted in 2011 starring iconic Disney kids, including Bridget Mendler from “Good Luck Charlie,” Adam Hicks from “Zeke and Luther; Pair of Kings” and Blake Michael from “Dog With a Blog.” Other big names from “Lemonade Mouth” are Naomi Scott and Hayley Kiyoko.
For various reasons, five high school aged strangers end up in detention which happens to be held in the music room. They each slowly gravitate towards the instruments around the room and begin to play together. The strangers decide to form a band to stand up for their beliefs, overcome individual struggles in their community and compete against a rival rock band.
In my opinion, “Lemonade Mouth” has the best soundtrack out of all other Disney Channel Original Movies.How could we forget classics like “Somebody,” “Breakthrough,” and especially “Determinate”? My personal favorite was always “She’s So Gone.” Not only are these songs incredibly catchy, they also fit into the theme of the movie: identity and rebellion.
“Lemonade Mouth” is all about standing up in the face of censorship from an establishment that discourages personal expression — a message that has resonated with our generation as we constantly face social and political turmoil. This overall theme has always made the film stand out to me against other Disney Channel Original Movies.
Another theme in the film which I’ve always valued is the realistic struggles of the main characters. Each individual feels like an outcast in their school environment and in their homes. Many of the characters struggle with living up to their parents’ expectations which is something that nearly all audiences can relate to, but one character’s individual family life always stuck out to me.
Olivia White (Mendler) is the timid lead singer of the band who lives with her grandmother and pet cat. While the other band members have what we may consider “nuclear families” with both a mother and father figure, Olivia is different. Her mother died when she was a young girl and, for the duration of the movie, her father is incarcerated.
I’ve seen plenty of Disney characters who are missing a parent due to death, but Olivia is the only character to my memory whose parent is imprisoned. While I grew up in a nuclear family setting, I always found this representation so important for children with home lives to Olivia and impactful for children like me to gain a new perspective for peers that could be in a similar scenario.
If I still haven’t convinced you to set aside some time to relive this underrated Disney masterpiece, I have one final note: Stella Yamada (Kiyoko) is indeed a Rhody native, which is brought up in the movie. Maybe after graduation she came back to the East Coast and became a Rhody Ram? Time will only tell.