Lemonade Mouth

iTunes Review

Based on author Mark Peter Hughes’ 2007 book by the same title and built on a template provided by John Hughes’ 1985 teen cult film The Breakfast Club, The Disney Channel’s Lemonade Mouth is the story of five mischievous-yet-bored teenagers in Rhode Island who bond during high-school detention before assembling a successful band under the Lemonade Mouth moniker. The accompanying soundtrack opens with Bridgit Mendler singing the endearing insta-hit “Turn Up the Music,” which sounds like a young(er) Avril Lavigne by way of the Zit Remedy — a fictitious band from the Canadian CBC Television teen drama series of the late ‘80s, Degrassi Junior High. She proves her prowess as a balladeer on the following “Somebody” before Chris Brochu takes the mic on “And the Crowd Goes,” a rock ‘n’ rap hybrid that harkens back to the mid-‘90s when Anthrax and Public Enemy were bringing the noise. Naomi Scott croons more demurely than Mendler on the uplifting “She’s So Gone,” a near perfect piece of radio-groomed guitar-pop. The zealous “Livin’ On a High Wire” ends like a Glee outtake.