They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. It would seem that MTV wants to flatter MTV with their latest made for television flick, ‘The American Mall’. It is a similar format and style to the Disney juggernaut hit franchise; ‘High School Musical’. This is a big step for MTV and one that they are putting a lot on the line to accomplish. Traditionally the network has been targeted towards the mid teen to early twenties market. This is a push for the all important and extremely lucrative ‘tween demographic of 8 to 14 year olds. Considering that this represents a multi-billion dollar a year industry you really can’t blame them for going in this direction. To make sure of the profits MTV got several of the producers from Disney’s ‘High School Musical’ series and partnered with Sear for some good old fashion product tie in. They will premier the movie on air August 11^th with the DVD that is under consideration here following with a street date the next day. This was obviously timed to coincide with the start of the back to school shopping period. The movie was filmed in a Sears store in a mall in Utah with Sears’ uniforms and products getting almost as much screen time as the leads in the cast. Once upon a time MTV was a music video station but that was back in the eighties. Now they concentrate on original programming that typically includes their so called reality series. Their sister station, VH1 had a similar release schedule back in 2006 with their ‘tween oriented comedy ‘Something Awesome’ and garnered some success. It may seem strange to release the DVD so soon after the TV release but there are a lot of extras on the disc that should help drive up sales. This is not up to the standards set by Disney but they have over half a century of experience in kids programming. They also have the loyalty of millions of young fans out there and a system of grooming and promoting their stars. With that said it would be nearing impossible to really compare this MTV flick with the Disney originals. They do a good job and the ‘tween will undoubtedly respond well to it.

Next to a high school the place that most American teens know best is the local shopping mall. Thirty years ago my wife and I would routinely stop off at the mall near us after work for a little shopping a bite to eat. In the intervening decades the malls all across the country have been taken over as the place to hang out for the youth of the nation. The practical shops that were prevalent years ago have been supplanted by trending shops but there are always the anchor stores that draw in the entire family. These are usually big chain stores like Sears so the selection of them as a partner here is only natural. At times this movie appears to be a ninety minute long commercial but there is a semblance of a plot to enjoy. The writers here are Margaret Oberman and Tomás Romero. Oberman spent the early eighties writing for Saturday Nigh Live. Around the start of the decade she wrote some episodes for the cult classic ‘Square Pegs’. This does give her experience in writing for a younger audience although not the ‘tween age group. Romero is a newcomer; this is first feature length screenplay. The story is simple enough following the ‘tween angst formula to a tee. Aly (Nina Dobrev) is a teenaged girl who loves music. Not only does she listen to it constantly she is practicing and working hard towards her dream of becoming a singer and songwriter. In her off time she is usually helping out at her mother’s music store in the mall. It looks like she is getting closer to this goal when she meets Joey (Rob Mayes) who is a musician working to make ends meet with a job as a janitor at the mall. What Aly enjoys most about spending time with Joey is he understands her music; he gets her. Of course this leads to a little romantic inclination between the pair. Every ‘tween musical comedy needs a villain and this flick has a really wicked one. Madison (Autumn Reeser) is rich and spoiled beyond belief. Her father owns the mall and she is very used to getting whatever she wants. She not only wants to break up Aly and Joey but take down mom’s little store in the process.

Directing here is Shawn Ku. Previously he did one musical comedy short. As a first time director he does a rather good job here of moving the story along and around the constant promotions. He sets up the basic plot lines well showing the obvious between the goody two shoes Aly and the Cruella de Ville wannabe Madison. Two of the producers here, Bill Borden and Barry Rosenbush have worked in this capacity in all of the ‘High School Musical’ franchise including the up coming number three and the recently announced four. The know how to appeal to their audience without overly pandering to them. The colors are bright, the music bouncy and the dance numbers energetic. It is a bit of a odd choice that the main character of Aly is already out of school. Perhaps this is to help the movie appeal to more of the regular MTV age group. The story line and production is all ‘tween but the cast attempts to push the demographic up. This does make for an uneven feel to the flick since it seems unable to decide what group it wants to go for. It will be difficult for the older audience of MTV who are used to the more salacious programming to get used to the candy coated production here.

Even the promotion for the film shows it trying for the young teen market. If you click on any of the character names in the official web site you get a mock up of a Face Book page instead of the usual paragraph description. This is at least a more imaginative way to present the standard information. The film may follow a formula but it is fun to watch. The musical numbers come frequently helping to maintain the energy and drive of the movie. The cast does well in their roles selling the situation as much as possible. The tunes are catchy and the dancing moves things along which will appeal to the kids. If you can overlook the near constant, not so subliminal commercials you will be able to sit with your kids and have some fun watching.

The movie is presented to DVD by Paramount and it is their typical great job. The video is anamorphic 1.78:1 with an exceptionally bright color palette. The Dolby 5.1 audio rocks the speakers with all whole system getting a workout. There are plenty of extras to go around making this a reasonable purchase even after seeing the flick on TV.