My 9 year old daughter finds this movie awesome, has already gone a long way to testing the theory that it takes 000's of plays to wear out a dvd, and I can (For a 39 year old guy) sorta see why. Yes, it's more cheesy than a camembert factory, the plot is about as predictable as can be - but it is one of the most fun movies I've seen in a while.
What we have to remember, is that this is a "wholesome" movie from the Disney stable. There's nothing in this you'd be worried about your kids seeing.
For entertainment value, it has plenty. It's very colourful, and it's got some great dance setpieces - a couple of them almost instant classics.
Another reviewer has put that this is full of "20-somethings pretending to be 14". Someone there who obviously failed to check the facts - as a search on IMDB shows the average age at filming to be about 18/19. A far cry from Grease and certain 80's movies where grizzly adults pushing 30 were pretending to be of schoolage. For obvious reasons, it's hard for a filmmaker to get young kids to do complicated acting, and filmmakers nowadays have sure improved on yesteryear. As by the subject, I'd guess these character are supposed to be 15/16, I guess they haven't done badly at all.
Mentioning Grease, it's easy to see the comparisons, where the kids are getting excited about watching this movie, but this is - as already said - no Grease. Grease was good for it's day, but it's now an old movie, still good - but old and it's lost it's relevance for kids. Here we have a movie for today.
It's a simple feelgood movie aimed at 9-14 year olds, but with subject that many over and under that age will also enjoy. I wouldn't buy it for myself, but it's something I don't mind in the background. It's no "The Godfather" or "American Beauty", but what it does, it does well.
Me - first time I watched it, I just fancied going to play basketball.