Starring Adrienne Balion, Kiely Williams, Sabrina Bryan, and Michael Steger
Directed by Paul Hoen
Music and Lyrics by various
The Cheetah Girls 2 was one of the Disney Channel's biggest-ever hits, but there was trouble behind the scenes. Raven-Symone felt ostracized by the other girls and wanted out. Not to mention, Cheetah Girls was no longer their only musical franchise. High School Musical and its sequel were phenomenal successes and stole a lot of The Cheetah Girls' pre-adolescent fans. With Slumdog Millionaire having made India and Bollywood musicals fashionable in Hollywood, it seemed to make sense to return to the formula of the previous movie and send the Girls overseas. How does their second trip abroad look now? Let's start in New York with the remaining Girls and their dreams of stardom and find out...
The Story: With Galleria away at college and their offers thin on the ground, the Cheetah Girls consider splitting up, until enthusiastic young Indian director Vikram (Steger) casts them as the leads in his big new Bollywood musical. The girls fly to India, only to discover that his Uncle Kamal (Roshan Seth) is the actual producer and only wanted one girl to star. They claim they won't let the competition come between them, but that doesn't last long. Dorinda (Bryan) helps the film's male star Rahim (Rupak Gimm) romance the choreographer Gita (Deepti Daryanai), Chanel (Balion) gets closer to Vik, and Aqua (Williams) falls for Amar (Kunal Sharma), the rich computer tech service worker she's been contacting online. With the three boys promoting each girl and the girls all good at different things, it seems that the film may come between them after all...
The Song and Dance: This franchise absolutely needs a strong director to integrate the numbers and mask how cliched it all is. Hoen's not quite the choreographer that Kenny Ortega is, but he does know how to make a Disney Channel musical work, having helmed both ZOMBIES films and the second Camp Rock. I'm pleased to see how they mostly respect Indian culture and traditions, particularly with the Swami Ji (Vinod Pargal) they meet when they arrive. I also appreciate that there's no obvious villain, a problem in the previous films. Uncle Kamal is less "bad" than he is stubborn. He wants to make the movie, too, just in a different way than his nephew.
Favorite Number: The movie opens with "Cheetah Love," the flashy sequins-and-chorus-boys routine with the Girls imagining themselves as big stars. They challenge Gita to a hip-hop/Indian dance-off in the fast-moving "Dance Me If You Can." The Girls try to show off their greatest strengths and push the others aside at the audition for the film, while their guys argue why their girl should be the star in "I'm the One." They realize there's "No Place Like Us" as they each admit they miss the other at the hotel. The movie ends with a riot of color, glittering Bollywood dancers, and showing pink petals amid the rollicking title song.
What I Don't Like: Did I mention how cliched it all is? While they do manage to avoid the obvious villain trap, the rest of it is as artificial and silly as the other films. Vikram shouldn't have told the girls he'd take them all or assume his uncle would change the movie because he wanted him to. His uncle was in charge and had every right to be upset and frustrated with his nephew's behavior. This may also be the right time to point out this is the only film where Aqua gets that much to do or even really any kind of personality. They should have done something with Williams long before this.
The Big Finale: In the end, I'm afraid this franchise is strictly for girls in the appropriate 8 to 14 age range and those who grew up with it on The Disney Channel. Anyone else will likely be put off by the dull and dated plots, silly dialogue, the girls' abrasive personalities, and the bland pop music.
Home Media: Easily found on DVD (often for under 5 dollars) and on streaming.
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