Starring Max Schneider, Keke Palmer, Drake Bell, and Robert Moloney
Directed by Bille Woodruff
Music and Lyrics by various
By the early 2010's, the overwhelming success of The Disney Channel's original musicals was so all-encompassing that other family and teen cable channels jumped on the bandwagon. Rags was Nickelodeon's fourth and final musical film to date, and by far their most successful. How does this gender-switched modern retelling of Cinderella compare to other family-friendly versions, including the one that debuted on Amazon last year? Let's begin on the streets of New York as our narrator Shawn (Bell), studio technician at Majesty Records, introduces us to our lead characters, and find out...
The Story: Charlie Prince (Schneider) works cleaning his late mother's kareoke bar The Palace for his obnoxious stepfather Arthur (Moloney) and his annoying stepbrothers Lloyd (Burkely Duffield) and Andrew (Keenan Tracey). Arthur is convinced Lloyd and Andrew have musical talent and pushes them as a duo he calls Androyd. Charlie's the one with real talent. He writes his own music and can sing and play guitar.
Kadee Worth (Palmer) is another talented teen. Unlike Charlie, she's one of the top musical stars in the world, but she's tired of her silly and shallow image and the egotistical rock star Finn (Avan Jogia) she's being forced to date. Her father Reginald (Isiah Mustafa), who owns Majesty, insists it's good to keep her name in the papers, but she wants to play her own songs. Charlie manages to get a job there as a janitor after bringing a CD of his brother's work for Majesty's talent show, but it's Charlie who catches Kadee's eye. They bond when she finds him trying to earn money to buy back his mother's piano and he brings her to perform on the street.
Things are looking up for Charlie when Kadee invites him to the masked ball for the talent show and he and Shawn cut a demo of his song with the stage name "Rags." Arthur takes his invitation and uses it for him and his sons, but they're booed off the stage. Thanks to the Palace's managers Martha (Christina Sicoli) and Diego (Zak Santiago), he's able to attend the ball and wow the crowd. He runs off right after kissing Kadee. She and her father want to know who Rags is, but Arthur is still determined to get his sons in front of the spotlight no matter what...
The Song and Dance: As adorable as this is, I like that it has a slight edge to it that most of the shinier Disney TV musicals lack. Charlie's world includes the rock and rap of the street along with light pop; blousy Arthur reeks of sleaze in his circa 1974 leisure suits and is definitely a wee bit darker than would turn up in any Disney project. Palmer is an attractive pop princess whose father's assistant shoves her into gold armor outfits out of the disco era, but would really rather be playing her own songs with Charlie and chasing her giant dog Trumpet. Though it's set in New York, it was actually filmed in Vancouver, and that real setting adds to that slightly edgier vibe.
Favorite Number: We open on the street with Charlie and his buddies doing their vibrant "Someday," until it breaks up and Shawn tosses a big tip for him. Charlie dreams of stardom as he dances with a broom while cleaning the Palace with "Hands Up." Kadee's flashy introductory number is "Look at Me Now" in that crazy gold outfit with the overwhelming puffed sleeves. Poor kid. The song's good, but the outfit looks ridiculous. The entire number is an overdone mass of dancers in mock-intense poses, something most real teens would be more likely to hoot off the camera. The two show "Perfect Harmony" when they play the piano together at the pawn shop. Charlie, in his "Rags" guise, reminds everyone they're "Not So Different After All" onstage at the ball. He and Kadee come together in the end with Lloyd as one of their backup dancers for "Me and You Against the World."
What I Don't Like: For all the edgy vibes, this is still a made-for-TV pop musical. Kadee's insistence on playing her own music would be a little more understandable if her own music didn't sound almost exactly like the music she sang before and if her new image was, well, a bit more different than her older one than a slightly less flashy wardrobe. The story is a mass of cliches seen in every version of Cinderella from Sally in 1929 to that Amazon jukebox musical from last year.
The Big Finale: It's too bad Nick doesn't dive into the genre more often. Overly familiar story aside, this was really adorable. Worth checking out at least once with your favorite young musician if you or your 8 to 14 year old loves the cast or Nick's other films.
Home Media: On Paramount Plus and DVD, the latter paired with another original Nickelodeon musical, Big Time Movie.
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