They Rock? Well, No.

Guess who just watched Camp Rock? Um, me. I am a devoted scholar of Disney Channel Original Movies. Looking at the Wikipedia history, I feel a surprising sense of pride: here, at last, is a list I've mostly conquered. (EW just released its 1000th issue, devoted to lists upon lists of everything great from the past 25 years, and as usual I am over informed about the topics but under-read, under-listened, under-watched.)
2000 was apparently my banner year: I've seen 11 of the 13 movies. Of course, I was eight years old, so it was allowed. Now it's an oddity.
The movies make me nostalgic, but more than that indulge my need for simple storytelling. With villains that get their comeuppance, then turn out to be simply misunderstood. With heroes and heroines who learn repetitive life lessons. With a dead parent, a spunky friend to take their side, and a problem easily montage-solved.
And being a devoted scholar, I can tell you: High School Musical became a sensation because it was the apotheosis of so many well-worn tropes. Camp Rock is not. The acting is unusually uneven, songs not catchy, unlikely twists impossible to believe and unnecessary to boot. (Speaking of boots, these fringed ones are hideous and worn in more than one scene, a DCOM not-allowed-ever.
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That said, I'll probably be watching it tomorrow. I'm really, really easy.
Even this morning, as I ate my breakfast, I was was watching Get A Clue, a 2002 movie in which Lindsay Lohan plays a high school gossip columnist solving a mystery. Once I'm finished writing this I'll go read Lolita. High-low, low-high, I welcome all comers. I'll read all lists.