Let It Shine

My rating of 9 out of 10 may seem extreme, however, for what it's intended to be, this movie was very successful. My rating has a lot to do with the music from this movie, and the diversity this movie adds to Disneys offering. This movie has some of the best music and best raw talent ever produced by Disney. CoCo Jones is an amazing talent and I hope her race doesn't hinder her popularity and/or ability to shine on Disney (or anywhere else). Tyler is also talented. He has a fun actor to watch and has great voice for rap. As a 29 year old, I would definitely listen to songs from this movie outside of watching it. The writing, especially the rap, was pretty impressive for Disney. As someone who is typically 100% NOT a fan of rap, I liked the rap in this film, because the message was clean, and thoughtful and the beats were hot.

I was thrilled to see Disney encourage it's minority viewers with this film. I think it says a lot about how far television has come in terms of diversity. I hope America as a whole will support this movie as well.

Of course the movie is a bit cheesy at times, but it's intended to be for kids. I believe cheese and clichés in kids movies are totally fine. After all, whats cheesy and cliché to an adult is often a first time experience for a kid.

The movie progressed at a decent pace, and was entertaining and engaging the whole way though.

My only complaint with this movie is the church scenes. Without getting into too much detail, I would have preferred for the dad/preacher and the church scenes overall to have been a bit less nonsensical. Although I understand that again, this is for kids, so the point often has to be a bit more expressed.

Overall, I am proud of Disney for making this film. I think they did a great job all around. As someone who considers themselves a connoisseur of children's film and television, I recommend this movie to any kid or family looking to have a fun, clean, yet contemporary, heartwarming musical experience. .

My 11 yo daughter loves this movie. It is entertaining with solid acting performances that even kept my husband and I engrossed. I was puzzled by one reviewer objecting to the cast's ethnicity. Given the usual fare offered at Disney, I can't see why one movie with a majority black cast would rattle the viewer. But given the reviewer's odd orthography, I can only imagine what s/he would consider appropriate viewing material. It is stunning that this family-friendly flick wouldn't rank higher. It presents a nice spin on hip hop music; there is no violence, nothing illicit or morally compromising. We will be adding this film along with other Disney greats to our daughter's collection of Netflix favorites.

This movie is everything you would expect out of a made for TV Disney movie. Its hokey plot is nothing that hasn't been done before in many episodes of various sitcoms. It is the classic case of two friends where one friend helps another friend out by letting the other take credit of their work or talent. In "Let it Shine" Cyrus has all the talent of a would-be rap artist, whereas his best friend Kris doesn't have the talent, but has the perfect look. When Cyrus includes a photo of the both of them together with his submission to a songwriting competition under the pseudonym Truth, when he wins it's assumed Kris is Truth. Kris is so excited about the opportunity to work with Roxie, the promoter of the competition, Cyrus goes along with the mistake. The two concoct outlandish plans to keep up the charade. They tell Roxie Cyrus is his DJ so that Cyrus can be part of the journey and so that he is near Kris at all times. The plot is a little thicker with the fact the Roxy grew up with the two boys as part of Cyrus' father's church congregation, a man who opposes rap as a sinful form of music. More than anything this movie is about the soundtrack. This who enjoy hip-hop-that is teen hip-hop-will enjoy this movie more as large segments are devoted to the numbers. The soundtrack boasts it's own success peaking at #1 on Billboard's top rap albums and top kids albums. Other than that it's pretty formulaic of a "be yourself" and "don't be afraid to go for your dream" movie. It's like the "High School Musical" (2006) for hip-hop.

I was really skeptical about the movie. Being a African American male, i pride myself on listening to music that is mainly "Real Rap". When i watch the previews of them using those two words, i was like "Pssh, yeah right.". I was wrong. The lyrics had a lot of realism within them along with a positive message, CoCo Jones had a great debut in the film, she is a very talented artist. She reminds me of a young Jennifer Hudson, looks like her as well. I love the message of the movie, "Stand up for what you believe in." Though it is a bit of a cliché' I find it to be a great message for kids that watch Disney Channel.

I found the acting to be good, but there was something i was skeptical on at the start. Being how CoCo Jones is Fourteen, and Tyler James Williams is nineteen, i was really wondering if they was going to make them kiss. I did not really find it that acceptable if so, then again. That 70's Show had a fourteen year old Mila Kunis kiss a 20 year old Ashten Kucher, so they say. Still did not seem right if so.

To some it up, the music was good, and the movie was overall very good. It is a movie you should watch, though i know a lot of you may be older than twenty, you may have a low tolerance for movies with cliché's, i recommend you to ease up. It's a Disney movie, not a Academy Award Winning movie. Its main base is for kids and teens, don't be so critical.

Thank You for reading.

No curse words, real rap, good music and the acting is genuine. At first i thought this movie was going to disappoint me but while watching it i was getting more and more interested. Tyler Williams (everybody hates Chris) look a like Wiz Khalifa and Coco Jones look a like Jennifer Hudson. If Disney invested more money in this project it would fit cinemas around the world. If you love real rap and teenage romance movies "Let it Shine" is a movie made for you. Brandon Smith is also in the movie as "the bad guy" and he does a good job in the movie! I hope Disney make more good movies just like this one. That was all from me and thanks for reading this:)