K-12

Don't go in expecting you're gonna get a movie with fleshed out characters or a coherent story. The thing you're gonna get is just a bunch of music videos mashed together. The way the story is written is how kids from elementary school play make-believe with their friends. (only the friends have magical powers, everyone wants to get a bit of that spotlight, being a bit grotesque sometimes for the fun,...). It seems as if Martinez had a lot of fun with this project and I don't blame her, if I had the chance I would do the same. My main problem with the movie is that it tackles way too many themes (bullying, transphobia, body image,...) and it ends up being a "we live in a society"-mess wherein only the obvious get stated without saying much in depth about it. I do praise the movie for the costume design and set design, the colors in this movie had me in awe and that's what you kind of expect if you've seen Martinez previous music videos for her Crybaby album for example. I would recommend this movie to people who are a big fan of Melanie Martinez and for the people who watch movies solely for the aesthetic.

When watching this movie, suspend your expectations for a well developed plot or fully developed characters. I went into this movie expecting just that, and it was a bit disappointing. However, if you love Melanie for her music and artistry, you'll get many doses of it. I did cringe at a few parts (cheesy acting alert!) but overall I am happy with the experience and left a bigger Melanie Martinez fan. The movie itself made the album that much more interesting. For example, my sister said "play that song with the puppet scene!". You feel more connected to the album. The messages in the film are pretty standard "society sucks and this is why" in regard to patriarchy and suppression and objectification of women. What I like about it is that many middle schoolers and high schoolers will be able to extract those messages easily and in a relatable way.

If you are a Melanie Martinez fan, I think that you will be blown away by the music (which, to me, sounds more mature and I'm glad that her style has changed a bit, it sounds much better). The costumes are out of this world and the filming place is beautiful. This movie is full of modern issues and I think that it's great for adolescents to watch. It's not hard to understand, even though it is mainly symbolistic. Right now I'm going to talk about what I didn't like. The acting is super cringey at times and I couldn't help but repeat their lines in my head with a better acting. But I think that is understandable. I think that those parts were the door appeared or when you could hear that goddess or whatever it was speaking were kind of forced. We all know that Melanie Martinez likes wicca and all, but I didn't quite understand what those scenes were doing to this movie. Mainly, this movie is full of cliches, but you can't help falling in love with the visuals. That's why my rating is pretty high for the quality of the overall movie.

I just saw this with my 15 year old daughter. I'm old. Let's not dwell.

The cinema was full. The vibe was positive. The movie looks gorgeous, the pastel colours, the well framed shots and the costumes all looked amazing.

I was wondering after 10 mins into the start of a bus ride , was there going to be music?

O yeah. There was music. So so much music.

If you like MM this will blow you away. The story based around some he'll like school was secondary to the real story of acceptance both of yourself and others.

MM and her friends share an actual super power. Not spoiling it, but do not upset them they will totally ruin you.

Her songs were threaded throughout the movie, tying what really is chaos into a nightmare like vision into MM's dark side.

You will not like this movie if you treat it as a typical movie, this isn't one. It's 80mins of music video interspersed with scenes that may not make sense to us in reality, but do in this world.

Stay past the credits to see MM working hard in the studio showing how she's learning to dance.

Loved most of the songs and the whole movie was aesthetically really pleasing! I enjoyed the first 30 minutes of the movie very much but the rest wasn't as good for some reason. Some of the songs didn't really fit with the plot too well and the acting was a bit cringeworthy at times. I love Melanie but I think the casting & script could have been better. Despite that, I think that she did a great job on this movie considering that she wrote/directed it besides acting etc. Maybe Melanie was just too involved in making the K-12 film because some parts of the movie seemed rushed or just not making sense at all. I got to admire her ambition though: she had a vision of this movie that would explain the album and I think she succeeded in that. If you're going to listen to the album, I recommend watching this movie first (although it isn't that good by itself so just do it for the songs).