Another musical where the music is mostly diegetic? Here’s hoping it’s better than the last one. Tyler James Williams, not to be confused with his brother Tyrel Jackson Williams (of Lab Rats fame), or his other brother, Tylen Jacob Williams... Anyway, aside from playing the older version of his younger brother at one stage, he also played the main role in sitcom Everybody Hates Chris, a show produced by and based on the life of comedian Chris Rock.
He also did a rap-based Disney Channel Musical called Let it Shine (Honestly, I just did that opening because of the confusing naming convention. Interesting choice, Williams family, also I have nothing else to say for this preamble)
Let it Shine tells the story of a young black American kid
named Cyrus DeBarge (Tyler James Williams), his father Jacob (Courtney B Vance) is a
pastor at their local church and preaches that rap is ‘the devil’s music’ and
all clubbing and club music is evil and other such bs. But little does he know,
at least at the start, that Cyrus is working part time as a cleaner at the club,
whilst also writing down his own rap lyrics to start his own career.
When famous singer and co-incidentally old school friend Roxie (Coco Jones)
offers a prize to an artist who sends her in the best song Cyrus sends in one
of his best. But he sends it in, and this is pretty dumb, with a photo of both
him and his best friend Chris (Trevor Jackson) and Roxie assumes that the song
is done by Chris and he ends up winning the competition. And as Chris has the
hots for Roxie and Cyrus is generally not accustomed to the spotlight, they
agree to let Chris of the rapper, ironically named Truth.
Oh, and there’s a rapper called DaBling, who was Christopher
Wilde’s roadie in Starstruck and is now the bully of the film.
So, the actual plot of Let it Shine is somewhat basic, it’s
a fairly standard liar revealed story with a household that bans a thing that
our protagonist is good at. I don’t care for either of these clichés. And for
the latter, it’s one of those things where it’s Disney Channel-ness, actually
detracts from the story. Jacob makes his speech in church about rap music being
the devil’s music, which is just hilarious but specifically calls it out for
being raunchy, a critique this film, being aimed at young children, had no way
of justifying.
The liar revealed story is a bit more interesting and takes
up the bulk of the narrative as Cyrus and Chris have to find clever ways to
make it seem like Chris is singing when it’s actually Cyrus. I wish it were a
more mutually beneficial relationship, say Chris actually entered the
competition on Cyrus’ behalf, which would explain the picture of the two of
them, so Chris gets the fame and attention from Roxie, whilst Cyrus gets away
of avoiding both his father’s attention and not facing his stage fright.
It's not a big deal in the long run but would have helped us
empathise more with Chris who betrays his friend big-time early on in the film
and it takes till much closer to the end for them to come to blows over it. But
one thing I do appreciate is that Roxie is as much a character as anyone and
has her own struggles independent of the boys. Her manager is pushing her and
her music in a direction she’s not comfortable with and it seems her critics
agree, calling her out for being fake for using a vocoder.
Bling is not all that interesting an antagonist. He’s a
solid rapper and winning most of games but we don’t see much of him beneath his
bully persona because it’s meant to be a façade, in a small scene during a
montage, Cyrus sees him dropping off someone in a taxi and it’s his means to
hand him his rap battle defeat. That being said, having a persona that isn’t
entirely their self is not uncommon in music.
What saves this movie for me is the music which combines rap
and gospel music, an interesting and uncommon combination but Let it Shine is
fantastic, the rap battles are well executed and Don’t Run Away is an absolute
slapper, I love it. The rapping is a bit slow but I get wanting kids to be able
to understand the lyrics and to be honest, I appreciate it too. The acting is
also pretty solid across the board and that’s all it really needed to have.
Let it Shine is a solid Disney Channel Musical. Another more
Down to Earth one, with a unique combination of rap and gospel music providing
an absolutely great sound. The story is nothing special but there’s not
aggressively wrong with it.
Rating 65/100
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