If, to your way of the thinking, a Brooklyn double-dutch tournament has about as much business inhabiting the wonderful world of Disney as a fairy-princess documentary does the ESPN Zone, you've got a lot of catching up to do. With High School Musical and now Jump In!, the Disney Channel is doing for tweens what John Travolta and Olivia Newton John did a generation ago with Grease: rallying them behind an exceptionally digestible drama, and upping the appeal by patching in songs with more sticking power than a five-pack of Hubba Bubba. Musically, Jump In! picks up where "Get'cha Head in the Game," from High School Musical, leaves off--these are bouncy dance and hip-hop tracks that'll find you nodding, shoulder-shimmying or knee-bobbing in your seat no matter your age. Stars Keke Palmer and Corbin Bleu turn in a couple of keepers (Bleu's "Push It to the Limit" particularly), but the best songs here belong to the pros: Jordan Pruitt shows shades of Nelly Furtado and other pop giants on "Jump to the Rhythm," and Lil' Josh, on his adaptation of the old-school classic "Jump," is just plain irresistible. |
