PREPARE for a dose of teen-fuelled rock in the distinctly unglitzy Bandslam.

When unpopular kid Will Burton (Gaelan Connell) moves to New Jersey to start high-school, a chance encounter with the former popular girl Charlotte (Alyson Michalka) sees him become her band's manager.
As he lends his musical expertise to craft their sound, the group find themselves preparing for the hottest battle of the bands contest in the State: Bandslam.

After befriending classmate Sa5m (Vanessa Hudgens) - the 5 is silent - Will's life starts to really get on track, but the one thing threatening to ruin everything is his past.

Grungy

If you are hoping for a meaty chunk of High School Musical frivolity coated in sickly-sweet apple-pie pop, then Bandslam is going to be a disappointment.

Director Todd Graff's sophomore effort shoots for a grungy, indie-flick aesthetic to cater for the post-HSM pre-Juno generation in this musically punctuated - but never led - teen drama.

Gaelan Connell's dishevelled turn as Will grounds the film in reality by side-stepping Hollywood good looks in favour of scruffy quirkiness (although a constant look of repressed anger sliding over confused angst does become distracting).

Together with the 'pretty popular girl' quota met by an distinctly average Alyson Michalka and a band of freaks and geeks, the tone is set.

But it is Vanessa Hudgens casting which lets the side down.

Outshines

Although she eases herself out of the cutesy, shiny HSM persona into that of off-beat Sa5m quite competently, she still outshines the rest of the cast, failing to fit in with the outcast narrative and making the inevitable climactic ending all the more expected.

While the moments of drama are held well by the young cast, and humour and sensitivity gently nursed by Friends alumna Lisa Kudrow, it is the music which fills in the cracks left by a 30 minute too-long runtime and the cliché twists.

The band rehearsals are welcomed intermissions, but it is the Bandslam contest where Graff excels by fusing the energy of a live show with the feel-good factor of a Hollywood movie.

Kids throwing around band names like The Ramones and the Velvet Underground like cool-currency may rile older audiences members who feel their musical heritage is being mauled; but despite it's flaws, Bandslam's more mature take on a burgeoning tween-tune genre is a welcomed arrival.

6/10 - Hits the right note.