Mighty Oak available July 7

Mighty Oak

Synopsis: MIGHTY OAK tells the story of Gina, a band manager who struggles after losing her brother/lead singer in a fatal car accident while traveling to a gig. A decade later, Gina meets a 10-year-old music prodigy named Oak, played by newcomer Tommy Ragen, a real-life prodigy whose music inspired the screenplay. Oak seems to possess the same qualities as Gina’s late brother, inspiring her to pull her life back together and try to reunite the band with Oak as its new front man.

PG-13 for thematic content involving substance abuse, language, some accident images and brief suggestive comments | 1h 42min | Comedy, Drama | Available July 7th on Apple TV, Vudu, Amazon Prime Video, Google Play, Microsoft Movies & TV, Sony PlayStation Video, FandangoNOW, and more.

Review: For a band to work there are many elements that have to gel. Sometimes those things click and you get U2, The Beatles, Aerosmith. When it doesn’t you get Captain Geach and the Shrimp Shack Shooters playing at Party pier. It is the same with movies. In order to be amazing it has to hit on all cylinders. Mighty Oak didn’t – for me – hit all the right notes. I wanted Sing Street or even an Almost famous vibe. I would even have settled for School of Rock. But what I got was Kidz Bop with an over saturated script.

I will adamantly and immediately say that this is not the fault of young guitarist Tommy Ragen. Real life guitarist and movie inspiration Ragen might feel as if the success of the film is his burden to carry. It is not. You should check this 12-year old out. He literally started playing guitar around 6 years old and released his first album when he was eight. So, yeah. This film imploded mainly due to the script. It had a solid concept but didn’t ever solidify to anything of substance.

The film starts strong. An up and coming band with a super star front man in Vaughn have a devoted fan base and a local Cali following. When a tragic car wreck takes the life of their lead singer things aren’t the same and the rest of the band go their separate ways. Gina – the band’s manager and Vaughn’s sister – especially hits rock bottom and as the movie unfolds you get a glimpse of how much. Ten years pass and Gina hears Oak, a young guitar prodigy, playing one of the bands songs and decides to get them all back together with Oak taking Vaughns place as front man.

Gina is convinced that Oak is actually a reincarnation of her brother Vaughn. There are many subtle personality traits in Oak that drives her belief. Luckily the movie doesn’t do too many kooky things to try and convince the audience. In fact most of the band member think she is just grieving and finding a way to get through that. But they are just happy to be back together and accept this tween as their new leader.

Where the film misses the beat is in trying to do too much. Not sure if this is Gina’s story and her journey in healing over her brother. Maybe it is Oak’s story. He has a horrible child hood and a mother strung out on drugs and obviously battling her own demons. The band is like a new family for Oak and understandably he bonds with them on lots of levels. It also could be the band’s story. How during their prime tragedy stole their possible fame. Now they have a chance to relive that dream. Having all those plot trails would have been fine had they all worked together for the common good. But alas they do not.

Also, if you do a band movie you have to get the music right!. A huge pet peeve for me was in the opening scene. Make sure the actors know how to play their instruments and then make sure they are playing the same song we are hearing in the movie. It was so obvious during the night club scene no on was playing the write notes or even close to what we were hearing. It totally devalues any credibility from that point forward. Obviously when Regan joins the band he knows what he is doing but everything still felt like a bad karaoke night.

The movie had the potential to be a powerhouse for family unity and second chances. The jury is still out on whether Oak really was Vaughn but regardless it just didn’t hit the heart stings as it could have. Also it felt like it wants to gear toward a family movie that all ages can watch. But the themes, language, drugs and content make it for those 13 and over. I am just not sure that your teens will engage with the story or the characters. As for adults, the Kids Bop music and performances might be too much for them too. It feels like a Nickelodeon movie that Netflix would purchase.

Luckily this will be streaming and not a big screen film. So for a digital cost you could do worse. Just make sure you go in with the right expectations; an opening act and far from a headliner.

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