High school ... Vanessa Hudgens ... kids making music. We know what you're thinking, but you're wrong.

Bandslam might have all those familiar ingredients, but it's not another high school musical of any sort. This is a coming-of-age movie set against a ferocious battle-of-the-bands competition.

Will Burton (Gaelan Connell) knows a lot about music. This does not prevent him from being a dweebish outcast who writes long letters to David Bowie and who strikes out with girls.

After Will and his single mom (Lisa Kudrow) move to New Jersey, he goes to a new high school and discovers that the locals are obsessed with an event called Bandslam. It's a battle-of-the-bands extravaganza with a massive following, and Will's knowledge of music starts to come in handy.

At school, Will gets to know Sa5m -- "The 5 is silent" -- an introverted girl (Vanessa Hudgens) who is his class partner in Human Studies. He's definitely attracted to her.

And he meets Charlotte (Aly Michalka), a blond bombshell with her own rock band and a grudge against her former boyfriend, Ben (Scott Porter). Seems Ben cut some friends from his band and replaced them with better musicians, because he's obsessed with winning Bandslam.

Despite plenty of warnings about Charlotte and the way she squashes kids who aren't part of the in-crowd, Ben decides to help her organize her band to compete in Bandslam. He gets her a horn section and a decent drummer, and he starts choreographing the group's dance moves.

Before too long, Charlotte's band is more than ready to compete.

To return the favour, Charlotte teaches Will how to kiss.

For its first hour, Bandslam is a light, funny, creative teen movie blessed with some strong musical performance sequences. Director Todd Graff was specific about casting actors who were also musically skilled.

Sadly, the movie goes all dramatic in the middle, which is really gilding the lily. Teenage life has more than enough inherent angst, so why ladle on the extra portion of heartbreak?

But the energy rebounds with the grand-finale competition at the end of Bandslam. That sequence involves kick-ass rock performances from the cast, as well as from up-and-coming bands based in Austin, Texas, where the movie was shot.

The teen-musical territory may seem familiar, but there are still pleasant surprises to be found in Bandslam.

(This film is rated PG)

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