Fans of the Nickelodeon boy band TV series “Big Time Rush” will enjoy their first movie “Big Time Movie” shot in London. But also included in this DVD double feature is the inclusion of the Nickelodeon original movie “Rags”. Two fun, musically driven films on DVD for the price of one!
© 2012 Viacom International Inc. All Rights Reserved.
DVD TITLE: Big Time Movie/Rags
MOVIE RELEASE DATE: 2012
DURATION: Big Time Movie (1:08:05)/Rags (1:27:49)
DVD INFORMATION: Full Screen Format, Dolby Digital (English Stereo), Closed Caption
COMPANY: Nickelodeon/Paramount
RATED: NOT RATED
RELEASE DATE: August 28, 2012
Big Time Movie
Directed by Savage Steve Holland
Written by Scott Fellows
Executive Producer: Marjorie Cohn, Scott Fellows, Lauren Levine
Co-Executive Producer: Scott McAboy
Executive in Charge of Production: Michael Sammaciccia
Executive in Charge of Development: Ian Sheppard
Supervisting Producer: Amy Sydorick
Music by Guy Moon
Edited by Stewart Schill
Casting by Heike Brandstatter, Coreen Mayrs
Production Design by Michael Diner
Art Direction by Laurel Bergman
Set Decoration by Ide Foyle
Costume Design by Angus Strathie
Rags
Directed by Billie Woodruff
Written by Jason Fuchs, Hilary Galanoy, Elizabeth Hackett
Executive Producer: Nick Cannon, Lauren Levine, Jessica Rhoades
Co-Executive Producer: Scott McAboy
Producer: Marjorie Cohn, Laura Levine, Keke Palmer
Supervising Producer: Amy Sydorick
Music by Rodney Jerkins
Cinematography by Glen Winter
Casting by Heike Brandstatter, Coreen Mayrs
Production Design by Michael Diner
Art Direction by Shannon Grover
Set Decoration by Ide Foyle
Costume Design by Angus Strathie
Big Time Movie
Kendall Schmidt as Kendall Knight
James Maslow as James Diamond
Carlos Pena as Carlos Garcia
Logan Henderson as Logan Mitchell
Ciara Bravo as Katie Knight
Stephen Kramer Glickman as Gustavo Rocque
Tanya Chisholm as Kelly Wainwright
Challen Cates as Mrs. Jennifer Knight
Trevor Devall as Sir Atticus Moon
Christopher Shyer as Agent Lane
Tahmoth Penikett as Anget A
Emma Lahana as Penny Lane
Gerard Plunkett as Duke of Bath
Scars
Drake Bell as Shawn
Keke Palmer as Kadee Worth
Avan Jogia as Finn
Max Schneider as Charlie
Burkely Duffield as Lloyd
Isaiah Mustafah as Reginal Worth
Luisa D’Oliveira as MTV VJ
Keenan Tracey as Andrew
Devon Weigel as Irma
Zak Santiago as Diego
Big Time Movie – Join Kendall, James, Carlos and Logan as they dodge villains and screaming fans on the streets of London. Along with the sassy teen spy Penny Lane, they attempt to save the world and their world tour! Featuring a soundtrack of classic Beatles songs, this fast-paced TV movie adventure will have you singing (and laughing) along!
Rags – Charlie dreams of music stardom rather than his life of sweeping floors. When he meets pop star Kadee Worth, dreams come true as these two teens from different worlds from a budding friendship in the TV movie filled with music, magic, and a fairy tale ending.
Two films for the price of one! “Big Time Movie” featuring the boy band Big Time Rush and a Cinderella style of film “Rags” will both be available on DVD in August 2012.
In “Big Time Movie”, Big Time Rush stars in their first telefilm as the group featuring Kendall Knight (as portrayed by Kendall Schmidt), James Diamond (as portrayed by James Maslow), Carlos Garcia (as portrayed by Carlos Pena) and Logan mitchell (as portrayed by Logan Henderson) go to perform live in concert in London. So far, the biggest step of their career!
While en route to their first performance for their “All Over the World Tour”, Carlos has dreams of being a spy and the group rescues a princess. While at the airport, a group of thugs are after Agent M16, who quietly switches his backpack with an identical backpack that Kendall is using.
Now Agent Penny Lane (as portrayed by Emma Lahana) must get the backpack from Big Time Rush, while men working for the evil Sir Atticus Moon (as portrayed by Trevor Davall) are after the boy band because of the mysterious gravitational device.
So, now that the guys are wanted, they flee from their hotel. But the problem is that they are expected to perform in concert in the next few hours and if they don’t make it, the worlds largest concert promoter will want nothing to do with them.
Meanwhile, as their manager Gustavo Rocque (as portrayed by Stephen Kramer Glickman) and Kelly Wainwright (as portrayed by Tanya Chisholm) worry about the guys, Kendall’s sister Katie want to be part of royalty and tries to get her mother, Jennifer involved.
Will Big Time Rush make it to the concert in time? Before they are chased down by Sir Atticus Moon’s men?
What is Big Time Rush?
In 2009, “Big Time Rush”, a Nickelodeon TV series about four friends: Kendall Knight (played by Kendall Schmidt), James Diamon (played by James Maslow), Carlos Garcia (played by Carlos Pena Jr.) and Logan Mitchell (played by Logan Henderson) who become the popular boy band Big Time Rush.
The guys love to have fun but before they can become music stars, they need to be trained courtesy of their manager Gustavo Rocque (played by Stephen Kramer Glickman) of Rocque Records and Kelly Wainright (played by Tanya Chisholm).
Meanwhile, to make sure that they don’t get into too much trouble, Kendall’s mother Jennifer and his younger and very bright sister Katie try to watch over the band, while they stay in the Palmwitz (a living area for other music and acting talents trying to make it big in Hollywood), even if the hotel manager, Reginald Bitters (played by David Anthony Higgins) can’t stand them.
“Big Time Rush” was created by Scott Fellows (creator and executive producer of “Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide”) who was inspired by the ’60s show “The Monkees”. In order to make the music portion work with this TV series, Nickelodeon partnered with Columbia/Epic Label Group and became the third series to incorporate music into the series like “iCarly” and “Victorious”.
Nationwide casting for the series began in 2007 and of the 1,500 teens and young adults that auditioned, four were selected to be part of the boy band. The show had their one-hour special preview in Nov. 2009 and drew an audience of 3.6 million viewers. The series began in Jan. 18, 2010 and received a total of 7.1 million total viewers (average around 3 million viewers) and became Nickelodeon’s highest rated live-action series debut and remains a popular series for the cable network.
As the series is on its second season, Nickelodeon has released the second volume of the first season (six episodes plus their TV movie) of “Big Time Rush” on DVD.
What is “Rags”?
In May 2012, Nickelodeon debuted their latest Nickelodeon Original Movie titled “Rags”. Not exactly your typical “Cinderella” type of storyline, “Rags” revolves around a teenager named Charlie Prince (as portrayed by Max Schneider).
Charlie is a talented singer and musician but life at home is not the greatest as Charlie’s stepfather Arthur (as portrayed by Robert Maloney) is greedy and doesn’t care for him. Also, his step-brothers Andrew (as portrayed by Keenan Tracey) and Lloyd (as portrayed by Burkely Duffield) are spoiled and mean to him and think they are a wonderful musical duo known as Androyd, which their father is desperately trying to get them signed by a record label.
But aside from performing in the street, Charlie works at his father’s karaoke restaurant, and wants to make money, so he can make enough money to put money down for a piano, that once belonged to his mother and is now at a pawn shop (thanks to his step-father pawning it for money to be used to buy a karaoke machine).
One day while performing on the street, he is discovered by Majesty Records sound engineer, Shawn (as portrayed by Drake Bell). Shawn tells him that he has potential and one day will be as big as Kadee Worth. At the time, Charlie is unaware that Shawn works at Majesty.
Meanwhile, we are introduced to a pop star named Kadee (as portrayed by Keke Palmer), daughter of Majesty Records music mogul, Reginald Worth (as portrayed by Isaiah Mustafa). The problem is that Kadee is secretly frustrated by the music her father’s “people” have her making for her and all she wants is to show is her true talent. But her father is adamant that he has people in place to protect her and make her a star!
One day, as Charlie is leaving to drop off a demo CD of his step-brothers aka Androyd to Majesty Records, he accidentally runs into Kadee and the paparazzi starts taking photos of the two together. As Charlie goes to bring the demo CD to the record label, he is mistaken as a person who is looking for a janitorial job.
Seeing it as a chance to make some money, Charlie applies for the job and is met by Shawn. Shawn makes sure that Charlie gets the job.
While working, Charlie walks into the recording studio and starts singing, unaware that Shawn is nearby. Hearing Charlie sing, Shawn records him and decides that Charlie is too talented and wants to produce an album for him.
Meanwhile, Charlie and Kadee become good friends and she respects him because he lets her be herself. Something that she has always wanted people to hear…the real Kadee.
And because of their friendship, Charlie is invited to the Majesty Records Masquerade. But his stepfather takes the invitation away from him and is determined to get his son’s music group, Androyd, to perform at the masquerade. Meanwhile, Charlie’s friends Diego and Martha (who work for Charlie’s stepfather) help Charlie by making him an outfit for the masquerade. And while at the masquerade, he dances with Kadee (who doesn’t know that the disguised guy is Charlie) and sings the song “Not So Different At All”.
Both Charlie and Kadee share a kiss and before he leaves her, he tells Kadee to “Be You” and accidentally drops his demo (which was labeled as “RAGS”) that Shawn recorded of him and Kadee finds it.
Now, Kadee tries to get her father to help look for this performer known as RAGS.
VIDEO, AUDIO & SUBTITLES:
“Big Time Movie” and “Rags” are presented in full screen and presented in Dolby Digital (English Stereo). The series is shot via Digital and the picture quality is very good on DVD. I didn’t notice any major artifacting or digital noise. But for the most part, fans should be pleased with the video and audio.
There are no subtitles but closed captions are included.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“Big Time Movie/Rags” does not come with any special features.
The DVD double-feature “Big Time Movie/Rags” is a wonderful DVD that showcases two films for the price of one. And for Nickelodeon, it was good planning to feature both films together.
It’s a given that fans of Big Time Rush, are more likely going to purchase this DVD for “Big Time Movie”. The film is hilarious and fun as it features the guys in an action-related film as they are drawn into a conspiracy of espionage and underground dealers of a mysterious levitation device that can be used as a weapon if put in the wrong hands.
For Big Time Rush, there goal is to achieve their goal of performing in London and as this would be a big step for group , due to a mistake of identical backpacks, the guys of Big Time Rush end up having possession of the mysterious gravitational device.
Featuring the boy band singing covers of popular Beatles songs, for anyone familiar with the “Big Time Rush” TV series will understand the hijinks and craziness that will ensue in a televised movie. The writers also manage to incorporate storylines for Katie Knight and her mother Jennifer which involve young Katie wanting to be part of royalty, while Big Time Rush manager Gustavo Rocque and assistant Kelly Wainwright, going crazy and trying to maintain decorum with the major concert promoter.
For the most part, the film did well during its airing back in March 2012 earning over 4.2 million viewers, but the film gave a chance for the guys to go further in their acting and take part in action sequences. And possibly also introducing music created by the Beatles to a new generation. Songs featured in the film include “Elevate”, “Revolution”, “Help”, “We Can Work It Out”, “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” and “Can’t Buy My Love”.
While “Big Time Movie” was entertaining, “Rags” which premiered on Nickelodeon back in May 2012 is a longer and entertaining music-driven film.
A Cinderella-type of storyline about a young man, who can sing and play instruments but since his mother had passed away, must live with his mean stepfather and his bratty and spoiled twin brothers.  His stepfather is trying to get his sons, a.k.a. Androyd, a recording contract at Majesty Records, a place where Charlie eventually gets a job as a janitor.
Meanwhile, popstar Kadee Worth is tired of the manufacturing of her music by her father, a music mogul for the Majesty Records music label. She wants to show her father her true talent but her father is more interested in her following the rules set by him and his team.
While the film does have similarities to a film like “Step Up” meets “Cinderella”, instead of following the banal Cinderella storyline, we have a young man who gets the opportunity of a lifetime and that is to show off his true talent, while he inspires Kadee to be herself.
Part of the efficacy of “Rags” is that both Max Schneider (who plays Charlie Prince) and Keke Palmer (who plays Kadee Worth) can sing!
It also helps to have people like producer Nick Cannon playing himself in the film but you also have Nickelodeon alum Drake Bell (of “Drake & Josh” and “The Amanda Show”) playing Shawn, “Victorious” star Avan Jogia playing Kadee’s pop star boyfriend in the film and “House of Anubis” star Burkely Duffield as Charlie’s good brother, Lloyd.
So, both “Big Time Movie” and “Rags” can easily be enjoyed by tweens and teens.
As for the DVD, overall picture quality is good, as one can expect on DVD. But I do wish there was special features included. In fact, it would have been great if the DVD also had a special release that came with the original soundtracks. But overall, you do get two films and you don’t really see these type of DVD releases coming from Nickelodeon, so I was a bit surprised to see two films but glad that both films were released together on a single DVD.
Overall, fans of the Nickelodeon boy band TV series “Big Time Rush” will enjoy their first movie “Big Time Movie” shot in London. But also included in this DVD double feature is the inclusion of the Nickelodeon original movie “Rags”. Two fun, musically driven films on DVD for the price of one!
