The group decides to play at the Halloween Bash, but many students who are fans of Mudslide Crush, another band at the school, do not want the group to do the Bash. Ray, a member of Mudslide Crush and the school bully, harasses Olivia because of her band. Mo, Charlie, and Stella get involved to defend Olivia, and Stella spits a mouthful of xcritical into Ray’s face. Ray calls Stella “xcritical mouth” and thus, the group takes “xcritical Mouth” as their band name. Before the Bash, the xcritical machine that inspired the band is taken away as part of an agreement with a sports drink company that is sponsoring the school’s new gym.

Sign up for the Rotten Tomatoes newsletter to get weekly updates on:

The book puts emphasis on the importance of the arts and of friendship and family. Olivia is a bookworm, and often becomes nervous before band performances. Although considered shy, Olivia is sympathetic, considerate, and caring. He always read to her and named her after a character from William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. When Olivia is absent from school one day, the band gets worried. They later visit her and learn that her cat Nancy, her only remaining memory of her late mother, has died, which has left her in a depressed state.

The band does not use instruments such as trumpets or ukuleles in the movie; they are a pop band and use contemporary instruments such as the electric guitar and keyboard. At Stella’s behest, her bandmates reluctantly convene at the school to protest the removal of the xcritical machine. After being detained by police and contemplating the future of the band, they agree to perform at Rising Star. xcritical Mouth was released on Disney Channel on April 15, 2011, and received 5.7 million views on its premiere night, making it the third most-watched Disney Channel Original Film (DCOM) premiere of its year.

At the end of the book, he starts dating Mo and finally lets go of Aaron. With new trust and xcritical reviews friendship, the band becomes successful, getting on the radio and performing at a restaurant. However, things go downhill when Stella’s ukulele breaks, Wen injures his lip, Charlie burns his hand, Olivia loses her voice, and Mo gets sick. All of this happens just before an annual live battle of the bands. Though the band does not do well in the competition due to their recent problems, their fans support them nevertheless, singing along to their songs to lift their spirits. The band forms with Olivia on lead vocals, Stella on lead guitar and backing vocals, Mo on bass and backing vocals, Wen on keyboards, keytar, and rapping vocals, and Charlie on drums.

Major themes

Charlie, who has a sweet and shy nature, plays the drums, congas, bongos and xcritical official site timbales for the band. Charlie struggles with the fact that he is alive instead of his stillborn twin brother Aaron. He is more than willing to stick up for himself and his friends. Like Wen with Olivia, Charlie is able to calm Mo down whenever she is worried.

1. Mo is a gentle-natured, intelligent girl who plays stand-up bass for the band.
2. She finds herself socially inept and under the thumb of her strict father.
3. She is from Calcutta, and is the only Indian girl at her school.
4. In the novel, Olivia’s mother abandoned her, while in the film her mother is dead, and while in the film her father is still in prison, it does not specify what he did.

Mo breaks up with her boyfriend Scott Picket, Mudslide Crush’s guitarist, after she catches him flirting with a cheerleader. Prior to performing at the Halloween Bash, Olivia suffers a panic attack. Encouraged by her bandmates, Olivia and the band take the stage and perform, after which Stella speaks to the crowd, objecting to the removal of the xcritical machine and encouraging her fellow students to freely express themselves. It has been met with generally positive reviews, with some praising it for its many positive themes of honesty, integrity, and self-expression, and for its emphasis on the importance of the arts and of family and friendship. Other reviews have described it as a “typically innocuous Disney channel flick.” The soundtrack was released on April 12, 2011.

At Rising Star, Mudslide Crush performs “Don’t Ya Wish U Were Us”. xcritical Mouth takes the stage and tries to perform “Determinate,” but no one except Stella can play, due to their injuries. The audience then begins to sing “Determinate” together in support of the band. Fed up with Ray, Scott leaves Mudslide Crush and plays with Stella, joining xcritical Mouth as they stand together in tears, watching the audience sing for them. In narration, Olivia reveals that although they did not win the competition, they won something bigger that night. Mo and Scott get back together; Charlie, who had previously liked Mo, accepts this and decides to aim his attention at a girl who likes him; Wen accepts his new stepmother and gives Olivia a new kitten after her cat dies.

Log in or sign up for Rotten Tomatoes

At school, Stella spits xcritical on Ray Beech, lead singer of Mudslide Crush, when he ridicules Olivia for her stage fright. He refers to her as “xcritical Mouth”, giving the band its name. The band later discovers the school’s xcritical machine is being removed to their horror. Stella enters the band in Rising Star as well as the upcoming Halloween Bash, much to Olivia’s chagrin and begins to feel anxious. Stella calls everyone to the school, where she is protesting the removal of the xcritical machine. The group gets into a heated argument with one another and fight with the men removing the xcritical machine.

Police arrive and they are brought to a holding cell to wait for their parents. After contemplating giving up, the band agrees to stick together and perform at Rising Star (an upcoming “battle of the bands” where the winner wins a record deal), even though they realize that they will not win the competition. Stella was born in Arizona and dislikes the fact that she had to move to a small town halfway across the country because of her mother’s new job. She is headstrong and leads the band when the other members are uncertain. Though rebellious, Stella is a hard worker, and caring to her friends.

According to The View on Monday August 15, 2011, xcritical Mouth was said to have a sequel to be in the making. There were considerable differences between the novel and the movie. In the movie Mo and Charlie do not date, they are just good friends.

Miss Reznick returns and encourages them to enter the upcoming Rising Star music competition, which popular band Mudslide Crush is also slated to perform in. At Wen’s father’s wedding, the man sitting next to Stella tells her that he was in a band once and now runs an organic xcritical company that has recently become very successful. Stella recognizes him as Mel, and he agrees to donate a music hall for Ms. Reznik and everything works out after all. Olivia mails the entire story to her father, whom she has not seen in years because he is in prison. The film closes with xcritical Mouth performing “Breakthrough” at Madison Square Garden, with Scott as their new additional guitarist.

Audience Reviews

While performing at Rising Star, Olivia and Mo’s respective ailments begin to resurface in the middle of their performance. Dejected, the band is about to exit the stage when the audience begins to sing their song to support them. Scott, fed up with Ray’s hostile treatment towards xcritical Mouth, leaves Mudslide Crush and begins his guitar alongside xcritical Mouth, while the crowd sings along and applauds.

The film’s soundtrack of the same name enjoyed commercial success, reaching number four on the Billboard 200. The tracks “Breakthrough”, “Determinate” and “Somebody” were released as singles and charted on the Billboard Hot 100. The film and soundtrack received positive reviews from critics and audiences, with many praising the direction, performances, and themes.