BACKGROUND
Everyone remembers their first celebrity crush.
For me, there have been many. Some fleeting, some with more staying power. I know, I need help, it’s just so hard to find good support groups these days.
I’m not even talking about my first celebrity crush here, but I am talking about my first Disney Channel crush. Ethan Craft from Lizzie McGuire didn’t interest me, nor did Jake Ryan in Hannah Montana. Zac Efron did to a point, but it wasn’t until I was sixteen and I watched Sonny with a Chance for the first time, on a family holiday to Walt Disney World of all places, that I first saw him: Sterling Knight, playing the obnoxious but charming Chad Dylan Cooper. With that blond hair and those blue, blue eyes, I was hooked.
So, imagine how pleased I was to find that in 2010, just a few months later, that I’d get to see him in his very own Disney Channel movie, StarStruck, where he would be singing and playing the guitar. All my fangirl dreams had come true.
StarStruck followed in the footsteps of highly successful Disney Channel musical films, like the High School Musical and Cheetah Girls franchises. Sadly, StarStruck never quite hit those heights, but I loved it, and I know some friends of mine who didn’t even particularly watch Disney Channel at the time, because we were probably considered to be “too old” to be watching it, also quite liked it.
My love for Sterling Knight only lasted about a year and a half, and he soon graduated from Disney, moving on to new projects. I moved on too, to university…and the band Big Time Rush. Please, judge me quietly. But I never forgot about StarStruck and every time I rewatch it, it’s a real blast from the past. I can still remember the songs and many moments from the film, even after all these years.
That was a window into my awkward teenage years. I’m very sorry if it was embarrassing to read. I did say judge me quietly.
Now, let’s get to the story of StarStruck.
PLOT
StarStruck begins with a nighttime aerial view of Los Angeles, moving inside the Staples Center where teen heartthrob and singing sensation Christopher Wilde is performing a concert to crowds of adoring fans.
We then see that this is just a news report on the concert which is being watched by a teenage girl called Sara, as her parents and sister talk about packing for their upcoming trip to Los Angeles to visit their grandmother. Sara is a huge fan of Christopher Wilde. She’s hoping to meet him whilst in L.A., having researched all of his usual hang outs. You’d be forgiven for thinking that StarStruck is about Sara, but it’s not. It’s actually all about the sister, Jessica, who hates celebrities and the shallowness of fame. Shock horror – she doesn’t even like Christopher Wilde and has no desire to go to L.A!
On this lovely family holiday to L.A. from Kalamazoo, Michigan – the first time I’d ever heard of this place – Sara ends up dragging Jessica to an Under-21s club, where she’s heard a rumour that Christopher Wilde is due to sing there. Jessica is ordered to stay in their grandmother’s bright pink car and wait for her.
Meanwhile, Christopher Wilde’s parents/managers want him to move into acting as well as keep up with all of his singing commitments. A director, Alan Smith, comes to visit them and says that he doesn’t like how Christopher is portrayed in the media, looking like some sort of spoilt punk, so he tells him to stay home this weekend and keep out of the tabloids, or he won’t get the movie deal. Only, Christopher promised his girlfriend, starlet Alexis Bender, that he would sing at the club for her birthday. His friend, assistant, and chauffeur, Stubby, sneaks him in through the back, and he does perform, before quickly exiting the club. Jessica has got bored of waiting for Sara and tries to find her. She goes to the back entrance to the club – and is hit on the head by the door that Christopher Wilde is leaving from. Horrified that this girl might threaten his efforts to stay out of the press, Christopher bundles Jessica into his car and drives her to the hospital to get checked out.
It turns out Jessica is fine and just wants to go home. Christopher then gets a call to say that the director is at his house, and his parents tell him to get back quickly. Using a doctor’s car to avoid the paparazzi, he takes Jessica to his house and hides her upstairs, telling her to wait for him to return. Christopher meets with Alan and his daughters, who ask him to perform for them. After he does this, Jessica has got bored of waiting (again) and heads to his garage; Christopher follows. She orders him to take her home now. Once they get to Jessica’s grandmother’s house, Christopher finds he has been followed there by the paparazzi. He asks Jessica if he can stay in her grandmother’s garage. Jessica doesn’t want anything more to do with him, but lets him stay there anyway as he seems desperate.
The next morning, Jessica finds that, thankfully, Christopher has left before anyone could accidentally discover him in the garage. Sara hears a news report about Christopher Wilde, saying that he was spotted at his house party with a different girl, not his girlfriend, Alexis – gasp! Sara and Jessica argue about the authenticity of this piece of gossip, at which point Grandma tells them to take the car and go to the beach.
The two end up at Malibu Beach, because Christopher Wilde surfs in Malibu, you know. Jessica then sees Christopher sat on the beach. She goes over to him and asks why he is here and not at home. He tells her that his house is surrounded by photographers and needs a different car to get back. Jessica swaps keys with Christopher, but as he is about to leave in “Petunia”, Grandma’s pink car, the paparazzi swarm the car park, so the two get in the car, don (bad) disguises, and leave. They then decide to go sightseeing for the day.
As their perfect day together comes to an end, the photographers begin following Christopher again. Jessica sends them down a back road and they get lost. They argue about Jessica’s terrible navigational skills and Christopher’s bad driving, before realising that the car isn’t moving anymore. And that is because they’ve landed in mud or quicksand. The car sinks into the muddy pool. Christopher and Jessica get to solid land, but they’re still arguing, even more so now that Jessica will have to explain what happened to Petunia.
Christopher gets annoyed at Jessica for ruining his perfect day with her grumpiness, and she tells him that he is acting like a spoilt brat and doesn’t understand how he can have any real friends. The conflict ends when Christopher pulls Jessica into a lake, and the two start to get along, having a heart-to-heart about how Christopher feels pushed into doing things to further his career by his parents, but all he wants to do is sing. Jessica tells him he should do whatever makes him happy.
As they finally return to the beach and are about to kiss, Christopher realises they are back in the real world and tells Jessica she can’t tell anyone about their day together, and asks for her camera so that none of the photos from the day can get out to the press. Jessica is both angry and heartbroken, and leaves, just as Christopher is surrounded by fans. But an eagle-eyed photographer notices something between the two of them and takes a photo of Jessica, for further research. Jessica is upset for the rest of her family’s L.A. visit, and as they leave, her grandmother tells her that life has a way of working itself out.
Christopher is told by Director Alan that the story has got out and he must deny knowing Jessica if he wants this movie deal. He goes on the celeb news programme “StarStruck” and says he never met her. That doesn’t stop the press camping outside Jessica’s family home in Michigan though, as they wait for her side of the story. Her parents now know something has happened to Jessica in L.A., but she can’t talk about it. Eventually, Jessica realises that the only way the press will leave is if she talks. She gives a brilliant speech about how the media build people up into celebrities, only so that they can tear them down again, to sell papers and magazines. This is incredibly accurate even today in the social media age and sounds all too familiar. I love this speech. Jessica also says that she never met Christopher Wilde, so now everyone thinks she lied about meeting him.
Christopher gets his movie deal, but after seeing Jessica on television giving this speech, and after a few harsh words from Stubby, he realises that he has been an idiot and goes to make amends. He tells Alan that he doesn’t want to be involved in his movie anymore, and fires his parents as his managers.
At Jessica’s school dance later, only Sara seems to believe that she really did meet Christopher Wilde and the other students ignore her or talk about how crazy she is. That is until Christopher appears on the stage. He sings to Jessica and apologies for treating her the way he did. Jessica isn’t entirely convinced, until reporter Libby Lam comes into the dance and Christopher tells the whole world that he was the one who lied: he does know Jessica and he thinks she’s the most amazing girl he’s ever met. He then promptly tells the reporter to leave them all alone. This works on Jessica and she forgives him. Christopher asks her to go on a real date with him, and they hold hands, and dance the night away together. Oh yeah, and Sara is finally given the opportunity to meet Christopher Wilde – and instead, faints in Stubby’s arms… That’s obsessive fans for you!
CHARACTERS & CAST
Christopher Wilde is a teenage superstar. He’s known for being a singer, but his parents/managers want him to take advantage of that star quality and go into acting as well. Christopher doesn’t necessarily want to do this, but he feels he has no choice but to go along with it, even if that means ignoring the people he wants to be with the most, and forgetting about what he wants to do with his life. Jessica tries to encourage Christopher to make his own choices, but he struggles to accept that he has the power to do that and ends up hurting her instead. It takes Christopher a while to figure out how to regain balance over his life, but he does so eventually and manages to regain Jessica’s trust too.
Sterling Knight was cast as Christopher Wilde. Knight made his film debut starring alongside Zac Efron in the romantic comedy film 17 Again. His famous Disney Channel role is playing Chad Dylan Cooper in the series Sonny with a Chance (2009-11), alongside Demi Lovato. He then returned to the spin-off series So Random! (2011-12), the sketch comedy show-within-a-show that Sonny and her friends perform on. It’s odd that Chad Dylan Cooper would choose to perform on So Random! since the character supposedly hated the show. Maybe Mackenzie Falls was cancelled or went on hiatus or something? He was a fan-favourite character though, so it wouldn’t have been right to leave him out of the spin-off. After this, Knight went on to have a recurring role in the sitcom Melissa & Joey (2010-15). Recently, Sterling Knight seems to have stepped away from the spotlight. I can only hope that he is doing well and living his best life.
Jessica Olson perhaps is not the most likeable lead character of a Disney Channel movie. She is very opinionated and stubborn, thinking her views on life are superior to her sister’s, with Jessica believing that Sara is just delusional and celebrity-obsessed – which isn’t wrong, but Jessica doesn’t need to be quite so aggressive with her words! I will admit that I struggled to like Jessica when I first saw the movie. She doesn’t come across well and she’s mean to Christopher Wilde, which is just so wrong. It’s not until Christopher tells Jessica that they can’t see each other again, and he doesn’t let her down gently either, that I started to side with Jessica and not Christopher. She also gives that amazing speech talking about the toxic methods of the press in their pursuit of celebrities, so that’s the point where I started to like the character a lot more.
Danielle Campbell was chosen to play the role of Jessica, having had a guest role in the series Prison Break (2005-17) when she was just ten years old prior to her Disney casting. She was actually “spotted” when she was having her hair cut in her hometown of Chicago and was asked to audition for an agency[1]. After StarStruck, she appeared in the movie Prom (2011) and was part of the main cast of the fantasy drama series The Originals (2013-18) as Davina Claire. More recently, Campbell was cast in the thriller anthology series Tell Me a Story (2018-20) in the roles of Kayla Powell and Olivia Moon, and had a guest part in The Rookie (2018-present) in 2024.
Stubby, or Albert J. Stubbins to use his full name, is Christopher Wilde’s very cool, fun-loving friend. He also seems to act as Christopher’s personal assistant and chauffeur, which might not seem great to hire your friends as your “help”, but hey, let’s just hope he gets paid for it! Stubby doesn’t get nearly enough screen time in StarStruck, but his loyalty to Christopher is clear, when he tries to convince him to stay home and not perform at his girlfriend’s birthday party, and again when he tells Christopher that lying about Jessica is not right and that he seems to have changed, not for the better either.
Brandon Mychal Smith was cast as Stubby. He was another cast member from Sonny with a Chance (2009-11) and its spin-off So Random! (2011-12), playing Nico Harris. Prior to that, he also had roles in other Disney Channel and Nickelodeon series, including Phil of the Future (2004-06) and Unfabulous (2004-07). In more recent years, Brandon Mychal Smith was a series regular in the Hulu miniseries Four Weddings and a Funeral (2019), cast as Craig Thompson, and voiced Michelangelo in the animated series Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2018-20).
Sara Olson is Jessica’s older sister. She is an original member of Christopher Wilde’s fan club and, with her friend AJ, they tracked Christopher Wilde’s locations over an eighteen-month period in preparation for her family’s trip to L.A. She also claims to text him every day, and during the film, she finds his address from documents in his car and then proceeds to drive to his house… There’s a fine line between a dedicated, loyal fan, and an obsessive stalker. Unfortunately, I think Sara crosses that line more times than she stays behind it! Sara should not be a role model for anyone, and you should not be impressed by the lengths she’ll go to meet Christopher. But Sara is funny, and the contrast between her love for Christopher and Jessica’s initial hatred of him is what gives us the conflict that we’d expect from these two very different sisters. I am impressed that Sara doesn’t seem to be at all jealous of her sister’s relationship with Christopher though. If that were me, I’d be fuming!
Maggie Castle was cast as Sara. Just before StarStruck, Castle had appeared in The Time Traveler’s Wife, alongside Rachel McAdams, playing the sister of McAdams’ character. She then played Jenny in the comedy horror series Todd and the Book of Pure Evil (2010-12) and its 2017 animated film.
So those are the four main characters, but there are two more that I’d like to mention. These are “the fantabulous, fabulous” Alexis Bender and Director Alan. Alexis is an up-and-coming actress who is in a “relationship” with Christopher Wilde, though this all seems to be for publicity to help further both of their careers. Alexis is fame-obsessed and just wants to be a big star, which you can’t blame her for if that’s what she wants from life. She dumps Christopher when she finds out about Jessica, but bounces back quickly, announcing she has a date with some guy called Zack.
Alexis Bender will look familiar to Disney fans as she was played by Chelsea Staub, or Chelsea Kane as she is known today. Chelsea Kane had been cast as Stephanie in the Disney Channel movie Minutemen (2008) and went on to star as Stella Malone, alongside the Jonas Brothers, in the Disney series Jonas (2009-10). Also for Disney, she voiced the character of Bea Goldfishberg in Fish Hooks (2010-14). Outside of Disney, Kane placed third in Season 12 of Dancing with the Stars and played the part of Riley in the ABC series Baby Daddy (2012-17). She returned to voice acting again in 2019 to voice the character of Loy for the series Archibald’s Next Big Thing (2019-21).
Finally, the only reason I want to mention the director is because of the actor who played him. That actor is Matt Winston, and I know him from the Mary-Kate and Ashley film Passport to Paris (1999), where he was cast as the girls’ chaperone Jeremy Bluff. When I first watched StarStruck, I recognised him instantly from that film – which says more about me than it does anything else. Winston also had guest roles in a couple of Disney Channel series before StarStruck including Hannah Montana (2006-11) and The Suite Life of Zack & Cody (2005-08).
PRODUCTION
Considering StarStruck is set in Los Angeles, it makes the most sense for the movie to be filmed there and to feature a lot of big tourist attractions, especially within the scenes of Christopher and Jessica sightseeing.
Some of these spots include Malibu Beach and Venice Beach; the Hollywood Sign; the Hollywood Walk of Fame and Grauman’s Chinese Theatre; the Sunset Strip; and Griffith Observatory, although this seems to just be an aerial shot, much like the Staples Center at the start of the movie. The Club Under-21 scene, where Christopher Wilde is performing “Shades” for Alexis’ birthday, was filmed at the Key Club on the Sunset Strip. It was a concert venue which closed in 2013[2].
Since Christopher Wilde is such a big star, naturally Disney wanted to show just where he spends all that money. Well, Christopher Wilde is apparently a collector of fast supercars. If you’re a supercar fan, then you’ll have lots of fun spotting the makes and models of them. Some luxury car brands that are seen in StarStruck include Ferrari, Chrysler, Pontiac, Mercedes, and Porsche. But if you’re anything like me and have very little interest in cars, then you’ll probably only notice the colour!
Christopher Wilde is meant to be a teenage popstar, so about 17 years old. Jessica Olson is a 15-year-old high school girl. Danielle Campbell’s age just about matched her character – she was 14 at the time of filming – but Sterling Knight was 20 when he filmed StarStruck. This led to some speculation about why the two characters did not kiss in the film. Instead, the movie ends with the two holding hands, wearing sunglasses, dancing slowly, and a bit awkwardly, I think, as Stubby’s dance number “Party Up” lights up the school dance. Many thought a kiss would’ve been appropriate at this point, and Jessica and Christopher lean in as though they are about to, before being interrupted by Sara.
Rumours abound that the two did not kiss in the movie because of the age gap between the two actors. This might have contributed to the decision; however, it is worth noting that in many Disney Channel movies, the lead couple does not usually kiss in their first movie. One example of this is Troy and Gabriella from High School Musical; their first kiss takes place at the very end of High School Musical 2 (2007). Another example of this is within the ZOMBIES franchise, with Addison and Zed’s first kiss also happening at the end of their second movie, ZOMBIES 2 (2020). So, it’s not actually that unusual for Jessica and Christopher to have not kissed in StarStruck.
The screenplay for StarStruck was written by Barbara Johns and Annie DeYoung. DeYoung had previously written the Disney Channel co-production 16 Wishes (2010), as well as the Disney Channel Original Movies Princess Protection Program (2009) and Return to Halloweentown (2006), going on to work on a further DCOM, Girl vs. Monster (2012). Johns went on to work on the drama series Firefly Lane (2021-23).
Michael Grossman directed StarStruck, having previously directed episodes of the Nickelodeon series Zoey 101 (2005-08) and the Nickelodeon TV movie Merry Christmas, Drake & Josh (2008). Grossman went on to direct episodes of other series such as Pretty Little Liars (2010-17) and Drop Dead Diva (2009-14).
MUSIC
Another element of StarStruck that led to some misinformation was around its soundtrack and whether or not Sterling Knight sang the songs.
Sterling Knight addressed this in a Twitter post back in February 2010, seemingly before the movie’s premiere date. He stated that he had wanted to sing all the songs for StarStruck, but only showed up one week before shooting began, so he simply did not have enough time to record all the soundtrack. The only song that Knight does sing is the title number “StarStruck”. It’s a great song for the opening concert scene and starts the soundtrack off with a bang. Drew Ryan Scott finished up the vocals on the rest of Christopher Wilde’s songs[3]. He is a singer-songwriter who has written songs for artists including Miley Cyrus, the Jonas Brothers, and Selena Gomez. It is unclear why Sterling Knight was cast late for StarStruck, and who – if anyone – was scheduled to portray Christopher Wilde instead of Knight.
Although Knight did not sing much of Christopher Wilde’s music for StarStruck, he has sung for other Disney Channel projects, including for the Sonny with a Chance CD, so he absolutely would’ve been capable of singing all the songs if he’d had time. Knight can also play the guitar so it would seem to me that he does play the guitar live in the movie.
The soundtrack of StarStruck involves a mixture of romantic songs, as well as some pop songs. There is also a song that only appears on the soundtrack and in the “Extended Edition” of the movie, “Got to Believe”. The song itself is alright, but I don’t feel that it adds anything to the overall story, which is obviously why it did not make the final cut.
My least favourite song is “Shades” and that is mostly for the awkward dancing involved in the performance of the song at the club. It pains me to say it because I can see that Sterling Knight was trying so hard to look like a natural performer, but it just doesn’t come across here. This is in complete contrast to Brandon Mychal Smith who looks incredibly confident in his rapping and performing skills, both in “Shades” and “Party Up”, the song that wraps up the movie, which I do really like[4].
My favourite songs in StarStruck are “Hero” and “Something About the Sunshine”. “Hero” is the main love ballad of the film, with it being performed as a slower, acoustic version during Christopher Wilde’s party, as well as in one of his recording sessions. I like the slower version the best, with just the guitar in the background. It’s a really cute song. For “Something About the Sunshine”, this sounds like a summer road-trip song. It entirely matches the picture-perfect day that Jessica and Christopher have together, because it’s cute, bright, and cheerful, like everything is perfect and it’s just those two in the world. Anna Margaret features as the female vocalist in this song. She went on to perform songs for the Disney Channel movie Den Brother (2010) and for the Shake It Up: Break It Down album.
The final song to mention is “What You Mean to Me”. It’s another sweet, romantic song, as Christopher tells Jessica that he is sorry for trying to pretend she never existed just to keep his career on track. It would have to be quite a song to make up for all the humiliation that Jessica has faced – and luckily, it is. To perform it in front of a crowd of high school students is another step up too.
There are three songs within the soundtrack that are not performed by any of the characters in the movie and are only there for background noise. All three of these songs are actually very good, considering they are just meant to be creating an atmosphere and are not supposed to pull focus from the main action.
One of these is played during Christopher’s house party: “Welcome to Hollywood” by Mitchel Musso, who was cast as Oliver in Hannah Montana (2006-11) at this time. I used to really like Mitchel Musso’s music, and bought the CD of his debut album. “Make a Movie” by singer Jasmine Sagginario, who won Radio Disney’s 2009 N.B.T. (Next Big Thing) competition, and “New Boyfriend” by Anna Margaret can both be heard during the high-school dance, on either side of “What You Mean to Me”.
David Lawrence is credited as the composer of StarStruck’s score. He has composed the music for various other Disney Channel Original Movies, including the first three Descendants films; Teen Beach Movie (2013) and Teen Beach 2 (2015); Good Luck Charlie, It’s Christmas (2011); and the High School Musical trilogy.
RECEPTION
To promote the release of StarStruck, Disney Channel released numerous promotional videos to air between their programming over the months leading up to the premiere date. These included behind-the-scenes clips and interviews with the cast, and music videos. There was also a tour bus with a StarStruck poster pasted to the side of it being driven around Hollywood. This was used for a “StarStruck Tour” series of videos, “hosted” by “tour guide” Saralou, who just so happened to be Tiffany Thornton, the actress who played Tawni in Sonny with a Chance (2009-11), taking the five main cast members on a tour of L.A. It included a few facts about Hollywood and L.A., as well as some funny moments between “Saralou”, Sterling Knight, and Brandon Mychal Smith, who were all working together on Sonny with a Chance at the time[5].
StarStruck premiered on Disney Channel in the US on 14th February 2010, so Valentine’s Day. The premiere generated 6 million viewers. StarStruck was the first Disney Channel Original Movie to debut on a Sunday night. Oh, how nice for all those American Sterling Knight fans to have been able to watch his new movie on Valentine’s Day… That was not the case for me as I’m British, so I had to wait until 14th May 2010 – a whole three months later – for StarStruck to premiere in the UK and Ireland. That has always been quite normal, albeit quite irritating, with many Disney Channel Original Movies premiering in the UK anything between a week or two after the US premiere up to a few months later. Thankfully with Disney+, US and UK release dates for new Disney movies are much closer together, usually just a day or so apart.
As many TV movies do, StarStruck received mixed reviews. Some of the more negative reviews said the plot was predictable and unrealistic, disliking the clichéd storyline of a famous person falling in love with a normal person. Some also found the character of Jessica to be unlikeable, which I agree with to a point. Others felt the movie was ok, but nothing in comparison to High School Musical (2006). But many viewers were very positive about StarStruck, enjoying the movie’s soundtrack, saying it was sweet and that Sterling Knight was perfectly cast as Christopher Wilde. This is the side of the fence that I sit on.
In recent years, there are plenty of Disney fans who say that StarStruck is underrated and that, in a way, it was quite progressive by dealing with real-life issues such as addressing the difficulties of coping with fame, especially as a child or teenager, even if the role of the paparazzi in StarStruck perhaps comes across as a bit over-the-top[6].
Michael Grossman, director of StarStruck, was nominated at the Directors Guild of America Awards, in the category of Outstanding Directing – Children’s Program, for the movie, but lost out to Nickelodeon’s The Boy Who Cried Werewolf (2010).
LEGACY
StarStruck, unlike some other Disney Channel musicals, did not span any further movies or any spin-offs. The time for making a sequel has most definitely passed now, and the only likely plot they could’ve come up with for StarStruck 2 was for us to see Jessica and Christopher navigating their new relationship whilst Christopher went on his world tour. It’s not a particularly unique concept, so it’s understandable that Disney didn’t feel the need to make this sequel, though it would’ve been nice to have explored Sara and Stubby’s relationship a bit more as they are thrown together multiple times in StarStruck, but nothing ever comes of it.
StarStruck was released on DVD as an “Extended Edition”, which involved the song “Got to Believe” and a brief scene before the song showing that the Internet hates Jessica for being in an assumed relationship with someone famous – and that was before social media became such a big thing. It may have been years since StarStruck first came out, but the world has not changed. If anything, these kinds of incidents have gotten worse.
You could also buy the soundtrack for StarStruck on CD at the time, as well as online. Being such a big fan of Sterling Knight, I obviously got both the CD and the DVD when they were released, and still have them to this day.
At the US Disney Parks, StarStruck was a small part of the short stage show Disney Channel Rocks, which ran at Disney’s Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World from 2010 to 2013. This show had performers singing some of the best songs from many Disney Channel musicals including The Cheetah Girls, Camp Rock (2008), Jump In! (2007), and of course, High School Musical. From StarStruck, the song “Party Up” was performed.
FINAL THOUGHTS
StarStruck may have a few clunky lines and some awkward dance moves – specifically within the whole “Shades” scene in the club – but that’s my opinion from watching StarStruck as an adult. As a teenager, I absolutely adored this film, and any time that Sterling Knight was on screen, I didn’t really care what was happening; I just wanted to look at him.
Even now, I enjoy going back and watching some of my childhood favourite movies, as I know many adults do – though they may not like to admit it. I know I’m not alone in enjoying that feeling of nostalgia, remembering simpler times in life. It reminds me of less complicated times, when the pressures and struggles of being an adult hadn’t hit me yet.
StarStruck may not have been the best DCOM for some, but to me, it had everything I was looking for, and it’s one of the best Disney Channel musicals in my opinion, even now.
It’s a movie perfect for anyone who is prone to celebrity crushes. They aren’t realistic, but they are fun, and if watching StarStruck lets someone dream that perhaps one day, something like this might just happen to them, then that is perfect escapism.
Just don’t turn into Sara and become an obsessive stalker. That is a step too far.
REFERENCES
[1] Credit: Radio Disney, “Radio Disney’s Celebrity Take with Jake: Behind the Scenes of StarStruck”, Radio Disney YouTube Channel, 18th February 2010.
[2] Credit: Radio Disney, “Radio Disney’s Celebrity Take with Jake: Behind the Scenes of StarStruck”, Radio Disney YouTube Channel, 17th February 2010.
[3] Credit: Chip, ‘Sterling Knight Addresses Rumors that he didn’t sing in Disney’s “StarStruck”’, ChipandCo.com, 12th February 2010.
[4] Credit: Disney Channel, “StarStruck DCOM Extra: Making Music”, Disney Channel YouTube Channel, 2nd February 2010.
[5] Credit: Disney Channel, “StarStruck Tour”, Disney Channel YouTube Channel, 12th February 2010.
[6] Credit: Nicholas Howe, ‘DCOMs: 5 Things That Made StarStruck Great (& 5 Things It Needed To Fix’, ScreenRant.com, 10th May 2020.
The Disney Purist 