Meet Spence, a kid who, like many kids his age, struggle with fear and loss. He and his brother have just moved in with their grandfather, along with their recently widowed mother, who send them off to summer camp in hopes that it will build character and help them cope with the loss of their father. Before they go, Spence's grandfather tries to help equip him to face his fears, and that is what this movie is about - facing and overcoming your fears.
Camp Cool Kids could have been another movie to add to the shelf of classic camp movies like Camp Nowhere, and Earnest goes to camp, or Camp Rock. The genre has plenty of family oriented films that address themes of overcoming fear and social inequality; what isn't clear is why somebody felt this movie should be made at all. The tropes are cliche, the acting is a mixture of passable and atrocious, and the representation of camp bears no resemblance to how any legitimate summer camp can be run - as someone who has worked at several summer camps, I urge parents to never send a camper to a camp like the one in this film.
If you can get past the inequality and injustice of the grossly corrupt camp leadership, the absence of supervision and bizarre circumstances, you may be hampered from finishing the film by its slow-moving plot. Thankfully this picks up about midway through. Its soundtrack will likely drive you bonkers when a simplistic fanfare played on a children's keyboard blares over top of the plot's climax. This wouldn't seem so strange if it weren't for the use of legitimate musicians for the few highlight cuts in the film that are actually pretty decent.
Something that may not distract everyone, is the absence of a competent lighting technician on the film. Instead of using something as simple as fill light, it is evident that they were forced to gain up the exposure to compensate for the shooting conditions. This made several scenes flat and washed out, leaving people's features obscured.
As it is intended for a young audience, most children would not be distracted by the technical deficiencies of the film, but when other films address the themes more effectively, it is hard to justify the film to anyone but those looking specifically for the summer camp genre, and who has already seen all of the rest of them.
