Spectacular! has been called Nickelodeon's answer to "High School Musical", and indeed seems to be aimed at the same audience. I've been told that it resembles another Disney TV-musical "Camp Rock" as well.
Putting comparisons aside, I actually didn't hate "Spectacular!". It was a fairly well done musical with enjoyable music, some good acting and done without a Disney-sized budget. Nolan Gerard Funk plays cool, tough-acting rocker Nikko, with almost the right amount of attitude. Tammin Sursok plays spunky, energetic Courtney, who recruits Funk's character to her "show-choir", thus setting the stage for the movies (surprisingly numerous) pop-rock numbers.
Tammin Sursok is much more enjoyable to watch than blah-bland HSM actress Vannessa Hudgens. Sursok's energetic portrayal steals the show away from the good, but not 'spectacular' Nolan Gerard Funk. Funk is not unattractive, and has a very different appeal than Zac Efron, with a more rocker-ish way about him. Victoria Justice (of "Zoey 101" fame), also has a role in this movie, and does a good job of portraying the movies "villain", Tami.
The songs are not quite as catchy as the original High School Musical's were (which isn't necessarily a bad thing), but have there own appeal to them. The way that the songs are executed is more believable than HSM's were (though still unavoidably cheesy), being performance based rather than "randomly start singing about what we're thinking"-based.
Spectacular seems a little more grown up than High School Musical is, with a grungy (yet still candy-coated) feel to it that will likely be more interesting to older viewers (teenagers).
It's not for everybody, but Spectacular is a quick, enjoyable film that will likely find an audience with those who didn't care for High School Musical.
