No Limit Kids: Much Ado About Middle School | |
---|---|
Directed by | Dave Moody |
Written by | Josh Moody |
Produced by | Dave Moody |
Starring | Bill Cobbs Lee Meriwether Blake Michael Celeste Kellogg Ashton Harrell |
Cinematography | Damon Woods |
Edited by | Josh Moody |
Music by | Dave Moody |
Production company | Elevating Entertainment Motion Pictures |
Distributed by | BMG Phase 4 |
Release date |
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Running time | 90 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
No Limit Kids: Much Ado About Middle School is a 2010 direct-to-video family comedy film. It starred Bill Cobbs, Lee Meriwether, Blake Michael, Celeste Kellogg and Ashton Harrell. The screenplay was written by Joshua Moody and the film was directed by Dave Moody for Elevating Entertainment Motion Pictures, who also provided the musical score for the film.
A group of young adolescents: Celeste (Celeste Kellogg), Zach (Blake Michael), Ashton (Ashton Harrell) and Becca (Amanda Waters) that are entering middle school full of questions, doubts and fears, come together to form a club in an abandoned theater on Main Street. Inside the theater, they discover an interesting piece of their history, but also a seemingly homeless man named Charlie (Bill Cobbs), who connects with the kids through their mutual passion for musical theater.
When the teens learn the theater is scheduled for demolition, they embark on a mission to save the town's landmark and to keep Charlie safe. They decide to mount a modern-day version of a Shakespeare play called Much Ado About Middle School based on Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing . Through the play's mistaken identities and false assumptions, the teens and others learn that you can not always judge a book by its cover.
No Limit Kids: Much Ado About Middle School was praised by family-oriented critics and film festivals for its positive message to youth. Ted Baehr, writing on his Movieguide site, writes:
No Limit Kids is an entertaining movie about middle school kids who like to sing trying to raise money to save a rundown theater from being torn down. [It] is well worth watching. Bad behavior is rebuked, good behavior is commended, and there's a good story arc where good triumphs over evil. [1]
Baehr praised the singing as "wonderful," but did go on to note the films often "flat dialogue" and "silly scenes", commenting particularly on the mixed success of the film's technique of having its characters talk directly to the camera. [1]
No Limit Kids: Much Ado About Middle School was recognized at several youth and family-oriented film festivals:
Celeste Holm was an American stage, film and television actress.
Lee Ann Meriwether is an American actress, former model, and the winner of the Miss America 1955 pageant. She has appeared in many films and television shows, notably as Betty Jones, the title character's secretary and daughter-in-law in the 1970s crime drama Barnaby Jones starring Buddy Ebsen. The role earned her two Golden Globe Award nominations in 1975 and 1976, and an Emmy Award nomination in 1977. She is also known for her portrayal of Catwoman, replacing Julie Newmar in the film version of Batman (1966), and for a co-starring role on the science fiction series The Time Tunnel. Meriwether had a recurring role as Ruth Martin on the daytime soap opera All My Children until the end of the series in September 2011.
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