Everybody's happy at 'Prom'

'High school -- it happens to everyone," says senior Nova Prescott in "Prom," but don't expect her to get all alienated and Breakfast Clubby on you. She's too busy preparing for the big night, when all cliques and classes come together and, she says, "nobody cares who wore the varsity jacket or who got cut from the team."

What studio but Disney would present this as reality? At Brookside High, the geeks, goths and athletes socialize in harmony, regardless of race and untroubled by bullies. Things are great at home, too, thanks for asking. Whatever the supposed location of this fictional suburb, it's the happiest place on Earth.

And darned if "Prom" isn't a pleasant stay, thanks to its cast of buoyant young newcomers. Among the more than one dozen characters are nerdy Lucas (Nolan Sotillo), who reaches for the unreachable Simone (Danielle Campbell); likely prom king Tyler (De'Vaughn Nixon) and his suddenly uncertain queen, Jordan (Kylie Bunbury); and the hopelessly, haplessly single Lloyd (Nicholas Braun).

But it's the central romance between school-spirited Nova (Aimee Teegarden) and class-cutter Jesse (Thomas McDonell) that simmers with surprising heat. Jesse may be a store-bought rebel -- long hair and great pecs riding a '72 Norton -- but he gains credibility thanks to a sensitive, even soulful McDonell. (He's already set to play a young Johnny Depp in Tim Burton's upcoming "Dark Shadows.")

Essentially, "Prom" is a collage of familiar 1980s teen films, with all the serious parts clipped out. Is that a bad thing? The miserable kids in "The Breakfast Club" probably would have transferred to Brookside in a heartbeat.