This was my general thought process during the entirety of "Bandslam": "Pink Floyd? CBGB? Nick Drake? Television?! Velvet Underground & Nico!? OMG BOWIE?!?!" I have a feeling that most of the kids in the audience were thinking in much the same manner, only the looks on their faces veered more toward confusion than surprise.

"Bandslam" is a surprise in itself -- surprisingly entertaining for a film touted as teenybop heaven, considering it stars boppers' queen bee Vanessa Hudgens and candy-popster Aly Michalka. Instead of the vapid drivel you'd expect from their Disneyfied crowd, "Bandslam" turns out to be a charming (and well-soundtracked: Hello, Wilco!) little parable for the tween set about first crushes, friendship and like, duh, the power of music.

It follows the classic formula pretty much to a T: Will (Gaelan Connell, dorky and authentic as your average 15-year-old) is a shy new kid who writes a letter to his hero, David Bowie, every day in lieu of a diary. Befriended by the cool blonde senior Charlotte (Michalka), he helps her make something rocking from a raggedy band while crushing on the evasive, eyeliner-wearing Sa5m. ("The five is silent," Hudgens says.) Sa5m speaks in a flat deadpan borrowed from "Daria," though "Bandslam's" target audience can't possibly have a clue who Daria is.

At the center of the film is a huge competition called Bandslam. "It's Texas-high-school-football big," Sa5m says. Will and Charlotte's band, which he has set on the path to greatness, are desperate to win. The usual conflicts arise -- parental woes, romantic drama, blah, blah, blah -- but "Bandslam" rolls along on a wave of infectiousness, at least until Hudgens takes the mike to screech out a ska-tinged cover of "Everything I Own" by, wait for it, Bread.

Lisa Kudrow is game for the fun as Will's mom, and the best part of "Bandslam" is that most of its stars actually look and act like (über-clever) teenagers. Michalka, 20, has a swagger at the microphone that Hudgens doesn't come close to capturing. While "Bandslam" tends to sag in sappy territory, as these sorts of flicks are wont to do, it's a harmless, wholesome preteen movie that, unlike cheesefest "High School Musical," hip parents won't mind taking their kiddies to, unless you're the type who gets possessive over your favorite bands.