World’s Best (2023)

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When I heard that Utkarsh Ambudkar had pitched a film idea to Disney, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Heck, I wasn’t even sure whether this would be a Disney Channel film or not! Anyway, it’s been released on Disney+, so let’s take a look at World’s Best!

And remember, SPOILERS AHEAD!

Directed by Roshan Sethi, the film begins with a dream sequence that the main character, Prem Patel, played by Manny Magnus, is having. He’s a middle schooler who dreams about winning the Mathlympics competition as math is a huge passion of his. Not only of his, but his mother, Priya, played by Punam Patel, encourages Prem to excel in his mathematics as well. Prem‘s math level is so high that he actually attends a high school for math class wherein his math teacher is Ms. Sage, played by Kathryn Greenwood.

He excels in her class until she hands out a homework assignment wherein each student must define who they are: write the equation of themselves, so to speak.

This puzzles Prem as he’s not sure who he is exactly since he doesn’t really know much about his father. His father passed away when he was younger and his mother doesn’t like to talk about him. Nevertheless Prem asks Priya about his father and she tells him that she met his father at a hip-hop club. He was heavily into rapping and emceeing and his way with words got her.

Prem’s curiosity grows and he goes through a box of his father’s things that his mother put away.  In it, he finds his father’s “rhyme book” wherein all his raps, lines, and anything rhyme-y are written. Then out of nowhere, his father, Suresh, played by Utkarsh Ambudkar, appears in his bedroom.

Apparently Suresh is not really a ghost, but more a figment of Prem’s imagination. Suresh offers advice to Prem and Prem starts to realize (kinda out of nowhere, to be honest) that he actually loves rap and hip-hop! He keeps this newfound passion secret from his mother.

He even puts his name down to perform in the upcoming talent show at school. As the days go on, he falls deeper and deeper in love with hip-hop all the while dealing with school bullies, preparing for both the Mathlympics and the talent show, and spending time with his figment father. Eventually he gets into trouble at school which gets brought to Priya’s attention and his secret is out.

This leads to an argument between her and Prem wherein she feels Prem is unhealthily obsessing over his dead father. Prem feels that Priya is unhealthily trying to forget that his father ever existed. Prem decides to go check out the club where his parents met and while there realizes that his father was never an actual emcee, but a bartender at the club. He always dreamed about being a rapper and emcee but never actually got to be one professionally. Prem feels betrayed and disappointed because of this.

As the days go by, Prem comes to realize (after speaking with his figment father) that marrying his mother and having Prem was the most important and best thing to happen to Suresh. Suresh never looked at it as he missed out on his dream. Prem drops out of the talent show on his mother’s behest and makes amends with his mother. He also makes amends with his classmate, Claire, played by Piper Wallace, who he hurt earlier in the film.

Priya realizes that Suresh is gonna be important in Prem’s life and neither of them should try to forget him. Prem realizes that both math and hip-hop are important to him and he doesn’t have to choose between the two. And yes, he attends the Mathlympics and…their team finishes in third place, but everyone is happy!

And that was World’s Best! I’m unsure what to think of this film. There’s a concept here, but I feel the overall execution could have been better. I also felt that the filmmakers didn’t really know how to end the film and wrap things up. Nobody’s acting really stood out to me, well maybe besides Piper Wallace’s because I love her character so much! I wish the film had been about her and her family instead!

The film is a musical filled with a number of hip-hop numbers which are okay, I guess, but hip-hop isn’t really my thing. So I feel if you’re into hip-hop, you may enjoy the music numbers more than I did. All in all, I didn’t hate watching this film, but it’s definitely not the World’s Best film!

So, my final score for this film is 20/35 = 57.14% (F) !

The next review will be posted on August 1, 2023.