World’s Best – A Layered Coming-of-Age Story

The original film slate on Disney+ has arguably yet to find a true hit. Disney knows the right formula to hit just enough right notes with viewers emotionally to keep them coming back. That being said, that formula is starting to show as films are starting to essentially feel like the same. In the end, the right stories with the right people at the helm is the biggest key for success as they offer different perspectives that may help them stand out. When it comes to World’s Best, it still leans towards that aforementioned formula. However, it benefits by the lens from which it is told. The film delivers a coming-of-age story that is not only surprisingly layered but also full of heart and emotion. Centered around the world of hip hop and rap, viewers can expect plenty of entertaining and well-choregraphed musical numbers feature some catchy original music. Ultimately, the story is where the film truly exceled. While it does rely on familiar story beats to get there, Manny Magnus as the lead is a star and the dynamic between he and Utkarsh Ambudkar, a co-writer of the film and its songs and an executive producer, is one of the film’s biggest highlights in spite of its predictability factor.

World’s Best follows 12-year-old teen and math genius Prem Patel (Magnus) looking to find himself in the midst of growing up. He loved math but there was still something missing in his life. As Prem and his mother Priya (Patel) were still reeling from the death of his father and her husband Suresh (Ambudkar), each found themselves stuck. Though he loved math, he strived for more and the answer appeared to be the life of his father for which he remembered little of. Priya pushed her son so much towards the math side of him, it also meant pushing him away from his father who happened to be a famous rapper. Searching through the remnants of Suresh’s life, Prem was inspired by his many exploits as he attempted to figure out if that life was right for him. In what was a major departure in the eyes of those close to him, he risked losing the life he had built for himself. Finding his voice and his confidence through his relationship between he and his father, Prem at times broke away from his real life to perform with Suresh in a series of entertaining musical fantasy sequences.

The Prem who performed with his father and the real-life Prem could not be more different as the point of the story was to somehow bridge that gap. That journey came alongside the usual pitfalls but a big part of bridging that gap was addressing he and his mother’s grief as a means to repair their relationship moving forward. As Prem and Priya were seemingly locked into their own lanes, the film pulled out a wave of emotion as the story peeled away from them as well as Suresh to flesh out their family dynamic both past and present and how it evolved. Over the course of the film, that contrast between both periods became increasingly clear and heartbreaking to watch but as things started to turn around for Prem and Priya, despite being predictable, was compelling to watch because of the work the writing did for those characters to build to that growth. At the end of the day, the film was about a family overcoming their grief and learning to move forward with their lives and for that, it succeeds.

The best part of World’s Best was the stellar performances from Magnus and Ambudkar as Prem and Suresh but the work of Patel as Priya to contribute to that family dynamic, in less screen time than the other two, is also worth commending. Magnus is undoubtedly talented and he shines in his first major feature lead role as a relatable teen trying to survive school and finding his true calling. Showing some impressive range, he shifts from a timid and impressionable teen with the added dimension of grief to a confident consummate performer across the film’s many musical sequences. Meanwhile, the latter only works because of the chemistry of he and Ambudkar. Playing a role behind the scenes with the script and the songs, he showed similar range with a confident swag that worked beautifully to create a larger-than-life character that would inspire Prem but Suresh also had a lighter side beneath all the pageantry which was perhaps more impressive.    

World’s Best is easily the best Disney+ original film, somewhat taking that formula and doing something more interesting and poignant with it. While it is likely to not resonate with everyone, it is still a wholesome and entertaining watch.

still courtesy of Disney

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.