“World’s Best”, which is released on Disney+ in last week, is a little but likable Disney rap musical about a smart middle school kid who boldly takes a chance with rap music. Although its story and characters are actually pretty conventional to say the least, the movie is often buoyed by enough personality and spirit at least, and we come to root for its little hero a lot while occasionally amused and touched by his innocent exploration of rap music.

The movie opens with the amusing dream sequence where its little hero excels himself with his natural intellectual talent. Although he is just a 7th grade student, Prem Patel (Manny Magnus) has distinguished himself a lot as your average mathematical wiz kid, and he is even good enough to take some high school mathematical classes along with one of the fellow mathematical wiz kids in his middle school. His mother Priya (Puman Patel), who has raised Prem alone since her husband died several years ago, is certainly proud of him, and she is always ready to support him whenever she is not busy with her hospital work.

On one day, Prem becomes more interested in his late father when he is assigned to write an essay about himself. Because his mother has rarely talked about his late father, Prem does not know or remember that much about his late father except his late father’s untimely death. When he later asks his mother about his late father, Priya tells him that his late father, Suresh (Utkarsh Ambudkar), was a pretty popular rap musician who often performed in a local bar before encountering her by accident and then marrying her, and that makes Prem all the more curious about his late father.

In the end, Prem decides to delve into a box containing a number of old stuffs belonging to his father. Incidentally, one of these old stuffs is a certain recognizable digital music player from the 2000s, and that will surely make you feel old if you lived through the 2000s like I did, though that is nothing compared to much older stuffs such as, say, cassette tapes and VHS tapes from the late 20th century.

Anyway, Prem is excited to discover an old notebook where his late father wrote a series of different rap lyrics, and that is where Suresh enters the picture as a sort of his imaginary friend. Although his character is basically a story device, Utkarsh Ambudkar, who also co-wrote the screenplay in addition to participating in the production of the film, effortlessly grabs our attention right from the start with his natural charm and charisma, and he and young newcomer Manny Magnus click well together during a number of comic moments besides several imaginary musical scenes in the film.

With his late father’s support and encouragement thrown into his mind, Prem decides to give himself a shot via the upcoming talent show at his middle school. Although he does not know that much about rap music, he is willing to absorb and learn as much as possible, and, fortunately, he gets some help from two older kids he happens to befriend at the high school where he often studies.

However, there is also a local mathematics competition soon to be held at that high school, and Priya certainly expects a lot from her son, so Prem becomes more conflicted as driven more by his growing interest in rap music. Furthermore, he must cope with some bullying from certain two schoolmates of his, and he certainly feels hurt when a boy who is supposed to his best friend/colleague begins to hang around those two mean kids just because he wants to be cool.

What follows next will not surprise you much, but the movie keeps holding our attention as showing more wit and care along the story. Yes, Prem and his mother eventually come to conflict with each other over their personal issues, but they come to understand each other more than before, especially when Priya becomes more honest about herself and her dear late husband later in the story. Yes, Prem surely comes to learn some painful truth about his late father, and the following moment of disillusionment and disappointment is followed by a touching moment of acceptance and emotional maturation.

Above all, the movie is fairly solid in case of music. Although nothing goes beyond PG-rating as you can expect from your typical wholesome Disney family movie, the original songs in the film, written by Ambudkar and his several co-writers, are effectively utilized on the soundtrack, and they often energize the story and characters to our little amusement and entertainment. While Magnus ably holds the center with the good support work from Ambudkar, several other substantial cast members including Punam Patel, Max Malas, Jake Choi, Dorian Giordano, Piper Wallace, Kayla Njeri, and Christopher Jackson provide little extra life and personality to the film, and I particularly enjoyed the colorful supporting performances from Njeri and Wallace, who are engaging as two different young girls who have each own dream and talent.

In conclusion, “World’s Best” is a predictable but enjoyable Disney product, and director Roshan Sethi, who previously made a feature directorial debut with “7 Days” (2021), did a competent job on the whole. To be frank with you, I am not interested that much in rap music, but the movie got me engaged a bit more than expected, and that is enough for recommendation in my inconsequential opinion.