The feeling you have after getting halfway through Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies is that you just want to spend more time with those girls, and you almost wish 22-episode seasons were still a thing so you could watch the characters existing in this world for as long as possible.
While it has the canon going for it, it’s also a little too chaotic and uneven to particularly stand out. But there are still plenty of colorful scenes and engaging performances to enjoy, not to mention overall potential if this story can just pull back a little and focus.
It gamely tries to channel the spirit of the beloved original but lacks its explosive energy, sizzling chemistry and camp melodrama. As a nostalgia exercise, it’s passably pleasant. As a drama in its own right, it’s neither automatic, systematic nor hydromatic. If you’re a hopelessly devoted Grease fan, this probably isn’t the one that you want.
A pointless prequel to the 1978 classic "Grease," it is the worst kind of offender in Hollywood's obsession with franchising existing stories: too much and too little, all at once.