- “Dream exponentially”
- ―Tagline
World's Best is an American musical comedy film. It was released on June 23, 2023 on Disney+.
Synopsis[]
In the midst of navigating the tumultuous hardships of adolescence, 12-year-old mathematics genius Prem Patel discovers his recently deceased father was a famous rapper and immediately sets out to pursue a career for himself as a rap superstar. While his recent actions may appear reckless and the quickest way for him to lose everything, Prem, empowered by imaginative hip- hop music-fueled fantasies where he performs with his father, is determined to find out if hip-hop truly is in his DNA. As his father always used to say, “the world’s best never rest.”
Plot[]
Prem Patel is a 12-year-old math genius who lives with his widowed mother Priya. He aims to be the best and takes high school level mathematics, which he excels at. After taking an entrance exam, Ms. Sage gives the class a homework assignment to use math to describe who they are. Prem asks Priya what his late father Suresh was like and she regales the story of how they first met when he was just an up-and-coming rapper, a dream he never got to achieve due to cancer. Prem looks at his father's old things and is suddenly visited by a manifestation of Suresh who has come to help him discover himself. Prem starts to imagine himself becoming a rapper like his father and embraces the lifestyle.
Prem's best friend, Jerome, joins up with school bullies Brooklyn and Sharn for a talent competition, and tries to avoid fellow mathematics genius Claire due to her odd appearance. Prem also joins the talent competition using the name "World's Best Emcee". He uses his father's old rhymes book to garner inspiration, but when Brooklyn and Sharn put Prem on the spot, he panics, but is rescued by older students Mercedes and Gabe who take a liking to him and bond with him over hip hop and math. Prem continues to get support and words of wisdom from Suresh who comes to him in imaginary hip hop musical moments.
While at lunch, Brooklyn and Sharn steal Suresh's book and coax a reluctant Jerome to toss in the trash, it is saved by Claire, but an angered Prem dismisses her and Priya is called by Mr. Oh where she discovers what Prem has been doing. She scolds him for becoming too obsessed with his father, but insists that he is doing exactly what he would have wanted. Prem asks Mercedes and Gabe to take him to the Lounge Lizard, the place Suresh and Priya met, only to learn that Suresh never played an open mic, despite wanting to, and was merely a bartender there. This news upsets Prem and after getting heckled by Brooklyn, tries to attack him, but breaks his arm.
Priya forbids Prem from going to the competition and that he study for the mathlympics, but he accuses her of not letting go of her husband. Prem attends the competition where he apologizes to Claire and learns that Jerome was kicked out of his dance group. Prem and Jerome make amends while Priya reads Suresh's journal and is moved by the words he wrote about her. Prem gets back to studying where he joins up with his mathlympics group, which consists of Claire, Mercedes, and Gabe. The event, held by Doug E. Fresh, goes smoothly with their team making third place, an acceptable goal as they were dead last last year.
Afterwards, Prem spots a group of kids rapping outside and openly joins them. As he celebrates, Priya spots Suresh's spirit and they nod in approval over Prem's goals.
Cast[]
- Manny Magnus as Prem Patel
- Jeyon Satheeswaran as Young Prem
- Punam Patel as Priya Patel
- Utkarsh Ambudkar as Suresh Patel
- Max Malas as Jerome
- Jake Choi as Mr. Oh
- Piper Wallace as Claire
- Kayla Njeri as Mercedes
- Dorian Giordano as Gabe
- Chris River as Brooklyn
- Kathryn Greenwood as Ms. Sage
- Christopher Jackson as Corey
- Maya McNair as Amanda
- Liam Wignall as Sharn
- Doug E. Fresh as Himself
- Karan Soni as Calming Voice
Production[]
On April 21, 2022, Deadline reported that Disney+ was developing a musical comedy film with Roshan Sethi directing. Filming was scheduled to begin in May of that year.[1]
Videos[]
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- This is the first Disney+ original film produced in the 1.78:1 aspect ratio to use the 2022 Disney logo.
- It is one of the few Walt Disney Pictures releases not to feature the Disney branding above its logo, following The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild and Night at the Museum: Kahmunrah Rises Again.
- This is the second Disney+ original film to feature a boy living with his single mother since Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made.
References[]
