Sleepy, over-the-hill "teenager" Tommy Kirk isn't really the ideal actor to carry a movie set on a mythical college campus, one wherein everyone is relentlessly energetic and colorful. Kirk is supposed to be wacky and wonderful too, but he's the most normal of the bunch, bland and grounded. Still, there are some chuckles in this Walt Disney production about a nerdy college whiz, and love-interest Annette Funicello is lively doing the same love-means-a-wedding-ring thing she perfected in the concurrent "Beach Party" flicks. Much preferable to its immediate sequel, "The Monkey's Uncle", which--despite an opening featuring Annette on stage with The Beach Boys!--just didn't have the heart or spirit of this one. *** from ****
