High School Musical 2

I've finally found out the reason why the High School Musical phenomenon is such a success. Why the first movie's soundtrack was the top-selling CD of last year. Why there are ice shows, stage productions (amateur and pro), karaoke CDs, and karaoke DVDs to boot. It all traces back to the 90s.

You see, the 1990s gave birth to NSync, Backstreet Boys, the Spice Girls, Britney, Christina, Jessica, what have you. But their time wasn't meant for the 90s. They had come too early. Music honestly wasn't ready to cycle back to the confectionery, syrupy, Velveeta meets cotton candy of the late 50s/ early 60s. But now is the time.

The reason that High School Musical, and now Part 2, are such a success is because 1990'S POP MUSIC IS BACK WITH A VENGEANCE!!! High School Musical was the Reset Button, if you will, setting kidz-bop-pop back in its rightful place. Adults have their music, their innuendos, their profane-angry-paranoid-hurtfully honest songs. Why not give the kids a break? A place to be a kid?

The sequel does a great job of avoiding the urge to fix what's unbroken, but instead to polish it. This film isn't darker, but it is spunkier. More attitude, and even more confidence (if that's hard to imagine). This film is strictly for A) kids, and B) people who not only remember but enjoyed being kids. High School Musical 2 is a burst of joyful exuberance. Winks towards adult audiences have their place, but so do productions where a kid isn't talked down to or expected to grow up too fast.

The straight-up theater pop of the first has been replaced with more of a Hip-Hop/ Arena Pop edge. Less Broadway, more Billboard. Plus, the mythological task of defeating high school cliques has been replaced with simply earning a check for the summer. The movie wants to feel bigger than the last, but it's actually more intimate. That's an unintended plus.

The cast goes through some drama this time around, and some changes are made, character-wise. This was the biggest surprise. Disney Channel could have simply done a rehash of the first film, but everyone involved truly did a great job. I forgot that, as corny as the premise - the whole franchise - is, these guys can really act. And sing. And dance. No wonder Disney gonna's make a fortune.

And no wonder musical theater is so rough. Every single participant has to be a Triple Threat. But that's part of the fantasy of the first film: making the audition, giving it your all, and gaining the applause and support of your peers. What's great about this second movie is, really it's about the reverse of that. LOSING the support of your peers. Losing yourself in search of something you don't really need, not yet anyway. It's a good message: The future will come soon enough. Enjoy being a kid and being with the ones who love you while you still can.

Still, if this second movie doesn't match up to the first, it's because of moving it away from the dream of Triple Talent Status. No longer a musical about a musical, it instead becomes a musical about a country club. Instead of risking social status to be yourself, to find yourself, it is now about the dangers of losing yourself, by giving into social status. More dramatic, sure. A stroke of genius, I would say, except for the fact that it's still a freakin' High School Musical movie, not a Country Club Musical movie.

By moving into more complex territory, it grows up. But by default, it is less fun, just a smidgen less, than the original. To its credit, it isn't stale (the new setting keeps it fresh), but Disney Channel, Ortega, and all company involved will be hard pressed to create a three-quel that's just as fun, lively and CHOCK FULL OF 90'S POP as the original. A return to the theater would be welcome.

As for the songs themselves, let's just say I've been fair enough to comment that I enjoyed the MOVIE for what it was. Disney's been great at soundtracks but they'll have to do a lot better for part 3. Aside from the opener and a baseball game/swing number, there's not much to enjoy this time around, once again due in part to the removal of the high school locale.

The kids will LOVE IT, the parents will Tolerate it, Disney Channel will collect money hand over fist, and everyone else will have no idea what is going on because they've failed to realize (A) what it meant to be a kid, (B) that 90's Pop Music is back with a vengeance, and (C) everybody wants to sing and dance, even if they don't want to admit it.

This is honestly one of the most fun movies I have ever seen. I loved nearly every second of this film. With that being said, it's kind of terrible. Just watch it and have a great time.

High School Musical 2 is a bright and exciting sequel to an already energized franchise. With stronger production value, solid choreography, and a highly likable cast, HSM2 delivered exactly what fans expected. While the songs in this film lack the instant recognition of those in the first, it was nice to hear Zac Efron's actual singing voice rather than have it dubbed.

In the end, this film added great character depth and focused on the hard decisions surrounding priorities. With low stakes and a carefree summer attitude, High School Musical 2 is a good transition point from the first film's discovery to the big choices in the finale. Also, "Bet On It" is a certified good time!

After the success of the 2006 wildly popular Disney Channel TV movie, High School Musical, a phenomenon took place on the horizon where not only did the film made theater cool what Harry Potter did for reading books and magic, but it also launched the number one soundtrack of the year followed by concerts and world tours. Yet, a sequel was inevitable and it doesn't have the same flow as the original.

High School Musical 2 takes place a year after Troy (Zac Efron) and Gabriella (Vanessa Hudgens) became an item to the school where now its summer time with the majority of all the East High Wildcats having plans for summer jobs. Sharpay Evans (Ashley Tisdale) and her dweeby brother Ryan (Lucas Grabrel) have plans for the summer with the bratty sister wanting her eyes on the prize: Troy. She'll do anything to get it, even if it means hiring Troy at a country club where he'll work if he can get the East High Cats to work there also, including friends Chad (Corbin Bleu), Taylor (Monique Coleman), Kelsi (Olesya Rulin) and his sweetie, Gabriella.

The good: Ashley Tisdale's performance was gritty and did not change one bit throughout the film as the evil Sharpey Evans. To be honest, it is the best performance out of film compared to on looker Zac Efron.

The OK: The soundtrack itself isn't the same as the original though only a couple of songs are worth hearing from Ashley Tisdale's "Fabolous" to the duet of Zanessa (Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens) Gotta Go My Own Way.

The Bad: In my opinion the film would've been better if everybody including the protagonist (Zac) had better screen time like in the original movie. Even during the conflicts all of the major characters from Gabriella, Taylor and Chad have little less screen time and giving them sappy lines where in the end, all is forgiven.

To Conclude: Maybe the third movie will be the charm.

"High School Musical" was a fun classic film. It's such a terrible shame that Disney is milking the franchise for all it's worth because it will only hurt the franchise more in the end.

I don't blame Disney for doing a sequel. The story and character development though is a bit stale and cliché, like being in dull standard DCOM territory. I've been listening to the soundtrack to this film nonstop before I finally saw the movie and it is the best soundtrack ever. However the actual performance of these songs in the film is less to be desired.

"What Time Is It?" and "Work This Out" were the worst musical sequences in matters of dance and direction. They're good songs on the soundtrack but on screen I was like...ugh...Troy's dancing! I think you can do more visually with these musical numbers then see Troy do bad break dancing in one spot for a whole 3 minutes! "What Time Is It?" was just ridiculous and over the top given that this is coming fresh off of HSM which had more genuine and more realistic musical numbers. Here it is just like "the music is playing everyone start doing a ridiculous dance infront of the camera!" As I said about story and characters, they're not so great as the original but you just need to have fun with it as even more unrealistic as this film is compared to the film.

I will say this: Sharpay was evil and became more of a stereotypical snobby blonde character in this film as she attempts to steal Troy from Gabriella, but goddamit SHARPAY IS AWESOME IN THIS MOVIE!!! All the other characters in the film were a bit more "smug" in this film (much to my annoyance) but Sharpay was just fun and hilarious in her attempts to steal Troy. And it was good to see more development with Ryan's character.

All in all, the soundtrack to the movie is actually better than the movie itself. Though, I enjoyed this film as bad it probably is, mainly because of Sharpay's character. The story and musical numbers became less annoying near the end. If you're a fan you might as well watch and just have fun with it. It ain't the best but I'd rather watch this again than "Camp Rock".