High School Musical 3: Senior Year

Wow, this series has worn out its welcome. The first two installments were modest, harmless TV movies with fast-moving stories and some catchy songs. The third time was not the charm.

I must say, either my tastes have gotten much more discriminating or this cast is getting worse with each picture. I find Ashley Tisdale about as screechy and annoying as fingernails on a chalkboard, and she was worse than ever in HSM3. Ditto Corbin Bleu, so cheerful and peppy that it gets a little sickening. All of the "actors" come off like over-eager stage-children, but those two are probably the worst offenders. None of the case- and I mean none- are believable as real, human high school students.

OK, I work at a movie theater and the main thing we've been waiting for is High School Musical 3: Senior Year, we knew it was going to be big, so a few co-workers and I got together for the matinée before all the kids rushed in, it was still packed surprisingly. But I've seen both previous films because my little cousin is just in love with all that pre-teen hoop-la, it's all good, every generation has something so lovey-dovey-cutesee-wootsee type of thing. But one of the things that made this film enjoyable was to see all the kids who were just participating with this film, I mean, I felt like I was in a concert, the kids were clapping with the songs, screaming for their idols, and just having fun, it was cool to see their reactions, to remember a more innocent time of being in love that much with something. But I felt like this was just a cute movie that is getting too much criticism just because it is High School Musical, give it a break and take it for what it is.

The gang is back for their senior year and everything is just perfect, they came up with a great idea for a musical to represent all that they're going through in this exciting year. But there is also a lot of pressure: Zack is facing a tough decision of which college to go to while Gabriella is planning on going to Yale University so far away from him, Sharpay and her brother, Ryan, are competing for a scholarship to Juliard, and Chad and Taylor are learning what to do with the rest of their lives while loosing their best friends to different schools.

Granted High School Musical is never Oscar material, in fact, it's downright like having a soda after school with the hot quarterback or sexy cheerleader, but like I said, it's for the kids. Seeing their reactions to this reminded me and my co-workers of a more innocent time, when I had the same excitement to see Spice World when I was 12 years old. We all had these silly things we loved at a young age and for some reason we become more cynical as we get older criticizing everything that the new generation has, so I'm cutting this movie some slack. It had fun songs, cute characters, silly situations, but great dance numbers and is just over all a nice film for the family. I do recommend it just for the fun of being with the fans and just having a good time, no matter how cheesy it is.

6/10

My only exposure to High School Musical was from a chalet gathering last Christmas where a friend who was a fan brought his DVD and shared with us what's there to like from this highly popular franchise. The DVD has countless of versions released to milk its fan base, that I've really lost count just how many variations (Encore? Extended Dance?) there are out there in the market. Even then I didn't really watch High School Musical 2 completely, only zooming into the catchy song and dance numbers, and as for the first movie, I was only familiar with one or two songs that became like anthems for working together?

Anyway I'm not a fan, and the reason why I would have watched this is because Disney decided it was good enough for the big screen. Either that, or they actually did their sums and realize that the huge fanbase would turn up in droves to support it in the cinemas. And I guess they were right, looking at how it opened at #1 at the US Box Office. Is it any good then? For the uninitiated like me, the story's nothing spectacular, as it deals with growing pains of students and decisions that come with the end of high school, having choices presented on where you would want to go next for further studies. This would naturally mean a split amongst established friends as you'll be geographically separated, and temporarily close a chapter in your life.

Central to the story would be the possible insecurities and impending (long term?) split between lovebirds Troy Bolton (Zac Efron) and Gabriella Montez (Vannessa Hudgens) due to the latter's brainier character being accepted by Stanford. In fact just watching this movie alone, I thought Gabriella was the psychologically tougher of the two, with Troy being your typical indecisive jock who's a bit wishy-washy about his own development path ahead. The other subplot would be the usual resident evil Sharpay Evans (Ashley Tisdale) and her antics in wanting the limelight all for herself, this time though with her personal assistant thrown into the mix, and having the audience judge who's the biggest bitch out there.

But of course this is Disney, so don't expect too deep a theme to be dwelled upon. It's still fairly light stuff that is meant for enjoyment by kids, and supposedly with wholesome values thrown in too that would meet parental approval. It's fairy tale stuff that would seem like a cop out with its perfectly ideal ending, though some may find such saccharine positivity a refreshing change for once.

The song and dance numbers are wonderfully choreographed, though one can cringe at some of the lyrics for the slower numbers. A pity of course that we don't get to see the centerpiece of the show within the show, and only bits and pieces of the graduation play that the characters designed as something to commemorate their time at East High by. But of course I suspect that this is probably reserved in advance for the DVD release, where you can sit through the entire thing in one sitting.

Sequel to the TV movies "High School Musical" and "High School Musical 2" (neither of which I saw). A bunch of friends are getting ready to graduate from high school. There's Troy Bolton (Zac Efron) the school basketball champ who secretly wants to sing and dance. There's his girlfriend--sweet, squeaky clean Gabriella (Vanessa Hudgens) who is going to a college that is far away from Troy. Then there's Troy's best bud Chad (Corbin Bleu) who doesn't want high school to end. Then there's the evil Sharpay (Ashley Tisdale) who wants Gabriella's part in the school play.

The script is horrendous. I laughed out loud at a few of the dumber lines and was constantly either rolling my eyes or smirking at the plot developments. However, I'm not the target audience for this--I'm a 46 year old guy. I saw it cause I love musicals and this has gotten raves from the critics. It's pretty obvious they're not cheering on the ridiculous plot but the musical numbers. They come out of nowhere but they're full of energy and life. They're also beautifully choreographed and some are really eye-popping. The whole cast can sing and dance and give their all to every single song. "The Boys Are Back" number between Chad and Troy is a true show-stopper. None of these songs will become classics but they're good enough. This is a musical aimed squarely at teenagers and pre-teens. The language is very clean (the G rating should tell you that), all the teens look clean and fresh, all the plots are predictable and family friendly and the whole cast goes at this full blast. This is truly a movie that the whole family can watch. A lot of people are jeering at this movie (notice the poor rating it has) but why? It's just an update of those stupid Beach Party movies of the 1960s. It's no masterpiece musical but it's fun, friendly and full of energy. I give it a 7.

Because the rest of it is pretty forgetful, not to mention in High School Musical 1 and 2 it was an ensemble, but in the third time around, it is downsized to three of the main characters, Troy(Zak Effron), Gabriella(Vanessa Hudgens), and Sharpay(Ashley Tisdale). The rest, Chad(Corbin Bleau), and Ryan(Lucas Grabeel), I felt did not have much to work with, they where in and out for the most part.

But it did have amazing dance numbers and had great songs, like the first two did, but Effron, Hudgens, and Tisdale just keep repeating themselves. It's entertaining at times dragging. I'll bet the cast is ready to move on after this one, I could see it on most of there faces. It was alright, but not exciting and energetic has the first two.