High School Musical 2

I liked the first High School Musical. Really I did. It was fun, cute without being cheesy and it appealed to most ages.

High School Musical 2 is a joke compared to the first. First of all you have tweeny Disney stars like Vanessa Hudgens and Corbin Bleu with their terrible acting, the songs were awful, the plot seemed like an idea someone came up with in a span of 10 minutes. Ashley Tisdale and Zac Efron are probably the only kids in this TV movie who can act. What happened to the characters personalitys? Gabriella was the worst, turned into a giggling, cutesy, boy crazy teen. I wanted to slap her every scene she was in. Disney we know you tried but it wasn't really that great. Please boycott High School Musical 3, I hate to see how that will end up.

This is unironically the best film ever created that I have been able to view. Outstanding music, incredible story, and unbelievable special effects. Had me tearing up at the end. After watching, my life hasn't been the same. I listen to the soundtrack on a daily basis. The baseball scene is actually the best thing to lay my eyes upon. Best in the series.

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.

This is a follow-up to the very successful Disney Original Movie "High School Musical" that was first shown a couple of years back. My kids loved the first one so much that they have practically memorized all the songs. Their favorites are "Start of Something New", "Bop to the Top", "Breaking Free" and "We're All in This Together". OK, OK, I liked it too.

Now this sequel has a different setting. It was not even set in the high school per se anymore, but in a posh New Mexico resort owned by Sharpay and Ryan Evans. Sharpay gets her claws out again to grab Troy Bolton away from his girl Gabriella Montez. She fixes it so that Troy will work a summer job at her resort, but to her surprise, Troy brings the whole Wildcats gang in with him, including Gabriella! There are more serious themes in this film. There are several serious confrontation scenes. There were serious choices that needed to be made by lead character Troy, more serious than whether he should sing at his high school musical or not. This time decisions involved loyalties, priorities, planning for the future while staying grounded now. Very difficult choices indeed for a teenager in high school to face. But of course, as this is a Disney Original Movie Musical, so we do expect a happily-ever-after.

The songs in the first HSM seem catchier for me, but of course, I'm biased since I have heard them over and over, and enjoyed my kids singing them over and over. But the songs here have a charm of their own. Let's see if they will catch on, and if my kids will want to watch this over and over when the video comes out.

The songs parallel those in the first movie.

"I Don't Dance" is sung by Ryan and Chad while dancing and playing baseball, in the style of Michael Jackson's "Beat It" video. I see it as the equivalent of "Getcha Head in the Game".

"You are the Music in Me" echoes "What I've Been Looking For," sung slowly at the piano with Kelsi by Troy and Gabriella. Although the alternate fast Sharpay version is sung this time with Troy, not Ryan.

"Gotta Go My Own Way" is the sad love song by Gabriella, much like "When There Was Me and You" in the first movie. Troy gets to sing a little with Gabriella in the new song though.

"Everyday" sung during the actual Talent Show at the end is the equivalent of "Breaking Free" sung at the Musical in the HSM1.

"All For One" is the new "We're All In This Together", the party song sung at the end by the whole cast.

Zac Efron sung all of Troy Bolton's songs in this second movie, unlike in HSM1 where Andrew Seeley get credited for the Troy songs (and appears in the HSM Concert in lieu of Zac!) Zac even has a solo highlight "Bet On It", where he dances ala Michael Jackson meets the Jets (of West Side Story) on the golf course.

Overall, HSM2 succeeded because the characters were all very familiar and well loved. Who could argue with rating of 17.6 million viewers on its premiere night, making it the highest Disney Channel Original Movie in history? Its soundtrack album is the second best selling album of 2007. None of the new songs though made so much of an impact on the singles chart like "Breaking Free" did the last time.

Despite the efforts obviously spent on this above-average sequel, I personally do not think it will match the enduring success of the first HSM, but I guess only time can tell how much legs this sequel has.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, High School Musical 2 is the greatest cinematic achievement of all time. If Beethoven wasn't deaf nor dead he would cry in awe of the beauty of its classic hits such as: Bet On It, Gotta Go My Own Way, Fabulous and more, knowing he would never be able to compare. Zac Efron changed the film industry with his performance in this film, inspiring millions world wide. To say that High School Musical 2 is not the greatest achievement of humanity would be heresy and would result in the Pope breaking down your door and presenting you with a 56 hour powerpoint presentation on the epic highs and lows of High School Musical 2. Sharpay and Ryan Evans are perhaps the most culturally important characters to ever be portrayed, possessing such a high level of icon behaviour that if aliens were to land in my backyard and ask me to take them to my leaders I'd simply show them High School Musical 2. In conclusion no words can ever sum up the sheer genius of this film but if you haven't already seen it (like a fool) then watching it should be next up on your agenda.