High School Musical 3: Senior Year (2008)

I remember when I first saw High School Musical 3: Senior Year and all these teenage girls, myself excluded, were screaming when Zac Efron made his first appearance on the screen. That's all I could remember about the film as I've never rewatched it. And I even have it on DVD. The reason? It's simply terrible.

This time around, the East High School kids are getting ready to graduate which means each will go their separate ways. Troy (Zac Efron) and Gabriella (Vanessa Hudgens) are those having a tougher time as Troy is planning to attend the nearby University of Albuquerque and Gabriella wants to attend Stanford University in California. Meanwhile, Sharpay (Ashley Tisdale) still plots to steal Troy from Gabriella and to get her part in the school Spring musical.

Excluding the college part, High School Musical 3: Senior Year essentially has the same plot as the two previous movies. It's still tremendously stupid, predictable and filled with nonsense --why on earth does Sharpay end up with Zeke at the end of each movie and yet at the beginning of the following movie she acts like she doesn't even know him, she still goes after Troy, and that poor guy tries to win her "heart" all over again? And the subplots, oh Jesus, they are terrible. There are hints all over High School Musical and High School Musical 2 that Ryan, Sharpay's twin brother, is gay and now he's developing a romance with Kelsy? What the actual fuck, Disney?!

The characters somehow manage to be even more shallow than they were in the previous movies of the series. Unfortunately, complexity isn't their only lack. They also are incredibly boring, not to mention the new characters who basically are clones of the original characters. They are made even worse by the cast. Other than delivering terrible performances as these kids can't act shit, the actors lack energy. There's a better chemistry between the main actors, but it alone is not enough to save the film.

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

As for the musical part of the film, it's pretty awful. All the songs just sound like those of the previous two movies, still very silly but not so catchy and fun. The dancing is beyond terrible as pretty much all they do is jumping. And there's a number, a Zac Efron solo, that looks like something straight out of Magic Magic. So that's appropriate for a kids movie, but having a gay character isn't?

 

High School Musical 2 (2007)

I don't know why, but High School Musical 2 has always been my favourite of the three. I would watch it over and over, especially when I was in bed, sick. I guess it's because it was more colourful --there's a lot of bright pink though-- and it wasn't set in the school. 

In this second entry, summer has arrived and Sharpay (Ashely Tisdale) still hasn't given up the idea of having Troy (Zac Efron) all for herself so she has him hired at her parents' country club. Unfortunately for Sharpay, all the Wildcats get a job at the country club, Gabriella (Vanessa Hudgens) included. As if having to compete with Gabriella for Troy wasn't enough, Sharpay also has to fight to win the talent show hosted at the club like her brother Ryan (Lucas Grabeel) and she do every year. 

Plot-wise, the film is just like its predecessor. Silly, predictable, with more holes than Swiss cheese, and many stupid and pointless subplots. Not to mention how unconvincing the ending was. In order words, it shouldn't work. And yet, just like its predecessor, it kind of does. It isn't the most interesting of stories, but it's a tiny bit entertaining. 

The characters are still very idiotic, with very little characterization and no development whatsoever --and this time around even the adult characters get this poor treatment. However, some of the minor characters from the first film gain some importance, especially Sharpay's brother, Ryan, who is, finally, no longer just Sharpay's brother but a person of his own. Which I guess it's one of the reasons I always liked High School Musical 2 better as, unlike most if not all teenage girl, I didn't have a crush on Zac Efron but on Lucas Grabeel. 

As for the acting, it's still pretty bad, especially from Vanessa Hudgens --seriously, she is unwatchable--, but at least the cast seems more comfortable with each other and their characters. 

Disney-ABC Domestic Television

The songs are still lame and cheesy and don't move the plot a bit forward but, to be honest, I love them all. They are catchy and fun and make the film much more enjoyable. Also, the musical numbers feel more believable. The awful lip-syncing is still a no-no for me though. 

High School Musical (2006)

It was summer 2007, about a year after it premiered on Disney channel, that I first watched High School Musical and I loved it. I was 13 at the time. I'm 24 now and, while wandering through the shelves, I picked High School Musical's DVD and rewatch it because, you know, we all need to do something stupid once in a while.

It's New Year's Eve at a ski resort. Troy Bolton (Zac Efron), the star of a small-town high school basketball team, and Gabriella Montez (Vanessa Hudgens), a math genius, are forced to sing karaoke together and instantly click. After the break, Troy returns to school only to find that Gabriella is a new student there. They become friends quickly and decide to audition for the upcoming school musical but the cliques they belong to don't approve and try to separate them. On top of that, drama queen Sharpay Evans (Ashley Tisdale) and her brother Ryan (Luca Grabeel) try to prevent them from getting the leading roles in the musical. 

Or I could just have said, it's the Disney channel version of Grease, which translates into, unoriginal, quite stupid and predictable story that doesn't make a lot of sense and it's filled with plot holes. Moreover, it does have absolutely no drama and no climax. Despite that and the fact that I'm an adult woman, I still found it a tiny bit engaging and, no matter how old you are or what's your generation, it's not that hard to relate to the story. I didn't/do, but I can imagine people relating. 

Same goes for the characters. They are terribly written as they are nothing but a bunch of idiotic high school stereotypes, with very little characterization and even less development --actually, there's none--, and they are atrociously played --seriously, these kids can't act for shit. Also, where's the chemistry between Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens? Weren't like dating at the time?-- but a few of them, the good guys, are likeable and quite sympathetic. 

Disney-ABC Domestic Television

The songs are pretty lame and cheesy, just like everything else about High School Musical, and they don't move the plot forward one bit, but they are also pretty catchy and quite unforgettable. I mean, it's been 10 years since I last saw this movie and I still know the lyrics to most songs. The musical numbers, however, are all lip-synched and the audio/video synchronization is completely off. 

But again, in spite of all the flaws, I still was able to enjoy High School Musical.