It's one of those days when you'd just as soon not go out with your mate - jealousy could flare up over nothing at all.

Tuesday, November 25, 2008
4:01 pm Headache


Thinking of going to see High School Musical 3? You should probably read the brilliant review I did for class first...

“High School Musical 3: Senior Year” is the perfect movie – if you’re a girl between the ages of six and ten.

The third movie in the High School Musical trilogy, HSM3, follows the same corny plotline as its two predecessors – athlete Troy Bolton (Efron) and braniac Gabriella Montez (Hudgens) struggle to make their unlikely love work while singing about it along with their friends - but this one released straight to the big screen, instead of premiering on the Disney Channel. A bigger movie means a bigger budget, and this is evident in the flashy sets and costumes provided for such singing and dancing numbers as “Now or Never” and “I Want It All.”

The gang of six is back as Kenny Ortega, choreographer of Dirty Dancing directs for the third time. This time is the last time, though, and the pressure’s on as the cast must decide what their future holds once they’ve graduated from Albuquerque’s East High School. Troy, played by Zac Efron (Hairspray) is sweet and only a little annoying as he is forced to decide between the basketball career he and his father (Bart Johnson) have always dreamed of, or staying close to his Berkeley bound girlfriend, Gabriella Montez. Montez is played by the talentless Vanessa Hudgens who’s only facial expression throughout the movie consists of pouty lips and furrowed eyebrows. Corbin Bleu (Galaxy Quest) and Monique Coleman also return as Chad Danforth and Taylor McKessie, Troy and Gabriella’s wise-cracking (and more entertaining) best friends. But the two people who steal the show are the movie’s brother and sister team of Ashley Tisdale (The Suite Life of Zack and Cody) as Sharpay Evans and Lucas Grabeel as Ryan Evans. Tisdale is hilarious and dead-on as Sharpay Evans, the queen of East High School who is determined to star in the senior year drama production and win Troy’s heart. Her (gay?) brother in the movie, Grabeel sings and sashays his way into the audience’s heart with his obvious talent.

Two new characters make an appearance in the movie as well, inciting rumors of a possible High School Musical sequel involving a new cast. Jimmie Zara, played by newcomer Matt Prokop, appears as Troy’s younger, goofball teammate, while Jemma McKenzie-Brown plays Tiara Gold, Sharpay’s one-time personal assistant who tries to sabotage Sharpay’s musical number in the senior show.

While older audiences are sure to roll their eyes at the predictable plot line and cheesy lines – at one point, Ms. Darbus (Alyson Reed), the overly involved drama teacher tells a whiny Troy (Efron) to “follow his instincts” – younger audiences are sure to love Sharpay Evans’ shiny outfits and all of the new dance routines. In fact, as I watched the movie, three elementary school aged girls in the row in front of me stood up and danced around to “A Night to Remember.”

While the music is catchy and the dancing is impeccable, some scenes are definitely cringe-worthy. The opening scene shows a sweaty Zac Efron in the midst of his last basketball game at East High School. While it’s clear he has grown up since HSM2 (he’s sprouted armpit hair since last we saw him), his “angry” face just comes across as looking, well, constipated. Still, his inability to express simple emotions is overshadowed when Hudgens, dressed in all white, rises from the crowd to sing to Troy during the last seconds of the game. It was all I could do not to laugh out loud at this apparently serious scene. Other eye-roll-inducing scenes include when Troy and Gabriella are singing about the rest of their lives in Troy’s childhood tree house. Mid-song, the tree house roof opens to reveal a nighttime sky. A “tree house with a retractable roof” is sure to be on every ten year old girl’s Christmas list this year, thanks to this romantic scene.

The most cringe-worthy scene, however, was Efron’s “Scream,” in which Troy sneaks into his high school after hours to sing and dance away his frustration at his uncertain future a la Kevin Bacon in Footloose. Efron step-ball-changes his way through a gym raining basketballs as he sings such clever lyrics as “I want my own dream/So bad I’m gonna scream.” The scene is laughable, but the dancing is excellent.

A movie with a sophisticated plotline and Oscar-worthy acting, High School Musical 3 is not. But if you want to see a feel-good movie with songs you’ll have stuck in your head for days, HSM3 fits the bill. Just make sure you bring a friend you can laugh with.



I did. I brought Steph :)
Love,
Tara