Review: High School Musical 3

High School Musical 3: Senior Year (Disney)

Rated G.

Starring Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Tisdale, Lucas Grabeel, Corbin Bleu, Monique Coleman, Olesya Rulin, Alyson Reed.

Written by Peter Barsocchini.

Directed by Kenny Ortega.

GRADE: B

REVIEW

By Dan Metcalf

Since the surprise cable TV movie High School Musical hit the airwaves in 2006, the franchise has grown into a cottage industry within the Disney machine, producing a whole new genre within itself: The Disney musical. But will audiences flock to the local movie mega-plexes to watch twenty-somethings perform as high school kids? Such is the question for makers of High School Musical 3: Senior Year.

HSM 3 begins as Troy Bolton (Zac Efron) and his East High basketball team win their second consecutive state championship, with graduation looming in the near future for the senior Wildcats. Troy and his girlfriend Gabriella Montez (Vanessa Hudgens) soon begin to worry about their futures, with pressure coming from Zac's friends and family to stay on and accept a scholarship to the local college, far away from Gabriella's school of choice: Stanford. Such an arrangement would most likely split the pair up for good, thus ending their romance.

Along with basketball, Troy is also conflicted over whether to continue acting and singing on stage, a habit he picked up through his relationship with Gabriella in the two previous installments of the HSM franchise.

Meanwhile, Sharpay Evans, the self-appointed social queen of East High connives to grab the spotlight from Troy and Gabriella in the student's upcoming musical by manipulating her twin brother Ryan, who is choreographing the production. At stake is a scholarship to Julliard, which will be offered to one of four East High students including, Troy, Sharpay, and Ryan.

The main conflict in HSM 3 arises when Troy must decide between his love for Gabriella, his basketball skills and his theater talents.

This so-called 'conflict' might seem a bit trivial for a crumudgeony middle-aged film critic, but I'm sure such drama can be real for the teen set. Looking back I would've been so lucky to have such dilemmas like prioritizing between Stanford, Yale, Julliard, a full-ride basketball scholarship, dating the prettiest and most talented girl, and the lead in the high school musical. Yeah, conflict. Of course, a musical by name wouldn't be a musical without a little fantasy.

For me, there's a required element of being a great movie musical that's missing from HSM 3: Memorable music. The dance sequences are top-notch, and the young performers deliver great choreographed scenes in several big production numbers that break out during the film. That's the good news for HSM fans. The bad news (at least for me) is a lot of songs that do not strike any memorable chords. The music seems appropriate for a Disney Channel show, sounding much like the 'boy-band' genre of the 1990s, but doesn't have much appeal beyond the pre-teen crowd.

For all intent, HSM 3 should be considered a huge success in terms of reaching out to and accommodating its target audience. Pre-teen girls will leave the theater getting getting exactly what they wanted, and then some. Efron's boyish charms will leave thousands of girls weak in the knees and squealing with glee as he broods, sings, and dances across the big screen. Hudgens, Tisdale, Grabeel, and the other talented dancers and singers won't disappoint either.

There may be something else that might make HSM 3 a little more interesting, at least for Utah residents. If your pre-teen daughter drags you to see it, and you can't get into the whole singing and dancing fantasy word, you might watch the background scenery to see if you can recognize the Utah locations in the movie (besides Salt Lake City's East High School). There are also several very talented dancers, actors, extras, and other people from Utah that might be your neighbor, including a well-know local Utah sportscaster, who appears as a college basketball coach.