It’s finally here!
That’s been the sentiment of the folks over at Disney Channel for the past week, as made apparent by their offensive barrage of advertisements, music videos, special behind-the-scenes promos, and today’s all day countdown clock in the top right corner (during an oddly placed Suite Life marathon). It’s also the sentiment surrounding the kids of East High at the beginning of the monumentally anticipated Disney Channel Original Movie High School Musical 2. The students count down the seconds until summer finally arrives, and their anticipation can hardly come close to matching what kids and adults all over the country have been feeling since the final dance scene at the end of the beloved original High School Musical.
All of your favorites are back, too; Zac Efron still looks great (better, even) as the basketball playing, crooning, team-oriented Troy Bolton. The same can be said for his better half both on screen and in real life Vanessa Hudgens, who plays the sweet bookworm-turned-diva Gabriella Montez. Gabriella’s foil and self-appointed queen of the world Sharpay Evans is played by Ashley Tisdale, and her uncomfortably in the closet brother Ryan is once again played by Lucas Grabeel. Chad Danforth, the most forgettable name (at least for me) in the whole movie is back as Troy’s right hand man, and of course is played by Disney Channel sensation Corbin Bleu. I should also mention Taylor McKessie (who I have a hard time believing is Irish) has returned as her manipulative self, and is played by the 26 year old Monique Coleman.
The movie does not pick up where the last one left off. We never get to see the Twinkle Town Musical that the original was leading up to. Instead, as I mentioned earlier, we join the crew on their last day of school, and the school production is only alluded to throughout the film. As the day winds down, the kids can barely stay in their seats. This is, of course, because they have a huge dance number planned for the minute the bell rings. The movie most definitely kicks off with a bang; the first extravaganza takes the school-wide parties of the first film and puts them to shame. Solos are tossed around, the hallways are turned into well-choreographed dance madness, and it makes you rue the fact that you never got to end a school year with something this wild. Once the song ends, though, the party seems to die with it as well.
Troy Bolton, who lives in a mansion with his own basketball court, is pinching pennies for college. Lucky for him, Sharpay Evans spent the time between the two movies developing an unquenchable lust for her dirt-poor classmate. Though the crush was shown in the first half of the first movie, it seemed to have completely dissolved by the end of it. Apparently that’s not the case, and Sharpay spends the film trying to steal Troy away from Gabriella. Her parent’s impressive clout at the local country club land Troy a job for the summer, with one exception: They also have to hire the entire cast of the first film.
While at the country club, Troy experience a series of promotions while his friends are left in their low-level service jobs. Sharpay has a lot of push, and she eventually gets Troy away from the kitchen and out on the links with her influential father. Troy impresses the family, and Sharpay’s dad mentions that he’s got some influence around the University of Albuquerque, a school that Troy would love to attend. With the lure of a full scholarship hanging over his head, he begins missing dates with Gabriella and ignoring his friends who are still stuck in the kitchen.
Therein lies the conflict of HSM2 — Should Troy, who is going through financial hardships, try as hard as he can to get a full ride to college, or should he put more effort into being with his friends and neglect the folks over at UA? Troy picks the former, and his friends let him know that they’re unhappy by declining to acknowledge his existence. Gabriella breaks up with him, too, in her own personal music video. Troy laments this in the next song, which is an awkward attempt at making him a heartthrob where he dances through the desert, fist raised in agony. It contains the worst moment of the film, where he looks into a lake and looking back at him is a clearly fake reflection of himself, superimposed on the water, that was so awful that even 6 year old superfans had to cringe when they saw it.
Troy has some serious soul-searching to do, since all his friends hate him and he’s lost his girlfriend over the time he’s been putting into impressing the Evans family and getting that scholarship. Also experiencing inner conflict is Sharpay’s lapdog of a brother Ryan. Normally he is her goofy sidekick, but when she replaces his part in the annual summer talent show with Troy, he realizes he’s had enough. He joins forces with the day-laborers, and they play a painful game of baseball. I say painful because these men, who are professional singers and dancers, were never meant to get anywhere near the diamond. In the ultra-confusing number “I Don’t Dance,” they prance between the bases while professing that they never do what they’re doing. Chad even tells Ryan before the song that he’s never danced, even though we all saw his big hallway solo in the opening number. This contradiction brings up an interesting question; do they not know that they sing and dance? Troy acts like he can’t sing, Chad acts like he never dances, so maybe they really don’t. Maybe all of the big productions are really just in the mind of one of the characters, or maybe we’re getting a look into an alternate dimension during those moments. Getting back on track, Ryan has separated from Sharpay and is now bonding with the other students of East High. He is especially bonding with the recently split Gabriella, much to the chagrin of Troy. Troy has nothing to worry about, of course, because Ryan is so blatantly gay, but it still irks him.
Troy finally has to choose between his friends and his future on the night of the big talent show, where all the big boosters of UA will be on hand to hear him sing (apparently a crucial part of the scholarship process). After he learns that Sharpay has quashed the dance number prepared by Ryan and crew for the talent show, Troy has had enough. Luckily, the crafty Ryan is there to save him. He has prepared a special song for Troy, which he learns in an incredibly short amount of time. While performing it on stage, he is surprised when instead of hearing Sharpay’s voice answer his, he hears Gabriella’s. She walks from the back of the area up to the stage, and they sing a duet similar to Breaking Free, though not really as touching. The whole group joins in on stage, and at the end Sharpay has a glorious change of heart. Everybody wins, and then it’s time for a pool party! They rock around the pool in their final song, which is a fun group romp that is only equaled by the song in the very beginning. Even Miley Cyrus makes an awkward cameo for a split second, causing the room I was in to yell “What?! What is she doing in there?” God bless Disney cross-promotion.
Throughout the night, there were bumpers of segments featuring the cast having a picnic at director/choreographer Kenny Ortega’s house. The segments gave the group an uncomfortable dynamic, making it seem like they’re constantly acting, even when they just hang out. And Kenny seemed even more out of place, like an old man who invited over some attractive teens to his gorgeous house to see them in their bathing suits. The commercials were few and far between, thankfully, and didn’t interrupt the flow of the film at all, so kudos to Disney for that. The audio quality on the songs was noticeably off, and a quick glance at the Wikipedia page shows that Disney lowered the bitrate on the songs to deter pirating. It may have helped (doubt it), but it took away from the movie a bit. All of the voices sounded like they were mixed too low, and it was hard to hear them over the instrumentation.
Now, I’ll get to the good and the bad. Well, actually, first I’ll talk about how it compares to the original. The original High School Musical was a worldwide phenomenon. It was the highest rated Disney Channel show of all time. Its soundtrack went quadruple-platinum. It spawned a concert tour and a live stage musical. It has a live ice show, a series of books, video games, and dolls. Needless to say, expectations were high for this sequel. But did it live up? It’s hard to say. The original had campy dialog and a cheeseball storyline that was easily resolved. It also featured some bad acting and a whole bunch of high school stereotypes that felt lazy. The new movie improves on all of this — the dialog is rarely cringe-worthy, the acting is improved, the story is pretty solid and moves nicely, and the characters are all given some depth. What this new movie lacks, however, is the music of the original. The first film had a great mix of songs; a few big group numbers, a couple of heartfelt duets, and a solo here and there. The music was the strong point, it was the reason people loved it. The second movie is chock-full of solo pieces that will all stand as music video singles for the people they center around. The wild group party songs still are strong, but the duets don’t have the same punch and those awful solo songs just look like future Disney commercials. For a full, song-by-song analysis of the soundtrack, see my next post here.
This movie had some great moments: The first song, Sharpay’s interactions with the people around her, Troy and Gabriella’s break up (parts of it, at least). It also had some awful moments: Troy’s music video, Sharpay’s music video, Miley Cyrus’ cameo, dancers trying to play baseball. There were plenty more positives, and lots more negatives. But every detail doesn’t need to be nitpicked now, that can be saved for a later post, after I’ve seen it a few times. What is important here is how the movie stands on its own. At the end of the day, a lot of fans of the first movie (or people who pretend to be fans) are going to bash the new one because it wasn’t exactly like the old one. But that always happens when fanboys are involved, and though the second film is different than the first, it’s not really distinguishable whether it’s better or worse. It’s very different, and it’s still a lot of fun to watch. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to watch it again.
13 comments
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August 18, 2007 at 12:47 pm
Cornelius Vanderbilt
Fantastic movie….look at out HSM3( prom and graduation) coming up soon…..btw why was Troy jealous of Gabriella and Ryan? We all know that Ryan was playing the wrong position in the baseball song.
August 19, 2007 at 10:21 am
coraly123
The kiss was my favorite part. Although on Youtube I’ve seen many Zanessa videos. But, HSM3???????
August 19, 2007 at 10:50 am
biadrian
hi is muy buena
me encanto verla
bay
biadrian
August 19, 2007 at 11:00 am
Deb
It is and always will be because of the whole ” Boy meets girl, boy hurts girl, boy gets girl back etc.” Think Grease 1 and Grease 2! I can totally see the Kevin Bacon in Zac Efron for the Footloose remake, its incredible. I’m a mom and this stuff is very catchy!
August 19, 2007 at 11:05 am
rabbadxs
Woah only 4 comments
August 19, 2007 at 12:00 pm
kavips
Well written. Negatives are accurate. I got slightly uncomfortable watching the golf course solo dance number. I’m sure they re-shot it countless times and then chose the least destructive of the scenes to piece together.
I disagreed that Sharpay’s video around the pool was a non classic. I think it, sets up her character, explaining who she “really” is, just in case someone tuned into HSM2 without first seeing the original. In other words, it shows her selfishness and shallowness.
I certainly would not have cut that scene.
Just for the record, my favorite is the breakup song, capitalizing on the talents of Zac and Vanessa.
Overall I say your review is almost as good as the sequel. Thats it a solid thumbs up………
August 24, 2007 at 1:46 pm
Jaclyn
At the begging of Troy’s solo (Bet on it) I just thought he was walking up the hill, but then he stomps his foot down and just starts singing. I thought it wasn’t transitioned well at all. Also some parts in the movie didn’t make since like, how did Troy and Gabriella just know the song You Are The Music In Me when they never heard it before. Also, when Troy and Gab go onto the golf course to have a picnic they just happend to have time to do their hair and change into fancy outfits.
August 24, 2007 at 1:52 pm
Jaclyn
and another thing I really don’t get is that some of the songs like “”You are the music in me”, “You are the music in me(shapray version), and “Everyday” are all performances that the characters know they are singing and they are doing it by learning lyrics but the other songs like, Fabulous, What Time is it, I Don’t Dance, Work This Out,and the 2 solos are just out-of-the-blue singing and dancing that I am not really sure that they know they are singing. And then there is the last song, “All For One” that is a mix of both performance (because they have microphones) and out-of-the-blue, so I am not really sure about that one. I am really confused! Is this a musical, like Greece where they sing to carry along the plot, or is it a movie about kids who like to sing and are always making up songs on the spot. And the first one is weird how it’s a musical about a musical. Uhhh… now I am just confusing myself!!
October 13, 2007 at 5:54 pm
susi
holas:chicos y (a) espero q muy pronto vengan a perú bueno cuando se areglen apara q hagas concierto con troy gabriella ok les deseo mucha suerte a toddos ustedes…???
October 13, 2007 at 10:27 pm
kavips
Jaclyn:
The problems you mention with the plot, have always been endemic with musicals. The same arguments can be used with Mary Poppins or the Littlest Mermaid…….
They come from the ridiculousness of having to fit singing and dancing into a believable story line. It is hard to do……..
(I am laughing just thinking of the consequences that would happen if real life mimicked musicals? Imagine walking down the mall, and having someone start singing out loud between the kiosks in the middle of the mall. Suddenly mysterious words pop into your head, dance moves take over your musculature, and suddenly you find yourself contributing to a large part of the extravaganza……lol….)
One has to suspend disbelief whenever one chooses to watch musicals……..
What is important here, are whether the songs are infectious? Do the characters connect? Do find yourself anticipating watching the musical another time? If so……..the musical was a success.
Since I can’t wait to see it again and again and again, i would have to vote that despite the flaws you so eloquently point out……….it works for me. To still want to see it at this late date, marks the show a success……..a brilliant one at that……..
PS. The last song is my favorite. ” All for One”……..and yes……I still get personally uncomfortable in the “golf course dance scenario.”
November 18, 2007 at 7:46 am
هاشم
gret picturs
and lovely project
January 6, 2008 at 12:15 pm
Alina
i love the song on high school musical 2
January 26, 2008 at 3:02 pm
Peter Duffy
I couldn’t disagree more with your final two paragraphs. It was way better than the first one, the songs are better too. And Miley’s cameo was not awful, it was great.