Just like high school without the tests.
Image courtesy of Yahoo Movies
Director: Kenny Ortega
Notable Cast: Zac Efron, Vanessa Anne Hudgens, Ashley Tisdale, Lucas Grabeel, Corbin Bleu, Monique Coleman
So that’s what all the fuss is about? High School Musical 3: Senior Year is a well-crafted and vibrantly staged piece of children’s entertainment. What it is not is appealing to all audiences. That probably explains why this twenty-something has only heard about the High School Musical craze in passing.
Upon the first up-close inspection it is easy to see what is so alluring about the world that director and producer Kenny Ortega has created. But, at least for this review, the time for enjoying this type of tween entertainment has past. High School Musical 3: Senior Year is most noticeably not ready for adulthood when dealing with the relationship between Troy (Zac Efron) and Gabriella (Vanessa Anne Hudgens). Unfortunately the entire movie revolves around their puppy love to the point of near nausea.
It isn’t that their dilemma (Stanford is 1,153 miles away from U of A) isn’t cute and sweet, and even somewhat pertinent, it’s just that it doesn’t seem like a huge romantic deal. Granted the movie is rated G and it is unmistakably for those who have not even stepped foot in high school yet, but still Gabriella’s big move feels more like Troy’s longtime friend is moving away than his girlfriend. Maybe it would feel more real if the movie didn’t dance around them kissing on screen. How long have they supposedly been dating if the movie plays it up like it’s the first time the actors have kissed in the whole series?
That brings up some other questions that only a High School Musical novice would be asking, but a good sequel (especially when moving from one medium to the next) would make more effort at catching the newbies up to speed. It seems like all the other characters have less to do than usual in an ensemble musical. Most characters look to exist only as a function of the emotions Troy and Gabriella are feeling. The film does give viewers a sense that the previous chapters centered a bit more on the group as a whole.
Only Ashley Tisdale’s scene-stealing Sharpay Evans gets a substantial subplot involving her at-all-costs desire to star in the senior class’ final play and become famous in the process. Even that felt like the filmmakers throwing longtime fans a bone. However, there is no doubt that audiences will be hearing from Tisdale again and often, something that seems less likely for her onscreen rival Hudgens.
Plain and simply High School Musical 3: Senior Year suffers because of Hudgens and her lack of chemistry with just about everyone on screen. It becomes so that she cannot be off to Stanford soon enough so that the rest of the cast can enjoy themselves with the more raucous dance numbers and spend less time servicing her increasingly boring love story with Efron.
Much like actual high school the highs in High School Musical 3: Senior Year are few but when they come you feel like the fun will last forever, but when the lows come again you just can’t wait to get out of that place.
