High School Musical is basically an updated version of "Grease", only with terrible music and bad actors. However, for something so derivative in concept, High School Musical seems positively groundbreaking in comparison to the flood of generic teen movies being churned out by studios. High School Musical might be corny and overly sanitised but it is also dumb fun and I can't get enough of it.
The film begins with a pretty obvious rehashing of the "Grease" storyline. A mismatched couple meet on holiday and are unexpectedly reunited when the good girl transfers to cool guy's school. The only difference is that the leads in "Grease" were hugely appealing and at least one of them had a great voice. The opening scene where Gabriella and Troy meet while singing karaoke is pretty much indicative of how annoying their characters are. Gabriella is odiously sweet and sounds like she has just inhaled helium. Troy looks and sounds like one of the Hanson brothers - before they hit puberty.
The movie improves vastly when Troy and Gabriella are reunited at school, mostly due to their presence being tempered by the much less grating supporting cast. Basically, Troy and Gabriella had so much fun singing karaoke that they decide to try out for the school musical. The catch and moral of the story (it is a Disney movie), is that they have been pigeonholed and are scared to try something new. Troy is worried what his basketball team mates will say, while Gabriella is concerned that her new nerd friends might disown her. The talent free couple also have to overcome the interference of twins Sharpay and Ryan. Sharpay and Ryan consider the school musical to be their domain and are not amused when Troy and Gabriella audition for "their" roles.
Sharpay and Ryan are the main reason to watch High School Musical. Sharpay is like a tragically watered down version of one of the bitches from "Mean Girls". The character is meant to be a villain but Sharpay's insults and evil ploys are so innocuous that I just found her amusing and basically the only character with some semblance of a personality. Her brother is even better. Ryan is the campest character in a Disney movie since Cruella De Ville. When he's not workin' his matching pink cap and shirt combination, he's cleansing his pre-performance aura. Their audition and call-back routines are two of the funniest scenes things I have seen recently. The film's director, Kenny Ortega, has recently been working on the "Boy From Oz" musical and I'm convinced that Ryan's flamboyant audition dance routine is a homage to Peter Allen. All that's missing are the maracas. Ryan and Sharpay's amazing Latin inspired call-back performance even involves a gold tinsel covered ladder and a disco ball. Now, that's class.
The film's other highlights for me include the hypnotically cringe worthy singing basketball players, the fact that the film's heroine is a "mathlete" and Troy's girlie dance moves in the big finale. It is pretty fair to say that High School Musical makes very little effort to be cool. I think that's what I like about the film the most; It is almost entirely lacking in pretension. The songs are terrible to the extent that even Hilary Duff would reject them but the film does offer some impressive choreography and dancing. Kenny Ortega has a long history working on musicals and it shows. His direction comes to life in the musical numbers, giving the action a distinct sense of rhythm and movement. The acting is mostly pretty dreadful but no one is unbearably annoying.
High School Musical is very easy to ridicule and pick apart. It is much harder to appreciate the skill and good judgement that went into making such enjoyable fluff. I just hope that Ryan and Sharpay take their rightful position as the stars of the sequel.
The film begins with a pretty obvious rehashing of the "Grease" storyline. A mismatched couple meet on holiday and are unexpectedly reunited when the good girl transfers to cool guy's school. The only difference is that the leads in "Grease" were hugely appealing and at least one of them had a great voice. The opening scene where Gabriella and Troy meet while singing karaoke is pretty much indicative of how annoying their characters are. Gabriella is odiously sweet and sounds like she has just inhaled helium. Troy looks and sounds like one of the Hanson brothers - before they hit puberty.
The movie improves vastly when Troy and Gabriella are reunited at school, mostly due to their presence being tempered by the much less grating supporting cast. Basically, Troy and Gabriella had so much fun singing karaoke that they decide to try out for the school musical. The catch and moral of the story (it is a Disney movie), is that they have been pigeonholed and are scared to try something new. Troy is worried what his basketball team mates will say, while Gabriella is concerned that her new nerd friends might disown her. The talent free couple also have to overcome the interference of twins Sharpay and Ryan. Sharpay and Ryan consider the school musical to be their domain and are not amused when Troy and Gabriella audition for "their" roles.
Sharpay and Ryan are the main reason to watch High School Musical. Sharpay is like a tragically watered down version of one of the bitches from "Mean Girls". The character is meant to be a villain but Sharpay's insults and evil ploys are so innocuous that I just found her amusing and basically the only character with some semblance of a personality. Her brother is even better. Ryan is the campest character in a Disney movie since Cruella De Ville. When he's not workin' his matching pink cap and shirt combination, he's cleansing his pre-performance aura. Their audition and call-back routines are two of the funniest scenes things I have seen recently. The film's director, Kenny Ortega, has recently been working on the "Boy From Oz" musical and I'm convinced that Ryan's flamboyant audition dance routine is a homage to Peter Allen. All that's missing are the maracas. Ryan and Sharpay's amazing Latin inspired call-back performance even involves a gold tinsel covered ladder and a disco ball. Now, that's class.
The film's other highlights for me include the hypnotically cringe worthy singing basketball players, the fact that the film's heroine is a "mathlete" and Troy's girlie dance moves in the big finale. It is pretty fair to say that High School Musical makes very little effort to be cool. I think that's what I like about the film the most; It is almost entirely lacking in pretension. The songs are terrible to the extent that even Hilary Duff would reject them but the film does offer some impressive choreography and dancing. Kenny Ortega has a long history working on musicals and it shows. His direction comes to life in the musical numbers, giving the action a distinct sense of rhythm and movement. The acting is mostly pretty dreadful but no one is unbearably annoying.
High School Musical is very easy to ridicule and pick apart. It is much harder to appreciate the skill and good judgement that went into making such enjoyable fluff. I just hope that Ryan and Sharpay take their rightful position as the stars of the sequel.