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After last year’s Disney Channel phenomenon, High School Musical, took the pre-teen world by storm, Disney wasted no time in getting to work on the sequel. And while the setting has changed and the music’s a little different, High School Musical 2 is still the same singing-and-dancing kids starring in the same feel-good teen musical.
HSM2 picks up the story just months after the East High School winter musical. The school year is finally over, and everyone’s looking for a summer job to pull in a little extra cash before starting their last year of high school.
Determined to break up Gabriella (Vanessa Hudgens) and Troy (Zac Efron), spoiled princess Sharpay Evans (Ashley Tisdale) pulls some strings and gets Troy a job at her parents’ country club. But when she demanded that the club’s manager, Mr. Fulton (Mark L. Taylor), hire Troy, she didn’t expect him to hire the rest of the East High gang, too.
With all the Wildcats working together in a desert paradise, it could prove to be the perfect summer—unless Sharpay gets her way. And while she’s showering Troy with attention…and promotions…and promises of a much-needed college scholarship, Troy starts to forget what’s really important: his friends.
Like the original High School Musical, the sequel is another simple and almost retro-feeling teen musical. It’s unapologetically over-the-top, and it’s blissfully unrealistic (not to mention completely predictable)—but it’s also just plain cute.
This time around, the music is a bit different. The theatrical stage productions of the first film are replaced with poppier songs that have more of an edge. And while that may make it feel updated (and a little more summer vacation), the songs just aren’t as memorable as they were in the original. Fortunately, though, they’re still performed in the same big, elaborate (and brilliantly choreographed) way that made the original movie so much fun.
And, of course, there’s the cast. Hudgens is as sugary-sweet as ever as Gabriella, and Tisdale’s Sharpay is even more evil than before—though her over-the-top performance is almost unbearable. But pretty boy Efron seems to have changed the most since the first High School Musical—and understandably so. Efron has reached teen heartthrob status—and, unfortunately, it seems like he’s started taking it (and himself) a little too seriously. Instead of having fun with the role, he tries a little too hard to be a Serious Star, and it results in some Serious Overacting. In the end, Lucas Grabeel easily steals the show as Sharpay’s snubbed brother, Ryan. He may not be drop-dead gorgeous and perfectly spray-tanned, but he’s great performer.
I could go on for pages about the music and the acting and the writing in High School Musical 2, but none of that really matters to the film’s target audience. None of them care if Zac Efron can act. They don’t care if it’ll win Best Picture. What they care about is that it’s a fun movie—and they can sing and dance along. The story may be cutesy, but it’s got a great message and a big, happy, musical ending. It also has cute boys who sing and dance. And that makes it a slumber party hit.
So while High School Musical 2 isn’t nearly as lovable as its predecessor, it’s a simple, sweet movie that pre-teen girls will want to watch over and over and over again.
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