High School Musical (20 January 2006)
directed by Kenny Ortega
starring Zac Efron, Vanessa Anne Hudgens, Ashley Tisdale, Lucas Grabeel, Alyson Reed, Corbin Bleu, Monique Coleman, Bart Johnson, Ryne Sanborn, Socorro Herrera, Joey Miyashima
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MPAA rating: Studio: Walt Disney Pictures, First Street Films, Salty Pictures, Inc. Script: Peter Barsocchini Music: David Lawrence Running time: 93 minutes Tags: academic decathalon; basketball; Comedy; Drama; Family Film; high schools; made for TV; Musical; rivalry; Romance; teen romance; teenagers Tactical strength: [5/10]
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It can happen -- a made for TV movie from Disney that doesn't suck. In fact High School Musical does a pretty good job at providing snappy songs, occasionally interesting choreography, and a less than lame plot. This film doesn't come close to a Moulin Rouge or Dreamgirls, but it makes a nice diversion and provides less-mature themes so parents won't need to worry about inappropriate content since Disney would never create inappropriate content.
To his schoolmates, Troy (Zac Efron) seems to have it all. He has the star position on the high school basketball team -- following in his father's footsteps. Well, Troy has basketball and not much else. Since his father (Bart Johnson) coaches the high school team, Troy doesn't have much room for much else in his life. For New Years, Troy and his family go to a ski resort. After a rigorous one-on-one basketball practice with his father, he goes to the teen New Years party. At the party, he gets leveraged into singing karaoke with a total stranger, Gabriella (Vanessa Anne Hudgens). Troy has an epiphany, he likes singing and seems to have natural abilities. After the karaoke session, he chats away the evening with Gabriella and they part thinking they will never see each other again.
But . . . Gabriella's family has just moved -- into Troy's town. Gabriella -- a brainy type -- quickly gets snatched up by the academic decathlon team. The jock and the brain just don't seem destined to have a way to spend time together. The drama teacher posts a sign-up sheet for the spring musical. Zach keeps thinking about signing up, especially when he sees Gabriella's name on the list. On the spur of the moment, Troy ditches basketball practice for the musical try-outs. Troy and Gabriella get a callback for the lead roles, but they must compete against the drama teacher's favorites Sharpay and Ryan Evans (Ashley Tisdale and Lucal Grabeel). Sharpay and Ryan have played the lead in every musical so far, and they even seem old enough to have repeated years at high school just to appear in the musical. Since Disney only has one plot, we know that Troy and Gabriella try to balance singing with their other endeavors, it looks as if everything will fall completely apart, and at the last minute the main characters pull off a victory.
The principle actors do a fine job, and Zac Efron even lip-syncs his lines really well. Tisdale and Grabeel need to move on from playing teenagers and try for roles as twenty-somethings -- hey, you can't work your entire career at Disney. Teenage girls under 15 might want to watch High School Musical multiple times (since it does feature dreamy Zac and Corbin), but the rest of us should see it once and then only as a rental.
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