High School Musical 3:
Senior Year

It’s easy to understand why High School Musical is so popular. East Side High School is a fluffy, cotton candy world free of angst and an escape from reality for kids facing the troubles of the world. No one is worried about getting pregnant. Basketball games break out into battles reminiscent of Sharks vs. Jets. Drinking and drugs aren’t in the picture and all of the students look like they should be on the cover of Teen People (except the chubby girl who has LOTS of spirit, but she is the happiest person in the movie because she is the only one on the screen eating normal meals on a regular basis). So, whether or not you want to see High School Musical 3: Senior Year depends on what you want out of a movie. Do you want steak or cotton candy? I guess you can say I like my steak wrapped in cotton candy.

Zac Efron is back as Troy – the big man on campus, captain of the basketball team and boyfriend of the prettiest girl in school, Gabriella (Vanessa Hudgens). Also, TROY WANTS TO DANCE! And, SING! Yet, he can’t bring himself to tell his father, who dreams of Troy going to the University of Albuquerque on a basketball scholarship.

It’s a decision that weighs heavily on Troy’s mind as his pals spend their last few months in high school worrying about what the future holds, so they decide to do what comes naturally, especially if you were ever once called Spanky or Alfalfa. The kids are going to put on a show about their senior year! To make things a little more interesting, The Julliard School or Art has targeted 4 of the students as finalists for a full scholarship, and Troy is one of them!

Who will get the scholarship?

Will Troy and Gabriella stay together?

If you have never seen High School Musical or High School Musical 2, you don’t have to worry about catching up or doing any extra studying to prepare for High School Musical 3: Senior Year. All of the plots and characters are extremely simple and clichéd. You instantly know each character’s motivation and goals. You have a feeling the mean girl, Sharpay (Ashley Tisdale), will get her comeuppance. And, everyone is going to SING SING SING! Fans will be ecstatic, but the movie has its flaws.

While the song and dance numbers are full of flair and flash, the voices coming out of the actors’ mouths are jarring. The singing is so over produced it sounds manufactured and phony. The actors, with the exception of Efron, don’t give enough energy and pizzazz to make you believe the effort they are exhibiting could produce the sound coming out of their mouths, and doesn’t come close to the energy they display in the intricate and entertaining choreography. Does this mean the action of their feet is more important than the words they are singing? I guess that’s a major generational battle over the state of music that won’t get solved here.

Far from being this month’s Beverly Hills Chihuahua, High School Musical 3: Senior Year has enough happiness and sunshine to make even the surliest of people smile, but let’s not start calling it this generation’s Citizen Kane or even this generation’s Breakfast Club. It’s simple, unchallenging entertainment. That’s not an insult. It is what it is.

High School Musical 3: Senior Year is Rated G.