High School Musical 3: Senior Year

The High School Musical phenomenon is back in all its corny, squeaky clean glory, with the third installment, High School Musical 3: Senior Year, due to leap onto Aussie screens in time for the Christmas holidays. In this latest incarnation of the Disney series, which began as two small budget made for cable-TV movies, teen heartthrob Zac Efron and queen of the nude photos, Vanessa Hudgens, reprise their roles as Troy and Gabriella; East High sweethearts who face the prospect of college and the traumas of life after senior year.

For the most part, HSM 3 is much like numbers 1 and 2. The G-rated plotline is predictable and dripping with moral lessons – boy has girl, boy and girl hit life crossroad, boy and girl learn important life lesson, boy keeps girl, all while singing and dancing their way through soon-to-be-sung-into-brush-handles-in-teenage-bedrooms pop songs. The sequined costumes, that would make even Baz cringe, are back. As are the painful, forced, ear-to-ear smiles. The story manufactures conflicts and stereotypes when there is no need, and the acting, whilst vastly improved, is still two-dimensional. While at a draining 112 minutes, the storyline is at times so fractured and difficult to track, you feel like you’re watching the abridged version.

But anyone who’s ever watched any one of the three films would know the above is not what makes the HSM trilogy such a phenomenon. No, that honour goes to the movie’s dance sequences and toe tapping music. And at least in that sense, HSM 3 achieves where most sequels (and threequals) fail; it surpasses its predecessors.

The songs are edgier and an appropriate reflection of teenage angst. The opening number in particular, is one to watch. Augmented with spectacular little touches such as the cheerleaders covering the chorus and effective basketball related choreography, “Now or Never” is a fast-paced tune, destined for airtime on kids radio. Even cringe worthy tunes like “Scream” are entertaining, thanks to newly broken voices and much improved singing.

The choreography is a star in itself. Original and effective, the routines are sharp and well performed. Even stars who struggled with their moves in HSM 1 and 2 – secondary actors Monique Coleman and Corbin Bleu come to mind- shine. They are largely helped by glossier production values, bigger sets and increased energy- if that was at all possible to increase. The movie earns its tag as Grease for a new generation.

HSM 3 is what it is- an unashamedly upbeat look at an idealised American High School life, so sugar-coated it would make a diabetic out of the most fanatic of health nuts. But that’s fine. The series has never pretended to be anything else and if you go into the darkened cinema mentally prepared for at least a cavity or two, then you’re sure to enjoy the movie.

Granted, HSM 3 is formulaic, but it’s a formula Disney do extremely well. Considering, HSMs 1 and 2 amassed over $US11 million combined, the question is not whether the third installment can surpass its predecessors’ success, but how fast it will do so.