High School Musical 2

Gillian Flynn started her review by saying, “Upon being compelled to watch last year’s Disney-movie songfest High School Musical, I cried. As in, I was moved to tears by the story of Troy (Hairspray‘s Zac Efron), a varsity basketball star who learns to love his inner crooner, thanks to Gabriella (Vanessa Hudgens), a gorgeous mathlete. I am almost grotesque in my vulnerability to stories in which kids grow and love and explore their potential — as long as they do it with jazz hands and a lot of faux-motional singing. Don’t even get me started on Maxwell Caulfield’s haunting Grease 2 solo, “Charades.””

Flynn continued, “In short, I am no snob about simplistic, low-bar, rainbow-colored sing-alongs. I wanted to enjoy High School Musical 2 as much as I enjoyed High School Musical: in moderation, with a pleasant blush and a benevolent, the-kids-are-alright smile. Well, bummer for me! This inevitable sequel — a third film is already in the works — feels too simplistic, too low-bar. (The colors are still pretty.)” Troy and Gabriella and their Wildcat friends get summer jobs at the exclusive golf club owned by the parents of drama siblings, Sharpay (Ashley Tisdale) and Ryan (Lucas Grabeel). The spoiled Sharpay immediately starts persuading Troy with potential college scholarships and a nice job as a golf teacher! A lot is done in this not-highly honest problem. Troy misses a date with Gabriella, practices with the university basketball team and enjoys his new Italian golf shoes (Flynn is right when she said, “it’s always amusing when marketing juggernaut Disney lectures kids on acquisitiveness”).

Flynn mentioned, “Unfortunately, the franchise is overly cautious about the image of its likable, tween-idol star: Mindful that eighth graders nationwide are daydreaming of Efron giving them their first kiss while holding a teddy bear who’s holding a tiny Mylar balloon, Disney never lets the guy get too mean, too spoiled, or too…anything. By the time an enraged/ashamed/sun-fevered Troy is running across the golf course, dressed in black, jabbing and spinning while he sings a song I think is called ”Bet on It! (Bet on It! (Bet on It!))” the issue is so confused, it’s not even clear what the wager is. Ambition? Loyalty? Um…stuff?”

Obviously, musicals don’t rely on a lot of storytelling, because they have music! Here, the songs differ from enjoyable fun (Sharpay sings a bubbly little number called Fabulous) to just bad (Flynn noted, “there’s a massive dance number on a baseball diamond that’s so surreally amateurish, Will Ferrell may be behind it”). “High School Musical 2,” released in 2007, ends with silly “outtakes” that say what the whole movie is: When they’re truly silly, they make you grin – but too much of it feels forced.

Now to the film’s credit, there were parts that I actually enjoyed seeing and would like to see those parts again. But everything else is just typical, predictable stuff that is relatable to the age demographic it targeted towards. For everyone else, they will know they aren’t the right age group to be watching it. So if you weren’t a fan of the first movie, don’t watch this one. But for everyone else who liked the first one, this one is the show-stopping number for you.

Look out tomorrow when I review the “Twitches” sequel in “Disney Channel Original Movie Month.”