I don’t remember the high school musical being quite like this. But then Disney didn’t finance Blanchet High’s senior-year production of “Fiddler on the Roof,” so no wonder.
Disney stutter-stepped into a gold mine with its two made-for-TV “High School Musical” movies, squeaky-clean phenomena that bounced into tweener culture in 2006 and 2007. No surprise that “High School Musical 3: Senior Year” makes its debut on the big screen.
And so we return to the hallowed halls of East High in Albuquerque, where kids sing and dance about their lives — and that’s before they take the stage.
Despite their past success, the seniors don’t really want to do the school musical this year. Well, except for drama twins Sharpay (Ashley Tisdale) and Ryan (Lucas Grabeel), who are a little weird that way.
The school royalty, Troy (Zac Efron) and Gabriella (Vanessa Hudgens), will of course eventually join the ranks. Other less dazzling kids are also around, including Troy’s basketball buddy Chad (Corbin Bleu).
And what conflicts will arise during senior year? Not much that’s really worth an OMG or an LOL, actually. Troy and Gabriella must face their college choices, which threaten to separate them.
Other than that, there’s just a bit of facing-your-future angst floating around, but not enough to cause much trouble. Sure, Troy dances alone in a darkened gym with dozens of basketballs falling from the ceiling (huh?), but otherwise life is good.
There are big production numbers (the biggest being Sharpay and Ryan’s fantasy about making it in showbiz), and small duets. The music and voices sound equally manufactured, like objects produced by a computer program geared for 2008 hit-making.
Efron and Hudgens (real-life sweethearts, as if you didn’t know) exude some measure of authentic, if minor, movie-star wattage. I don’t know to what extent their singing voices might be electronically enhanced, because everybody sounds the same.
“HSM3” is energetically directed by Kenny Ortega, the choreographer of “Dirty Dancing” and the director of “Newsies,” an underrated Disney musical. He’s been the godfather of the “HSM” franchise, and the success of the thing owes a lot to his cheery attitude and his dancer’s eye, which lends some energy to every scene — whether people dance or not.
Will there be another class at East High? A few juniors are groomed here, but remember the lessons of previous attempts at maintaining sequels without the original stars: Lest ye have Travolta and Newton-John, so shall ye end up with “Grease 2.” And nobody wants to see that happen to “High School Musical.”
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