High School Musical The Movie Review

Following up on the success of High School Musical the Movie, Disney executives sure did well in coming up with an equally entertaining High School Musical The Movie 2. The fans wouldn’t even miss a beat as High School Musical the movie 2 starts off exactly where the first one left off.

It’s summer break and the students are looking forward to a fun vacation. East High students, Troy (Zac Efron), Gabriella (Vanessa Anne Hudgens), Chad (Corbin Bleu), and the rest of the Wildcats are looking forward to finding a summer job. This is another take on instilling positive values to the audience as Troy talks about finding a job to help his parents finance his college education, Chad wants to save up to buy a car so he can, well, take out Taylor on a date.

High School Musical the movie progresses on with Troy being offered a job at a high-class country club. He accepts it with the condition that the rest of his friends be hired too. He wants his buddies to be with him, and of course, especially Gabriella. What he didn’t know was that it was snooty Sharpay’s (who has been eyeing Troy) orchestration that landed him the job.

And so the summer adventure of Troy’s and Gabriella’s groups revolved around their work at the posh country club owned by Sharpay’s father. High School Musical the movie would not be what it is without some song and dance numbers or contests, so once again, we see Sharpay, aided by her brother Ryan, hatching up ploys and plans to make life miserable for our heroes.

Sharpay pulls some strings to entice Troy away from his group by dangling what she believes would attract Troy most: scholarship, club membership, inclusion to another basketball team, high paying summer job, etc. The conflict presented in High School Musical the movie 2 is when Troy was torn between pursuing his dreams and standing by his friends. The longer he stays on with Sharpay’s orchestrations, the closer he gets to the material gains, the farther he feels he is from his friends and Gabriella.

Several scenes showed Troy clashing with his best buddy Chad, and Gabriella staying away from him. This goes on and on that Troy gets troubled. One poignant scene was when Troy’s father showed him his old photo telling him that he trusts that boy, and he knows that that boy would do what is right.

High School Musical the movie 2 is a better take than its predecessor in the sense that the characters are more three dimensional, their personas are more sensitive, Troy was even shown to be on verge of tears in one scene. And OK, Troy gets to finally kiss Gabriella.

All in all, parents would still feel safe having their kids watch this movie as it still has its positive values that were presented in High School Musical the movie 1. Friends are not bad influences, they stand up for each other, etc. High School Musical the movie 2 is definitely a worthwhile continuation to the first hit movie of the same title by Disney Channel.