A disappointment! (High School Musical 3 (DVD))

Member Name: Chaos-Theory

Product:	High School Musical 3 (DVD)
Date:	28/04/09 (81 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: It's worth seeing

Disadvantages: Not as good as the first two films in the series

I have to admit I loved the first High School Musical film. It was enjoyable, entertaining and uplifting. As one of the cast once said in an interview, it's what we all wish High School was really like.

High School Musical 2 was fun, although for me it wasn't quite as good as the first film. There were a couple of particularly catchy tunes and after watching it a few times, I enjoyed it almost as much as the first. Have to say, it reminded me a little of Summer Holiday.

I don't think you necessarily have to have seen the first two films in order to enjoy the third, but I think it does help, as you can appreciate how the characters have developed and the history between them.

So, next we come to High School Musical 3, greeted with much eager anticipation (in our household, at least). This one was released in the cinemas first - whereas the other two films went straight to television on the Disney Channel. For some reason, we never got round to seeing it while it was at the cinema, so my first viewing was much like the other two, on television at home (albeit on DVD).

The first surprise is that the scene which has been used in all the trailers, where Troy is on the basketball court, and sees Gabriella standing in the crowd, singing her support for him, actually comes at the beginning of the film. I had always assumed it was close to the end of the film, and that the climax of the film would be them winning an important basketball game. I don't know if it was because I had seen the trailer so many times or not, but this part felt really contrived to me. Yes, I know the whole thing is somewhat contrived, but this was more obvious!

The cast is pretty much the same, although they did introduce a new character called Rocketman (if I remember rightly). I never quite saw the point of his character. There were a few points of interest, as he joined Sharpay in a duet, which was quite amusing in places, but otherwise he was a bit of a non-entity. In that basketball game at the start, Troy suggests bringing this character on to help them win the game, but there is no explanation as to why, or in what way he represents any kind of secret weapon. He does score the winning shot, but this was only because he happened to be standing right under the hoop when Troy passed him the ball - there had been no prior hint that his special talent was in being so dull he would be totally ignored by the other team. It just didn't make any sense. There was also the new (token) English character, who speaks with the unbelievably posh accent that all English who emigrate to American films seem to employ. I found this character mildly irritating, but Sharpay gets the last laugh, which was satisfying.

I felt that the time wasted on these new characters could have been better spent on fully developing the lesser characters from the first two films. Characters like the baking basketball player (given so much priority that I can't even remember his name!) or the girl who loves hip hop (who for some unexplained reason is now a cheerleader). I felt these characters were still on the sidelines and I would have liked to know more about them, given that this is apparently the last film in the series. That said, I have heard that maybe there will be a fourth film, which will feature people such as Rocketman, so this was probably a cynical ploy to introduce them early and give some sense of continuity.

Overall, I found this quite a depressing film. Perhaps that says more about me than it does about the film. I found the first two High School Musical films uplifting and cheery. This one, it seemed to me, was somewhat maudlin, and devoted entirely too much time to the characters pondering what they would do when they graduated, which university they would go to, etc. Perhaps as an adult, I'm approaching the films as escapism and perhaps a look back at how I wish my own school life had been... and all this preoccupation with the real world and its worries, just didn't fit with the (expected) uplifting feel. I also have to say I didn't find any of the songs particularly memorable this time, either.

In places it reminded me of the very early musicals. For example, in Singing In The Rain, there is a scene (supposedly from one of the other films the studio was making at the time) which featured Cyd Charisse and Gene Kelly. I always found this the most thoroughly boring part of Singing In The Rain, which is otherwise an entertaining and funny film. This scene always seemed a little pointless as it had no bearing whatsoever on the main story and wasn't even a particularly good musical number (ok that's just my opinion). Anyway, High School Musical 3 featured at least two songs in this sort of vein. Utterly pointless and with little bearing on the story. I was also disappointed at the very brief section showing the High School Prom. From the trailers, I had been led to believe that the Prom was an important event in both the movie and the characters' lives, but it was glossed over with a single song, that wasn't even entirely devoted to the Prom.

Overall, as you can probably tell, I was not impressed and this film left me feeling flat. My 10 year old daughter seemed to enjoy it and she is happy enough to watch it again, so don't let my opinion put you off! It was one of those things I had to see, having enjoyed the first two, but frankly, I don't think I'll bother watching it again.

Summary: Disappointing.