High School Musical

To be clear... I wanted to watch The Muppets. I fought long and hard for the Muppets... instead, we get this movie.

Now, you may be saying, Connor, this movie was a Disney Channel Original film, obviously it shouldn't be held to the same standard as most film because it was on TV. To that I give a distinct and clear no. This movie was built up as the biggest thing since sliced bread. It was hailed by thousands, I would almost say millions as the greatest thing every to come out of the Disney Channel. And while it is listed as a TV movie, I know for a fact that upon the release of the later films, this movie was premiered in theaters... so I will judge this movie the same way I just every other film.

And by god, was this movie a smash hit when it came out. I don't know if a generation just saw this movie and said, "THIS MOVIE SPEAKS TO ME!" or if everybody just thought it was bad that it became a phenomena but everyone just secretly loved it.

I watched this with my girlfriend and my sister. They both could sing every lyric of every song, do every dance move.

So what is it about High School Musical that is so contagious that it still continues to be that movie that everybody either absolutely loves or absolutely hates?

Troy Bolton (played by Zac Efron) and Gabriella Montez (played by Vanessa Hudgens) are both on vacation at a ski resort when they are forced to sing karaoke together, but they actually have a lot of fun and it turns out they can both sing. The two barely get each other's phone numbers before they leave thinking they'll never see each other again and all they have are the memories of that vacation they had together... until Gabriella moves to a new school where Troy just happens to go to.

Trouble abrews when its revealed that Troy is the Captain of the Basketball team and one of the most popular kids in school. Gabriella on the other hand finds her niche with the science team and in this exaggerated high school, all the different clicks don't associate with each other and these two are torn apart, only to have the potential to be brought together through their love for singing, and an audition for a spring musical.

So its the nice girl falling for the popular guy in a musical set in high school... why does this sound familiar?

Of Course! Its Grease!

While the movie doesn't include a song about girls getting pregnant, changing their personality to get the guy, High School Musical is basically a Disneyfied Grease. Except this time, the moral is don't get bogged down by clicks and what is expected of you.

That's a good moral I guess, I can see why the message is empowering. 

So why don't people like this film.

Well... its so full of Disney cheese and whimsy that its just kind of obnoxious. 

Don't get me wrong, I love me my Disney cheesyness, but High School Musical I don't think was

totally marketed towards me. I'm not the demographic they're going for.

The story is littered with obnoxious characters dead set on sticking to the status quo and keeping to the idea that you need to be in a click to feel apart of something. I haven't been to high school for almost five years now, but I don't remember my high school being this segregated.

I did musicals and hung out with people who were considered "the skaters" or were involved with sports, or were really intelligent. In fact I sometimes couldn't stand people in my "click" if that's what you wanna call it and wanted to get away from them. Now, I'm sure Disney was just exaggerating it to make a point, but I'm wondering if that point is kind of dated now and is only just that, an exaggeration. School doesn't function in these little bubbles that High School Musical creates.

But again, we're talking Disney Channel Original Movie... as much as I want to keep this movie to high standards, I just can't sometimes. Its cheesy, its over the top, and at some points... it actually is kind of fun.

The characters are animated to an almost annoying level, but at least they're characters. There's a brother and sister duo (played by Ashley Tisdale and Luke Grabeel) who are so obsessed with theater that they're kind of the antagonists? of the film.

But again, they're so animated, its kind of a spectacle to watch. I'm not saying I'm a die hard High School Musical fan, but I understand the phenomena and if you're into that cheesiness and animation, then HSM is just for you. 

As far as music goes, the songs are a weird combination of bland and generic to kind of fun. They're not gonna blow you away... at least they shouldn't (but the soundtrack was #1 in 2006... so...). 

The funny thing is, I watch this movie the same day I watched Rock of Ages. The truth of Rock of Ages was that the story was pulled out of the songs instead of the way it should be in that the songs should be pulled out of the story. 

So you might be wondering, which was more entertaining, and which one is the better musical? Well,

its a difficult question. If you put two musicals in front of me, one being a peppy over the top Disney Original Channel musical and the other being a musical that utilizes my favorite genre of music with iconic music from iconic rock artists from the 80s, I would have said Rock of Ages in a heartbeat.

But looking at them as movies and as musicals objectively, it becomes a little bit more difficult.

As I said in my Rock of Ages review, while the performances of Rock of Ages was a little bit too poppy for great rock classics, it was still entertaining and I still am going back and listening to some of the renditions of these songs (emphasis on some). The music for Rock of Ages, though cut poorly and had too much influence on the story, is actually really good.

High School Musical on the other hand has a lot of upbeat music and they're original songs. However, as far as memorability goes, that all depends on how much you are involved in the phenomena, but I would hope that nobody would put "Breaking Free" as their all time number one most favorite song in the history of ever, while a lot of people love songs like "Wanted Dead or Alive", "I Wanna Rock" and "Pour Some Sugar on Me". So as far as music goes, Rock of Ages wins it.

But as far as comprehensive films goes, its odd that I'm saying this, but High School Musical wins by a long shot. Yes, its not the greatest story ever, yes its not going to appeal outside of the fan club for the film, but HSM has a comprehensive story. The music is the vehicle but the story is being the wheel, whereas in Rock of Ages, the music is the vehicle and its driving the story, the story is in the backseat being the timid passenger who can't get a word in to the absurd driving in attempt to make a story out of "Don't Stop Believin".

So is High School Musical a good film? Well... objectively speaking, yes. While animated and

obnoxious, it has a plot, the characters have conflict, and the music serves it in probably the best way music can in a musical. Subjectively, its all up to your preference. You're probably either going to absolutely love High School Musical or want to put the Muppet on instead... or the news... or anything other than High School Musical.

Listen, I didn't knowingly give this movie any money because it wasn't my cup of tea. But this is a world where money and fan clubs talk. People, loved this movie and I can stand here and say till I'm blue in the face that High School Musical is a horrible movie... but at the end of the day, is it really hurting anybody? Well besides the acting careers of everyone except Zac Efron, no its not. Its teaching kids to do what they want and not let peer pressure influence them to stifle what they want to do. That's a good message. Can you get that message in a medium that's a little less annoying, probably but, if you're into Disney Channel Original Movies, like cheesy Disney musicals, or are being forced to watch it with your parents, sister, and girlfriend who know every song and dance move, you don't need to be overly embarassed watching High School Musical. Personally, its not my cup of tea, but I can't say its a piece of shit either.

I can't believe I actually wrote something kind of endorsing this movie. Hopefully I gave you all a fair and honest look at High School Musical. Tell me why you love or hate this movie? Comment and Discuss below! Also shoot me a tweet @cmhaugen24 on Twitter and Follow me to get updates on new movie reviews and movie news.

I'll leave you with this. There are a lot of really funny parodies of HSM. If you can find it, find the SNL sketch where Troy Bolton comes back to his high school after his first year at college, it actually kind of made me think that there's hope for Zac Efron could make a career outside of this Disney demon from hell. (I haven't seen any movies with Efron besides The Lucky One) I kind of want him to be a really funny actor, we'll see. Anyway, here's a mildly inappropriate parody of High School Musical done but Mad TV. Enjoy!