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High School Musical 3 Movie Review

High School Musical 3 is a 2008 teen musical film directed by Kenny Ortega and starring Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens. It’s the weakest entry in the trilogy.

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“My prom is wherever you are“

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Troy, Gabriella and their friends are in their senior year and have to make life-changing decisions, which results in them performing a spring musical to express their concerns. This is the only movie in this trilogy that I did not watch as a teen, but watching it as an adult I was so disappointed in it that I don’t think that I would have liked it back then too. It’s just inferior to the other two movies in almost every way.

Well, technically speaking it’s superior, which explains why the critics liked it so much. The directing, editing, acting and overall technical aspects were improved here quite a bit as it was evident that they had a bigger budget due to the movie being changed from a television to a theatrical release. Efron is particularly impressive in his charisma and choreography.

But the character arcs and storylines were just recycled from previous movies, in particular the first one. It lacked the energy and fun of its predecessor while lacking the originality of the original. There is just one moment where Chad and Troy have a big talk about their future that really elevated this story. It was quite moving and it perfectly captured the feeling of the school being over and the burden of becoming an adult. Chad is so well realized in this third entry as also evidenced by that musical number where we get a wonderful glimpse at the two as kids.

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But Ryan is sidelined and Sharpay wasn’t as fun as she was before. That new student who eventually outsmarts Sharpay was underdeveloped and eventually not all that interesting. As for Troy and Gabriella, their drama is pretty much recycled from before and way too much focus is put on their romance, which made the movie much less entertaining than it should have been.

Let’s talk about the soundtrack. High School Musical 3 has by far the weakest soundtrack of the three films. These songs aren’t bad by any means, but they aren’t great either as they failed to make an emotional or exciting impact on the viewer. The Boys Are Back is elevated by an interesting setting and the strong friendship angle, but otherwise it was not a great song. The Sharpay and Ryan songs were forgettable and the first song set at the basketball court was also far from memorable.

The final couple of numbers closed off the movie with a lot of pomp and circumstance, but they just could not compete with the energy and catchiness of the last songs in its predecessors. By far the highlights here are Scream and Right Here, Right Now. These two songs are the only ones that could compare with any of the previous movies’ songs. The former is this powerhouse rock number and the fact that it’s a rock song is why it felt so fresh. But it was electrifying in its beat and superbly choreographed by the always charismatic Efron. The latter is this beautiful ballad that the two protagonists sing to each other. The tree house setting is well utilized and the song is both moving and catchy, befitting their romance deftly.

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