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High School Musical Movie Review

High School Musical is a 2006 teen musical television film directed by Kenny Ortega and starring Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens. It’s a very cheesy, but nostalgic flick.

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“We need to save our show from people who don’t know

the difference between a Tony Award and Tony Hawk“

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A popular high school athlete and an academically gifted girl get roles in the school musical and develop a friendship that threatens East High’s social order. When I was a teenager, these movies were all the rage, so I ended up watching the first two flicks in the trilogy numerous times. This year, I decided to finally rewatch them, but to see how they fare as an adult viewer, and the results are quite interesting to say the least.

The biggest thing that I noticed now as an adult that escaped me before is the theme of acceptance. The movie can easily function as a metaphor for closeted homosexuality in Troy’s storyline. These theme of diversity, acceptance and cooperation is important for its teenage audience, but how they went about it was rather wrong.

The two most popular teens are basically on a quest to remain even more popular, which is hilarious when you say it like that, but this is exactly what happened with Troy and Gabriella. Both represent kids who are very popular and multitalented, which made the movie super unrelatable to regular teenagers holding no talent in their bones whatsoever. Following these two and their quest to follow both of their passions/talents was very funny how not relatable it was. But the movie got that feeling of the school as a place being extremely important back in your teens, a feeling that nothing else exists outside of it, and this is why the movie still remains so nostalgic and melancholic to me.

This movie introduced Zac Efron to the world and he should be praised for being the only member of this cast who actually went along to have a solid career in Hollywood. Efron was so well cast in the role of the main guy heartthrob. He’s excellent at both emoting and singing. Vanessa Hudgens never did much after these movies, but she was quite charming in the role of Gabriella. My issue with these two is that they have always been and remained these typically boring, overly perfect protagonists and their romance was also uninspired. They are the least interesting characters in this cast.

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The most interesting character here was clearly Sharpay, an over-the-top villain of sorts. She’s so funny and charismatic that she stole the show whenever she appeared on screen, which wasn’t a lot in this first movie unfortunately. Ashley Tisdale was so good in the role, somebody who also disappeared after this trilogy of films. Lucas Grabeel was also memorable in the role of her brother Ryan. The two are so much fun together as this musical sibling power couple.

Chad and Taylor are fine, though forgettable as the main friends of our protagonists. As for the adults, they are all super cringe and over-the-top, but a lot of charm can be found in this movie’s cheesiness and corniness. If you are in the right mood, this flick is bound to entertain and delight you, especially if you are a Disney and musical fan.

The entire movie and its soundtrack are inferior to its successor, but we still got some solid numbers here. Clearly the standout number is We’re All in This Together. I love this song. Yes, its inspirational lyrics are ridiculously cheesy, but the song is so well sung by the entire cast and wonderfully choreographed. It ended the movie on such a strong, wonderfully uplifting and energetic note and it’s my favorite scene for sure.

What I’ve Been Looking For is actually better in the Sharpay-Ryan rendition that was more peppy and memorable. The other highlights include Bop to the Top, which was another stellar and fun number starring the aforementioned two, and Breaking Free, which is of course quite catchy. But overall this soundtrack was only okay.

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High School Musical is weakly directed by Kenny Ortega and surprisingly light on plot and drama. While the acting was pretty good across the board, the dialogue can be very cheesy and stupid. But the movie is short at just around ninety minutes, so it flies by. It’s a fun romp that is particularly memorable in its energetic musical numbers and an infectious charm that it brings on the table.