High School Musical 3: Senior Year | Review
‘High School Musical 3’ is a different type of movie that can’t be judged and compared to other movies. Musicals are different, in that you think it’s good or bad based on how fun the movie is, how great the choreography is, or how good the songs are. Musicals aren’t supposed to be great cinematically; they’re either fun or not fun. So, how does High School Musical 3, I mean, ‘High School Musical 3: Senior Year’ (I hate franchises that add unnecessary subtitles, especially to sequels, unless each sequel has one, too. I like everything to be consistent.) compare to the first two? Basically, it’s better than the second one, but it doesn’t have the “magic” from the first.
‘High School Musical 3’ definitely lives up to the hype; everything – from the choreography, the songs, and the visual effects – is better and pushed to their limits this time. The problem with this upgrade, however, is that there leaves no room for dialogue in the film. Literally like every five minutes there is a musical number. Yes, they’re great and all, but the movie needs dialogue to make everything work. Because of less dialogue, there is no transition whatsoever in the film. It’s just one problem after another, and nothing to make the transition smooth. {Spoiler Alert} For example, Gabriella (Hudgens) apparently is moving away, but the scene is done so fast, that you never even saw it coming. You’re just left feeling like “wtf just happened?” Then, Troy (Efron) appears at the place Gabriella is at, which is thousands of miles away. How is it possible for that to happen? Yes, it’s possible, but it would never actually happen in real life! And the crazier part was that he drove all the way there! Yes, he drove, even with the high price of gas. {Spoiler Over}
In the third and final film for the six main actors, 3 new characters are introduced. The three new “sophomores” are played by a hyperactive dude, a British transfer student (basically a little clone of Sharpay (Tisdale), and a black kid that looks like he should’ve been in elementary. The new kids on the block are supposed to fill in for the main actors if there was ever a ‘High School Musical 4’. The first new character tries to be funny many times, but he only has about one or two funny moments. The British girl isn’t really important until the end, and the little black kid has almost no lines at all. I can understand, because the filmmakers added that specific character at last minute, because they felt the actor was so great; however, there’s no real importance of him. Disney would be jumping the shark if they made a ‘High School Musical 4’. The franchise is big enough, and should just end with the third film.
The length of the movie aggravated me somewhat while I was watching it. The film’s length is just about the same as the second movie’s, and about 10-20 minutes longer than the first. C’mon! This film is supposed to be the first one in theaters, so make it a film! If the filmmakers made the film at least 2 hours long, the movie would’ve been so much better; the story could’ve been done so much better, because there’d be room for actual dialogue.
The songs in the third film are more mature and have better lyrics than the first two, and that’s a good thing. The first two films had simple lyrics, in order to make the songs catchy. This time, however, it’s harder to memorize the lyrics, and they’re not that catchy, but they’re still amazing.
So, if you’re a fan of the ‘High School Musical’ films, then you’ll like this one. But if you’re not, then you’ll probably hate it. This film, considering it’s a musical, was fantastic. If I was grading it on how the filmmakers executed everything, and if I was comparing it to regular films, this film wouldn’t be so great. Overall, ‘High School Musical 3’ is a fun film that you can enjoy, if you’re a fan.