Even if we're miles and miles and miles apaaarrt!

Exams are over! I know I am mercilessly unimaginative sometimes, so I have live up to my boring standards with another movie review! I watched this movie at GSC Times Square.

HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 3: SENIOR YEAR

Call me skeptical, but again I wasn’t entirely sure how good this movie would turn out to be. Although I thought the first two made-for-television movies to be quite entertaining, the standards of cinema are indeed much higher than TV, as proven by Star Wars: The Clone Wars, which excelled better on TV than on the coveted silver screen. Besides that, there’s always the tricky question (at least for any Malaysian) as to whether it was worth watching something usually shown on TV in the cinema. (Homer Simpson: “I can’t believe we’re paying to see something we get on TV for free!”)

Well, rest your fears, for High School Musical 3 is certainly leaps and bounds ahead of the first two movies. In this movie, Troy Bolton (Zac Efron), Gabriella Montez (Vanessa Hudgens) and friends of East High School face the prospect of separation as college draws near. Troy’s father and friends have high expectations on him to join the University of Albuquerque where he can excel in his supposed talent, basketball. But besides being away from the love of his life, Gabriella, Troy also has to deal with whether to go for basketball, or to take up his passion, theater. All this happens as the students of East High School decide to have a final musical performance to honor their last year in school.

There’s no doubt that far more work was put into writing this movie as the plot feels many
layers thicker than that of its predecessors. It’s no Oscar winning script, but it’s great to see effort put into making this movie deeper and more engaging. I felt deeply touched by the relationship of Troy and Gabriella, and the decisions they were forced to make as the end of school drew near. Maybe I’m just overly sentimental, but nothing gets to my heart like a clean, romantic movie. With all the dark, gritty movies of today, it’s nice to see some simple Disney magic working its way into our lives once in a while.

It also helps that the actors have improved their craft, rising above average. While they are all decent, I found Zac Efron to be particularly good as Troy Bolton. When Ms. Darbus, Troy’s teacher, remarks how comfortable he looks on stage, I couldn’t help but agree more. Where he was slightly stiff and awkward in the first movie, he now flows like liquid, delivering his lines with utmost sincerity. His seemingly genuine passion (Zac and Vanessa are a real item) makes his love story with Vanessa’s Gabriella believable and true.

Besides that, this review isn’t complete with some praise for the fantastic sets and choreography prevalent in the movie. The sets are simply spellbinding; large and colorful, they looked like they just leapt out from New York’s Times Square or Broadway. In fact, the first thing that caught my eye about this movie was just how vivid and colorful it was, and it was really a treat for the eyes. The music remains fantastic, if not better than before. I in particular, fell in love with the song “Can I Have this Dance?” which I now hum to myself almost every waking moment. Great stuff; believe me, I bought the soundtrack!

How do I summarize the experience? High School Musical is bigger, better and brighter than the first two movies in the series and is worth watching for the simple fun you’d get out of it. Great movie, and when they finished the whole thing with a tear-inducing curtain call, I almost gave it a standing ovation.

Images are copyrighted by Walt Disney Pictures