Review: High School Musical Is An Unusual Phenomenon
- Feb 10, 2018
- 2 min read
In 2006, Disney Channel Originals struck gold. A simple musical set in a high school with a generic name, standard love story, and boring leads, was somehow a massive hit. High School Musical went on to spawn two more major movies, a spin-off, a concert, an actual musical, and a cult following - not to mention the stars that it created.
Troy Bolton (Zac Efron) is a life-long basketballer who meets the girl of his dreams, Gabriella Montez (Vanessa Hudgens) at a New Year's Eve party after being randomly selected for karaoke. But then she unknowingly moves to the same school as him, which distracts him from his basketball and his friends. When the two of them are signed up to the school's next musical, it sparks an identity revolution within their school (I'm dead serious) and all their so-called friends work together to try and prevent them from being in the show.
For a TV movie for kids, High School Musical really isn't awful. The story is fairly average, but it's not Troy and Gabriella I want to focus on. Uppity rich girl Sharpay (Ashley Tisdale), her brother Ryan (Lucas Grabeel), and drama teacher Ms Darbus (Alyson Reed) are the real stars of this show. These three have some wonderful comedy moments, and more charisma than the entire rest of the cast.
But even more than these people, it's the music that carries High School Musical. Absolute bangers like Bop To The Top and What I've Been Looking For contrast with beautiful songs like When There Was Me And You and Breaking Free. Even the less popular songs like Getcha Head In The Game are still endlessly catchy, and someone's favourite somewhere in the world.
High School Musical may not have been the greatest movie - the hacking scene is incredibly telling. But it had a lot of character, and loveable characters and songs. And while it doesn't really explain how this made-for-TV movie gained such immense popularity, it certainly explains why I still enjoy it to this day, as a 21-year-old man.
* In lieu of a trailer, which this Disney Channel Original filler movie never got (at least, in a watchable resolution), here's one of the best parts of the film.
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