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High School Musical 2 review This movie is a mash of random dance moves that look like something a back up dancer to Britney Spears would do and dialogue that only succeeds to prolong the plot that was probably written a week before production by somebody who didn't want to change a thing from the original film.<br /><br />So how could I explain the plot without "spoiling" anything? The film starts out seconds before the familiar school atmosphere will come to an end for the summer. The main cast is together in what appears to be drama class (I guess it would be nitpicking for me to point out that the entire main cast is in the same classroom) counting down the seconds before summer break. This of course leads to "What Time Is It," the first musical number of many. Filled with break dancing and group wave dancing, the three minute dance redefines cheesy. Question: if Sharpay is supposed to hate Gabriella, why is she dancing right by her with a smile on her face? Oh, and this all happens within the first five minutes, ensuring a FUN following 93 minutes.<br /><br />Suddenly the plot requires the cast to worry about summer jobs. Troy needs money to help pay for college (though wasn't his family rich in the first movie? I thought that's how they could afford to spend New Years Eve in a ski resort.), and Gabriella equally needs money badly (I guess her mom spent all her college tuition money on moving every summer
). So does Chad and Taylor and every other main and supporting cast member besides Sharpay and her brother Ryan. So where do they end up getting jobs? They all get jobs at the country club that Sharpay and Ryan hang out throughout the rest of the film. Yeah, you heard right. They ALL get jobs at the country club. Tsk
they must have been drastically understaffed before these people came along.<br /><br />From here the inevitable love triangle between Troy, Gabriella and Sharpay occurs, reducing the job of a supporting character to just dancing in the elaborate dance numbers and saying a non funny one liner every twenty minutes. After taking forever to get to the climax, the film takes the clichéd easy way out that will require Gabriella to hate Troy forever
which in Disney land is about fifteen minutes and a commercial break.<br /><br />There. That's the plot to High School Musical 2. You know, I can't for the life of me think for a second that Disney released this film thinking that it was a good movie. It's just not. Instead I'm led to believe that it was green lighted to break ratings records and sell millions of copies of the accompanying CD and DVD. I imagine a meeting at Disney studios where an unknown screenplay writer brings his version of High School Musical 2, complete with perfect character development and believable segues into music. The head of Disney (or the person in charge of this film) reads the first ten pages and throws it down in disgust. "This is too risky!" He grumbles. "If it's too risky the ratings may not be as high as the last one. No, this will never work." I guess it wouldn't hurt to tell you that there are several unintentionally funny scenes in this film. One is the cameo appearance by Miley Cyrus. She won a contest on Disney.com that ensured her a cameo in HSM 2, and her appearance was all of four seconds. She is shown as a random girl dancing at the very end of the movie. Seriously, if you blink too long you'll miss her whole role. Also funny for the wrong reasons was the choreography in the song "I Don't Dance" (I know, I know; the irony of a song implying that someone don't dance while they are dancing.), which can be described as homoerotic. Finally the funniest scene that was supposed to be dramatic was one right after Troy found out that Sharpay was screwing with him.<br /><br />Basically the only thing that is better in this film from the original is the music. This is in no way an endorsement for a Grammy nomination or anything. I'm just saying the overall music is better than that of the first one. Of course the first film was made as a crappy made for television movie. The music was made in all of two weeks and the success was completely accidental.<br /><br />Rating: * out of **** |