That high-pitched squeal you hear belongs to the millions of young girls screaming at the release of Disney’s High School Musical 3: Senior Year Extended Edition today on DVD. This third film in the series was the first to be presented in movie theaters after two mega-successful TV movies (for those of you unaware, the original High School Musical premiered on the Disney Channel in January of 2006 and was an instant success). The first movie introduced us to high school heartthrob Troy Bolton (Zac Efron), the captain of the basketball team and all-around good guy, who falls for the new girl, Gabriella (Vanessa Hudgens). They both secretly audition for the spring musical, much to the chagrin of their friends, the school drama queen, Sharpay (Ashley Tisdale) and her flunkie brother, Ryan (Lucas Grabeel). Once their secret is revealed, their friends come between them, only to realize their mistake and come together to get the two lovebirds to the final auditions before it’s too late. Routine material, I know, but saccharine fun nonetheless. High School Musical 2 (2007) followed the same gang of friends the following summer to a posh country club (and more musical mayhem). For the third film, everyone is about to graduate, and they decide to come together one last time for one final spring musical.

I enjoyed HSM 3 a lot. I wouldn’t call it a great movie; in fact, it’s pretty cheesy most of the time — but it’s fun for children and parents alike. Whether I liked it or not doesn’t matter — I’m not the target audience, i.e. one of the young girls and boys who have followed the exploits of these characters since the first High School Musical. Still, as a fan of movie musicals in general, I have to say that this film succeeds on many levels, making it just as enjoyable as, say, Hairspray or Mamma Mia! (both fun, albeit silly, films). And it certainly is much more entertaining than Tim Burton’s hatchet job of Sweeney Todd and even the Academy Award-winning Chicago. In fact, Chicago always comes to mind when I watch these High School Musical films because I feel that director/choreographer Kenny Ortega has a better grasp of what a musical should look and feel like than the over-hyped Chicago. (more…)