Review :
The highly anticipated High School Musical 2 has finally arrived.
Adored by millions of children and not-so-children-dy worldwide HSM 2 promises to be a blast.
With all the hype surrounding the release ( there's even a timer counting down to it's release on the Disney channel) of HSM 2 it's not hard to miss the fact that this movie was made with low expectations. However, also due to this fact, HSM 2 now faces new amount of pressure from the skyrocketed expectations. It is also released at a point in time where the first HSM is arguably the most popular Disney movie of this time.
On to the Movie:
High School Musical 2 is enjoyable, light-hearted and something I would want to watch again. It is somewhat more mature then its predecessor.
All criticism aside (for now), I thoroughly enjoyed the new exploits of the East High Wildcats.
Troy ( the show's main protagonist), Gabriella, Chad and basically a whole bunch of East High-ans take up summer jobs at Lava Springs Country Club. Lava Springs is also the second home to Sharpay ( the show's main antagonist) and Ryan Evans.
All plot stories aside.
As a first-time critic, my job is to be not-so-nice. (cause I like it)
The main genre of High School MUSICAL 2 is pretty obvious, it's a musical.
With about 10 songs, as my memory, well, remembers there are only a few songs that are truly memorable.
While only MY humble personal opinion, I felt that certain songs had more than the common teenage angst. Troy's Bet On it shows a scary part of teenagers which will do little to appeal to young cute-sey eyed girls and boys to Sing-along.
Also, with the humongous success of HSM 1, the sequel comes with a price, the wide-eyed innocence that drawed us all to HSM 1 as been replaced somewhat with faster, pacier, songs.
A tinge of techno music a la Justin Timberlake-esqe found in certain songs came somewhat shockingly to myself as I was watching the movie.
However, whenever Troy and Gabriella sing, it still brings a joy to my heart that can be attained no where else.
Dance-wise.
With HSM1 there was a dance along and sing along on the disney channel.
However, now I feel that the dance steps are overly complicated and very difficult to follow. It is extremely fast-paced and may prove to be a stumbling block to children who wish to copy their idols.
While all that is said and done, HSM 2 feels unnervingly commercialized. It is as if someone took HSM 1, saw the success and tried to make HSM 2 even more POPULAR. This is alright I suppose, however at regular points of the movie I found myself cringing at songs or dance moves. It feels as if a certain magical something that Disney always produces is missing from the script. It was only until the second last song when I felt transfixed and finally felt there was something put back in. Hence, there was a really good ending.
HSM 2 follows a Disney cliche of the Happily Ever After scene, this is surprisingly refreshing especially now with innuendos popping up in cartoons and movies everywhere. The G-rating really shows how the director has managed to stick on a right and very clean track.
Lastly, I am quite aware that my organisation of this review is the pits.
Lastly (movie-wise), the plot is much more scarier now. I don't like scary plots where Troy and Gabriella and Sharpay and Ryan and Kelsi and Chad and Taylor almost fight and don't get back together and Keisi is SO cute and Ryan is so COOL and ohmygosh oh my gosh oh my gosh!
When all has ended, it leaves the child we all had inside gushing for more.
Cheers.
P.s Despite writing more critisicm than praises, I LOVE High School Musical.