High School Musical 3: Senior Year (U) (From Basingstoke Gazette)

High School Musical 3: Senior Year (U)

1:00am Monday 20th October 2008 in Reviews By Joanne Mace

AFTER the runaway success of High School Musical (HSM) and its sequel, it was inevitable that the gang would secure themselves a launch on the big screen.

Thus, many cynical old journalists have found themselves in the position of having to review something the appeal of which may have bypassed them completely, and some will use the opportunity to have a good old go at the world-conquering Disney franchise.

The HSM story is, at its heart, a romance. Smart Gabrielle (Vanessa Hudgens) met sporty Troy (Zac Efron) at school, and they fell in love preparing for the end of term musical, much to the chagrin of the very rich wannabe superstar Sharpay (Ashley Tisdale), who also has a serious soft spot for Troy.

They’re supported by their best friends Taylor (Monique Coleman, who’s incidentally, almost 28) and Chad (Corbin Bleu), and now, after various trials and tribulations, they’ve all reached senior year, meaning that college beckons and our leading couple might have to go their separate ways to follow their dreams.

Make no mistake, the trilogy’s director Kenny Ortega knows exactly what he’s up to with this material. After all, the man is a legend (in my eyes) courtesy of his having choreographed Dirty Dancing, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and Pretty in Pink. He opens well with a sweaty Troy, midway through a basketball state championship match, and this will have the HSM devotees swooning from the off. The running time that then follows is a parade of white-toothed, lithe-limbed young folk singing songs about their hopes and dreams and worries, in a variety of locations, whilst beautifully clad in Abercrombie-esque fashions. There’s even a, gasp, kiss, and the context is so chaste that a simple shot of Troy’s naked back feels thrillingly illicit.

Of course, this is a deliberately clean cut, racially correct universe, one which is antiseptic and romantic all at the same time – the real-life romance of Efron and Hudgens is deliberately kept out of the papers - but it’s impossible not to acknowledge why it all works.

Zac is an earnest, energetic performer, and it’s easy to see why he sets young hearts a flutter. He’s the perfect boyfriend, a sanitised image of catalogue perfection who sneaks you a pizza picnic through your bedroom window. His performance – and he’s matched by most of the others, especially Tisdale – is full of conviction, and of course, Kevin Bacon started out this way. It’s no surprise that rumours have linked Zac to the lead role in a Footloose remake. The appeal of the nasal Hudgens, however, is more elusive.

This being the swansong of the key players, new characters are introduced to the mix, including the preternaturally mature 14 year-old Brit Jemma McKenzie-Brown, who, by the looks of it, will be taking on Sharpay in number four.

But, come the conclusion, Kenny adds a sequence of close-ups on the main characters for their final farewell, giving the audience a last chance to applaud loudly, or roll in the aisles and weep a little longer. Make no mistake, the HSM juggernaut will roll on ad infinitum, for as long as its legions of fans want it around.