HIgh School Musical 3 [U]

The cinema was full when I was forced to take my daughter to see this movie on its opening night last Wednesday, full of over-excited little girls, some in costume with cheerleading pom-poms. A rollicking good time was anticipated by all; and for the little girls I suspect it was an entirely satisfactory experience. Alas, grown-ups might require more in the way of fun than a prolonged opportunity to admire the clean-cut features and toned bodies of the now adult cast who were propelled into stardom by this nice, bland series of movies. This is really more of the same - even Disney, home of superlatives, couldn't think of a better way to entice audiences into the cinema than to claim that the dancing in this movie would be "even better" than in the first two. No change to the plot or script, then. Indeed not, you can hear the marketing execs reply - if it aint broke, don't fix it!

So this (please, please let it be the last) sequel is extraordinarily similar to the first movie in terms of what is happening between the protagonists; this time we do get to actually see the High School Musical itself, that was so mysteriously absent from the movie that bore its name. Otherwise, the dancing is indeed advanced, sparkling, brilliant, the songs are high-energy and quite pleasant, there are many many screens full of the revised version of Zak Efron (a very handsome young dog who has now acquired what I believe dog-show people call "furniture") drenched with designer sweat, and lots of emoting from the very pretty and talented rest of the cast. The little girls adored it; I fell asleep.

Andrea Hopkins (DI Reviewer), 31/10/08

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