High School Musical (2006)

User Review

• 

  Barneyonmovies

  8 / 10

  WHAT I LIKED: Like most films aimed at teenage girls, Kenny Ortega and Peter Barsocchini's 'High School Musical,' catches a lot of flak, but, from 'West Side Story,' to 'Mamma Mia,' it's no less cheesy than most movie musicals when you think about it. After all, characters singing and dancing to express what they're thinking and feeling has always been ridiculously camp on the nose, and there's nothing wrong with that, especially when the singing and dancing is used to translate a message as lovely as 'High School Musical's.
  
  Its story follows two initially reluctant teens entering into the school production. Both - one the most popular jock Troy (Zac Efron) the other nerdy bookworm Gabriella (Vanessa Hudgens) - wouldn't ordinarily give it a moment's notice, but they find joy in it together and sneak off from their judgemental friends to practice and audition. When their colleagues catch wind of it they're mortified, but eventually their choice to carry on inspires everyone in the school to buck the "status quo," and indulge in whatever passions they desire.
  
  WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: Sure, it's executed with a lot of Colgate-white grins, absurd overacting and sickening songs, but if you drop your cynicism and just engage with it, you'll have an absolute ball.
  
  VERDICT: Like most cheesy musicals, 'High School Musical,' is brilliantly camp and woefully cheesy, but its heart-warming message transcends if you let your cynicism go.

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