Hello & welcome back to Wildcats Wednesdays as we delve into the review of the first High School Musical. And once again, I am looking at this from the perspective of an adult that enjoyed these films ten years ago. And well, my first reaction is that while I still enjoy this movie, it's age is showing as the cheesiness and cliches are more evident now then they were ten years ago. Now, that doesn't mean that I hate this movie as I don't think I'll ever hate this movie but at the same time, I am not against pointing out the flaws in the film as I am not blind to them either. And I will freely admit that while this will always hold a place in my heart, there are a lot of issues.
Trailer
This trailer as I mentioned in the introduction was in heavy rotation leading up to the premiere and looking back now, the trailer is a bit corny but it worked well to get me hyped for the movie and it worked as I tuned it.
The Plot
Before we start, I will freely admit that as an adult that the plot of the first High School Musical is a bit weak and that if your character isn't named Troy or Gabirella, you aren't as well developed until the sequel. With this out of the way, let's start the review.
It's winter break and at a teen party at a ski lodge during spring break, two teens meet and are brought up onstage to sing karaoke and there is mild attraction between the two.
And I'll admit it, I still think this really works as a great meet-cute between our two leads as there is chemistry between Troy and Gabirella. And before going off in separate ways, the two exchange phone numbers. The week after Christmas break, we are taken to East High in Albuquerque, New Mexico. (Though in reality, the films were filmed at the actual East High in Salt Lake City, Utah). And here, we are introduced to Miss Darbus, one of the more annoying characters in the 3 films but that is sadly, the case with the adults in the first movie. As we hear the ring of cellphones go off and we see most of the students end up getting detention and we later see that Darbus has an interesting idea for detention. We later see after homeroom, that two soon to be couple meet up and are excited to see one another and we learn that Gabirella's mom had been transferred to New Mexico. We see them stop in front of the sign-up sheet for the winter musical and our queen bee and villain of the film assumes that Gabriella is interested in signing up and tries to dissuade her from singing up and there is one little touch that I like from Sharpay as she signs up on the sheet and writes her name so big, to the point that no-one else could put their name on it. It's a small touch but I like it and at least in the first movie, I won't be saying much positive about Sharpay Evans. We later see detention, Darbus style.
And this is also, when we are re-introduced to Troy's dad, Coach Bolton during basketball practice as he's angry that his son and Chad, (Troy's best friend) aren't there. And we get an argument between Coach Bolton and Miss Darbus and we learn that they've been like since the day that they've been teaching at East High.
Ms. Darbus: This school is about more than just young men in baggy shorts flinging balls for touchdowns.
Jack Bolton: Baskets. Uh, they shoot baskets.
They have this spat in front of the principal and well, this line ticked me off ten years ago and it still ticks me off today.
So Coach, how's the team? Is Troy whipping them into shape?
The principal says this after trying to say that he is impartial but maybe, they were going for a joke about how high schools put more effort into sports than the arts but even if that's the case, it's too sadly a real reality to be a funny joke. I guess it bugged me because while I'm not as big of a drama geek as some of my friends were, I did take Drama in high school and never cared about sports. And this is during practice, where we get our second number and perhaps my least favorite in the first movie but by no means, the worst song in any of the 3 movies as Troy is having troubles focusing on practice as he thinks about Gabriella and how he might actually enjoy singing with her.
Though as much as I dislike this song, it's better than the B5 version. We later see the next day, our two leads going to the audition and Troy sneaking to the audition for the winter musical is one of my favorite moments because it's nice to see Troy with his guard down because as we see the star player of East High have a moment of insecurity. And look as much as I like Troy, there are moments in at least the first two films that he seems to be a bit too perfect. I mean the guy can play basketball, can sing, gets to date a hot girl both onscreen and for a while there off screen. And as we learn in High School Musical 2, he's also on the golf team. I like Troy in the same way that I like Marty McFly in the first Back to The Future because Marty in the first BTTF was almost a pretty perfect character with virtually no flaws. And that is a bit problematic in some areas but I like his character for the same reason, I like characters like Captain America or The Flash because at the heart of Troy is a good person, who even as the world of East High is turned upside down, he attempts to remain a good person. And that's probably why Troy is my favorite character in all of the High School Musical films. We see Sharpay and her
And yeah, I stand by what I said up top, in the first movie, these two had no sibling chemistry whatsoever. I'd buy Ryan more as a lackey, a love interest or a gay best friend but Disney wasn't that progressive to include a gay character in a movie such as High School Musical ten years ago but I am not the only person in the HSM fandom that speculated that Ryan might be gay. And hey, there is nothing wrong with that. And the performance is a bit stagey but that is Sharpay Evans for ya. And this is when we are introduced to perhaps my second favorite character in the film, Kelsi. This is after Gabriella finally gets the courage to audition and Troy agrees to sing with her but Darbus will not allow it as they are late. Kelsi appears after Darbus attempts to leave and we get to hear how she originally wrote the song as Troy and Gabriella sing it. And it's a really sweet moment between the two. Honestly, the film's strength lie in the relationship between Troy and Gabriella as every moment, they're onscreen, you are able to buy into their relationship.
And Darbus gives them a callback and the next day, a callback is put up and both Troy and Gabriella are given a callback. And Sharpay is less than pleased with this news and the other Wildcats don't take too kindly to it either.
Oh, and I forgot to mention that in a hilariously awful scene earlier in the film, Sharpay Searches The Internet (Seriously, that is the search engine that she uses) to get information on Gabriella Montez and realizes that she's a genius and passes around flyers with Gabriella's name on them to get her on the Scholastic Decathlon team and this is when he are introduced to perhaps the second most shallow character in the film, Taylor McKessie and unlike Sharpay, I don't think she was meant to be a shallow character but she's a smart type character that looks down upon people that are into athletics as being lughead cavemen. I think that is perhaps exemplified in this exchange.
Gabrilla Montez: How well do you know Troy Bolton?
Taylor: Troy? Well, I don't consider myself an expert on that particular sub-species. But, unless you know how to speak cheerleader, as in...
[walks up to a group of cheerleaders]
Taylor: "Ohmygosh, isn't Troy Bolton just the hottie superbomb?"
[cheerleaders swoon over Troy]
Taylor: See what I mean?
Gabrilla Montez: [laughs] I guess I don't know how to speak cheerleader!
Taylor: Which is why we exist in an alternate universe from Troy the basketball boy.
This scene kinda rubbed me the wrong way in the same way that the principal's line rubbed me the wrong way but in the other direction as Taylor is the other extreme compared to the principal. And yeah, the film does paint in broad strokes as with the two main leads, you are either a sports person or a brainiac and the two should never cross paths. This is perhaps best highlighted in the number, Stick To The Status Quo. And yeah, this song does show the shallowness of most of the student body of East High as other students admit their secret loves but I can't hate this song.
When I first saw the film, this was my favorite song in the film and while that is no longer the case, I still really enjoy it . After this, Gabriella comes and see that everyone is staring at her and she doesn't like having people staring at her. Huh, Gabriella, I love ya but if you don't like people staring at you, maybe you shouldn't have auditioned. This alarms both Chad and Taylor because despite Taylor being a completely shallow character, Gabriella agreed to join the Scholastic Decathlon. And the two agree to work together to stop the two from auditioning together as the Basketball team gets in Troy's head and try and get him to say things that would upset Gabriella and through a wi-fi link, the Scholastics show this to Gabriella and this gets her upset. Ah, the misunderstanding. Yeah, not exactly a big fan of this trope and how it's used as Gabriella's hurt emotions, while very real come from a place that isn't genuine as this whole scheme was manufactured by the supposed friends of our leads. Troy is confused by Gabriella's hurt emotions and this is when the basketball team tells them of their scheme and all things considered, he takes it pretty well but man, I would've been livid if I were him. Oh, and Taylor apologizes to Gabriella and we get perhaps the dumbest line in this movie.
We were jerks, No, we were worse than jerks because we were mean jerks
And this line was said by one of the supposed smart characters at East High. This is up there with Sharpay using Search The Internet. After this, we see some more of Troy and Gabriella auditioning and Sharpay notices that they sound really good and can't stand for this, so she convinces Darbus to move the callback time to be at the same time as Troy's basketball game and the Scholastic Decathlon. On the day of both competitions, Taylor and Gabriella use the school's computers to delay both events, so that the couple can make the callback. And they make it there as Sharpay and Ryan finish up their number. Personally, I prefer the version that Ashley Tisdale did with Kermit The Frog more.
Yes, this actually happened and this was the only good thing to come from the otherwise forgettable Studio DC: Almost Live. Sharpay is confident that her plan had worked but after performing their callback number, Troy and Gabriella get the leads. Which makes Sharpay and Ryan, the understudies.
We later see that both of our leads won their respective competitions and everyone gathers together for a rally.
Oh, and Chad asks Taylor out as apparently, she was his love interest. Yeah, that came outta nowhere. Nowhere in the movie, was there any hint that these two had romantic interests in one another. I feel like they only did this because they needed another couple. Honestly, their friend, Zeke, who had a crush on Sharpay had more of a build-up with him asking out Sharpay and her falling for his cooking in the after credits scene. And that was a joke and it's considered non-canon.
So, how does this film hold up ten years later? Well, the shine and polish has worn off a bit and I'm not as blind to the faults of the film as I was when I fell in love with this franchise. As this film does show it's age and there are some problematic aspects to it but I think it's like what Doug Walker said in his Disneycember of the third film, High School Musical is a capsule of the time that it came out in. And even with me being able to acknowledge the flaws of this movie, I don't hate it. I'll never bring myself to hate this movie, I loved it then and I still enjoy it now. In many respects, HSM led me down the path of loving musicals. And I thank it for that. So yeah, I still get enjoyment from this movie but I don't watch it with nostalgia goggles. Now, let's move onto characters.
Characters
Main Characters
Troy Bolton played by Zac Efron
As I said up-top, I like Troy. Yeah, he has virtually no flaws but there is something about Efron's performance that makes Troy endearing. Troy is really likable and that's makes it easy to root for him, when he steps up to audition with Gabriella.
Gabriella Montez played by Vanessa Anne Hudgens
You can pretty much take what I've said about Troy and apply it to Gabriella but just as I like Troy, I like Gabriella. And honestly, out of all the couples from any live action Disney Channel program, they are my favorite as they have the best chemistry and they are honestly adorable together onscreen. Vanessa Hudgens (who by the second film dropped her middle name), delivered a rather solid performance for a Disney Channel film.
Supporting Characters
Chad Danforth played by Corbin Bleu
I'll admit that I am not the biggest fan of Chad in the first movie but Corbin Bleu does turn in a solid performance but like most of the supporting cast, he does come across as a bit shallow. I can understand, where he is coming from. But that doesn't make his actions right.
Taylor McKessie played by Monique Coleman
I've made my feelings on this character clear. I cannot stand her and I don't think it was the movie's intentions to make her come across as someone that looks down on less intelligent people. I'm pretty sure that was not the case but I still cannot stand this character.
Kelsi Nielsen played by Olesya Rulin
As I said I like Kelsi and she is perhaps my second favorite character because of her growth. It's minimal but we see at the beginning that she starts out a bit meek and timid, taking orders from Sharpay without questioning them but at the end of the movie, she finally does stand up to Sharpay and it's a great moment to show that she can stand up for herself and that she won't Sharpay push her around any longer. I hate doing this but I have to compare Kelsi to a character from Descendants, namely Jane, the daughter of the Fairy Godmother.
I look at Jane’s description as it’s says that she’s shy and insecure and another character comes to mind. Fluttershy. Because that also describes Fluttershy or where she was back in the first season but even with that said, Jane gave me more of a scaredy cat vibe than Fluttershy does now but again Flutters has grown. Though I think the issue here with Jane is that her shyness could have been handled better. I believe that the film is implying that she is this way because of Fairy Godmother being her mother and that she perhaps feels peer pressure to live up to who her mother is. And if that is the case, I think more can be done with that. But I do have to call this film out on something else, it’s only after Mal gives Jane a a new hairstyle that she becomes more confident. Unintentional or not, I do feel that does reinforce the notion that girls need to have something about them change in terms of looks to be more confident in who they are.
I see a lot of what they were going for with Jane in Kelsi but in a way, while her growth wasn't as well developed as it could've been, I do think that Kelsi is the stronger character and hey, they were able to avoid the makeover cliche with her. As she didn't need clothes to make herself feel more confident about herself. Sure in the sequel, she does dress nicer but but she's working at club for the elite and honestly, that's to be expected.
Mrs. Darbus played by Alyson Reed
There really is no way to describe Darbus as she exists in another plane of reality. And I've actually had teachers like that. She's a strange beast that is hard to pin down. Oh and at one point, Darbus was supposed to be in a spinoff show that never came to cease. Part of me thinks that it didn't happen because of Glee but I could be wrong. Which you can read about here.
Coach Jack Bolton played by Bart Johnson
I barely touched this character in my plot recap but he is up there with Sharpay and Taylor in how much I despise him. He has such a one track mind that I'm convinced that he only sees basketballs, when he walks through the school. And like Troy says, his dad's friends always see him as the basketball guy and to Coach Bolton, I think that is all Troy is. He's less than supportive of Troy trying out for the Winter Musical. Why, he's downright against it. Oh, so your son wants to do something other than play basketball for a change.
He wants to do something that you don't think is right. Now, there are a plethora of ways that one could read this but I never once thought that it had anything to with gender stereotypes. If that was implied, I missed it completely.
Music
Start of Something New
And this is where it all began. I still get chills every time I hear this song because it takes me back to the very first time I watched this movie. Now I should make mention that Zac Efron did not carry all the weight for the singing as Drew Seeley's voice was blended with that of Efron's. You can read more about it on the High School Musical Wiki. But I really like this song and yes, part of it is nostalgia but I do think that this song works well as a meet cute between our two leads and it's a sweet little number.
Get'cha Head In The Game
I do not like this number in the slightest. I can't explain it but there has always been something about this song that I never liked. Sure, it gets to what Troy is feeling but I've never cared for the sound of it.
What I've Been Looking For
Yeah, this song is pretty hysterical in how cheesy it is. And again, this goes back to what I said, these two have no sibling chemistry whatsoever. This song really highlights that as these two really seem like they are in love with one another. And knowing that they're siblings makes it kind icky. I know that's juvenile but that is really the case with this song.
What I've Been Looking For (Reprise)
And now, we hear the song as Kelsi originally wrote it and y'know, I like it like this quite a bit. It has a nice simple sound to it that makes for a pleasant listen.
Stick To The Status Quo
Yeah, this song is pretty shallow and this does show that a lot of the East High student body may not be the best of people but I love this song as it's so catchy. And it's a really enjoyable number and I love listening to it every time, I hear it.
When There Was Me and You
I do like this song but I don't like how it comes about because as I said up top, this song comes from a place of misunderstanding. Gabriella's emotions are very real as she does think that Troy doesn't like her but her feeling betrayed comes from a lie that Troy had no part in as her supposed friends tricked into feeling this way. You can see why I don't exactly think Troy and Gabriella have the best of friends in this movie.
Bop To The Top
Once again, we get another hysterically cheesy number from Ryan and Sharpay. And wow, do they lay the cheddar on thick with this number. There is no way that anyone can take this number seriously as it's so corny.
Breaking Free
Okay, maybe I was a bit too hard on Gabriella earlier about people staring at her and oh that kindergarten line is a callback to something that Gabriella said earlier in the film about how singing with Troy felt like when in kindergarten, you'd meet someone and within minutes of playing with them, they were your best friend. It's an odd analogy but it's sweet. And as for this song, I really love it. This is now my favorite song in the first HSM. It's really uplifitng and I always get a sense of empowerment listening to this number.
We're All In This Together
It became a staple of the franchise to end on a big number and that started with We're All In This Together, and if I remember correctly, this was touted as the theme song of High School Musical. And honestly, it's not a bad song and it's message does get to what the heart of High School Musical is. Sure, the execution of the plot is a bit clunky but I won't hold that against this number as it has a strong sense of knowing what it is and this is just that, a big fun rally type number to close out the film.
Villains
Ryan Evans played by Lucas Grabeel
Yeah, there is absolutely next to nothing to Ryan in the first movie. The film has no idea of what to do with him. Do they make him a dumb popular student that follows Sharpay around like a lapdog. Or do they make him an equal in the drama club. The film keeps on going back and forth between what it wants Ryan to be and it is seen in Lucas Grabeel's performance as he seems to be going through a tug of war as to what he is supposed to do.
Sharpay Evans played by Ashley Tisdale
I will freely admit that the biggest reason that I tuned in for this movie was because of Ashley Tisdale. I knew her from The Suite Life of Zack and Cody. And yeah, that show was terrible but I liked Ashley Tisdale and at the time, I had the biggest crush on Miss Tisdale and I thought she was hot. I know shallow, really shallow. It was probably her cover of Kiss The Girl, where my crush developed but man, I was conflicted as I hated Sharpay Evans but I loved Ashley Tisdale. While I still do remember this crush fondly, I can safely say that in the first movie that Sharpay Evans is the most annoying character in this movie. She is one of the most deplorable and shallow characters to come from a Disney Channel film and I don't think Ashley Tisdale actually did enough to make that work in her favor as shallow characters can be enjoyable but that was not the case here. Oh, and I should mention that there was an episode of Zack and Cody, where Tisdale's character, Maddie auditions for the role of Sharpay Evans as the school production is High School Musical but Maddie is turned down from the role for being too nice. Which apparently happened to Ashley Tisdale during her audition for High School Musical.
Mr. Blaine didn't want to pick Maddie because she was too nice. The same thing happened during auditions for the High School Musical film; the director didn't want to pick Ashley Tisdale because of her good image on The Suite Life of Zack & Cody.
That is kinda funny and I can see that with Tisdale but Sharpay is extremely different from her other well-known Disney Channel character. But that does not make Sharpay an enjoyable character in the slightest. I understand that she isn't meant to be likable but again as I said, I don't think that Ashley Tisdale did enough in the first film to truly push Sharpay in the right direction to make her enjoyable. If Ashley Tisdale had pushed her to be more over-the-top, Sharpay would've worked a whole lot more.
My Final Thoughts
This film does have it's share of problems and ten years on, they're more noticeable but as I've made mentioned in this review numerous times, I still enjoy this film and it'll always have a special place in my heart as a piece of my youth. I'm just not as blind to the faults now. It's just one of those things that as an adult that I am now more aware of the problematic aspects of the film as I've pointed out the flaws in the film but I still really like it. Join me next week as we look at the sequel and see if it's just a retread of the original or if the sequel learns what worked in the original and ups it's game. Join me next time as I look at...
High School Musical 2
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