Hello & welcome back to A Look at Disney as we continue our look the High School Musical films here with Wildcats Wednesdays. After the runaway success of the first High School Musical, a sequel was inevitable and one year later in August, 2007, High School Musical 2 premiered. And this film garnered some huge numbers on its' premiere night.
The first broadcast of the film on August 17, 2007 broke records, receiving 17.2 million viewers.[4] This number made it, at the time, the most-watched basic-cable telecast in history (the previous record was held by an edition of ESPN's Monday Night Football between the New York Giants and the Dallas Cowboys on October 23, 2006, which attracted 16 million viewers), the most-watched made-for-cable movie ever (the previous record was held by TNT's January 21, 2001 airing of Crossfire Trail, which brought in 12.5 million viewers), and the largest audience of any program on broadcast or cable in the 2007 summer television season, along with Friday nights for the past five years.
So, needless to say that fans tuned in droves to catch this film. Now alas, I missed the first broadcast of the sequel as I was travelling with my family on vacation but my sister recorded it for me on a VHS tape and I watched it, when she came to visit. And at the time, I hated the sequel because it wasn't like the first movie but after re-watching it for this review, I'd like to quote Muppets Most Wanted.
And everybody knows the sequel’s never quite as good
I'm going to say that High School Musical 2 disproves this as I thought this was a really good movie and my enjoyment didn't just come from nostalgia of enjoying it, when I first saw it. I still think that HSM 2 holds up really well. And it actually gives me what I had wanted from the first movie and more. The East High Student Body isn't as shallow, Troy is given an actual conflict and Ashley Tisdale actually pushes the over-the-topness of Sharpay Evans to the point, where this performance is comical and she makes Sharpay work as a comical villain in this movie. Now alas I am reviewing the Extended Edition, which means I'll be looking at the worst song from all 3 films that was touted as a never before seen musical number that was edited back in for the DVD release of the movie. Yeah, it should've remained out of the movie. With that out of the way, let's begin.
Trailer
The trailer shows us that we are in for some summer fun at Lava Springs with the Wildcats.
The Plot
We open at East High as the students countdown to summer vacation and we see that pretty much everything is as it was, when we last saw the East High Wildcats.
We learn that Gabriella typically moves during summer but she is staying in New Mexico as her mom decided to stay put to let her finish out her high school days at East High. We also find out that Gabriella and Taylor are looking for jobs. And we get the first glimpse into what Sharpay's ultimate plan for the sequel is. As she points out to Ryan, she's the most popular girl at East High and Troy is the most popular boy at East High, so her plan is to steal Troy away from Gabriella. Shallow and vapid, sure but to give Ashley Tisdale found the right balance with Sharpay to where we knew that she was playing a vapid and shallow character that didn't have much depth to her but was able to push her over the top throughout this movie to the point that I actually found myself getting genuine laughter out of some of Sharpay's antics. We learn that Ryan and Sharpay plan to spend the summer at their family's country club and we cut back to Troy and the basketball team hanging out at the Bolton household and this is when we get phase one of Sharpay's plan to tear Troy away from Gabriella as Troy gets a call from Lava Springs offering him a summer job and she tells the manager, Mr. Fulton to do whatever it takes to get Troy to work there and this is when we find out that pretty much the entire East High student body and this has Sharpay livid because after she learns that she cannot get them fired and this is when Sharpay orders Fulton to give them tasks that would make them want to quit. Fulton tries to intimidate the group but Troy rebuilds their confidence and this gets them to stick it out.
We also find out that Sharpay knows that Troy is worried about funding for college (even though in the third film, we find out that he's offered multiple scholarships) and is going to use her leverage to have Troy promoted. This is also, when we get to the main setup for the sequel as every year at Lava Springs, there is a talent show and Kelsi has written a number for Troy and Gabriella. And after hearing it, all of the Wildcats agree to be in the talent show.
And I'll admit that this does seem like a bit of a retread of the first film with the talent show being a stand-in for the callbacks but I think it works a bit more as I'll describe the stakes seem a bit bigger in this film as it doesn't just concern Troy and Gabriella but pretty much everyone. Sharpay continues to yearn for Troy's attention such as one night, while trying to have a date with Gabriella, Sharpay pulls him away right before he tries to head out on his date and we get the worst song in all 3 movies.
Now as I mentioned in the introduction, this musical number wasn't in the TV airing and was first seen on the DVD release and it was touted as an all new Never Before Seen Musical Number. Yeah, it should've stayed that way. Troy's look on his face says everything as this number makes you feel trapped as you are just staring at someone make a fool of herself. Which look, I get what they were trying to go for here with this number as they were showing what lengths, Sharpay would go to, to ensure that she wins but it's been forever since I've watched the TV airing as the Extended Edition was the only one that was ever put out on DVD but I feel like the film would've worked better without this scene. I can't recall what I thought 9 years ago about Sharpay going after Troy. Perhaps I thought that there wasn't enough showing that Sharpay wanted Troy but every single time that I've watched it since then, I've hated this scene and always felt that the film would've been better if this had been left as a deleted scene. This is an example of just because you have a scene that you wanted to include in the film, doesn't mean you should. Though the one good thing to come out of this sequence is that Ryan has been pushed to the side through Sharpay's attempts at winning Troy. And I don't mean Troy's affections, just winning Troy. We see through other means, how Sharpay is trying to woo Troy such as getting him that promotion and bringing him basketball team members from a college team that he likes. And inevitably, this does lead to Troy's ego being inflated. So, we have our good guy character from the first movie getting an ego that is too big for his britches and the brother of our villain realizing that he means nothing to her. Alright movie, I'm impressed. Ryan then angrily tells his sister that he isn't going to follow her orders any longer.
The sequel actually gave Ryan something to do instead of not knowing what to do with him. This arises from the fact that Sharpay told Ryan to infiltrate the Wildcats but Ryan ends up befriending them. We later see that Gabriella and Taylor invite Ryan to the staff baseball game to lift his spirits and it's through this, he is able to persuade the Wildcats to stay on with the talent show.
And interestingly, this number is called I Don't Dance and it's a back and forth between Chad and Ryan. With Chad saying that he doesn't dance and interestingly, Corbin Bleu would later compete on Dancing with The Stars.
Though he was not the first HSM cast member to compete on Dancing with The Stars as Monique Coleman also competed in one of earlier seasons. In the next scene, we see that the perfect couple that was Troy and Gabriella is starting to be torn apart as when Troy sees Gabriella hugging Ryan, he is a wee bit jealous. Troy kept a promise to Sharpay to practice with him and at their rehearsal, we see that Sharpay has taken Kelsi's song and demolished it.
In many ways, this is an inverse of What I've Been Looking For in the first film, where we the Ryan and Sharpay version and then hear the reprise, which was how Kelsi wrote it to be sung. And I'll admit that I think that this actually works. Because in this film, we saw how Kelsi wanted the song to sound after Sharpay destroyed it and here, we get to experience the opposite. Flipping the original on it's head is a tricky move sometimes but I do believe that High School Musical 2 is able to pull it off rather successfully. After Sharpay finds out that the Wildcats are performing in the talent show, she has Fulton has ordered to have all junior staff members work on the night of the talent show. The film then shows Gabriella is pissed with this and realizes, what she must do as she goes to confront Sharpay and we get a pretty decent moment between the two.
Gabriella Montez: Sharpay! Forget about the rest of us, how about the fact that your brother has worked extremely hard on this show?
Sharpay Evans: Oh boo-hoo, he'll be in the show, he'll do his celebrity impersonations. Don't lecture me about Ryan, given the way you've been interfering with Troy's future.
Gabriella Montez: What?
Sharpay Evans: You've gotten him written up by Fulton for sneaking on the golf course and swimming after hours. I had to step in just to save Troy's job.
Gabriella Montez: I'm not interested in what you think you're doing for Troy, that's between you and him. But you're messing with my friends and my summer and that's not okay with me.
Sharpay Evans: You don't like the fact that I won.
Gabriella Montez: What's the prize? Troy?
[Troy walks up behind Gabriella and hears the rest]
Gabriella Montez: The Star Dazzle award? You have to go through all this just to get either one? No thanks, Sharpay. You're very good at a game that I don't want to play. So, I'm done here. But you better step away from the mirror long enough to check the damage that will always be right behind you.
Sharpay Evans: [upset and mad] *Girls*!
This is a pretty strong moment as it shows how far Gabriella has come since the first film and that she holds herself to a higher standard than Sharpay. And that's a good thing here, considering, who we are talking about. It shows how Gabriella has grown a backbone and isn't the meek & timid girl that transferred to East High. She has become a stronger person since the first movie and I feel that this exchange really shows that. In the next scene, we see that Gabriella has lost her trust of Troy and get another good exchange of dialogue.
Troy Bolton: Hey! What do you mean you're done here? I mean, you can't quit.
Gabriella Montez: Us working together sounded good, but plans change and people change. The club talent show was a big deal for Sharpay and evidently for your future, so it's cool, just make it happen, wear your new Italian shoes.
Troy Bolton: Hey, I'm still me.
Gabriella Montez: Blowing off your friends, missing dates, if that's you, then it's good to know.
Troy Bolton: No, no, no. I was only doing that because I'm working on the scholarship thing and you know that.
Gabriella Montez: But if along the way you act like someone you're not, pretty soon that's who you become.
Troy Bolton: I meant what I said about movies, and summer, and just being together.
Gabriella Montez: I'm sure you did, at the time. But I also meant what I said: that I want to remember this summer, but not like this, Troy.
This shows how Troy and Gabriella's relationship has been put at risk because of the person that Troy has become since they started working at Lava Springs and I think it's most evident with this line here...
But if along the way you act like someone you're not, pretty soon that's who you become.
With this line, it feels as though, Gabriella is trying to reach into the old Troy but he's been buried down way to deep for her to find. And this leads to a song number that indicates that Gabriella doesn't want to be with Troy or around him any longer as the film goes into the song, Gotta Go My Own Way.
I really liked this number as this is a genuine look at how Gabriella feels that Troy has hurt her. In essence, this takes When There Was Me and You and actually makes it work. I made mention in the last review that while I did like that song, it didn't like how it came about because of a misunderstanding on Gabriella's part of what Troy was saying, this song takes what worked about that song, mainly the hurt and betrayal and this time grounds it in a real place, where you can actually understand Gabriella's emotions, this time and you aren't angry that she was duped. Instead, you are able to relate to her very real hurt emotions and feel sympathetic for her. So yeah, I do think that this film takes something I liked but didn't care for the execution of in the first movie and improves upon it in any every way. The next day, Troy returns to work and none of his friends will talk to him and Kelsi silently shows Troy, the notice about the staff about not being allowed to perform and this causes them to question his own motives in what is probably my favorite song of all 3 films.
Yes, this gif does make Zac Efron look a bit silly without the music but this was a very animated number as he was getting his stress from the situation off of his chest and some people (such as myself) do tend to get animated, when angry or frustrated. So yeah, I really do like this number and I actually used it in an English Project, where we had to make a soundtrack for a book we were reading and find a song that matched certain parts of the book and hey, this song got me, an A. After this, Troy confronts Sharpay and tells her, that he will not sing with her in the talent show. Thus, him giving up every thing that the Evans had given him as he takes his old job back and the Wildcats convince Troy to sing in the talent show but he'll only do it if all of the Wildcats get to sing with him. We then see at Ryan switched the songs at Sharapy's supposed discretion but she knew nothing about this as she's left clueless and we then see Gabriella join Troy onstage as they sing the song that Ryan switched to and then the film ends with a pool party, and oh, there's a cameo from Miley Cyrus.
This was around the time of the Hannah Montana fad and well, it makes sense that Disney Channel would want the star of their most popular show to have a cameo in the sequel to their most popular original movie. And honestly, Miley was more tolerable in her younger years but now, she's gone off her rocker. So, it's nice to see something from she wasn't so nuts. But that's all I'll say on that. In the tease for this review, I posed that I wanted to see if High School Musical 2 was a retread of the first film or if it ups it's game. And what are my overall thoughts on this? Well, there elements that do seem to retread the first movie but at the same time, I think that the sequel does expand upon what worked in the first film and it actually took the characters from the first movie and fleshed them out to be more than just caricatures. As I said up top, I really like this film and I think that it is a huge improvement over the first film. I truly think that High School Musical 2 has less problematic aspects than the first film and out of all 3 movies, it's probably my favorite. Now, let's move onto characters.
Characters
Main Characters
Troy played by Zac Efron
For all intents and purposes, High School Musical 2 is Troy's story and I'm more than okay with that as Troy was my favorite character in the first movie. Now as I did mention, this film does take everything away from him that he got in the first movie and he has to work to get it back. It's through the faults of his own and having all these luxuries put in his lap that cause him to become a different person and he has to work hard to get it all back. It's not easy for him as we see him placed in a rough state, especially after he loses Gabriella.
Gabriella played by Vanessa Hudgens
Gabriella was also a big improvement in my opinion, she was great in the first film but here I feel like Vanessa Hudgens brought more life to Gabriella, then what we saw in the first movie. All around, she felt like a stronger character.
Supporting Characters
Now while I will stand by my claim that the Wildcats weren't as shallow in this film, some of the supporting characters such as Chad, Taylor, and Kelsi sadly weren't given much to do in the sequel with this being such a Troy-focused story.
Ryan played by Lucas Grabeel
Most definitely, the hugest improvement comes in the form of Ryan. They actually found something for him to do and made him his own character instead of just being someone that followed Sharpay around. By going against his sister and standing up for himself, he was able to develop into becoming his own character.
Chad played by Corbin Bleu
While some of the returning supporting characters didn't have much to do, Chad was so much better and as he mentions to Troy, they're brothers and just as Troy's relationship is strained, so is Troy's relationship with Chad. But we also get to more of Chad, namely during the "I Don't Dance" sequence and there is more to him here than just basketball.
Taylor played by Monique Coleman
This film had less Taylor and I'm okay with that. Less Taylor, the better. She was one of my least of the supporting characters from the original. And really here, there wasn't much need for her character in this story. Sure, she was brought back as everyone in the first film was popular.
Kelsi played by Olesya Rulin
Easily, my biggest disappointment in the sequel is the lack of Kelsi. She's still in the movie but not as much as I would have liked.Though, the one touch that I do like is that she is more confident in herself than she was in the first movie. Her moment from the first film, where she stood up to Sharpay seemed to have stuck with her as while her moments are brief, she is much more confident in herself and it shows in how she carries herself.
Music
What Time Is It
This is a fun number to start off the film as we hear the Wildcats sing about of their summer plans. It's really catchy and I love this number as it just gets you going and puts you in feel good mood.
Fabulous
As far as Sharpay songs go, this isn't that bad. It really taps into who her character is as she wants it all and more. She aims for the stars and they better be expensive as she has the expensive taste. It's a fun number that does a good job of tapping into who Sharpay is. Oh, and in the third film, this song would get an instrumental reprise as Sharpay's introduction.
Work This Out
Yeah, I'll be using the word fun a lot of that describes a lot of the music in High School Musical 2. And Work Th Out is no exception as you see the Wildcats coming together as a team to show that they'll band together to get through the summer.
You Are The Music In Me
This is a sweet little number that starts out as a cute little duet between Troy and Gabriella. And they sound great singing it together. They are great duet partners and hearing the two of them sing together is always a pleasant listen. But as the song goes on, you get the rest of the Wildcats joining in as a backup and it makes the song sound even better to me.
Humuhumunukunukuapua'a
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.... Just no. Seriously, what was the point of this song? It is so bad and the rapping in the middle is tortuous. The best that I could figure is that they were going for something like Annette Funicello's Pineapple Princess but that at least had some charm to it. And Troy's reaction is pretty much mine to this song. There was no need to insert this song back into the movie. It wasn't in the TV airing and it was mostly like better off that way. This song is just so BAD!!! I despise this song for how stupid it is and I get what Sharpay is trying to do her as she's trying to get Troy to sing with her but not only is this song, utter nonsense, it's also padding. That isn't needed. Look as much as I like this movie, I can admit that this song does not need to be in it. This number is a pain to sit through.
I Don't Dance
I can wash the taste of that thing outta my mouth with a song that I actually like. I really like how they do this back & forth between Chad and Ryan as Ryan goads Chad into doing the talent show and showing that he can dance. There is just something really catchy about this number and I think it's the best use of both of these characters in this movie as it gives them tine to shine and it's not a pairing that I would've thought of but it really works.
You Are The Music In Me (Sharpay Version)
Sharpay took Kelsi's song that was rather simple and sweet and reworked it to be all about her and fit her style. Like I said in the plot portion, this is kinda like what happened in the first film with "What I've Been Looking For" but here, we know that Sharpay had been planning this for a while and you can hear how hollow and fake this song is but that's kinda of the point as this isn't a song that was meant for Sharpay.
Gotta Go My Own Way
As I mentioned in the plot, this takes what I didn't like about "When There Was Me and You" and throws it out the window. Instead of coming from a place of misunderstanding, this song stems from a place of genuine mistrust on Gabriella's part as you hear the hurt that she has been put through with how Troy has changed and not for the better. And I feel by getting rid of the misunderstanding, this makes the song that much stronger and more relatable on the part of Gabriella. I really like this song as it does a great job of capturing the pain that Gabriella is going through at the moment.
Bet On It
Yeah, I really like this song. It's probably my favorite song from all 3 movies. I didn't mention this up top but starting with this film, Efron did all of his own singing and it's put on great display here. Okay, I'll admit some of the choreography is a bit cheesy but I like how this song gets into Troy's head and lets the audience in on how he feels torn. Something that would be done in similar fashion but for different reasons in High School Musical 3. This song here is where Troy realizes that he done messed up and he's gotta fix it.
Everyday
This isn't a bad song but I feel like it's trying too hard to be the next Breaking Free. It feels a little too similar to that song. It's different enough yes but I don't feel that it has enough other than the other Wildcats joining in to make this song stand out on it's own.
All For One
As I made mention in the last review, it became tradition for the movies to end with a big number to send off and here, we have All For One and instead of a Pep Rally, it's a pool party. And well, I like this song. Sure, it's fluff but it's fluff, that's fun. It's a great bookend to What Time Is It as we get to hear the Wildcats celebrating the summer that they wanted. Sure, there were some bumps along the way but hey, that's to be expected.
Villains
Mr. Fulton played by Mark L. Taylor
Fulton is easily the best adult character in all of the 3 films as you really feel for the guy and the stress that he is put under by Sharpay, he's trying to do his job but Sharpay is putting all of these crazy demands on his shoulders and it's impossible for him to keep up.
Sharpay played by Ashley Tisdale
I can't explain it but Ashley Tisdale made Sharpay work in this film. She was funny and a lot of her scenes made me laugh. One in particular that stands out is during a golf lesson with Troy, she acts like she doesn't know a thing about golf but after he leaves, we see that she is really good at golf and this scene is a representation of how manipulative, she is. Whereas I was annoyed with her in the first movie, I found her actually pretty funny and there were a lot of great moments with her.
My Final Thoughts
I love this movie, I think it's probably the best out of the three. It's my favorite and I think it's the strongest. I always look forward to watching this one more than 1 or 3. Everything about it just works for me. Join me next time as we close out this event as we look at the last film in the trilogy as we see what happens, when the Wildcats jump from Disney Channel to the big screen as I look at...
High School Musical 3: Senior Year
But that will be delayed a week as next week is my birthday and every year, I like to a theme week for my birthday and well, I won't say what it is but I've been looking forward to this event for a while now. Peace!
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