Random Snowflakes: High School Musical 3: Senior Year

I tried not to expect anything, because the last time I expected something GREAT from High School Musical, I was a tad bit disappointed. And the last time I expected something so-so, I was impressed and enjoyed myself. So I went to watch High School Musical 3: Senior Year not expecting anything, except that it was going to be a big screen movie. From the trailers, it looked like the quality of the music and dances was going to be hiked up a notch.

And you know what? It was.

Right from the beginning, where we see halogens unstoppably breaking light into the screen and we hear a thundering heartbeat, there was no denying that it was going to be a big screen movie by all counts. And, I gotta say: the opening scene wowed me. Immediately I was sucked into the movie, in the middle of the game between East High and... er... the blue team from some other school. Was it West High? I dunno, and frankly, I don't really care because the WILDCATS RULE!!!

...See? Told you I was sucked into it.

The movie was off to a good start, I think, and after the awesome "Now or Never" for the game, we get song after song of catchy tunes or good lyrics, or both. There were some points where I thought the border between dialogue and song was too obvious, but I decided to let it slide. Of course, since this is a movie for them young'uns, there's bound to be a scene with the main character and his girl to make the teenage girls giddy. Typically those scenes make me cringe (if they're cheesy enough) but, again, I let it slide. Because, hey, it's not called HIGH SCHOOL Musical for nothing.

Then, slowly, the conflicts of the plot conflicts take form: of course there's going to be a musical, there's prom, there's college... and there are other characters lurking around that you're sure will make things more complicated for the gang.

And here's where I start ranting.

I think that they chose very good conflicts because, really, that's what all high school seniors have to face, but, somehow, the way they approached it seemed... strange. It wasn't obvious in the beginning, but as the story progressed, I felt like they were trying to cram so many things in such little time. And, as if we didn't have enough characters, some of the new supporting characters were given too much screen time, and in those minutes, it's as if their characters weren't being built at all. I'd have preferred if the old supporting characters were built, instead. It's just sad that some of the characters that have been around since the first feature had very, very, VERY little appearance. Like, miniscule.

The movie continues. And, as if to console me, I get to see awesome dances, one or two not -so-awesome-dances-but-you-can-excuse-it-because-the-song-is-good, and more awesome dances that spelled "big screen movie" in big, bold letters. But plot-wise? I hate to say it, but by this part, this part when the story is SUPPOSED to be climaxing, I find myself getting more and more unimpressed. The story moves, yes, but the film almost completely lost its grip on me. It wasn't really hideous, as Simon would say, but considering that the movie had a fantastic start, I think it's just too bad that it seemed to go downhill.

The musical itself (yes, we get to see the musical, this time) felt weird to me, really. I know it's supposed to feel like a celebration, but it just felt weird. (But there was one short part in there that made me LOVE Sharpay even more.) To be completely honest, I felt worse and worse in the last three numbers. Some of the dialogues in between even made me raise an eyebrow and go, "Ugh, don't say that."

*sigh* I have mixed, and battling feelings about this movie. It's just that there were scenes that I SO loved, there were scenes that were okay, and then there were scenes that made me cringe and seemed so out of place. To be completely honest, after the credits rolled, I thought, for one full second, that this movie sucked, and undeserving of its prequels. But only for a second, because I looked back and remembered the first scenes, and then I felt better again, and my money didn't really go to waste.

Listening to the soundtrack, I loved the songs even more... most of them, anyway. I think I need a bit more time to warm up to the last few tracks. But I'm enjoying the soundtrack, as I remember the movie while I listen to it :)

My favorite track so far is "The Boys Are Back", which is a duet for Troy (Zac Efron) and Chad (Corbin Bleu). A long overdue duet, if you ask me. It's also my favorite number in the whole movie. For music, lyrics, choreography, and how it was executed in the movie, this song wins my vote hands down. The execution in "Scream" was AWESOME, too. I loved the direction in that.

"I Want It All" by Sharpay (Ashley Tisdale) and Ryan (Lucas Gabreel) was so fun. I really love anything those twins do. Haha! And I was SO thankful that Kelsi (Oleysa Rulin) was given more singing parts. She doesn't have the most polished voice in the world, but I love her.

As a whole, though, I think it's a good end to the trilogy. And it truly was a good idea for them to continue until the senior year. As Kelsi put it, "high school wasn't meant to last forever".

And so, I'm giving it 3 stars out of 5. But hey, I initially rated both the prequels 3/5, only to change it later to 4/5. We'll see if the same thing happens for the third installment.

Labels: high school musical, movies, music, reviews