Zac Efron (Hairspray) plays Troy Bolton, a star player on East High School's basketball team who gets recruited to star in a musical, the theme of which is Senior Year. Troy's college plans are secure thanks to a basketball scholarship at a local university, but his girlfriend Gabriella (Vanessa Hudgens) is headed for Stanford, leaving their relationship in limbo. In the meantime, Sharpay Evans (Ashley Tisdale) conspires to take over Gabriella's role in the production so she can win a scholarship to Julliard, and enlists her twin brother Ryan (Lucas Grabeel) to court writer-composer Kelsi (Oleysa Rulin) and win her support. As his friends weigh in with their opinions and his parents conspire to help him make a decision, Troy must ultimately decide what is most important to him – his basketball career, his burgeoning passion for musical theater, or his love for his girlfriend Gabriella – as Senior Year, and his senior year, comes to a triumphant close.
One of my colleagues recently defended the overly critical or even dismissive point of view that many reviewers will take with pre-fab entertainment like High School Musical 3, saying there's no reason that any movie can't be good no matter how low the bar is set for it to be considered a success. He's right – any generic or clichéd story can still be well done – but there is also an argument that can be mounted, especially for films like this one, that traditional (i.e. adult) critics are not its designated audience. As such, the same standards that would be applied to, say, There Will Be Blood, cannot be applied to it. Additionally, a movie like this isn't meant to be good for the reasons that we would usually consider when watching other films. So when it does execute moments poorly, it's tough to be quite as critical – unless, of course, one was expecting to dislike it in the first place. (In which case, why see the film at all?)
For example, there are a lot of about-face dramatic turns in the story which, to be fair, may or may not have to do with previous installments in the series. But regardless, they are not handled well. Troy's struggle to decide what to do with his future is a relevant challenge for a college-bound character, but the film only creates a conflict insofar as his ability to discuss the matter is constantly interrupted by other people or events, including (of course) musical numbers. Screenwriter Peter Barsocchini, who shepherded the characters through both previous films, handles most of his dramatic conflicts by creating dizzyingly nonsensical exchanges that not only aren't clear but by design go unresolved until he needs for there to be an emotional payoff. For example, while Troy's dad has pressured him over the course of all three films to pursue sports and only sports, in this installment the only reason he doesn't seem to support his son's interest in the arts is because Troy runs away before he's able to do so.
That said, the musical numbers are the point of High School Musical, not the soul-searching character development that happens in between them, and for the most part they're handled extremely well. While I didn't consistently enjoy all of the songs, in particular the ones that sounded most like Justin Timberlake/ Michael Jackson knockoffs, there are a number of really pretty terrific tracks, even if it's highly unlikely that I would ever listen to them outside the context of HSM. The prom-themed "A Night to Remember" boasts some of the film's most memorable choreography, evoking the color and energy of "You're The One That I Want" from Grease, but "Can I Have This Dance," a duet between Efron and Hudgens, manages to be a genuinely sweet and romantic centerpiece for their relationship.
Ultimately, I'm not sure how successful these young adults will be outside of High School Musical – as talented a singer and dancer as Zac Efron is, for example, there doesn't seem to be a lot of life behind those line readings – but director Kenny Ortega (Newsies) keeps the action moving at a brisk pace, and fills literally every frame with something adorable, whether it's Sharpay's well-groomed pup, a cartoonish teapot just left of frame or center-stagers Efron and Hudgens themselves. In fact, so cheerful is the entire production that it's hard to imagine anyone truly disliking the film, even if your standard is the collected works of Paul Thomas Anderson, and you can't help but notice that the characters' conflicts are so conventional they became boilerplate before a single member of the cast was born.
Regardless, the people who want to see this film will disregard reviews and run to theaters on opening day, and those disinclined will stay away in droves. But at least it isn't dark, unredeeming or demoralizing, which is why I suspect that even if you don't have to watch a movie like that beforehand, High School Musical 3: Senior Year will prove to be at least a little bit entertaining.
2.5 out of 5 Stars, 5/10 Score