High School Musical 2
Starring: Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Tisdale, Lucas Grabeel, Corbin Bleu, Monique Coleman
Director: Kenny Ortega
Genre: Comedy / Family / Musical
Rated: Unrated
Plot: The High School Musical gang has reunited to spend their summer vacation together working at a resort and preparing for the end of summer talent show.

My Review: High School Musical 2 made its network television debut Friday August 17th. If you have children who watch the Disney Channel I’m sure this was the highlight of the summer for your kids! If you are not a parent or have children over the age of 14 you probably have no idea what I’m talking about. Last year High School Musical was one of the most popular movies among pre-teens.

My kids were counting down the days. This was the Superbowl for young kids. There were parties and sleepovers everywhere as kids banded together to watch the debut. Friday night, the Disney Channel received 17.4 million viewers, more than the four major networks (CBS, NBS, ABC, and FOX) combined and more than any other basic cable network has received ever.

Since the Friday night, it has been High School Musical non-stop. We went for pizza today for lunch. Mostly because I didn’t want to watch HSM2 on Tivo for the tenth time since it debuted Friday night. We listened to the sound track the whole way over to the pizza place. Then while we were sitting there waiting for our pizza there were three 9 year old girls in the next booth singing a song from the movie.

It turns out that the original movie took place during the characters junior year of high school while this one takes place during the summer between their junior and senior years. This means we could be in store for at least two more before they graduate, followed by College Musical and then High School Musical the Next Generation. Disney can milk this franchise for years to come.

While pre-teens, especially pre-teen girls will love this movie, it is not a movie that adults will get a lot out of. The second installment of High School Musical was not really as good as the first one. While the plot was not very good or very original, at least they didn’t recycle the same plot from the first movie. The acting also left alot to be desired but, the main fans of this movie probably didn’t notice either of these flaws. The choreography was again innovative and fun to watch. The music while not quite as good as the original was excellent. Although it gets a little rough after listening to it for the 20th time on Radio Disney. Kids though can’t seem to get enough.

My rating: Over the age of 14: 2/5 stars; Under the age of 14: 4/5 stars
High point: Choreography and Music
Low point: Acting and the Plot

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