High School Musical 2 – Extended Edition

I’m sure you all know the story by now so I’ll keep it short – this movie ROCKS!!!

If you liked HSM you’ll LOVE this – it’s so lovely and summery and happy, and just makes you wanna get up and dance and sing! The soundtrack is really good – full of bright happy tunes, and the dancing and script are really fun to watch too. Plus Zac Efron is HOTT!! haha

So if you like a good, happy, cheesy musical to cheer you up every once in a while (…or everyday in my case!!) then buy this DVD!!!!

Enjoy xxx
Rating: 5 / 5

Its summer vacation and the Wildcats (otherwise known as East High students) are counting down the seconds until they are free. Of course, most of them are hoping to find summer jobs and so far having no luck.

All that changes when Troy Bolton (Zac Efron) gets offered a job at Lava Springs, the local country club. He quickly gets jobs for all his friends, including his girlfriend Gabriella Montez (Vanessa Anne Hudgens).

There’s one thing they hadn’t counted on, however. Lava Springs is owned by the parents of Sharpay (Ashley Tisdale) and Ryan (Lucas Grabeel). Sharpay had arranged for Troy to get a job so she could steel him away from Gabriella. So, naturally, she is furious to see the whole gang show up.

Even more important to her is the talent show. After losing out in the winter musical at school, she wants to retain her crown in the talent show. And the presence of her rivals just might upset that.

So Sharpay sets out to destroy her classmates by separating Troy from everyone else. And as more great things happen to him, he begins to grow distant. Will he remember what is truly important? Who will win the talent show? And will Troy ever kiss Gabriella?

I’ll admit, as much as I loved the first, I didn’t like this one right away. But I watched it a second time and enjoyed it more.

This movie falls into the same trap many sequels do, the retread. Many of the plot points feel like they were lifted from the first movie. Now I know that movie wasn’t original, but I would have preferred to see the characters make different mistakes this go around. Additionally, the climax felt rushed, like something was cut to make everything make sense. I liked it, but it just wasn’t logical enough for me.

I loved so many of the background characters. While they are all back, they get pushed even more into the background. Frankly, I would have liked to see more of them.

The soundtrack this time gets a heavy pop push, with most of the songs sounding like polished pop tracks. That makes it even more obvious that the actors are lip synching by the time they filmed the musical numbers. In fact, some of the songs come across more as music videos then songs in a musical. I’m sure the tween intended audience won’t mind, but it did bug me.

Okay, if the movie has all these flaws, why am I giving it 4 stars? Because, once again, the movie is fun.

While the songs are overproduced for a musical, they are still good songs. They’re fun to sing along with, and the dance numbers are great. I especially enjoyed “I Don’t Dance.”

Set during the summer before the character’s senior year, some of the characters are struggling with their future. In fact, it’s this struggle that almost separates Troy from his friends. I felt this was a believable issue for the students to be facing, and it helped ground the story.

This movies doesn’t capture the fun of the original, but it comes very close. Watch it expecting a sequel, and you’ll enjoy it just fine.
Rating: 4 / 5

This is one of the worst DVDs i have ever had the misfortune to watch. It is a musical, but there should be more acting than singing and dancing. The acting is dire and over-done, the storyline is poor, the singers/songs are absolute rubbish and the dances are exaggerated . It should also be mentioned that Zac Efron’s singing voice was mixed with a professional singers voice to make him sound like a good singer. How this franchise has become a global success I will never know.
Rating: 1 / 5