Troy’s jock pal Chad (Corbin Bleu) and Gabriella’s smart pal Taylor (Monique Coleman) offer eternal wisdom and support. Drama Queen Nemesis Sharpay (Ashley Tisdale) and her wants-to-be-more-independent twin brother Ryan (Lucas Grabeel) are still scheming to control the spotlight and all the attention it brings with the school’s spring musical show.
Threatening all this carefully balanced senior year anxiety are the prom, college choices and graduation that are coming at them way too fast. Troy is still torn between the auditorium and the gymnasium, and wants to make his own decision about the future while trying not to disappoint his dad (Bart Johnson). Gabriella’s acceptance into an early college program only further complicates matters when it separates her from Troy just before all the big events hit simultaneously.
Punctuating all the angst are several bright and bubbly musical numbers that carry the plot along, plus a few melodramatic ballads to introduce the light and temporary friction. Many songs here mirror counterparts in the previous versions but are infused with enough buoyancy to make them stand on their own. Troy and Chad’s “The Boys are Back” in the scrap yard shows some energetic singing and dancing, as does the finale title song.
In the sanitized world of Albuquerque’s East High, even the biggest infractions can be overlooked. Troy and Gabriella’s clandestine meetings in her bedroom are perfectly innocent, Troy’s roaming the halls one night at school (we won’t ask how he got in) singing his “Scream” solo is accepted, and various sequences that traverse the line between reality and fantasy are unquestioned.
And why doesn’t it matter? Because we entered willingly and knowingly into this agreement when we stepped into their world. The formula works and the filmmakers are not about to mess with it. Nothing is broken so nothing needs to be fixed. They even introduce a few new characters to tease us with the possibility that the fun might continue into another sequel, which means continued megabucks for the Disney corporation and more innocent fun for the rest of us.
PHILLIP HAIN is a Glendale resident who enjoys movies and many years ago was a minor performer in his own high school musical.
