Image courtesy of Walt Disney Pictures

High School

Musical

Why in the world am I wasting my time writing a full length review on a straight-to-DVD Disney movie? Good question. According to MSNBC, the night High School Musical originally aired on the Disney Channel (January 20, 2006), “it drew nearly eight million viewers, making it the top-rated basic-cable TV show that week” (Associated Press, April, 2006).[1] it re-aired the next night, “it drew more than six million viewers, according to the Nielsen Media Research group, making it the No. 2-rated cable show of the week” (AP).[2] And, that’s just the beginning…

Disney now has a “karaoke” version of HSM; and, in March, “three videos from the movie were among the 12 most-popular downloads at the Apple iTunes Music Store” (AP).[3]Yet, the most indicative factor of HSM’s sudden popularity is the success of the soundtrack which “reached No. 10 on the Billboard pop-music charts two weeks after its release, hit No. 1 four weeks later and, after sliding down to No. 3, returned to the top spot again. At one point there were nine singles from the soundtrack on the chart in the same week” (AP).[4]

Just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse, I found out that “plans for the sequel are in the works…cell phone ring tones from the movie are going on sale,” High School Musical – The Novel is on the way, and “a stage show and touring concert are also a possibility” (AP).[5]

Please Lord, just kill me now and get it over with….

Here’s the Reader’s Digest “Condensed Version” for those of you fortunate enough to have not seen HSM: Highschoolers Troy (Zac Efron) and Gabriella (Vanessa Anne Hudgens) meet on vacation at a New Year’s Eve party when they are forced to sing a karaoke duet together.

Image courtesy of Walt Disney Pictures

Somehow, in spite of Troy’s limited shower singing and Gabriella’s choir girl vocal stylings, the duo manage to sound professionally harmonized and miraculously don’t need to read the lyrics of a song neither of them have ever sung before. Once the golden couple finishes their singing debut, they exchange phone numbers and promptly lose touch.

Now, as fate would have it, Gabriella’s family is transferred to Albuquerque right after the holidays where she winds up attending East High School. Golly gee! What a co-in-ki-dink! East High just so happens to be the same school where dreamboat Troy is the captain of the basketball team. You almost want to puke when our hero and his love interest are reunited in the homeroom class they share under the militant eye of Ms. Darbus (Alyson Reed) the deranged drama teacher.

Yet, before you can say “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious,” Gabriella and Troy’s secret audition for the spring musicale, “Twinkle Towne,” nets them a call back, and throws the evil drama queen Sharpay (Ashley Tisdale) and her twin brother Ryan (Lucas Grabeel) into an all-out tizzy. But, the fur really starts flying when their friends find out; especially Troy’s basketball buddy, Chad (Corbin Bleu), and Gabrielle’s fellow brainiac, Taylor (Monique McKessie), who plot to get the dynamic duo back onto their respective social cliques.

Image courtesy of Walt Disney Pictures

Unfortunately, because High School Musical is Disney through and through, you can count on oodles of bad lip synching and corny dancing to accentuate the major plot points. It even adds to the hokeyness of HSM’s predictable, sappy, “everybody wins” kind of ending that drowns in a sea of “shama-lama-ding-dong” choreography.

But, why is High School Musical such a phenomenal hit? Simple. Disney targeted the untapped niche audience of 8-14 year olds know as “tweens.” Stop and think about it for a minute. The “under 8” crowd has more than its share of advertisers bombarding them with propaganda junk, and the teenagers are easy targets with their disposable income; but, the “tweens” are left out of the mix because they are too old to pester their parents for toys and not old enough to go out and buy their own junk.

Disney is one of the few media empires even attempting to cater to the “tween” market with such television programs as “That’s So Raven,” The Suite Life of Zach and Cody,” and “Hannah Montana.” I hate to admit this; but, in spite of HSM’s overly ridiculous musical numbers, campy dialogue, and unrealistic utopian “reality,” I can see its appeal to the younger masses. The songs are catchy, the choreography incorporates hip hop and basketball, and its ideological message encourages kids to do their own thing instead of just fitting in.

Damn! I knew I should have made that left turn at Albuquerque….

[1] Associated Press. “’High School Musical’ is a phenomenon.” http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12374722/. April, 26, 2006.

2 Ibid.

3 Ibid.

4 Ibid.

5 Ibid.