Rating summary

Movie		1.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.0

High School Musical 2 Blu-ray Movie Review

Disney's pre-teen sensation dances its way to Blu-ray.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman December 9, 2007

If along the way you act like someone you’re not, that’s who you become.

I must be further out of the loop than I thought I was. The first time I had ever heard of High School Musical 2 was when the disc appeared on a list of upcoming movies here on Blu-ray.com. Since then I have noticed center isle stands at Wal-Mart with all sorts of related merchandise on them, and apparently my wife’s 11 and 9 year old cousins know a thing or two about this phenomenon as well. Having no children of our own yet, combined with the fact that I really don’t watch regular television except for sports and the news, I can’t say I am surprised by my lack of familiarity with this movie.

Can't we all just get along?

Apparently, in the first High School Musical movie, the plot goes something like this (courtesy IMDB): Troy (Zac Efron, Hairspray) and Gabriella (Vanessa Anne Hudgens, Thunderbirds) meet at a karaoke club and Gabriella eventually transfers to Troy's high school when her mother gets a new job. Troy and Gabriella audition for a part in the school musical and win the part over longtime high school musical stars Sharpay and Ryan Evans (Ashley Tisdale, The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, and Lucas Grabeel, Smallville). I'm assuming much of what happens here happened in that film, namely that there is a lot of conflict between the characters, some life lesson is learned, and they sing happily ever after together at the end.

In High School Musical 2, Troy, Chad (Corbin Bleu, Galaxy Quest), and crew are looking for summer work. Troy is eager to spend the summer with new flame Gabriella, but Sharpay, who also likes Troy, has other plans. Her parents own the prestigious Lava Springs Country Club, and she pulls a few strings to get Troy hired for the summer. Troy, however, pulls a few of his own, convincing Mr. Fulton (Mark Taylor, Boston Legal) to hire on both Gabriella and his crew. The plot is driven by Sharpay's attempts to swoon Troy away from Gabriella. For example, one evening when Troy is running late for a date with Gabriella, Sharpay orders Mr. Fulton to whisk Troy away to witness a bad Hawaiian musical number featuring herself, her brother Ryan, and a supporting crew. This odd number somehow becomes a mixture of Hawaiian, Egyptian, and Rap. Sharpay's ultimate goal is to have Troy sing with her at the club's annual summer talent show. The catch is that low level employees are not allowed to participate, so Sharpay has Troy promoted. He gets new Italian shoes, new suits, and a personal golf cart with his basketball jersey number 14 on it. Speaking of basketball, Sharpay's father is a bigwig at the University of Albuquerque, and she arranges for Troy to meet members of the college's basketball team, including the head coach. He impresses them, and Troy must decide between living his dream with the basketball team and moving Sharpay into a more prominent role in his life all the while abandoning his friends, or putting Gabriella and his lifelong friendships first.

Until a recent Monday Night Football game between the New England Patriots and Baltimore Ravens, High School Musical 2 was the most watched program in the history of cable television with 17.2 million viewers. Huh? This has to be one of the most pretentious and annoying movies I have ever seen. First of all, let's discuss the "message" of the movie. OK, so Disney once again wants us to realize the importance of friendship (much like the message in the vastly superior film Bridge to Terabithia). Friendship is important, but I think a real friend would encourage you to go after your dream when you have the opportunity. Maybe Troy let Sharpay get to his head and didn't balance his life as he should have, but his friends should have recognized the opportunity Troy had and not become upset with him over it. According to a summary on IMDB for the first film, "Chad becomes upset because he is afraid that Troy will become distracted from the basketball championship." Again, I have not seen this film, but if this is true, I have to question what kind of friend Chad is. He's worried that his own team may suffer because Troy may not have his head in the game, but in this movie Chad gets upset when Troy has the opportunity to impress the coach of the University. I guess Chad is in this only for his own glory and doesn't want to see anyone else succeed. In the end, this movie is about life lessons, even if the characters contradict themselves from film to film and overreact, probably out of jealousy, when their friend has the chance to succeed. Supposedly, Troy learns that if you have to lose what is important to you to get ahead, it's not worth it. Gabriella learns that nobody is perfect. Sharpay learns that the world does not revolve around her, Ryan learns that he can succeed at something, and Chad learns to forgive.

No review of High School Musical 2 would be complete without mentioning the music. Suffice it to say that none of it struck this reviewer as even remotely memorable. The baseball number, in particular, was an embarrassment to the sport, its players, and its fans. This film is really a series of music videos with a thin story line accompanied by bad acting thrown in between. Each song is horribly "preformed" by every actor. Lip synching was obviously en vogue here. The songs, each and every one, sound straight out of the recording studio. They are all preadolescent pop tracks, all sounding processed and aided by electronics. Unlike classic musicals such as The Sound of Music and West Side Story where the musical numbers sounded natural and fit in as part of the story, the numbers in this film sounded forced and out of place. The lyrics certainly move the plot along, but I couldn't help but think this movie was made solely for the purpose of being a two hour commercial for the soundtrack.

I'm still not sure what the fascination with the High School Musical series is. I guess the "tweens" love the music and aspire to be like the cookie cutter "pretty people" teenagers that permeate the film. Regardless of the reasons, Disney is rolling in the dough. Merchandising is heavy for this series. Lunchboxes, dolls, soundtracks, and clothing are everywhere and they will all be hot sellers this Christmas. A third film is apparently in the works with the primary cast reprising their roles. The end, unfortunately, is not truly nigh, at least not for this series.

High School Musical 2 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Boasting a 1080p high definition image and framed in its original 1.78:1 aspect ration, High School Musical 2 looks fabulous in Blu. Detail is extremely high throughout. The image is neither soft nor overly sharp. I noticed no instances of edge enhancement. Flesh tones looked accurate for the most part, but I noted a few instances where characters had a slight red tint about them. Oddly enough, there are two nearly consecutive shots in the first act of the film where there appears to be an odd, pinkish tint to the entire frame. It didn't last long and was never an issue again, but it stuck out like a sore thumb. It didn't fit in stylistically at all (despite all the pink in the film), so I would wager that it's some sort of technical glitch that made its way onto the final master. There was a little bit of grain noticeable on a few extremely bright white backgrounds, but it's non-existent otherwise. The first thing that will strike any viewer of High School Musical 2 is the rich, vibrant color palette. The imagery is astounding. Colors jump off the screen, and the bright and varied assortment throughout make for one of the more robust images yet seen in high definition. Color bleeding was never an issue, and black levels appeared spot-on. This is a fantastic transfer overall from Disney.

High School Musical 2 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Disney presents High School Musical 2 with an impressive 6.9 Mbps PCM uncompressed soundtrack that is a feast for the aural senses. It comes as no surprise that a modern Disney musical aimed at the "tweens" of the world would incorporate studio-recorded pop tracks as the primary plot device. It's during these musical sequences that the track really, really shines. While I didn't like the way the music was incorporated into the film, there is no denying that it sounds nothing short of fantastic. When the cast is singing around a golf course or in a kitchen, I felt like I was right there in the recording studio with them. It's crystal clear, distortion free, and the digitally enhanced voices of the performers sound amazing. This is a very immersive track that sucks you into Lava Springs. Sound is constantly emanating from all directions, and it flows naturally form one speaker to the next. Surrounds are boisterous from the first frame to the last. Dialogue sounded natural and clear. If I had a complaint about this track, it would be that everything flattens out when the musical numbers are not playing. It sounds fine, but the bombardment of sound during the musical numbers is so bombastic that it feels like there is a void in the track when they are not on. But since this is a musical and it's all about these pieces, I'm rating the track mostly based on those, and they are wonderful. As far as high-definition soundtracks go, this one is tough to beat.

High School Musical 2 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The supplements appear pretty thin on the surface, but there is actually a lot of stuff to do on this disc should you choose to go through all of it. First off is a series of bloopers (480p, 4:11). Young fans will probably like this if they haven't already seen it. It's probably been shown on Disney Channel or on the Internet before, however. 'Humuhumunukunukuapua'a' Exclusive Scene (1080p, 5.1 PCM, 5:11) features a cut musical piece with Troy, Sharpay, and Ryan that has a Caribbean beat (it's the same beat as used over the main menu). Music Videos features some international videos inspired by High School Musical 2. Videos include You Are the Music In Me (480p, 3:29) from the USA, You Are the Music In Me (480p, 3:40) from Mexico, Gotta Go My Own Way (480p, 3:45) from Canada (French), and Gotta Go My Own Way (480p, 3:45) also from Canada (English).

Sing Along With the Movie is "your chance to sing along with the cast of the movie!" Yay! It gives viewers the opportunity to sing along with a dozen songs from the movie. I, of course, sang all of them until I was good enough to star in the remake of the film. High School Karaoke allows you to "sing the lead vocals to all your favorite songs from High School Musical 2." This feature differs from the previous feature in that the lyrics have been removed from the soundtrack allowing you and only you to sing without having to compete with the cast. It features the same twelve songs.

Backstage Disney allows viewers to watch rehearsals for all the numbers in the movie with Rehearsal Cam (480p, 35:47). Finally, a sneak peak at a new Disney Channel animated series Phineas and Ferb (480p, 2:02) finish off the supplements.

High School Musical 2 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I found High School Musical 2 to be nothing more than a souped up after school special. It offers one-dimensional characters, a wholly predictable story line with a tired message and, for me anyway, a completely unappealing approach to the Musical genre. I knew little about the plot or popularity of this movie and its predecessor coming in, and I still fail to see the attraction. I've seen far better and far worse from both Disney and others. On the whole, this is a decent production but the massive appeal simply escapes me. While doing some Christmas shopping last night, I overheard several people discussing what they were getting their kids for Christmas, and Hannah Montana and High School Musical related merchandise were the predominant responses. I wish I "got it" for the purpose of this review, but I don't. On the plus side, this is a technically superior disc. The image looks great, and the high bit rate PCM track is marvelous. The supplements don't add much of anything that your typical High School Musical fan doesn't already likely know. They can probably already sing all the songs by heart, and this disc will just reinforce their knowledge of the songs. Parents, get ready to open the wallet for this one. Your "tween" is sure to want a copy. Just make sure to buy it on Blu-ray!