Borrowing here and there from Footloose, Chicago, and All About Eve, choreographer and director Kenny Ortega’s third movie in a series that started as a breakout hit for cable television, High School Musical 3: Senior Year (premiering on DVD today) is more of the same innocuous fun.
Of course, the picture is as generic as the title and these kids seem to put on shows that cost more than the Oscar campaign for Slumdog Millionaire, but, as a Disney version of Grease, the mini-tales of an Albuquerque, New Mexico, high school stay true to the series’ theme that the individual should rise above peer groups. Songs are decent, dancing is terrific, and the plot, centered on East High’s Gabriella, weighing a scholarship to Stanford, and Troy, deciding between sports and drama, is fine. Some kids age better than others—Luke Grabeel as Ryan is still the most talented—and everything’s exaggerated.
The two-disc DVD (one’s a digital copy so the movie can be watched on one’s iPhone, Mac or PC) contains no printed program, just the movie—an extended version, and I couldn’t tell where it’s been expanded—and extras listed on the back of the box which, as usual, are more hype than reality. Deleted scenes, bloopers, features, sing-alongs, and cast farewells—few last longer than a minute or two and cast member participation is uneven. Fans of male lead Zac Efron will be disappointed, though the actress who plays Taylor, Monique Coleman, seems to appear in every spot.
