DOS: Is "High School Musical Three" Worthy Of The Big Screen?

Never once while I was watching this movie did I feel like it was anything but a feature film. As an adult, I will admit that at times there were hokey moments that had me rolling my eyes - like the first time Zac bursts out in song on the basketball court. It's a little bit goofy but that's what a musical like this is. You can't take it too seriously.

The musical numbers are definitely bigger and better (as the cast has been saying for months) with homage's to Bob Fosse and Broadway and even to Michael Jackson. The only problem is that there are so many songs in the film that many of them get lost in the shuffle. Of course, since many of the songs have been leaked on the Internet already - by the time the theater doors open on the first screening October 24, most kids will already know the words by heart. The soundtrack coming out three days before the film opens will help with this too.

Of all the songs and numbers a few stuck out in my head. First, the opening sequence on the basketball court of "Now or Never" which is the song that can be heard in the trailer and TV spots. Sharpay and Ryan's over-the-top number, "I Want It All" makes "Bop to the Top" look like well, a Disneyland stage production. Everything is just big, big, big with sets that actually move like you are watching it on Broadway.

I've been to the school where they filmed this and I'm amazed what they can do with the space. Bravo to Kenny Ortega and the choreographers. The prom sequence for the song "A Night To Remember" is just as dazzling and the kids get to do some fun partner dancing with a little cha cha thrown in.

I have to admit Zac and Corbin's junkyard dance to "The Boys Are Back" had most people in the theater chuckling at the sheer cheesy nature of the song and dance, but it was quite a spectacle and offers one of the film's can't miss moments with a flashback to a young Zac and Corbin. Zac takes a stab at another "Footloose" style musical number (that even Kevin Bacon would be proud of) when Zac roams the school halls singing "Scream." This should bode well for the planned re-make of "Footloose" that Kenny and Zac are working on! 

While the kids will be talking about all those songs I think the parents will remember a simpler moment, a waltz that Zac and Vanessa perform together on the rooftop garden to the song, "Can I Have This Dance?" Though Zac told me up on the set that learning the waltz was one of the hardest things he has done and he stepped on Vanessa's toes many times, the finished product is quite beautiful.

Walking out of the theater completely satisfied with this final chapter, I heard several of those naysayer's changing their tune! So, grab the kids, the popcorn and settle in for a lovely, sweet and engaging Disney film.