High School Musical 3

Review by Anthony Morris
Watch Trailer : High School Musical 3 - Senior Year

We have seen plenty of failed movie series spring back to life after doing well on DVD, the Austin Powers series being the biggest example.

Dozens of television show have led to movie spin-offs too.

But High School Musical 3 is pretty much the first case of a series of telemovies ramping up their appeal enough to make the leap onto the big screen. 

While you can argue about the quality of said series, it's not all that hard to see the appeal for the target audience.

There is singing, there is a bit of dancing and, most importantly, there are plenty of nice-looking but un-threatening teens having fun.

Western culture is clearly at the stage where all the kids want is loads of nice, safe, bland entertainment - so start investing heavily in punk, because this is the stuff the next generation is going to be rebelling against and rebelling hard. 

Meanwhile, for those of us who aren't so totally absorbed in teen and tween culture that we can't just go watch Quantum of Solace instead, it's hard to see why anyone could take much more than mild offence at what's on offer here. 

Yes, it is bland.

Yes, it is flavourless.

Yes, it is devoid of all but the palest imitation of human emotion and full of songs so forgettable they seemingly dissolve before they even reach your ears.

But Troy (Zac Efron) is still cute, so none of that other stuff matters...

Even the story is just, well, mild : Everyone's about to graduate, so the future looms and only a big stage musical can help them work things out.

If you weren't already planning to go, there is no reason to check this out; if you are already on your way, there is no reason to turn back.

3 out of 5