"High School Musical 2" discussion!

[JiminyCrick91]

Five minutes in my time zone untill the premiere! I can not wait!

[reyquila]

I'm watching!!!

[bradhig]

Just great cause Doctor Who got moved from 8:00 clock to 7:00 so I am flipping.

[Flanger-Hanger]

Just watched it (and High School Musical:The Concert), and I actually enjoyed it.

Reasons for why I liked it will be posted on Sunday, after I've seen it (and the original) again.

[JiminyCrick91]

Ok so my review will be in three different sections, acting/story, songs, and my conclusion, but will not be in the format that UD reviews are normally.

Acting and story.
I feel the nearly every one was better in this film as an actor but Vanessa (who seems not to be able to lip sync properly). The story with everyone taking the jobs at the country club thou implausible that the whole student body would and not working with the title of HIGH SCHOOL Musical. I loved that they have let some characters blossom into more than what they had been, Martha & Jason who were background characters in the first have personalities and names, Sharpay while deliciously meaner has heart, and Ryan is more than Sharpay’s odd little lackey/ 2nd banana co-star. The ‘corruption’ of Troy was nicely done and the subsequent fight between he and Chad was far more interesting and believable than the slight attitude that they showed when ‘angry’. The love square as I call it with Troy/Sharpay and Ryan/Gabriella was nice to see. I also liked the Manager character in this film and his apparent fear of the Evans (mostly Sharpay) although it remains to be seen if I will like him as much as the character that never fails to remind me of Meryl Streep/Miranda Priestly, Mrs. Darbus.

Songs
What Time Is It – A fun song
Fabulous- Completely did not fit into the film story was and was not sounding like it was from a HSM film but Legally Blonde’s show so I liked it anyway
Work This Out - More poppy fun
You Are the Music in Me - Ok but sounds too much like Breaking Free and/or Start Of Something New
I Don't Dance- I saw this on DC when I was in WDW and thought it was a lot Get'cha Head In The Game but an improvement if not for the sillier choreography.
You Are the Music in Me (Sharpay Version) - WOW this was good.
Gotta Go My Own Way - although again better than When There Was Me And You I was very bored
Bet On It - Very boy band-ish and makes no sense that Troy would have what I can only think of as male space angles yet I felt this is another I could here myself singing.
Everyday- Another song than I felt was better than a similar HSM counterpart.
All For One- Fun song and I like it better than We're All In This Together but very similar to What Time is it
Humuhumunukunukuapua'a - The only song I saw prior to the premiere (on purpose anyway) and it is my favorite of what should be in this film.


Although far from Oscar worthy I feel that High School Musical 2 is a vast improvement on the last film with better acting, better writing, and for the most part better songs (although the What I've Been Looking For, Stick To The Status Quo, and Bop to The Top remain favorites). I say it was a job very well done and is officially my favorite DCOM passing Kim Possible: So Not the Drama.

As a DCOM A.
As a normal film B-

[PeterPanfan]

I loved it!!!

But why was Sharpay in it more than ANYONE else?

It seems like Gabriella was hardly in it!!!

[Harbinger]

I thought it was really bad. That girl who plays Gabriella can't act well at all.

[lord-of-sith]

Now, be forewarned that I only saw a large chunk of the center portion of this film, and missed the beginning and end (I'll have to catch them tommorow or some other time).

I was dissapointed. Sure the original HSM was overly cheesy, but it was fun! It clearly didn't take itself too seriously, and the songs were catchy and easy to remember.

This, on the other hand, didn't have any of the heart that the original had. The songs were awkward and weren't like a musical at all. There was too much stuff going on in them! Somehow doubt that kids will be singing these songs in talent shows as they did with the first, as it is nearly impossible!

Also, from what I saw, they took virtually no unexpected story arks. Several things were there just to please the tweens that wanted to see their favorite character to such and such, and thus it lost originality (Zac Efron practicing basket ball on a hot summer's day with no shirt but wearing kacki pants???).

I was, however, pleased to see Lucas Grabeel and Ashley Tisdale take a step up (though obviously not vocally, as the songs showcased zero talent from anybody) in the size of their parts. You might have believed Tisdale was the lead of the film!

So yes, I was dissapointed by this over-produced sell out sequel to a decent original. I'll be very cautious before even thinking about the enevidable HSM3.

[skyler888]

LOL
I thought Vanessa did a good job during the whole fight with Sharpay and Gotta Go My Own Way

[rs_milo_whatever]

i liked it but there is NOO comparison to the first one, all the songs were made to look like music videos, people appeared in random places during the songs, the takes were too focused on people rather than making it look like a musical, i wanted more a lot more of sharpay, the soongs didn't sound like they came from a musical, they were made to chart good as sinlgesm and they problems with the audio.

other than that, it was good

i liked the developement of all the characters, except for my ever favorite sharpay, although i did like the story and the quality of the video and choreography.

[neurotic_Donald_Duck]

My friend taped it!
Can't wait to see it, i loved the 1st one.

[Chernabog_Rocks]

I'm on the fence so to speak, I liked it but I didn't like it.


Here's what I liked:

- Ryan getting a larger part

- More focus on Ryan and Sharpay outside of singing

Wow, thats a small list for now and thats all I can think of really

Now here's what I don't like

- WAY too much Troy imo

- Spazzy dance moves, I remember on Road To HSM 2 one of the actors said "I don't know how we're going to do a dance-along" and I agree, these dance moves are just way too....spazzy and it would be impossible for a lot of people to learn. They overdid how complicated the moves were.

- the songs didn't feel like they belonged in the movie

One thing I'm confused about is where is the Humuhumu song? I watched the movie and never saw it performed, only mentioned I would have LOVED to see it. All in all, the acting was improved on but they lost the good dances and songs in the process which sucks. I hope for the third movie they keep improving characters, but get the good dancing and good songs back as well.

One last note...am I the only one who thinks they slightly overdid Sharpay's evilness? I mean she was pretty evil in the first one, but it seemed like it was tripled this time

[blackcauldron85]

Humuhumunukunukuapua'a - The only song I saw prior to the premiere (on purpose anyway) and it is my favorite of what should be in this film.

Did you mean you heard or actually saw this song? I'm assuming you meant heard, but if you saw some deleted scene or something, spill!

My thoughts have spoilers, so don't read if you haven't seen HSM2 yet! (Read after the red paragraph if you don't want spoilers!)

I absolutely loved HSM2! It did feel like the Troy & Sharpay Show, though. I had already memorized the songs prior to last night, so I knew what to expect there...I love the songs! I was disappointed with the lack of Chad & Taylor (since Corbin had mentioned in interviews that their characters were getting closer...but we didn't see too much interaction with them ). I knew the song "Bet On It", but I would not have imagined in a million years that they'd just be having Troy dancing alone on the grass. I'm sure all the Zac Efron fans were happy. I like the song, but it was almost boring...The part I had been most anticipating was "I Don't Dance"- the big dance number. Maybe I was not paying attention, but it seemed to miss out on some cues the wordbook in the CD says- like the wordbook mentions a "Chad Stop Section". I guess I thought that the Swing Section would be separate from the lyrics below it...like a big musical break. I was looking forward to seeing Chad dance in a solo...but I guess I had higher expectations. I did love it, though. My favorite song is still "You Are the Music in Me". I loved how Ryan grew in this film- that made me so happy! When Gabriella & Taylor were in the golf cart and they let Ryan ride with them, that also made me so happy! His schoolmates liked him more than he thought, I bet, and it was nice to see him without Sharpay- it's Sharpay nobody liked! I got really upset when Sharpay was faking being bad at golf- earlier we could see that she was a good golf player when she was playing with her family- so I don't know how Troy could've believed for a second that she was bad- he was their CADDY, for crying out loud! And then, right when Troy left from helping her, she hit a perfect shot.
I understood why Gabriella broke up with Troy, but, already having the soundtrack (and knowing that a 2nd sequel will be coming), I knew that, by "All For One", they'd be back together (since they both sing)...

I taped it, so I'll need to watch it over and over, and I'm sure I'll become more familiar with it and have more thoughts. I did love it, though. It's probably tied with the first HSM for me, which means it's one of my favorite live action movies! Yay!

[bradhig]

Sharpay is a troublemaker she should be ex ter mi nat ed.

[Flanger-Hanger]

Sharpay is a troublemaker she should be ex ter mi nat ed.

-Maxamillion from The Black Hole enters to kill Sharpay with his rotating claws-

Anyway, although I said i'd post my thoughts later, I'll just make a few points now. (will include spoilers)

Good:

-Shrapay, she was nasty, clever, had a better version of You Are The Music In Me, looked halarious in that wedding dress

-Ryan, my favourite character, had nice change in character, but not too much (like at the end when he still couldn't let his sister crash and burn on stage) beliveable, with plenty of different hats.

-Troy, I can completely relate to pressure about collage/university. It's consistantly pounded that into my head, and I personally would have done the same thing he did in the movie. (but I don't have a girlfriend so it would have worked out for me) As for acting I thought Zac was fine, but i still like him in Hairspray better.

Bad:

-No different styles in music, Fabulous started as a traditional Broadway number, but then became more generic pop crap.

-Songs were not as good as the first one overall, with the exceptions of Sharpay's You Are The Music In Me.

-Dumb (not to mention dangerous, with all thse baseball bats nearly missing poeple's heads) dancing for I Don't Dance, I sware that was the weirdest looking baseball game I've ever seen (although unlike real baseball it was watchable, so I guess it's an improvement)

-Poeple say in the movie they can't dance, then waht were they doing two minutes ago? (just more logic flaws)

-Gabriella, doesn't say/do much, makes me wonder why Troy would want her.

Overall it's okay, but it could have been better.

[rs_milo_whatever]

the songs didn't feel like they belonged in the movie

thank you


like i said before, they weren't written to keep the story going, they wrote them in a way that they matched a situation in the movie, but mainly so they can have a soundtrack full of singles.

[Prudence]

I need some costume help!

I was out and missed the movie, but will obviously be seeing it at tonight's local party. (See a page back.) I just don't know all of Kelsi's outfits now, nor do I know what is considered her more-or-less "main" outfit. The party is in five hours at the time of my writing, and I plan to be ready an hour in advance. What clothes do you suggest? I'm preferably looking for a Kelsi outfit that will make me look more like the character, because I am tall and narrow-faced while she is short and cute!

[Mason_Ireton]

Hmm.......She's kinda tomboyish yet girly on the inside, her costumes are amazing, they're not too loud, they're like medium loud, I'd go with her What Time Is It costume, I'd think it work for you.

[PeterPanfan]

I don't know if it's too late or not but use this and throw on dorky glasses and a hat xD

http://www.imdb.com/gallery/hh/0750037/ ... ,%20Olesya

[bradhig]

Normally I don't like Imdb casue people there are bashing the movie like crazy.