High School Musical

Rating:	★★★★
Category:	Movies
Genre:	Kids & Family

this review comes in a year later [it takes that long for me to process something, haha].
disney did a very wonderful pre-plugging campaign for this movie. i have to admit i was excited to find out what this "high school musical" is about. on its premiere, i fought hard to keep the remote and a perfect tv-viewing spot from my siblings who thought better than watching an "inane" kids film.
anyhoo, they were right. it turned out to be an inane kids movie with all the disney ingredients. it did not fail my expectations, however.
the plot is a bit too shallow with kids fighting urges so that they can keep the "status quo" by staying at their own cliques and doing what is expected of them. like jocks cannot be singers, science geniuses cannot get into theater, geeks can't like hiphop... hello? haven't they heard of being multi-talented?
considering the context of the movie though, i suppose there is some sense to keeping the tradition if that's what it takes to maintain the ability to focus at one thing. the leads of the movie proved everyone wrong.
with a little inspiration from a would-be love, troy bolton [zach effron] and gabriella montez [vanessa ann hudgens] brave the unknown [aka theater and singing] while maintaining a low profile lest their friends find out what they've been doing. because it's high school, image is important. "stick to the stuff you know!"
minus the plot, the movie gets four stars because, hey it's disney [that's a personal bias] and the over-all executions to make this movie- from the songs to the choreography to the costumes [i love sharpay's [ashley tisdale] character!] to the cast to the film's texture- are viewer-friendly. meaning, i wouldn't mind watching it over and over again [which i successfully did; i'm counting twenty times of HSM-watching].
the songs, too are okay [can't say much about the singing, though], easy to learn and sing-along to. and when you want to charm pre-schoolers, just hit a few notes... "we're soaring, flying..." and you're sure to win their attention. haha.
definitely not a movie for grown-ups who are into "sensible" things, but for chronologically advanced children at heart.
it's highly advisable to remind kids who are watching that they can try other stuff aside from what they're already good at while being determined to be the best they can be wherever, in whatever.
and that's what they call "breaking free."