It's graduation time at East High and all of the seniors are thinking about their futures. Troy (Zack Efron), along with pal Chad (Corbin Bleu), is looking forward to joining the U of A basketball team, while Gabriella (Vanessa Hudgens) has been accepted to Stanford. This introduces a problem for the young couple - their two schools are about a thousand miles apart. Things get even trickier when Gabriella is accepted to the young scholars program, which threatens to ruin their entire senior year since she'll have to leave East High early, missing the prom and big Spring production.
Meanwhile, the rest of the East High group is making plans for their own. Most of the group is in competition for a scholarship from Julliard, which is sending representatives to the final Spring performance entitled Senior Year. As expected, Sharpay (Ashley Tisdale) has decided that the scholarship is hers and works out a plan with her brother, Ryan (Lucas Grabeel) to make sure the show's top number goes to her. Of course, all the scheming can kill a girl's schedule, forcing Sharpay to recruit a new personal assistant, Tiara Gold (Jemma McKenzie-Brown). Barring the release of College Musical, it looks like Tiara, along with a few other newly introduced characters, are poised to be the next generation of High School Musical.
Overall, HSM3 is okay, but feels more like the completion of a downward slide for the series rather than a high note. The ensemble cast was one of the reasons that the original was enjoyable, but with HSM3, it seems like the rest of the cast has been reduced to minor characters, while the focus remains purely on Troy and Gabriella. Although their relationship has always been a major plot point, with HSM3, it feels like too major a plot point. This causes the movie to feel less like High School Musical and more like The Troy and Gabriella Show.
Music is another weak spot. HSM3 packs in a lot of songs, though only a handful are good and even less are memorable. One of my favorite parts of the movie is how numbers from the spring show and "real life" are integrated. This allows for all the theatrics while avoiding an awkward shift back to reality. Unfortunately, the theatrics overplay the music. I can still remember tunes and whole verses from the original but would be hard pressed to remember a few words for HSM3's repertoire. However, I remember what was going on during the songs... not a good thing for a musical.
The Blu-ray version of HSM3 is a 3-disc set, though the number can be a little misleading. The first disc includes the movie and all the extras, while the second and third discs contain the digital and DVD versions of the movie. Special features include cast good-byes, a Sing-along feature and the "Senior Awards," a short feature where cast members voted on "bests" like "Cutest Couple" and "Funniest." The collection of deleted scenes is interesting since several of the scenes would have made for a better movie, including the ending that passes the torch to the next group of students and adds a nice cap to their stories.
High School Musical 3: Senior Year doesn't completely follow through when compared to past movies, but is still a fun movie for tweens. The video and sound upgrades probably don't warrant the Blu-ray purchase, but if you're looking to upgrade to a Blu-ray player, having all three formats makes the Blu-ray version worth the purchase.
Clips
TrailerHigh School Musical (Film)
This is the Last Chance (Film)
Behind the Scenes: Dancing (Bonus)
