High School Musical is one of those phenomena things that's hard to explain. What started out as a made-for TV movie on the Disney Channel has turned into a massive, astounding success. It has spawned, among other things, two sequels, one of which was another made-for Disney Channel original and the other a theatrical release which has gone on to gross over 90 million dollars domestically. The original Disney feature has now come to Blu-ray.
The story is simple enough – boy and girl from different worlds fall in love despite what their friends and family have to say. It is, to use Disney terminology, a "tale as old as time, song as old as rhyme."
The boy, in this instance is Troy Bolton (Zac Efron) and the girl is Gabriella Montez (Vanessa Anne Hudgens). Troy is the star of the basketball team and Gabriella is the brainiac new girl who constantly find herself switching school due to her family's moving. The two actually meet and start their romance over Christmas break, when both families are on vacation, only to return to school in the new year and find that they're now at the same place.
Troy's friends, the members of the basketball team, led by Chad (Corbin Bleu) become worried about Troy losing his focus on their upcoming championship game, and only become more distressed when they find out that Troy wants to… gasp… sing in the musical opposite Gabriella. The brother and sister who star in all the musicals, Sharpay (Ashley Tisdale) and Ryan (Lucas Grabeel), become upset that their supremacy in that arena is being challenged, and Gabriella's friends aren't so sure about this turn of events either. Of course, by the end of the movie everything works out just fine (even if Sharpay and Ryan don't get their lead roles).
Anyone who has heard of Romeo and Juliet, West Side Story, Grease, or a myriad of other similar tales will recognize that very little in High School Musical's plot hasn't been seen before. But, perhaps that's because there's something inherently true about it, about the struggle we all have as youths to find our place and where we "fit in." And, certainly one of the reasons High School Musical manages to succeed is due to the infectious enthusiasm on the part of the cast in nearly every single scene. The songs that are sung throughout the film are, if not horrifically original, incredibly toe-tapping, and the dancing over-the-top and fun to watch.
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