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Katherine Monk, Canwwest News Service Published: Thursday, October 23, 2008
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Disney“You know I love you, but perfect hair and a lady-melting grin just aren’t enough to get me into Stanford.??
Film review: High School Musical 3 (2.5 stars)
People trying to decipher the reasons behind High School Musical's phenomenal success needn't bang their bean against the wall. The fact is, musicals and high school are warped reflections of each other, as both involve the creation of an alternate universe that operates according to its own rules.
In the musical, this unspoken contract allows the performer to break into song at any given moment without looking psychotic. Translated into the high school reality, this means students can spend an entire year fantasizing and freaking out over a single night's festivities without arousing suspicions of obsessive compulsive disorder or social anxiety.
Graduation is graduation, after all, and for the kids at East High, senior year is turning into the most musical-friendly year yet - one full of hyperventilating drama, cheesy romance and the realization that some relationships don't last into adulthood.
When last seen in High School Musical 2, the kids at East High were working out new routines for summer stock at the local country club. The romance between hoops jock Troy Bolton (Zac Efron) and brainiac Gabriella Montez (Vanessa Hudgens) was still blossoming, as was the creep factor for fraternal twins and drama class suck-ups Sharpay and Ryan Evans (Ashley Tisdale and Lucas Grabeel).
At the centre of the dramatic conundrum are Troy and Gabriella, the two young lovers who have become the Fred and Ginger for the next generation of showtune lovers - a phrase that may have seemed at odds with rap-centric youth culture just a few years ago, but is now emerging as a bona fide entertainment trend, and other studios have projects about pubescent high-steppers in the pipeline. Troy has a basketball scholarship to the University of Albuquerque, where he can hang out with his best friend Chad Danforth (Corbin Bleu), but Gabriella won herself a scholarship to Stanford - forcing the couple to choose between each other or a great education.
There is great comfort to be gleaned from watching young people sing, dance and smile with conviction. Director Kenny Ortega accomplishes the near-impossible and delivers a youth-oriented package void of irony, cynicism, sex or violence.
It couldn't have worked if the kids played it tongue-in-cheek, or slightly aloof. Musicals demand a complete surrender to the heightened reality, and that's exactly what Efron and the ensemble pull off: a full-on musical dream state, where emotion is the only dramatic thread capable of stitching the whole crazy outfit together.
It may be soft and sappy, but there's undeniable pleasure in watching teens act with mature selflessness. Of course it's unrealistic, but that's the beauty of the musical genre and the central reason why High School Musical 3 will win back some big love: It's not about what's real, but the fantasy of what life could be with a song in your heart, and a production team from Disney. ??½
Canwest News Service
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The day's news headlines from Global National's Kevin Newman for Tuesday, October 28, 2008.
Mon, Oct 27 - Ottawa's effort to restrict the supply of medical marijuana has been denied. Kevin Newman reports.
Mon, Oct 27 - For centuries, the original stage where Shakespeare's dramas played out was lost...until now. Tara Nelson reports.
Mon, Oct 27 - CNS correspondent David Akin reports on the markets taking a tumble towards the end of the day.
Mon, Oct 27 - Jacques Bourbeau has the results of our exclusive poll on how Canadians feel about how the government and our troubled economy.
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