As a child, I was always a sucker for whatever Disney original movie was coming out at the time. Camp rock, The Princess Protection Program, Lemonade Mouth, Camp Rock again, you name it, I’ve probably seen it. All those classics have a special place in my heart, but as I begin my adult years (legally anyways) I have discovered that no Disney Original Movie series has captured the hearts and minds of myself and others quite like High School Musical.
If you enjoy cheesy plotlines, ridiculously choreographed musical numbers, and a heavy dose of nostalgia in the form of teenagers serving some blatantly 2000’s lewks, then this is the movie for you. While there are three in the series, I will be reviewing my personal favorite, High School Musical 2, and hopeful I can enlighten you as to why the second installment is the most fabulous of them all.

(First of all, if you haven’t seen these moments of cinematic greatness, stop reading right now and go watch them. You can get it for free on Disney Plus or pay a small price to rent it on most other streaming services. )

When we left the characters in the first film, we saw the perfect happily ever after. Troy and Gabriella had finally gotten together with the help and support of their friends and managed to star in the school musical (if you can call it that, there was only one song) with just enough time to get back to their basketball game and math competition respectively. On the other hand, Sharpay despite all her plans to star in the musical and date Troy was left with nothing, although she did choose to dance with all of them at the end and seemed to have an admirer in the form of a guy who we know nothing about except that his name is Zeke and he bakes.
High School Musical 2 picks up a bit after the last movie left off, with the students all chanting down the the end of summer (which honestly, same,) singing and dancing when the bell rings, initiating our first iconic dance sequence. 
One of the best features of the film is it’s choreography. While fully choreographed dance sequences in the middle of the hallway are not realistic, I don’t watch the movie for realism. The group work even in this first number is very effective and fun to watch, and they do a good job highlighting particularly good dancers such as Corbin Bleu (Chad) who was definitely not as highlighted dance-wise in the first film.
But with the arrival of summer the juniors get even closer to college and the rest of their lives. Many of them are looking for jobs to save money and, with some mistaken manipulation on Sharpay’s part, they all end up working on Sharpay’s families summer resort. Without spoiling too much, the struggle over trying to prepare for the rest of their lives while staying true to themselves in the moment begins to tear the group apart. Friendships are questioned, romances bloom and die, and their summer is nothing like what they pictured.

I greatly enjoy this plotline much more than the first movie because I feel like there’s something that may actually be at stake here. Maybe it’s just because I’m a senior and the scholarship pressure is imminent, or the fact that I’m not really a huge sports person, but planning for your future while trying to enjoy what you have now is a lot more contentious than winning a basketball game. As I rewatched this movie, I could understand an aspect of it that my six year old self could not. Yes, Troy was most definitely a jerk several times throughout the film, but he was also chasing his dream and preparing for his future the only way he knew how. Meanwhile, his friends who just wanted to spend time together and enjoy summer while they could also have a valid point.
Nevertheless, this contention leads to the best Troy-Gabriella break up sequence in the whole franchise. Gabriella finally gets sick of being treated poorly and quits, breaking up with Troy in the process. Let me tell you, there’s a lot to unpack here. The dramatic leaning present in all good High School Musical breakups (see When There Was Me and You), The T necklace she gives back to Troy after he runs after her, my six year old heart was breaking. As a child Troy and Gabriella were perhap my first OTP (although I didn’t know the term) and I’m pretty sure I cried when I first saw this scene. Again, I was six, so give me a break. High School Musical was definitely one of the movies that started my ongoing love of Rom-Coms, and I will forever appreciate this movie especially for that gift.

Whil Troy and Gabriella are interesting, they are not the only characters. High School Musical 2 gave us a lot more time on some of the more minor characters from the first movie and gave them a whole new angle. For example, Sharpay’s brother got significantly more screen time, and even some character development of his own. He went from being her lackey to a talented director in his own right. We are introduced more into his and Sharpay’s background and family dynamics, which helps give some insight into why they are who they are. We see sharpay’s bratty side with Fabulous, but also her kind side at the end when she helps out her brother.
While I can go on and on about the best qualities of High School Musical 2, the abundance of nostalgic bops, the sheer amount of fedoras, I don’t want to give away too much, so at the end of the day I’ll just say this: it leaves you smiling. The movie is cheesy and crazy but surprisingly self aware, and it reminds me of my younger days when I thought that actually might be what high school was like. When I would sing along to every song, songs I somehow still remember. The movie is bright and silly, and if you haven’t seen it yet you should. It’s hard to describe how fabulous it truly is!

(In case you’re wondering why I never go over the third movie, it’s because that movie is dead to me. I don’t have enough space in this blog to describe what a mess that was.)