High School Musical 2 (Extended Edition)

Everyone's back from the original movie, including Zac's buddy Chad (Corbin Bleu), Sharpay's brother Ryan (Lucas Grabeel), and Gabriella's friend Taylor (Monique Coleman). And the songs on the hit soundtrack often parallel the originals and are just as catchy: the Troy-Gabriella duet ("You Are the Music in Me," which is later Sharpay-ized into a rock version), the sports-flavored hip-hop number ("I Don't Dance," but this time on the baseball diamond instead of the basketball court), the Gabriella lament ("Gotta Go My Own Way"), the climactic stage duet ("Everyday"), and the mass-ensemble closer ("All for One"). But the sequel doesn't just stick to the status quo. Other songs include a flashy opener ("What Time Is It"), Sharpay's poolside feature ("Fabulous"), a percussive ensemble number ("Work This Out"), and Zac's solo ("Bet On It"), and the dances are even bigger this time around, relentlessly high-energy and often spectacular. In addition, the "let's put on a show" angle ! is only a subplot and the romance is now front and center--which means High School Musical has lost a bit of its innocence. But it's still wholesome viewing for tweens of all ages. Sharp-eyed Disney Channel fans will spot Miley "Hannah Montana" Cyrus as an extra. --David Horiuchi

On the DVD
The extended-edition DVD adds one new scene, in which Sharpay and Ryan perform the Hawaiian-themed "Humuhumunukunukuapua'a," which not only is fun but adds a bit of character development for Ryan. This number (which was on the CD as a bonus track) is incorporated into the movie and also accessible from the bonus-features menu, along with a four-minute blooper reel and music videos for "You Are the Music in Me" (one U.S. version and a Mexican version with Paulina Holguin and Roger) and "Gotta Go My Own Way (Canadian versions in French and English, both with Nikki Yanofsky). A "dance rehearsal cam" shows the choreographers and cast working on nine numbers (36 minutes total). Director-choreographer Kenny Ortega coaches, offers pep talk, and declares, "If it wasn't for Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon, we wouldn't be here!" There are two sing-along options, one with English subtitles and a "karaoke" version with English subtitles but no vocals. --David Horiuchi

Beyond High School Musical 2

Our High School Musical Headquarters	High School Musical 2 on Blu-ray	High School Musical 2 soundtrack
High School Musical	High School Musical (Remix Edition)	High School Musical, The Concert: Extreme Access Pass

Customer Reviews:

• "Let's rock and roll and just let go!": It's summer vacation and the gang from East High is headed out to the local country club, either as members or as employees. Sweethearts Troy (Zac Efron) and Gabriella (Vanessa Hudgens) are hard at work but still have plenty of time for near-smooches. Sharpay (Ashley Tisdale), the club owners' daughter, has her eye on Troy, too, and is wooing him with a possible college scholarship.
  
  This is one fun musical. All the high school stereotypes are here - the jocks, the brainiacs, the snobs, singing and dancing their way into our hearts. There's a big musical number about every five minutes and the productions are energetic and fun. Clearly aimed at the pre-teen audience, this movie is full of young, good-looking actors who make being seventeen look like the Most. Fun. Ever. Efron and Hudgens are an adorable and wholesome couple while Tisdale is the teen witch you love to hate.
  
  The desert setting is beautiful and the movie oozes happiness while stressing the value of friendship. Disney brings the old Judy Garland-Mickey Rooney-type teenage musical to the current generation in fine style.
• Kids love this movie!: This has been played over and over and over. The kids love this soooo much.
• Its fun and great for the whole family...: After watching High School Musical 2 on the Disney Channel, my kids wanted to see it again and again. I liked the character of the movie, it is refreshing to see a kid/teen oriented movie that doesn't promote illicit activities and unsavory lifestyles.
  
  Kudos to Disney for remembering that kids need good, wholesome entertainment in this day and time and the music is great, too!
  
  If you are looking to buy a teen/kid friendly movie this is the one to buy. It fun to watch and great for the whole family.
• Want to know why young boys are turning into NANCY BOYS in our increasingly effeminate society?!?!?! HSM2--THAT'S WHY!!!!!!!!!!!: Parents: on the surface, HSM 2 impersonates a virtuous, family-friendly vehicle which spares your children from unhealthy influences and suggestions (promiscuous/premarital/swinging sex, drugs, gangs, alcohol, violence), but after fair and balanced analysis, it ONLY LOOKS that way. Beneath its surface of bubble-gum "innocence" and triviality lies a hotbed of SIN (both mortal, venial) that the malevolent liberals who monopolize the entertainment world are hiding from you in plain sight, but still selling to your kids. No fear, however!!!! I've done all the grueling, analytical work, in place of lazy and careless parents who don't give a damn, to outline precisely all the SINS in HSM 2 so you parents can shield your kids from this hostile influence.
  
  Under the fiendish guise of promoting to teens activities that are healthy and the opposite of the destructive influences usually peddled on teens from our liberal media and pop culture, HSM 2 endorses dancing!!!! It's not just dancing...it's the even more effeminate mischief of Broadway-style musical numbers and the uncontrollable urge to break out in show tunes at horridly timed places all over the movie. Because of this severely emasculating element, HSM 2 runs the risk of potentially turning some formerly male, teen viewers into you-know-whats.
  
  Mark my words: HSM 2 and movies like it are really a clandestine, feminist plan to emasculate what little "maleness" our modern society still has left!!!! For goodness sake, if you don't know, Zac Efron (Troy) even unabashedly wears makeup in real life--just look at his bizarre, coifed appearance at premieres. Intellectually honest people will readily admit that America in the 21st century is already on its way to being turned into a limp-wristed society due to all the women who "whip" their men. Well, HSM 2 takes that feminist ideology and targets it to impressionable, male teens. Where male teens ought to have their masculinity encouraged by developing their leadership, athleticism and self-reliance, HSM 2 schemes to take this away from them, especially with all the Zac Efron singing and dancing.
  
  A misdirected fantasy among some parents is HSM 2 encourages kids to develop their talents and "be themselves" (even if that "self" is rather effeminate!). However, look more analytically and you'll find HSM 2 actually promotes nothing but materialism and superficial attractiveness which are bane for a society, because one should ideally judge people by their character, not how they look or how great their clothes are.
  
  As such, HSM 2 is a catastrophic, ethical abuser in that its young "stars" are marketed in the roles of their characters as perfectly groomed; into the latest, trendy fashions; and more attractive than you'll find in run-of-the-mill high schools all over the US (trust me, I check out teens in high schools always). The Corbin Blue and Efron characters dress like little, perfect models straight out of the Abercrombie and Finch catalogues (oops, my bad: Corbin Blue would be excluded since he's not white!)!!!! The worst offending characters as it concerns proselytizing kids with messages about materialism are Sharpay and Ryan. They snidely prance around in their Juicy Couture and Ralph Loren Polo, respectively, which makes kids of lesser socio-economic backgrounds feel worthless. Hasn't Disney yet learned that they should shield teens from the harsh reality of unequal income backgrounds and instead feed them unrealistic propaganda to make sure their feelings are spared??!!
  
  Perhaps, just perhaps...the most affronting contravention is the shocking amount of F-L-E-S-H that HSM 2's nubile and supple, teen actors expose and brandish as they skimpily bound around the screen in mock perkiness, which sees their corresponding body parts bouncing along. For an allegedly wholesome movie, HSM 2 showcases many young, coming-of-age girls who wear bathing suits and sleeveless/strapless outfits!!!! Parents, it gets much worse as some of these same, nubile girls who are hopefully still virgins in real life show cleavage--and this movie's targeted to tweens!!!! WTF?!?!
  
  Yet another area of discomfort relates to Troy and Gabriella's rebelliousness throughout the film! Is Disney plotting to glorify teen disobedience of rules and authority, or what? I'm talking about Troy and Gabriella breaking country club rules by going skinny dipping in the pool at night, though they well know staff members are prohibited from such mischief! I'm also talking about the same, two characters picnicking on the golf course when they know trouble awaits them if discovered!!!!
  
  In closing, I just must express my distaste at the real-life, personal turmoil that one of the most horrid examples to young kids and people in general exhibits. I'm, clearly, pointing my righteous finger at Vanessa Hudgens who earlier this year was divulged as a sexual miscreant for salaciously posing nude in pictures which got leaked onto the internet!!!! Parents, this is the vulgar fetishist whom you are allowing to "entertain" your kids!!!! For my part, I'm boycotting Disney until they fire Hudgens for being a fallen "role model" to kids everywhere; in fact, I'm not letting ANY KIDS (even other people's) see HSM 2 out of protest.
• Surprisingly appropriate for any age!: This movie is great for kids of all ages. My children (four and two) absolutely love this movie and it is really okay for them to watch. There are no sexual innuendoes, inappropriate language, or violence- just energetic music and dancing with a nice story line. It is what Disney is supposed to be. Love it!