While on winter vacation at karaoke night at the ski lodge, Troy and Gabriella meet and become infatuated with each other (Winter lovin’, happend so fast…) Things go back to normal as holidays wrap up and Troy goes back to New Mexico to resume his school life at East High. Suddenly a new girl is enrolled in East High and, Suprise! Gabriella is back in Troy’s normal basketball focused life. As the new year rolls on Troy finds his basketball time is now spread among, basketball, Gabriella and performing in the Spring Musical.
Of the three HSM releases, the original was the lowest budgeted production, featuring a lot of unknown faces and catchy songs. This unpolished story performed by newcomers, actually has a fun fresh feel to it that ,although both are very well done and kid favorites, the sequels just never really are able to capture. Zack Efron and Vanessa Hudgens are both excellent as Troy Bolton and Gabriella Montez. They have decent voices and somewhat of a natural chemistry about them. The true show stealers were Ashley Tisdale and Corbin Bleu in my opinion, as I felt they had the strongest vocal presence and created deeper characters.
The song selection for this movie is quite strong, ranging from the mellow I Can’t Take My Eyes Off You to the fast paced, basketball montage of Get Your Head In The Game. Whether you are a fan of the movie or just place your children’s happiness above your own, these songs will gently nudge into oblivion directions on how to set a broken leg or other relevant facts in order to make a permanant space in your brain for them to reside.
The video transfer for this Blu Ray is delivered in the ratio of 1.78:1 and in 1080p. I have seen the movie on the Disney Channel in the past and as one would expect from a low budget made for television production, there was a lot of grain and not a lot of sharpness or depth of color. Comparing the original to this enhanced transfer, the first thing that stands out is the grain reduction. There are still some scenes that have grain apparent but no where near the original transfer. Also the movie has a sharper quality about it than the original. Overall the Blu Ray video is a huge improvement that makes it definately worth the investment.
The extras are mainly geared toward the young HSM fans. Kicking off is a 10 minute Making of Featurette that is pretty high level stuff. There is also an option to watch the movie in a sort of sing a long format, with the television displaying the lyrics at the bottom of the screen. Learning the Moves teaches your wanna be Wildcats how the cast rehearsed their musical sequences and also shows the final product in the movie. The Disney Channel Dance Alongs were originally featured on television, and gives viewers a chance to dance along to the music. Cast Reunion is just that, with the cast coming back and discussing the impact of High School Musical on their careers and life in general. The Hollywood premier gives an insiders look at the big opening evening. Finally a collection of music videos are provided for those who can’t get enough of the movie’s music.
