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High School Musical 3 Our rating: Your rating: 1 2 3 4 Your Comments: see all MPAA rating: G (for mild peril and some thematic elements) Genre: Comedy, Drama, Family, Musical Theater release: October 24, 2008 by Walt Disney Pictures Directed by: Kenny Ortega Runtime: 1 hour 52 minutes Cast: Zac Efron (Troy Bolton), Vanessa Hudgens (Gabriella Montez), Ashley Tisdale (Sharpay Evans), Lucas Grabeel (Ryan Evans), Corbin Blue (Chad Danforth), Monique Coleman (Taylor McKessie), Olesya Rulin (Kelsi Nielsen)• Related: Talk About It/Family Corner

In January 2006, a friend suggested my kids might like High School Musical, a made-for-TV Disney movie about a group of squeaky-clean teenagers who break out of their school's cliques by taking part in a drama production. I was skeptical; at ages 8 and 5, my son and daughter were on the young end of the film's demographic, and the whole premise seemed underwhelming. But one Friday night our family found ourselves without plans and it just so happened that HSM was being re-aired. It came, we saw, it conquered … and now our extensive collection of DVDs, T-shirts, posters, soundtracks, and chapter books evidences our children's deep and abiding affection for the HSM Franchise.

Of course, Disney, knowing it had a bona-fide hit, re-aired HSM many times in that first year, pulling in a total of 200 million viewers around the world. When HSM 2 debuted in August 2007, the initial showing garnered 17.2 million viewers, the highest number of watchers ever for a cable TV show. The series has spawned two wildly successful soundtracks, an in-demand stage production (held in countless school theater programs), a concert tour, an ice show, and, now, a big screen sequel.

Zac Efron as Troy

Wisely, Disney has kept intact the team that made the first two films, including all the lead actors, screenwriter Peter Barsocchini, and, most importantly, choreographer/director Kenny Ortega. With a bigger budget ($30 million, compared to HSM2's $7 million and HSM's $4.5 million), and an exponential increase in pressure, the filmmakers must've been tempted to somehow reinvent the wheel to justify the transition to a theatrical release. Early rumors suggested the movie had a Halloween theme and a working title of "Haunted High School Musical"; thankfully, those plans were abandoned for a straightforward treatment of the traumas and triumphs of graduation.

High School Musical 3 wastes no time introducing or developing characters, assuming (probably correctly) that its audience is already intimately familiar with Troy, Gabriella, Chad, Sharpay, Ryan and the rest of the gang. It's halftime of the last championship game of the boys' high school basketball careers, and Troy's Wildcats are losing. Coach Bolton's stirring speech about making the most of the last 16 minutes they'll ever play together establishes the first half of this movie's premise: Life as this gang knows it is almost over, so they better celebrate what they have. Soon, the film's first big production number is underway, with a sweaty, intense Troy singing "Now or Never" while the players and fans turn the game into an ingeniously choreographed dance.

Olesya Rulin as Kelsi, Lucas Grabeel as Ryan

For the next 112 minutes, the cast moves at a crisp pace from one cleverly staged song and dance to another, with just enough dialogue in between to give us the film's slender story. Gabriella (Vanessa Hudgens) has been accepted to Stanford University. Troy (Zac Efron) is expected to play basketball at the University of Albuquerque, but is torn by both his desire to be closer to Gabriella and his not-so-secret love for theater. Sharpay (Ashley Tisdale), Kelsi (Olesya Rulin), Ryan (Lucas Grabeel), and Troy are all being considered for Julliard scholarships, leading to the expected intrigue and cattiness on Sharpay's part.

And Ms. Darvis, the school's enduringly quirky and passionate drama teacher, has corralled the entire gang to mount "Senior Year," a musical of the students' own making about the excitement and stress of the last months of high school. As the characters work in equal measure on play production, getting prom dates and outfits, and deciding their futures, the film is able to explore the second half of its premise: How does a person on the brink of adulthood discover who he really is, and what should he do about it?

With many of the actors actually in their early twenties, HSM3 is definitely the most adult feeling film of the trilogy, and the marquee appeal and onscreen chemistry of the leads is at its peak. (Translation: If she doesn't have one already, your daughter will want a Zac Efron poster.) But the film is still beguilingly wholesome, and completely free of irony or cynicism. As with the other installments, once a viewer gets used to the earnest tone (and the constant breaking into song), High School Musical 3 is irresistibly fun.

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