Movie Review: High School Musical 3

If you're a girl, and/or 12 years old, High School Musical 3 is the event of the year, right from the first leering close-up of Zac Efron shaking off sweat on the basketball court before bursting into a sappy song.

The third installment in Disney's cash-cow musical series is a colorful and enthusiastic – if not especially intelligent – film that makes a successful transition to the big screen thanks to some swanky production numbers and the charisma of its ensemble cast.

There are more than 20 songs in "HSM3," and while a lot are pabulum, there's ... well, there's a lot of it. The songs concern the ongoing romance between Troy and Gabriella, and the friendship of Troy and Chad (Corbin Bleu), whose duet, "The Boys Are Back," owes a big debt to "Thriller," just as the ghost of Peter Allen haunts Ryan's dance routine.

Zac Efron plays Troy Bolton, a star player on East High School's basketball team who gets recruited to star in a musical, the theme of which is Senior Year. Troy's college plans are secure thanks to a basketball scholarship at a local university, but his girlfriend Gabriella (Vanessa Hudgens) is headed for Stanford, leaving their relationship in limbo. In the meantime, Sharpay Evans (Ashley Tisdale) conspires to take over Gabriella's role in the production so she can win a scholarship to Julliard, and enlists her twin brother Ryan (Lucas Grabeel) to court writer-composer Kelsi (Oleysa Rulin) and win her support.

As his friends weigh in with their opinions and his parents conspire to help him make a decision, Troy must ultimately decide what is most important to him – his basketball career, his burgeoning passion for musical theater, or his love for his girlfriend Gabriella – as Senior Year, and his senior year, comes to a triumphant close.

The musical numbers are the point of High School Musical, not the soul-searching character development that happens in between them, and for the most part they're handled fairly well.

Zach Efron is the other side of Twilight heartthrob Robert Pattison, and there are like a zillion female fans who would want to watch this film just for him. Although there doesn't seem to be a lot of life behind those line readings and I'm not sure how successful these young adults will be outside of High School Musical.

Regardless, the people who want to see this film will disregard reviews and run to theaters on opening day, and those disinclined will stay away in droves.