High School Musical 2 (Extended Edition) (2007) Review

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(More customer reviews)I was amazed by the amount of extras on this 2-Disc DVD set. What a fantastic set--with over 5 hours of bonus material. The story is typically light-hearted fun as you would expect from this franchise. It's the last day of school, and all your favorite East High Wildcats are counting down the seconds for the final bell that tells them it's finally summer! The rousing opening song is "What Time Is It?" and gets the movie off to a high energy start. Troy (Zac Efron), Gabriella (Vanessa Hudgens), and the gang must get summer jobs; meanwhile, Sharpay (Ashley Tisdale) wants to get Troy a job at her country club, Lava Springs, so that he can sing with her at the talent show and become her new boyfriend. Unbeknownst to her, the club's manager, Mr. Fulton (Mark L. Taylor), has to hire the entire gang to get Troy...including Troy's girlfriend Gabriella. Sharpay does everything she can to break the two up, including setting Zac up with a sweet college scholarship. Can Zac resist?
Visually, this movie is a technicolor feast that harks back to the Esther Williams/Busby Berkeley musicals of MGM. One of the most spectacular numbers if "Fabulous," sung by Sharpay (Ashley Tisdale) as she lets everyone at the pool know that she has impossibly high standards. Her brother, played by Lucas Grabeel, is dolled up like Elton John and plays a pink piano in the shallow end of the pool while wearing a white tux with hot pink lapels. Definitely classic!
Spec-wise, the DVD audio is a speaker blowing Dolby Digital 5.1 mix and the video is full-frame. Sure, for those with 16x9 or widescreen TVs it's a disappointment. However, this movie was originally shown on the Disney Channel, and as you can clearly see in the behind-the-scenes documentaries (as you look over the shoulder of the camera and see the framing), this movie was COMPOSED for full-screen, even though there was spillover frame to fill out a widescreen. Minor quibbling point...still a great piece of entertainment suitable for ALL ages.
Now onto the extras...there's a ton! You get a great sneak-peak at High School Musical 3 (which will actually debut in theaters), which shows that the whole gang is back, along with three newcomers (looks like Sharpay may have some competition in the conniving department from the new girl). There are also some deleted scenes; although they were trimmed for the right reasons, one does explain a little bit of how Gabriela got to the Country Club for the talent show. Backstage Disney also gives you High School Confidential, an assortment of LOTS of featurettes such as:
*Manly the Dog: director Kenny Ortega's dog who has a featured spot in the movie as Sharpay's pampered pet.
*Sharpettes: Sharpay's sidekicks, featured in the "Fabulous" number
*Hilarious one about Ashley Tisdale; all her costars say she is like Sharpay, even though she protests. Very cute.
*Zac Factor: All about Zac Efron
*Special photo gallery where you can guess what baby photos match your fave HSM star.
*The Making Of "HUMUHUMUNUKUNUKUAPUA'A."
*Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus is actually in HSM2; never knew that until I saw the featurette about her cameo!
*Cast Favorites: The stars dish (except for Zac who is not in this one) about their favorite singers, movie actors, desserts, and more.
*On Location - Visit the resort area of St. George, Utah
*In The Kitchen - Lucas Grabeel takes fans behind the scenes of the clubhouse kitchen set.
In the Music & More section you get:
*Dance Along: follow along to the moves of "What Time is it?" and "All For One." You'll be doing these dances in no time by following multiple camera angles.
*Music Video "All For One" - A special performance of the song is intercut with the cast recording session and behind-the-scenes footage.
And lots more! All HSM fans should add this one to their collections!

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Schools out and Troy, his teammates, and Gabrielle all get jobs at a country club for the summer. Sharpay s father runs the club so she is used to getting her way around there. Sharpay is determined to win the club s summer talent show, an event she has dominated for the last six years. She thinks getting Troy to perform with her will cinch the win, so she dumps Ryan as her partner and schemes to get Troy away from Gabriella so she can perform with him.

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