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The Movie
The film has not changed at all since its original air date on January 20, 2006 on the Disney Channel, or from its first DVD release in May a few months later. My review of the film can be found here. I happen to be pro-High School Musical
After spending a paragraph praising the movie itself, I’m sorry to say this new release does not earn much praise, primarily for the lack of new material included in this two-disc set. Almost every single feature on the discs have been seen in some form; from Disney Channel showings to the first DVD release. Fans looking to find brand new, exciting insights into the making of the film or more information about its actors will be disappointed.
Goodies – First Disc
The film is offered in two formats: the original version, and the “sing along” version. That is, the movies are exactly the same save for the words to the songs that appear below the screen during the sing along version. Unfortunately, the pop-up edition of the film is not included in the set (no doubt being held for a future, super special release sometime in the future.)
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Learning the Moves (4:18) – This is a carry-over from the original DVD release, and features Tisdale and Grabeel’s step-by-step choreography for their number “Bop to the Top.” I was hoping they would expand this feature on the new disc, since it’s one of the most interesting bonuses included, but no—it’s exactly the same. I find myself writing this over and over in this review.
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I Can’t Take My Eyes Off You – music video (3:00) – Another recycled segment features the four stars “recording” a song that was never used in the actual film.
Goodies – second disc
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Bringing It All Together: The Making of High School Musical (8:45) – This is also a hold-over from the original release, and it’s actually a nice feature on how the movie was made, with comments from all the principals, the director Kenny Ortega, and the all important choreographers.
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Hollywood Premiere (2:23) – In one of the rare original segments on this disc, the red carpet action from the premiere of the original High School Musical DVD is covered. In addition to the main stars of the film, dutiful Disney Channel regulars from The Suite Life of Zac and Cody, Hannah Montana, and other shows praise the movie, the actors, the director and the catering table with equal enthusiasm.
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A High School Musical Reunion (5:56) – This is one of the few and far between brand new featurettes on the DVD. It reassembles the cast to talk about the jobs they had before striking it rich on High School Musical, the countries they have traveled to promoting the movie, and what projects are coming up for each of them. Most of the information will not be new to anyone who watches the Disney Channel regularly, since Disney excels in promoting their young stars to the hilt. It is amusing to watch short clips of scenes from the movie dubbed into a myriad of languages.
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Dance Along (16:38) – Originally aired on the Disney Channel between segments of the “Dance Along” version of the movie, these short segments feature each of the actors demonstrating choreography from some of the dance numbers. Efron, Tisdale, Grabeel and Hudgens take turn demonstrating sections from “get your head in the game” and “we’re all in this together;” first very slowly, then half time, then full speed with music. Though most kids have mastered these moves on their own due to chronic viewing of the film, it is entertaining to see the young actors explain the dance steps to the camera and encourage their young viewers to give it a try.
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Music and More – There’s not much “more” to these extras, but the remixed videos are supposedly the primary reason the DVD was re-released. “Breaking Free” and “We’re all in this together” are adjusted to sound like dance club remixes with new videos to go with them. The songs sound pretty good, and the videos show clips of rehearsals for the movie as well as the final footage remixed.
“Eres Tu” is a cover of the song “What I’ve Been Looking For” by Belanova (a group I know nothing about) done in Spanish. The production values for the video are terrible, as is the new version of the song itself. Skip it. “We’re All in This Together” is the same song as in the original movie but with a video that chronicles the whole plot of the film.
Audio, Video and Interface
The film is presented in the same aspect ratio as in the Encore Edition: 1.33:1 fullscreen. It looks as bright and crisp as every version of the film I’ve seen on TV and DVD. The sound is the same Dolby Digital 5.1. A Dolby Spanish language track is offered as well.
The main interface on the disc is the trademark High School Musical red velvet curtain drawing aside to reveal the menu choices. Short clips of the film are shown in little star shapes at either corner of the screen, and a selection of the soundtrack is played on a short loop. Pretty low tech, but maybe that’s the point—it being a “high school” production and all. The secondary menu choices are shown on still screen with different soundtrack clips.
Final Evaluation
I would recommend this new version for two groups of people: those who have been meaning to buy a copy of High School Musical but just haven’t gotten around to it yet, and those super-obsessed fans who must own every single second of footage regarding the movie, no matter how small or stale. For the rest of us who like the movie and already own the Encore Edition, I would recommend saving your money for the inevitable 10th Anniversary Edition: The Big Comeback. Plus, there’s another, much more worthy Disney (Walden) re-release just out that is worth buying that I’ll tell you about in my next review.
