Review by Leonard Norwitz
Studio:
Theatrical: Walt Disney Studios
Blu-ray: Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment
Disc:
Region: A
Runtime: 112 min
Chapters: 17
Size: 50 GB
Case: Expanded Blu-ray case w/slipcover
Release date: February 17, 2009
Video:
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Resolution: 1080p
Video codec: AVC
Audio:
English 5.1 DTS HD-MA (48kHz/24-bit). Spanish DD 5.1
Surround
Subtitles:
English SDH, French & Spanish
Extras:
• Disc 1: Extended Version of the movie
• Disc 2: Digital Copy
• Disc 3: DVD of HSM3
• Disc 1: New Cast Profiles (13:18)
• Cast Goodbyes (5:40)
• Deleted Scenes (7:16)
• Bloopers (2:46)
• It's All in the Dress (2:31)
• Night of Nights (7:27)
• Senior Awards (2:15)
• Sing-Along
The Film:
6
It's amazing the perks you get in your senior year: a much
bigger budget and a shot on the big screen, among them.
You'll remember that HSM and HSM2 were strictly Disney
Channel affairs, but HSM3 was destined for theatrical
distribution. It opened in late October, 2008 and recouped
its budget (4 or 5 times that of HSM2) on the opening
weekend. According to the IMDB, it seems to have about
tripled that since.
Clearly contrary to the intent of the first two movies, the
musical numbers in HSM3 are mostly extra-curricular. They
are bigger, gaudier, more outrageous, more imaginative and
in no conceivable way to be understood as high school
musical numbers. I think this may have been my basic problem
with the first two movies. I felt Kenny Ortega was trying to
convince me that the
numbers were simply the creation of talented kids. That
would have been fine with me, I thought, if these were "my"
kids, and I could look on with boastful pride. But neither
the kids nor the numbers were good enough to keep me glued
to my chair, nor were they amateurish enough to convince me
I was watching the kids at East High doing their thing.
Not so in HSM3: Senior Year. There is no way we are going to
confuse what we see here as the product of talented
teenagers. And it's not simply that the cast has gotten
older, though in a couple cases (Zack and Ashley in
particular) this is quite evident, it is mostly a question
of money. In the past, the numbers were staged where we
found them: in hallways, kitchens, cafeterias, on the
basketball court, at the poolside, even on the stage. But
HSM3 all that is left behind – in several of the numbers, at
least.
HSM plots were never anything worth the name, but plot takes
an even more distant back seat to performance than
previously. So I won't bore you with the details. Come to
think of it, there are no details. Think: senior prom,
graduation, Ashley's final attempt to take Gabriella's place
on stage and in Troy's heart, and the fact that Troy and
Gabriella are applying to colleges in different galaxies,
and you pretty much have it.
On the other hand, there is a wee bit of character
development, such as it is, this being the last stop for
these kids in high school: Troy develops his war face;
Gabriella finds her confidence; Ryan jumps ship and finds a
new love interest besides his sister; Chad discovers doubt;
and Sharpay, a competitor.
Image:
9/9
The first number indicates a relative level of excellence
compared to other Blu-ray video discs on a ten-point scale.
The second number places this image along the full range of
DVD and Blu-ray discs.
The opening scene at the championship basketball game is
intensely saturated, contrasty, with a near overpowering
sense of red. Indeed, skin tones throughout the movie are
not nearly as natural as in HSM. I worried that this was a
new look for Disney and would persist throughout. Thankfully
it is not, but that's only because there is less red later
on. Saturation and contrast continues to be boosted in all
of the big musical set pieces. This is different from HSM
and HSM2 where color and contrast were vivid, but never to
the point of bringing attention to itself. In the previous
movies, especially HSM2, I found the boosting a little much,
but here, where there is even more of it, I think it sets
exactly the right tone. This is because there is no attempt
to make the musical numbers realistic, as if the kids
suddenly just burst out into song and dance. In HSM3, the
song and dance set pieces are deliberately fantastical, much
like the "Greased Lightning" number in the film version of
Grease. So why not a color and contrast scheme to go with
it?
While there was a subtle but perceptible fuzz that covered
the image at all times in HSM2 and slightly less so in HSM,
HSM3 Senior Year struck me as just about perfect (except for
the near creepy bloody basketball game, which I doubt is the
fault of the transfer). Sharpness and focus is spot on and
resolution is as tight as can be. Blacks are intense here –
far more courageous than either of the previous movies.
There's a willingness, especially at the aftergame nighttime
party and in some of the big musical numbers, to let parts
of the frame go just about completely dark, with just enough
shadow detail to keep things alive. This approach would have
been verboten in HSM and HSM2.
Audio & Music:
8/6
One thing that really bugged me about HSM and HSM2 was the
lack of believable lip-sync. Most of the actors, Vanessa
Hudgens (Gabriella) especially, were simply disconnected
from the act of singing. I don't mind looping as long as the
actors appear to be singing and not just flapping their
lips. The DTS HD-MA upgrade from previous HSM movies results
in a punchier audio mix but it also makes that disconnect
that much more apparent. It's as if veils have been lifted
and we can see and hear the wizard behind the curtain. It's
rather jolting at first, but then we get used to it and
accept its peculiar non-reality. Everything from the
drumline at the basketball game to the dialogue to the big
and little musical numbers is just that much clearer and
crisper.
Operations:
9
The menus here are among the most innovative and creative
I've encountered. Like pages from a school yearbook, they
are crammed with information about the various features. The
only downside is that some of those pages require a little
loading time.
Extras:
7
This 3-disc Deluxe Extended Edition includes a DVD of the
(extended) feature film and a digital copy disc for viewing
flexibility. The extra features are fairly brief and are so
cleverly laid out in the menu that finding and exploring
them is half the fun. So I'm going to omit the details
(except as noted in the listing above). HSM3 offers BDisney
Live, which HSM and HSM2 do not.
Bottom line:
7
HMS through HSM2 and HSM3 make for an interesting
progression – not only in terms of situational and character
development, but also in terms of commercial opportunity.
HSM3 – Senior Year simply oozes with the confidence that a
big budget brings. And the filmmakers take advantage of
bigger sets, more costumes changes and extravagant dance
routines. The image quality, while self-consciously more
vivid and less naturalistic than its predecessors, is more
highly resolved and the sound altogether more dynamic.
Blu-ray rules.
Leonard Norwitz
February 15th, 2009