Hopefully everyone has watched High School Musical 2, because I sure enjoyed it! My sister and I sat down to watch it together. We were especially excited at the introduction and applauded when Kenny Ortega came on(we are long-time fans of Newsies). The musical numbers were every bit as fabulous as I expected, with more ensemble numbers than the first movie, and I felt that the ensemble numbers are the strongest points of these movies. Most exciting, this movie reminded me much more of  Newsies than the previous one.

It was a treat to see the opening number,  What Time Is It? in it’s full form. We’ve seen the music video version on the Disney Channel of course, but that cuts to clips from the movie. The number was amazing with it’s full choreography. The supporting characters seemed a bit more established in this movie and played bigger roles in the story which was nice to see. One important thing about these movies is that it’s an ensemble cast. Sharpay’s feature song, Fabulous really looked it, and it reminded me of a glamourous old-style movie musical down to the style of swimwear the girls had on. Ryan in the pool was just inspired.

Work It Out was another great ensemble number and well contrasted to Fabulous. You Are The Music In Me was basically this movie’s What I’ve Been Looking For with a slow version done by Troy and Gabriella and later a flashy reprise with a quicker tempo, although this time it was even more dramatic and Sharpay was accompanied by Troy instead of Ryan. I loved Ryan and Sharpay’s different relationships with their parents and how their dad kept straightening Ryan’s hat.

I Don’t Dance may have been the best number in the movie. First of all, it was really sad to see what happened to Ryan at the hands of Sharpay, especially when their parents started being friendly with Troy and he got left out. It was really sweet to see Ryan becoming friends with the other group and Gabriella extending the hand of friendship. The whole arc really further developed Ryan’s character, showing that he really is “not just Sharpay’s poodle”. It looked a bit awkward when Ryan showed up to the baseball game, and the contrast between his costume and everyone else’s was great visually. I think I actually got chills when they did I Don’t Dance. The song itself was very dynamic with lots of parts and the baseball game’s choreography just got more dramatic and elaborate as the song went on. I loved that they were singing “I Don’t Dance” while they were, in fact, dancing. Cutting between the baseball game and the dance off with a full ensemble dance in the middle, the number was simply amazing to watch. The pairing of Lucas with Corbin was in itself brilliant. It’s nice that they recognize Ryan’s talent and start rehearsing something for the talent show with him. The drama with Troy ignoring his friends and Sharpay ignoring her brother was well paralleled.

Go My Own Way, though Troy comes in in the end, is basically this movie’s version of When There Was Me And You, only it is more dramatic with a prettier setting and features very dramatic facial expressions from Troy. Bet On It is Troy’s first real solo song. It was a bit more like a music video, he was totally alone without alot of other setting around him, mostly just desert. I couldn’t help thinking that if it was Corbin doing that choreography those jumps would have been full flips. Everyday is the new Breaking Free, but it is improved by the whole cast joining in. It’s nice that Troy showed compassion by offering to sing with Sharpay anyway, but it’s funny how Ryan double-crossed her, and Sharpay even demonstrates her humanity by offering the star award to her brother. Troy and Gabriella were finally successful after 4 interrupted kiss attempts.

All For One was an amazing finale number with a great theme that included the entire cast and really captured the mood of the movie. All in all, I’m not ready to commit to a decision yet, but I think this movie may be better than the first. It was more polished and I think the cast has improved since the first movie, especially the younger ones.