Best movie of this year hands down!

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

The acting in this movie is really good.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

I haven't seen the High School Musical movies and I'm not really sure I want to after having seen this. This movie was boring, stupid, and just fell flat. Sharpay Evans (Ashley Tisdale) goes to New York to become an actress, but encounters rivals. Seriously. That's it. I pretty much just summed up the entire movie in one sentence. I haven't seen the High School Musical Movies but I'm pretty sure that Sharpay was supposed to be one of the antagonists. So why should fans of the franchise really care about if she makes it in New York or not. She acts like JP Morgan and pretty much just disapproves of all people not as rich as her for that reason. I'm sorry but why should we give a care about this character? The rest is all stock. In other words I really don't recommend this movie at all.

As with HSM, I found the first viewing to be empty, particularly at the start.As with HSM, I found additional viewings to be okay fun.I found it to be an okay Sharpay story. I do not have the extended version so other principals from HSM were not there other than her brother appearing twice in the soundtrack as background music. This story has several songs sung musical style and several as background, drama style.I can like the music, just as much as I can like HSM music. As with HSM, I can really like some of the frocks. So there is storyline, but to me that is not the most important thing with these stories.

When I 1st heard about this spin-off of HSM, I had every thought in my mind that this film would suck at all cost and I really wanted to hate it so much. But to my surprise, it turned out pretty good and I must say that they really took Sharpay's character in the right direction in the sense that she evolved from this bratty, rotten, unreasonable, abusive, and self-centered drama queen to this hopeful, ambitious, yet caring and more sensitive and determined young woman who is so focused on fulfilling her Broadway dreams. She evolved so much that if you watched this film without seeing the HSM films, you would think that Sharpay's always been like this. My personal favorite part of the movie is the extended ending when her twin brother Ryan(Lucas Grabeel) comes to visit her because it brought me back to the old HSM days and this time she wasn't abusing him like she did in HSM 1 and 2, and occasionally in HSM 3. The music was acceptable, but not mind-blowing like any of the HSM songs, Lucas Grabeel even got to record Baby by Justin Bieber. Overall, I think this film was much more realistic than any of the HSM movies, but it was also more aimed towards girls. This isn't a terrible film, but it's not a definite crowd- pleaser either. A fairly good attempt Disney. I give this film a 7.5/10

i dunno. what'ya say about stuff like this? especially when you find that for no apparent reason you find yourself liking it. as a 49 year old male i'm disturbed by the fact that i wanted to see this let alone end up liking it. i even purchased this movie at Target. but the only reason i did that was because i defaulted on my credit and bank cards and wasn't able to rent it at Blockbuster Express. even though i really enjoyed this and thought it was wholesome entertainment for little girls, kids should probably be told that stuff like this is pretty much commercial brain rot and is usually aimed at the lowest common denominator. still, i like Disney movies and i'm one of those rare birds that actually really loves musicals. so i enjoyed this a lot. kinda double funny as well since i'm not a 'High School Musical' fan. i like this kind of stuff, but Disney 'HSM' movies are so gooey corny they push the puke factor. besides, everyone who knows knows the 'HSM' franchise appeals more to little kids and babies more than it appeals to older more jaded high school kids.'Sharpay' is the same. it's about a young girl going off to college and a career, but it's primary appeal is mostly for the small fry. i mean Sharpay and some little kid sing and dance cutesy poo songs with little dogs and stuff. heavy baby factor. but still i liked this. the song numbers, although cutesy and aimed at children, were actually kind of adorable and had a lot of ooky appeal if you happen to like kids and little dogs. which i kinda do. plus Sharpay, er i mean Ashley Tisdale, was actually very good and not without engaging talent. Tisdale also has a better voice than Miley Cyrus.look. no one in their right mind can make a argument that this is great filmmaking or contributes anything to society or culture, but it was cute. and it was very wholesome entertainment. more wholesome and clean than much of the kiddie'tainments offered on Nickolodeon.little girls and their baby sisters are in good hands with little Sharpay, so their mommies and daddies needn't worry about this. the only bad influence here is possibly Sharpay's consumer obsession. but that also probably depends on your political viewpoints.as a 49 year old male my main concern is becoming some kind of fem-bot by watching too much girly stuff like this. oh well, nobody is perfect and i hate the whole macho role anyway. Sharpay is right, the meaning of life is have fun and enjoy yourself and don't be too mean about it. hey Boi!! ooky.