In 2006, High School Musical changed the Disney Channel forever. Telling the story of two star-crossed East High students, it was the first Disney Channel Original Movie to take the form of a fully-fledged musical. Tweens were instantly obsessed, and it soon became one of the most commercially successful productions in the network’s history. Disney immediately set out to satisfy the demand for similar franchises.
One such attempt to recapture the magic was Teen Beach Movie. A bolder take on the genre, the movie dropped its cast into the plot of a fictional musical. and has since gained its own passionate fanbase, who even declare it better than High School Musical. But would they be right, or does the latter still reign supreme?
High School Musical: Romance
All three installments of High School Musical revolve around the teenage romance between Troy and Gabriella. Melodramatic though this romance may be — Gabriella’s reasons for ending their relationship grow increasingly vague with each movie — it drives the entire series. If the basketball star and academic prodigy had never met, East High would have stuck to the “status quo” forever.
Everyone went wild for Troyella in the noughties, and part of the fascination probably stemmed from the fact that actors Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens were dating at the time. But even 15 years after the first movie’s release, the chemistry still holds up and overshadows the blander dynamic between Teen Beach Movie‘s Mack and Brady.
Teen Beach Movie: Creative Plot
The plot of Teen Beach Movie reads something like a fever dream. Two teenagers are swept up by a big wave, which somehow washes them into the world of “Wet Side Story,” a fictional 1960s musical depicting the conflict between surfers and bikers. It’s absolutely mind-boggling, relentless fun.
In terms of originality, High School Musical just can’t compete. Audiences of all ages understand the friction between what the world expects them to be and who they really are, which is exactly why Disney used it as the blueprint for the movie. Sadly, the price for this universal relatability is predictability.
High School Musical: Iconic Costumes
Sharpay Evans is the best character in High School Musical for plenty of reasons, one of which is her sense of style. The diva’s hot pink ensembles remain wearable to this day. Pre-teen wardrobes of 2006 were heavily influenced by Wildcat cheerleader costumes and the red dress Gabriella wore in the big “We’re All in This Together” finale.
There’s nothing bad about the costumes of Teen BeachMovie,per se. It’s just that most of the outfits could belong to any budget Disney Channel Original Movie. Considering the amount of inspiration they could have drawn from the classic beach party movies after which it was named, the wardrobe is a bit of a letdown.
Teen Beach Movie: Sense Of Humor
The very concept of Teen Beach Movie is ridiculous, and it knows that. What makes the movie so good is that it’s completely in on the joke and never takes itself too seriously. Characters acknowledge how illogical it is that everyone randomly bursts into the same song and choreography, and Ross Lynch pulls out all the stops as a musical-obsessed fanboy living his dream.
That’s not to say High School Musical doesn’t have funny moments. These laughs just tend to come from one of two things — Ashley Tisdale’s flawlessly cutting one-liners as Sharpay, or at the expense of Troy’s periodic meltdowns over the age-old battle between basketball and music. A sense of humor was written into the very DNA of Teen Beach Movie, but in High School Musical it’s just a byproduct of some good old teenage melodrama.
High School Musical: Catchy Soundtrack
Sure, there are a few duds like “When There Was Me and You”, but for the most part, High School Musical is hit after hit. Every movie delivers a satisfying mix of ballads and uptempo numbers, with “Gotta Go My Own Way” and “Bet On It” among the highlights. Impressively, the music’s success wasn’t just limited to the Disney Channel demographic — the original soundtrack became the first of a made-for-TV movie to top the Billboard charts.
While many would be able to complete the lyrics to the likes of “Breakin’ Free” without watching the movie, the same can’t really be said for any song from Teen Beach Movie. There are a few catchy tunes like “Falling For Ya”, but the soundtrack is largely forgettable.
Teen Beach Movie: Choreography
While not all of the tracks in Teen Beach Movie hit home, the dances are incredible. The showstopper “Cruisin’ for a Bruisin’” is the clear standout, but every number manages to reach standards way beyond those of the average television movie.
Still, High School Musical had some fun dance scenes. Thanks to the work of director and iconic choreographer Kenny Ortega, of Dirty Dancing and Newsies fame, every fan tried to recreate the steps to “Get’cha Head in the Game” and “We’re All in This Together” back in the day. However, this was for good reason — the moves are just so easy and lack the innovation of Teen Beach Movie.
High School Musical: Emotional Connection
With a trilogy comes the gift of watching characters grow and evolve. Over the course of three years, audiences got to follow Troy and Gabriella through the highs and lows of their final school years, before waving them off to college in the last song of the theatrical sequel High School Musical 3: Senior Year. For pre-teens undergoing similar life changes, it was like a cinematic comfort blanket.
There are only two installments in the Teen Beach Movie series, so it was never going to deliver the same impact. As viewers didn’t get to follow the characters through their daily lives, it was also difficult to emotionally relate enough to shed a tear at the end of the final movie.
Teen Beach Movie: Real Conflict
As silly as Teen Beach Movie‘s concept may be, Mack and Brady face a very real threat: if they don’t manage to stop Les Camembert and Dr. Fusion and restore the plot of “West Side Story”, they’ll be stuck in the movie forever. This gives viewers a ludicrous yet clear cause to root for, and a villain to root against.
The stakes aren’t quite as high in High School Musical. Besides some inconsequential inter-clique drama, the only real conflict is who gets cast in the winter musical. The fact the supposed villains, Sharpay and Ryan Evans, arguably deserve the roles more than the actual protagonists makes it even more difficult to care who wins.
High School Musical: Strong Ensemble
Stripped to its core, the key to High School Musical‘s success is a stellar ensemble cast. Zac Efron’s Troy may have been the fan favorite, but all of the main six — which included Gabriella, Sharpay, Ryan, Chad, and Taylor — were stars. All had distinctive personalities and multiple musical moments to shine, and it was always satisfying to see them come together for the final number.
Theoretically, Teen Beach Movie has a smaller cast to flesh out, so it should have been able to build a stronger ensemble, but it gets weighed down by its much more complex plot. With less time to establish the dynamics, the group never gels as well as High School Musical.
Teen Beach Movie: Sequel Potential
With a plot as outlandish as Teen Beach Movie, there really aren’t any rules when it comes to a sequel. The second movie went down the route of bringing the cast of “West Side Story” into the modern-day, but there are plenty more wacky threads filmmakers could follow if a third was ever commissioned.
Although the High School Musical franchise has spawned the spin-off High School Musical: The Series (in many ways better than the movies), the potential for a direct sequel is limited. Not only is there a lack of musical-based drama in the post-high school world, but the series ended on a perfect note, quite literally closing the curtain on an iconic chapter of Disney Channel history.
