Steven Rochlin

Serving as just a movie, High School Musical fails in every regard. It however is not just a movie, it is a time capsule. It does something far more spectacular than just entertain, even if it was not what the movie originally intended. High School Musical captures an entire generation. With the rapid advancement of technology, our youth’s culture is constantly in a state of transformation. So often do we forget the little things that made our childhood so special and intimate. The feeling of nostalgia is one that can be so hard to replicate and yet so surreal. This feeling is something that High School Musical captures in its entirety. The movies charm that makes it so special is not something that can be conveyed with a movie that strives for objective perfection. The flaws in its creation and moments of cringe that are so easy to point out are what truly brings back the feeling of early adolescence. A cheesily cheerful, overly simplistic interpretation of schools social system is what we grew up with, it’s what we came to know and it unlocks a childish sensation that gets you to commit yourselves into the characters and the surreal world of High School Musical. You feel as though the internal struggles of Troy Bolton as he tries to pursue his passion of music despite his athletic reputation is happening not in real life, but in someplace that was just as familiar. It felt as though it as happening in the world of Drake and Josh, in the world of Wizards of Waverly Place and Good Luck Charlie. This was where I grew up in, a second home, and this is where I feel I am brought back to. High School musical gets a 5/5 for shaping a generation not with nuance or production quality, but with something perhaps accidental - a nostalgic charm.