Review by Leonard Norwitz
Studio:
Theatrical: Disney Channel
Blu-ray: Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment
Disc:
Region: A
Runtime: 98 min.
Chapters: 12
Size: 50 GB
Case: Locking Blu-ray case
Release date: February 17, 2009
Video:
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Resolution: 1080p
Video codec: AVC
Audio:
English 5.1 Uncompressed (48kHz/24-bit). English, French,
Spanish DD 5.1 Surround
Subtitles:
English SDH, French, Spanish, Swedish & more
Extras:
• Bringing It All Together: The Making of HSM (8:43)
• Sing Along with the Movie
• Disney Channel Dance Alongs (16:36)
• High School Reunion (5:51)
• Five Music Videos (13:57)
• Hollywood Premier (2:23)
• Learning the Moves (4:07)
The Film:
5
The first High School Musical to see the light of was its
sequel, High School Musical 2 – the one that takes place at
a country club over summer break. That was over a year ago.
This new Blu-ray then marks the first appearance of the
original 2006 movie. While the Blu-ray of HSM2 was an
"Extended" version with nearly a quarter hour added into to
the movie, this "Remix" version of
HSM actually applies only to the Bonus Features and not to
the movie at all. So, for better or worse, this video
contains the movie as it was shown on the tele.
High School Musical first aired on the Disney channel in
2006. It was popular enough that the sequel, according to
Disney's press release, was the most watched cable telecast
of all time, and "The High School Musical 2 soundtrack had a
spectacular debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 album chart,
a first for a television movie soundtrack."
There is already a second, and final sequel (with this cast
at any rate), HSM3: Senior Year (looks like no one is being
held back), with the principal featured characters returning
once again. In the first movie, Troy Bolton (Zac Efron,
channeling David Cassidy), the most popular boy at East High
School, encounters the girl who would be the love of his
high school life, the lovely Gabriella Montez (Vanessa
Hudgens, channeling Bambi's friend, Flower) at a party where
they are picked to sing a Karaoke duet. Both kids make as if
they are really uncomfortable singing in public, but you'd
never know it from the sound of them. They act surprised,
all the same.
Troy is the leader of the school basketball team, and
Gabriella is a transfer student and a whiz in science.
Troy's teammates (and the coach who happens to be Troy's
dad) and Gabriella's newfound friends command them to keep
their eye on the ball. But their duet has kindled an
unexpected interest in singing and thus the theatre and the
upcoming tryouts for the next school musical. This is where
Sharpay Evans (the deliciously scheming Ashely Tisdale) and
her twin brother (the seriously talented Lucas Grabell) come
in. They plan to make sure the parts of the lead couple go
to them, without any pesky competition.
I noted in my review of HSM2 that the dance numbers were
well staged and executed, but there seemed to be a precision
to it all that was just a little much. The first movie is
less pretentious. The kids hadn't yet reached star status
and it shows in their relatively spontaneous approach to
acting, singing and dancing. Even though the staging of the
numbers is professional, there are continuity problems that
emerge simply from its having a limited budget. e.g. a
person seen jumping off a table in the middle of the frame
disappears in the next cut. We see the table, but no kid.
It's overlooked because there are 40 others in the frame
competing for our attention.
While HSM2 might put us in mind of the Mickey Rooney/Judy
Garland musicals, the first movie might suggest Spin & Marty
– The Musical. Everyone is almost unbearably sweet and
sexless. Even Miss Sharpay is only teething on her baby
fangs. They may come in different colors, but it's only
superficial.
Image:
8/9
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.
Funnily enough, the image quality is just a tad better than
HSM2. The previously observed fuzz is still there, but less
pronounced, and even less noticeable in the opening karaoke
number. A fine grain is present throughout, but not at all
obtrusive. Color balance, especially skin tones, is natural
– more so than the sequels. (A comparison between HSM and
HSM3 in this regard is little scary.) All in all, a good
looking picture.
Audio & Music:
7/6
My observations of HSM2 hold for HSM as well: there is still
an acoustic disconnect between the prerecorded singing and
the actors as they lip sync, . Hudgens being the worst
offender. (I swear I can't put that voice and that girl
together.) Otherwise the sound is good, clear and crisp, if
unremarkable. The surrounds don't have much to do except for
the instrumental and chorus bits where everything comes
alive.
Operations:
8
The similarly pictured menu windows are sensibly laid out,
easy to access and come with summaries and timings for the
various features. A Play All for the Music Videos would have
been nice.
Extras:
6
This is where the "Remix" angle materializes. Bringing It
All Together: The Making of HSM and the Sing Along with the
Movie from the DVD, plus the Learning the Moves segment are
included here. In addition Disney gives us three more music
videos plus Disney Channel Dance Alongs, High School Reunion
and Hollywood Premier. Cheery as these extras are, they
would be hardly worth the purchase if it weren't for the
superior image and sound on the Blu-ray. Everything is in
good quality 480i.
Bottom line:
7
The "Remix" factor strikes me as a sly gimmick to make the
unwary think they're getting a different version of the
movie, when in fact they are only buying a handful of new
bonus features that don't, in my opinion, make the Blu-ray
attractive enough for purchase. What does make the upgrade
attractive is its superior image and sound. Hey, this is the
original movie looking and sounding as good as it's likely
to get. How could a true fan pass it up?
Leonard Norwitz
February 13th, 2009
