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High School Musical 3: Senior Year
Walt Disney Pictures

High School Musical 3: Senior Year reviews


4.1

based on 26 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 56 votes
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Rate this movie

FILM:

MPAA RATING: G for General Audiences

Starring Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Tisdalel, Lucas Grabeel, Corbin Bleu, Monique Coleman, Bart Johnson, and Alyson Reed

Disney's High School Musical phenomenon leaps onto the big screen in High School Musical 3: Senior Year, in which America's favorite high school students hit senior year. Amidst a basketball championship, prom and a spring musical featuring all of the Wildcats, Troy and Gabriella vow to make every moment last as their lifelong college dreams put the future of their relationship in question. A crew of sophomore Wildcats joins in the fun as the film's incredible new music and exciting dance numbers take maximum advantage of the big screen. (Walt Disney Pictures)

GENRE(S):	Comedy \| Drama \| Family/Kids \| Musical \| Romance
WRITTEN BY:	Peter Barsocchini
DIRECTED BY:	Kenny Ortega
RELEASE DATE:	Theatrical: October 24, 2008
RUNNING TIME:	112 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

These are standard youth-movie dilemmas, but they're brought to life by the high-energy cast and the musical numbers, which Ortega shoots with electrifying pizzazz.

Chicago Tribune Tasha Robinson

What it lacks in narrative ambition, it makes up for in dazzling choreography.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

For the most part, the film's musical numbers are dynamic, propelling the story forward. The same cannot be said about Peter Barsocchini's colorless screenplay.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Catherine Dawson March

Disney raised the stakes by turning its hit TV-movie franchise into a feature film – and the bet has paid off.

TV Guide Perry Seibert

It's a well-produced yearbook that will one day bring back sweet memories for the cast and fans, but probably won't be of interest to anyone who wasn't part of the scene.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

A sweet, innocent look at an impossibly idealized high school world.

The New Yorker Anthony Lane

They give excellent value for money, launching into song the way that normal folk go to the bathroom--regularly, politely, and because, if they didn't, well, darn it, they might just burst.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

This is a movie that offers simple, buouyant pleasures.

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

Exudes genuine appeal, thanks to director Kenny Ortega's brilliant choreography and a gifted cast.

Los Angeles Times Mark Olsen

For those scoring at home, the third entry in the "High School Musical" series is better than the second but doesn't quite sustain the unvarnished, giddy highs of the first.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

Teenthrob Efron will be missed in future episodes by both adolescent girls and their moms who are only too happy to accompany their daughters to the theatre, but he's a handsome talent who's graduated to bigger projects.

USA Today Claudia Puig

Even if the refreshing gust doesn't stay with you long, it's fun while it lasts.

The New York Times Stephen Holden

A candy-colored never-never land that Peter Pan might envy.

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

It's hard to complain about a pop culture phenomenon built on unabashed innocence. And anyway, we might as well get used to it: Neither the movie nor the passionate tween squeals at a recent preview leave any doubt that "HSM 4" is on its way - or that the inevitable "College Musical" will be far behind.

Empire Helen O'Hara

If you're under 12, you won't be disappointed. If you're over 12, the fact this is as funny and bright as it is insipid won't stop you from avoiding it like the plague.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Travis Nichols

No spoilers here, but there are enough hints that the incoming class of happy-go-lucky theater folk will have plenty to do in the already-in-the-works fourth installment.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

Efron is the epitome of sexless Disney heartthrobs, but he's an electrifying song-and-dance man, so much so that his castmates (Bleu excepted) look like they have concrete shoes by comparison.

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

Set against a production design seemingly inspired by the American flag, director Kenny Ortega's choreography is industrial and efficient, if haplessly stranded somewhere between Michael Jackson and the Village People.

The Hollywood Reporter Stephen Farber

The result unfortunately has the blandness of a mediocre TV sitcom.

Variety Peter Debruge

While Ortega and fellow choreographers Charles Klapow and Bonnie Story stretch their imaginations, there's something almost lazy about the picture's underachiever script.

San Francisco Chronicle Peter Hartlaub

Unfortunately, the writing has become so bad that it becomes impossible to keep your head in the game - even as your toes continue to tap to the beat.

Film Threat Pete Vonder Haar

Right out of the gate, we realize that bringing the series to the big screen makes the flaws that much more obvious. The voices are too thin, the music and lyrics too simplistic, and the production values are – frankly – too "televisual."

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

High School Musical 3 wore me out, but I'm not the target audience. My favorite high school musical was "Hamlet 2."

Boston Globe Ty Burr

For all its unforgivable blandness, "High School Musical" opens young audiences to the charms of this most transporting of movie genres.

New York Post Kyle Smith

There is also something surgically sterile. The movie sounds as though it was recorded in a padded chamber instead of a bustling school, and it looks like it came from some alternate world, one that basks in the eternal sunshine of the spotless skin.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

If you're gay and/or eight years old, HSM3 is the movie event of the year.

The average user rating for this movie is 4.1 (out of 10) based on 56 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Sam G gave it a2:
Not the worst film I've ever seen, but it comes pretty close. I wonder what Walt Disney (an anti-gay right wing conservative) would say if he saw what has his company has become. The music is fairly poor, the voices are fairly high and the whole thing is fairly crappy.

Aron J. gave it a0:
I cant sit here and deny the success and fanbase of this movie, or the ones before it. Its huge and the kids love it. But, from someone who knows movies, its a mess, a horrid mess. Since its aimed at kids, the diologue doesnt have to be great, or even decent at all, and its not.

Harry T. gave it a0:
People giving this film 10s and 8s because it is the best film in the series is like giving the flu a 10 because it is the least lethal disease i can think of. This film is part of the ruin that is modern disney. Disney's only hope lies in reinventing themselves and hoping that Pixar keeps up the quality and the rest of the company. For a Musical, the music in this and the other 2 films is horrible. In many modern musicals, there is a mix of music but in the HSM series it is just all pop and stuff that appeals to 8 year olds and under. The "teen" idea behind the film is horrible because these characters are impossible for any teen to empathise with. I mean how many teens do you know that have rich parents and are the popular kids of the school that always perform in the musicals and somehow manage to insult people while hanging out with their sibling? outside of the world of this kids' trash, there are no actual teens like these characters.

Amanda M. gave it an8:
If you hate this movie, you're probably 15 years old trying to outgrow tween Disney culture, - ad good on ya for graduating to South Park, but honestly if you're not in the midst of adolescent rebellion, this movie is absolutely delightful. It's a full on, full bore musical that's unashamed of its exuberance, innocence or over-the-top-ness. The musical numbers are terrific, and after a few years of working together, these kids have real chemistry and theyve taken the dancing up several notches. It's easy to dismiss Effron as a disposable pretty boy idol, but he's really got the makings of an honest to goodess musical star. Looking for mindless, guilty pleasure fun - see this in on a big screen and try not to smile or feel uplifted - I dare ya.

A, Markscont gave it a10:
It's a blast! A musical that isn't ashamed of being a musical, and now they have the bucks behind the to be as fab as tthey wanna be!

Fed Up gave it a0:
Ted Mack would have kicked this movie off of his show as that is how awful it is. Don't spend your hard earned money on this trash.

Brandon A. gave it a0:
High School Musical 3 is a BIG WASTE OF MONEY! THEY RUINED DISNEY! This Live Action, Tween Star nonsense needs to STOP!!!!! Where are the CARTOONS?!? Where on earth is Mickey?!?!

High School Musical 3: Senior Year Walt Disney Pictures

High School Musical 3: Senior Year
Walt Disney Pictures