High School Musical

There have been so many great things to write about over the past few days that I can barely crank them out.

I have been resorting to late-night blogging for the past few days because we aren't putting any of our fun plans on hold while I sit at the computer attempting to be interesting or pithy.

I started this post last week, but was overcome by events, what with the Attorney General finally being sent away in disgrace, the guilty plea and subsequent "apology" of Michael Vick, and the reports of the extracurricular activities of a certain perverted U.S. Senator.

Guess what? I don't want to talk about any of those freaks today. No, today, I want to talk about something more important: The incredible star-power of Disney's recently released "High School Musical 2"

Sure, some of you will tell me that you haven't seen it. Some of you will tell me you don't understand why it is so popular, but unless you live in a very far corner of the world, it isn't likely that you haven't heard of this second of two films that have turned the entertainment world on it's ear.

I didn't pay any attention to the first movie... not until I began hearing the music all of the time. You see, Soccer girl is right there in the middle of the target demographic. She loved the movie and the music. Mrs GF was already familiar with the whole swirling mass of movie, books, concert DVD, singalong CD, and soundtrack, but I was a latecomer.

I finally got to see the movie in one of the two trillion and twelve repeats on the Disney Channel, and to tell you the truth, I enjoyed it. I enjoyed it a great deal. I could see why it was so popular with so many people. The producers/directors were VERY smart about this film... They used the tried-and-true musical movie formula of a light plot, good visuals, hyper enthusiasm and catchy tunes that, while not being world-changing, were happy, upbeat, and eminently singable. Couple these things with an attractive cast, and you have a winner.

This past April, clan Gunfighter went to our local high-school to see a stage production of the first movie, while the buzz was building for the second movie. We loved it and I was gratified to see that I wasn't the only dad who knew the words to some of the songs.

Fast forward to last week, when we took a pause in our vacation to ensure that we would be settled in and fed and comfortable when it was time to watch "High School Musical 2" I suppose it won't surprise you to hear me say that the Gunfighter household is full of fans of this teen movie sensation! It was really great. It was nicely filmed, not too heavy on teen angst, well directed, scored, and choreographed. It's a winner.

Disney has had such a success a with these movies that there is now a "High School Musical Pep Rally" held several times a day at MGM studios.



The really cool thing about the "Pep Rally" is watching the other parents while the kids are watching it. While I took these pictures...




...you could see a lot of the parents singing along with their tweens!


The second time we saw the rally, I stood well back of the crowd to get some crowd photos and saw this grandmother/granddaughter duo dancing along. It was really great.

So, to summarize, see this movie... if you miss it's run on the Disney Channel, go to your local DVD source and get the first one on DVD, and wait for the second movie to arrive on DVD in November.

Remember, Wildcats, we're all in this together!