Story
It’s the final year of school at East High, Albuquerque, and the Wildcats narrowly beat their opponents in the final basketball match for the year. It’s time to think about graduation, the prom and the final school production. School prima donna, Sharpay Evans (Ashley Tisdale), wants to take centre stage but Kelsi (Olesya Rulin), the composer, persuades everyone to work together and put on a great show for their last year. Troy Bolton (Zac Efron) and his girlfriend Gabriella Montez (Vanessa Hudgens) are given lead roles, much to Sharpay’s disgust.
The end of high school also means that the students face many difficult decisions about their future. For most of them, this means deciding which college to attend. Gabriella is offered a prestigious honours course at Stanford University. Accepting it would mean giving up her role in the performance, missing her prom and separating from Troy. Troy is also torn between basketball – the path his father wants him to take – and the performing arts, which is where his drama teacher thinks he should go.
Themes
Stage rivalry; career choices
Violence
There is some violence in this movie including:
- some rough play on the basketball court
- Troy slapping another boy on the face.
Content that may disturb children
Under 5
In addition to the violent scenes mentioned above, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children under the age of five, including the following:
- noise and shouting on the basketball court
- two boys colliding on the basketball court, with one being badly injured.
Over 5
Children over five are unlikely to be disturbed by anything in this film.
Sexual references
None of concern
Alcohol, drugs and other substances
None of concern
Nudity and sexual activity
There is some hand-holding and gentle kissing in this movie.
Product placement
None of concern
Coarse language
None of concern
Ideas to discuss with your children
High School Musical 3: Senior Year is a family-friendly musical aimed at the tween and teen market. It is the first in the High School Musical series to be released for the big screen. Although lacking a complex plot or developed characters, it has some great song and dance sequences and features talented performers.
The main messages from this movie are about finding yourself and deciding what is important in life.
Values in this movie that you might wish to reinforce with your children include the importance of working as a team.