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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.

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.

Supported By

  • Department of Social Services

Raising Children Network is supported by the Australian Government. Member organisations are the Parenting Research Centre and the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute with The Royal Children’s Hospital Centre for Community Child Health.

Member Organisations

  • Parenting Research Centre
  • The Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne
  • Murdoch Children's Research Institute

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