The Second Little Musical That Could

We all know about the High School Musical phenomenon. We know the first movie has been seen by nearly 200 million viewers worldwide. We know the original soundtrack was the best-selling album of 2006. We know the second soundtrack has already topped the charts, selling more than a half-million units its first week of release. We know that High School Musical 2 became the most-watched cable show ever when more than 17 million people tuned in to watch its premiere. We know that another 3 jillion kids will watch Disney Channel's countless upcoming reruns.

We know. We know.

But the question isn't whether HSM2 is huge. It's whether it's good.

The answer: Yes. But.

First, a few particulars. HSM2, like its forerunner, revolves around the bumpy teenage romance of Troy, East High School's reigning basketball MVP, and beautiful, brainy Gabriella. Their unlikely relationship—based, apparently, on mutual respect and catchy song-and-dance numbers—is still going strong; so much so that Troy gives Gabriella a pretty little necklace with a big "T" pendant.

The "T" stands for Troy. But it might well also stand for Trouble. School diva Sharpay—a G-rated Paris Hilton wannabe with a Barbie-pink golf cart—has her eyes on East High's top jock, too. She believes she and Troy are destined to be together (or, at the very least, sing together). So to help their nonexistent relationship along, she gets Troy a summer job at her daddy's swank country club.

"Troy, I've always known you were special," she says. "And it's pretty obvious I'm special, too."

To Sing or Not to Sing (And With Whom to Sing)
Troy convinces the club's manager to hire everyone from East High who can carry a tune, including lovely Gabriella. But Troy's friends can't protect him from Sharpay's money and influence. Thanks in part to her finagling, Troy gets a promotion, conditional club membership and new Italian shoes. The basketball squad at the University of Albuquerque takes a shine to the lad, and Sharpay suggests that, with her pop's help, she could get him a scholarship there. It doesn't take long before Troy starts ignoring his high school buds and skipping dates with Gabriella.

The final straw comes when Troy agrees to sing a duet with Sharpay in the country club's ballyhooed talent competition. Gabriella suddenly begins to think the "T" on her necklace stands for Two-Faced Trickster. So she quits her job and (gasp!) breaks up with her big man on campus.

The Cast of Grease
The breakup, of course, lasts about as long as a ride on Space Mountain. This is a high school musical, remember, and one made by Disney at that. The franchise's teeming fans would surely lay siege to the Mouse House's corporate headquarters (assuming their parents would drive them there) if Troy and Gabriella missed out on their predestined "happily ever after" ending.

That's no knock on this mostly innocent, usually charming, always tuneful dance-fest, though. The first High School Musical proved there's a gargantuan market for kids' movies free of sex, swearing or any self-aware irony. The second shows that Disney isn't about to mess with a sure thing.

When Sharpay discovers her East High schoolmates have been working on a musical number with her brother, she loses it: "I said keep an eye on them—not turn them into the cast of Grease," she fumes.

But this is not Grease. Thematically, it's far, far better. In Grease, the good girl turns bad to get the guy. In HSM2, the bad girl turns good and still doesn't get the guy. She's OK with that, though. At least until the next sequel.

These high schoolers don't have fake IDs or swear like, well, high schoolers. In fact, the rowdiest they get is saying "gosh" and "golly" a time or two. And the most rebellious Troy and Gabriella get is when they take an after-hours dip—swimsuits fully intact—in the country club pool. Sharpay calls her mother a "backstabber." But she's the villain, right? She's supposed to be a little nasty.

Shun Sexual—Grab Gleeful
For the record, HSM2 and HSM1 are practically twins, but they're not identical. Troy and Gabriella actually kiss in 2, for one thing. They hug more often. Their interplay seems "older," slightly more sensual. (And mostly because of its poolside setting, so does the rest of the movie.)

Chad, Troy's best friend, refers to his main squeeze as a "hottie." A few dance numbers feature short skirts and a hip-wiggle or three. And girls' outfits sometimes show cleavage or expose a sliver of midriff.

But if we're left to talking about how rubbing a shoulder or arm amounts to a sexual uptick, it only helps illustrate how relatively prim HSM2 is. The choreography is full of glee and glam, not sex and sleaze. Even at the pool, guys wear typical baggy trunks while girls reliably lounge in one-piece suits or tankinis.

Nice Guys Follow Their Hearts
That's the skinny on, um, skin. But on a note that might've come straight from HSM1, it's what's underneath that counts. HSM2's central conflict revolves around Troy's status as the country club's "It" boy. He's being given opportunities his classmates aren't getting—most enticingly a potential college scholarship, which would be a boon to his cash-strapped family.

Troy feels funky about all the attention at first. But his father encourages him to embrace it.

"Never be ashamed of attention as long as you've earned it," Dad says.

That's pretty good advice, I'd say. But Troy, in following his father's lead, turns into a big (more like medium-size) jerk. He blows off dates with Gabriella and alienates his friends. Chad says he doesn't even recognize his best friend anymore. Stay true to yourself and don't be a jerk, Troy slowly learns—while underlying subtext suggests that enjoying the here-and-now (summertime with friends, for instance) is more important than planning for the future (getting a scholarship).

That message is, on one level, biblical: "Do not worry about tomorrow," Jesus says in Matthew 6, "for tomorrow will worry about itself." But it's biblical to plan a little, too (Proverbs 21:5). And it quickly becomes clear that HSM2's whole "live for the moment" philosophy has less to do with Scripture than it does with Disney's veritable mission statement: Follow your heart. On what may be the musical's key song, "Bet On It," Troy berates himself for losing his way and not trusting his heart. He sings, "The answers are all inside of me/All I got to do is believe."

Thankfully, in this case, Troy's fictional heart doesn't betray him in the way it's so apt to do in real life. In the end, he and Chad hug and make up ("Brothers fight, but they're still brothers"). Sharpay, for her part, once again gets a good, redemptive dose of humility.

That's great, because High School Musical 2 deserves a happy ending. The Disney Channel has somehow found a way to balance content-conscious family entertainment with the all-too-real tyranny of the bottom line. And as its much-beloved TV movie informs scores of young fans that nice guys can finish first, it also proves that nice movies can, too.