Question

歌舞青春2英语观后感

Answer 1

The story begins several months after the original. With summer vacation approaching, Troy Bolton (Zac Efron) and the gang are on the lookout for jobs. Despite what the ending of the first film may have implied, Sharpay (Ashley Tisdale) still can't quite get over her love for Troy and her hatred for his girlfriend Gabriella (Vanessa Anne Hudgens).
She arranges for Troy to come work at the Lava Springs Country Club her family owns, but he accepts the job on the condition that the rest of his friends are hired also. Sharpay decides to get closer to Troy by dangling a basketball scholarship over his head by means of her connections, though only if he'll perform alongside her at the annual staff talent show. As Troy spends most of his time with either Sharpay or the people that can land him a scholarship, Gabriella and the others begin to feel left out. They try to cope by competing in the talent show themselves with the help of Sharpay's brother Ryan (Lucas Grabeel), which decidedly complicates Sharpay's plans.
As with many other sequels, High School Musical 2 takes a bigger is better approach. Unfortunately, such a tactic only magnifies and exaggerates the flaws of the original that have been carried over here. If there is anything this film is not, it's subtle. Every line, gesture, and facial expression is over the top and hammy. Now, such a style can work if a film has its tongue in its cheek, such as with The Princess Diaries or Enchanted. Those films succeed because they know how ridiculous some of their material is, and so they playfully reveled in it. High School Musical 2, on the other hand, takes itself seriously, almost to a disturbing degree.
The performances are quite a mixed bag. The campiest characters in the film, Sharpay and Ryan, actually work thanks to the fact that Ashley Tisdale and Lucas Grabeel seem to realize what level of irony is needed for such corny material. Our two leads, Troy and Gabriella, are hopelessly bland. Usually blandness stems from wooden underacting. Zac Efron and, to a lesser degree, Vanessa Anne Hudgens somehow manage to play their leading parts in a forced and phony manner while still ending up insipid.

The only actors who come across naturally and interestingly are Corbin Bleu, Monique Coleman, Olesya Rulin as Chad, Taylor, and Kelsi, respectively. Unfortunately, these three aren't given much to do outside of watching events from the sidelines and commentating. With such a mishmash of caricatures, ciphers, and realistic personalities, things inevitably come across unevenly. It doesn't help that the ciphers are the main focus.
The musical numbers here are, to be frank, laughable. This certainly isn't the fault of the cast, though. These kids quite obviously have talent both in singing and dancing. The problem comes from the choreography and songs themselves. Nowhere is director Kenny Ortega's bigger is better method more appalling than in these numbers. The dancing on display is too steeped in modern sensibilities to be timeless, and yet it's too showy and stagey to be looked at through serious modern eyes. In other words, it's too hip for Broadway and too Broadway for modern dance. All of the songs have a distinctly electronic sound to them and try desperately to be seen more as MTV-style singles than Broadway standards. They don't even contribute much to the storyline. The number one sin in film musicals is having songs that stop the story dead in its tracks. Three-quarters of the numbers here do just that. They're often self-indulgent, and when they aren't, they simply (and needlessly) re-emphasize what's already been established via dialogue.
The two most unintentionally hilarious scenes stem from the I Don't Dance and Bet on It numbers. The former makes absolutely no sense as it deals with Ryan trying to convince Chad to join the talent show. Chad retorts with how he doesn't dance... and he expresses this view through dancing. Add to that a level of what one hopes is intentional innuendo that's gotten fan fiction writers across the web going into ecstasy. The Bet on It number is hysterical in its own right due mainly to the choreography. Zac Efron leaps, prances, and gyrates his hips uncontrollably through rolling fields and meadows on the country club property. One can't help but wonder what Ortega was thinking while creating and directing this. If this is some sort of statement about the current preteen generation, then the film should be applauded for being the most hilarious satire of 2007. Otherwise, most of the people involved here (especially Efron) will want to pretend this film never existed about 5 years down the road.