I was either going to love or loathe this one, I knew. I wanted to love it, had a horrible feeling I might loathe it … and it turned out to be neither here nor there and really not worth the build-up, lol. It took me long enough to find a screening on the Disney Channel that wasn’t the “sing-a-long” or “dance-a-long” version, and those little offshoots didn’t exactly boost my confidence, lol (yeh, I downloaded the movie shortly after its US premiere, but since I hadn’t got round to watching it I figured I may as well wait for a legal screening :-P) I loved Vanessa Anne Hudgens in Thirteen, she even saved Thunderbirds for me, sad but true, so I knew there’d be at least something in its favour.

Anyway … I guess this was really the only way the ever-rumoured “Grease 3” was gonna work, on the small screen. It was inevitably gonna be full of teenyboppers and American Idol / X Factor generation auto-tuned pop (remember when Britney was gonna do it?). On the television screen and under a different title it can at least appear to rise above its station of Disney Channel “Original Movie!” I know shouldn’t be cynical, it’s great that a movie like this can still be made, but y’know, I just wish it could’ve been a little less phony, cheap, and tiny. It is not as phenomenal as its so-called phenomena suggests. Not nearly. Don’t expect “Grease” (I know, who does? But I’m just saying :P). It’s not even as good as Grease 2 as far as I’m concerned Alysson Reed as exasperated (mostly over cellphones) drama teacher Ms. Darbus does a great Eve Arden at times though. Why all the Grease reference? Well, the movie’s working title was apparently “Grease 3” – and though I’m sure Paramount would never have let Disney steal that logo from them, and I’m sure it was never intended to be the final title, well, it really is rather – nay, incredibly – Greasy and might as well have had it.

Me, I’ll take Lindsay Lohan in Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen over this any day – it’s the same thing, only less Greasy and more cinematic. This is really just okay, with a scattering of moments that, I’ll admit, do kinda grab one by the throat – and the lip-synching on Zac Efron surpasses anything in Phantom of the Opera, even if his dubbed voice does sound like a chipmunk – but as I said, it’s nowhere near as good as its reputation.

This entry was posted on Friday, October 27th, 2006 at 3:36 am in 3 hearts, Movie Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.