High School Musical

Premiering on the Disney Channel 20 years ago, and quicky becoming the most successful original TV-movie for the channel, High School Musical took the Romeo & Juliet-esque themes of mismatched lovers to high school to the delight of audiences with its choreographed dance numbers, pop hits, and the kind of warm fuzzy tone where despite all obstacles you know everything will turn out all right in the end.

The film's soundtrack (including "Start of Something New," "What I've Been Looking For," "Stick to the Status Quo," "When There Was Me and You," and "Bop to the Top") became the best-selling album of the year, and the TV-movie launched the careers of Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, and Ashley Tisdale.

After a karoke meet-cute at a party on Christmas Eve, the plot of the film follows the brainy Gabriella Montez (Vanessa Hudgens) to her new school where she reconnects with top basketball star Troy Bolton (Zac Efron). Despite both having predefined roles within their cliques, the two fall in love and inspire each other to try out for the high school musical (which, like their relationship, their friends think is an unnecessary distraction).

There's plenty of basic romcom tomfoolery, in which even the head basketball coach and Drama teacher are obstructions, and the various machinations of Sharpay Evans (Ashley Tisdale) and her twin brother Ryan (Lucas Grabeel) who try to steal the leading roles in the musical for themselves. However, Troy and Gabriella have the support of the play's author and songwriter Kelsi (Olesya Rulin) who help them find their voices, and everything works out fine in the end for all involved in a pretty schmaltzy final act where the various barriers to their relationship fall away and their friends come together to help them achieve a shared success.

Despite having a mixed reaction from critics, the success of the film led to two sequels, in which the third film even got a theatrical release, foreign remakes, a concert film, a stage musical, a spin-off for Sharpay, and a rebooted TV-series. High School Musical isn't great, but it's a pretty good TV-movie, and, for some, a cultural touchstone. It certainly has charm and some catchy tunes and is helped by the casting of some budding stars all breaking out at same time.

• Title: High School Musical
• IMDb: link