All the 'High School Musicals', Ranked - Inside the Magic

The answer to the perennial question, “what team?” is inevitably, “WILDCATS”.

This series of made-for-television movies (until the last one, well, wasn’t) is known the world over for its sheer cultural brilliance, encapsulating a very particular era of The Walt Disney Company, and its endeavors into television programming.

This teen-centric movie is a whole generation’s Grease (1978). One of the major differences being that for all we know, Zac Efron didn’t become a Scientologist. The other one being that High School Musical is not an adaptation of a previous work, but a full-on Disney Channel Original Movie.

The Disney Channel

It all began in the 1950s with several Christmas specials and their anthology series, The Wonderful World of Disney which ran from 1954 to 2008, beginning its life as Walt Disney’s Disneyland (1954–1958) and Walt Disney Presents (1958–1961). The establishment of the Walt Disney Television Animation department took place under the leadership of CEO Michael Eisner at the Walt Disney Company in November 1984.

What is the High School Musical trilogy?

The High School Musical (HSM) movies were created in that transition period between truly “Michael Eisner-as-Disney-CEO”, 90s-Y2K millennium-chic and the internet-obsessed, social media-dominated 2010s. In the lull sat the High School Musical age — from 2006 to 2008 — where the Disney Channel truly cemented itself as a cornerstone of 2000s kid culture.

Directed and co-choreographed by Kenny Ortega, the films follow the story of high school basketball star Troy Bolton (Zac Efron), and Gabriella Montez, a shy, bookish transfer student, as they grow up and navigate the challenges of high school, love, and pursuing their passion for music at Albuquerque, New Mexico’s East High School . The franchise became a cultural phenomenon, known for its catchy songs, memorable characters, and themes of friendship, teamwork, and pursuing one’s dreams.

The popularity of the 2000s DCOM franchise has proved its staying power even today. The High School Musical movies (2006-2008) created cultural talking points when they aired, turning Zac Efron (Troy Bolton) and Vanessa Hudgens (Gabriella Montez) into household names back then. How popular is this series? Well, in 2019, the franchise even got soft-revived into a new Disney+ Original, High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, starring Olivia Rodrigo (Nini Salazar-Roberts) and Joshua Bassett (Ricky Bowen).

But we’re not talking about HSM: TM: TS today. Today, we’re looking strictly at the HSMs, and that’s the original HSMs only. Sorry, direct-to-video Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure (2011). As campily pink as you are, you just don’t make the cut!

Every High School Musical film ranked, from worst to best

Here is our definitive ranking of all the HSM movies.

3. High School Musical 3: Senior Year (2008)

Unfortunately, the lowest on the list gets this distinction simply because of its bigger budget and need to come across as somewhat “cool” to nab a wider audience. Some of those bright-eyed, defined block colors from before are removed in favor of putting forth a cinema-friendly, glitzier version of a High School Musical franchise film.

Gone is anything as ridiculous as golf course-centric “Bet On It” — instead we get the grittier, flashier version of “Troy’s self-indulgent rage solo” in “Scream”. Maybe it’s a personal gripe, but it feels less punchy than its predecessors. Something about trying to get all “realistic” in the color grading and “cool” cinematography detracts a bit from the overall 2000s teen-kitsch identity of the movie, especially compared to its siblings.

Still, it’s not devoid of that classic HSM charm — arguably the strongest number is “I Want It All” which goes full-on Broadway glam in Sharpay Evans (Ashley Tisdale) and Ryan Evans’ (Lucas Grabeel) star-studded future-fantasy. And it does that typical HSM, “everything is heightened” thing, and it does it well.

“A Night to Remember” is also fun — but overall that “sparkle” is just missing a little from the rest of the movie’s music. We don’t even really get to see their actual prom in full despite all the hype, which is a bit of a shame.

Gabriella and Troy’s soaring couples’ balled, usually a major emotional beat and used to deliver a big punch — is now just kind of “there”. Both of their couple songs, really. Both “Can I Have This Dance” and “Right Here, Right Now” are pretty and sweet, but they don’t really move the story along or encapsulate any particularly important emotions/plot beats. It’s certainly no “Start of Something New”, “Breaking Free”, or “Everyday”.

Overall HSM3 is still a solid choice! Definitely worth a watch for the DCOM connoisseur and still interesting to see where the different characters end up — and how they get there amid the panic and chaos of graduating high school. That epic ending is an absolute harkening to “We’re All In This Together”, and the energy is still infectious as ever. But at the end of the day, it can’t hold a candle to what’s next on the list.

2. High School Musical 2 (2007)

You might be surprised to see HSM2 taking only second spot — but before you grab your East High Wildcats-themed baseball bats — think about how much of this film is actually set in high school.

Can we really have the best film in a franchise called “High School Musical”, have almost all its action taking place at a random country club? Barring the first, explosive introductory number, “What Time Is It?” (obviously, the answer is: summer time), a movie called High School Musical 2 does not even take place at said High School. Nor is it ever really about a musical. Here, the East High Wildcats and their singing and dancing classmates take to Sharpay Evans’ parents’ country club for a summer of fun in the sun and part time job money.

It’s still amazing. But despite a bevy of ridiculously fun songs and scenes — from the ambiguously queer vibes of Chad Danforth (Corbin Bleu) and Ryan Evans’ (Lucas Grabeel) baseball game in “I Don’t Dance”, to Troy’s campy solo, golf-course-extravaganza “Bet On It”, Sharpay’s Barbiecore poolside “Fabulous”, and the absolute banger that is “Everyday” — the movie kind of revolves around the exact same plot point as the first movie. Sharpay (rather suddenly might I add, after seemingly coupling with Zeke at the end of HSM1) wants to get together with Troy to take first place in the country club’s talent show. She then sows discord between Troy and Gabriella. Chad is mad that Troy is doing something for himself again. It’s kind of the same movie with a different coat of paint, as fun as it is!

And as much as this visually iconic film (look at those bright summer colors!) pops on screen and delivers hit after hit — it eschews the classic HSM (and Wildcats) color scheme of red and white for a ton of blues, greens, and neon pinks. Overall it’s just a bit of an outlier, however its very clear identity is something to be lauded. In conclusion, it’s very, very close to being the best — but sometimes you just can’t beat the classics.

1. High School Musical (2006)

The one that started it all.

From that weird ski lodge party, it was the start of something new.

As the lyrics clearly tell us, Troy Bolton and Gabriella Montez were “living in their own world”, and “didn’t understand” that any of this insanity would happen. How could star basketball player and East High Wildcat, Troy, and book-loving Mathlete, Gabriella, ever even think of auditioning for their school musical?

The original High School Musical became a cultural phenomenon for a reason. Sure, you can see the plot happening from a mile away, and the heightened, comic fantasy of it all sometimes hits with particular force — but there’s a certain earnestness in the complete conviction with which the ensemble dance and sing through their high school problems, like their lives depend on bullying a poor guy for making (and offering!) them free crème brûlée.

Of course, everything is hyper-staged and corny, but one could argue that the movie operates on a sort of weird meta level. I mean, it’s called “High School Musical”, and it’s technically about a bunch of kids in a high school auditioning for their Spring Musical — but never at any point does the audience see the high school’s musical itself — instead, the movie is the High School Musical. Taking the drama of new students transferring in, amid “queen bee” characters and high school jocks and social pressure, the movie puts in far more effort than necessary getting across the plot’s emotions and character beats, with aggressively show-stopping numbers for the most mundane high school problems.

There is not a single flop song, arguably (except maybe Gabriella’s solo “When There Was Me and You” goes on a tad too long), and though it doesn’t hold some of the same flamboyant camp as its direct sequel, the first movie takes the relatively simple story and dials everything up to levels of almost comic absurdity that kind of “just works”. We didn’t need “Bop to the Top” or Ryan’s array of colorful, jauntily angled hats, but we got it anyway.

In the end, the original High School Musical just can’t be beat. It’s a lot less flashy than the other two follow-ups, but sometimes that works better.

It’s altogether easy to look at these movies with disdain. But it would be a greater folly to dismiss — and not revel in — the condensed, exaggerated joy of such cult classic films as these. It’s never too late to getcha head in the game.

Do you agree with our ranking of the High School Musical movies? Share your thoughts in the comments below!