for all the ADULT haters of this movie

What does Twilight have to do with this? More importantly, what do MY ratings of those films have to do with this?

Maybe I wouldn't give them a 10 now, maybe more like a 6 or 7, but what does that matter? I happened to like them that much at the time, and I honestly don't think they're as bad as everyone says they are. Maybe I also gave them a 10 because most everyone else was so biased against them and giving them ones, for no other reason than because it was "cool" to hate Twilight at the time.

That does NOT, by ANY MEANS, change the fact that High School Musical is the worst movie I have ever seen in my life, and one of the worst movies ever made.

There's really only one reason why haters hate so much. And that reason is: Hater's gon hate. Whenever they think something has gotten way more popular than it should, they go and make it more popular by b'tching and complaining about it.

I don't like Justin Bieber's music. But you'll never see me being one of those people saying, "RAT3 JUST TINZ MUVIEE AH 1 ON IMDB" because seriously? I haven't seen it. And even if I had, it probably wouldn't deserve a 1.

That aside, when HSM first came out I was in grade 7, maybe, and I loved it. I thought the script was decent, the music was fun and bubbly and Efron was easy on the eyes. It's not like the director was going for some Oscar winning movie here, and before you watch it, you should know that already. He was going for good, light hearted fun aimed at an audience for younger people (Not to say older people can't enjoy it as well). But then the people who have nothing better to do with their times then discuss something they hate, rather than something they like, come out of their basements angry that they weren't the target audience for a popular movie.

"How can it be popular if I don't like it?" They probably ask themselves. And it's a simple answer, really: because it's aimed for a younger demographic. I don't know why teens and young adults have such a big problem with popular things, I really don't. Like I said before, I don't like Justin Bieber one bit (I don't hate him--don't get me wrong) but I've got better things to do then conform with the non-conformists (the people who think they're being original for not liking a popular thing, when everyones doing it! It's the new fad!)

All that being said, I couldn't care less if you don't like the movie. I'm not going to argue that it's some great film, because in all reality, it's not, but it is a fun watch (which is what they were going for? Huh. fancy that). If you have actual logical reasons why you don't like it (which most of you will argue that you do, but I doubt all of you do) then fine, I accept that.

I won't accept an argument like, "I hate HSM cos it's dumb!!!" because those people are just bored and don't want to actually discuss.

And for the comment about Pixar movies (etc) being on IMDb's top 250, there's a pretty simple reason for that. Cartoons are cute. Cartoons are fun. It's much easier to incorporate light humor, crazy humor and fun puns when you're in a world of fantasy, because cartoon's don't have any drum to follow. They can be as corky, spontaneous and crazy as they want. HSM on the other hand is in a high school setting. Although we can all agree that high school was never like this, they still need their dialogue to ring true to the movie. And you'll never seen animated movie of regular folk in high school on IMDb's top 250. People love cartoons because of their fresh dialogue (in most cases) and that can't be pulled off in a childrens live action movie. They know that. That argument was way beyond moot.

Anyway, I don't need anyone b'tching about how I'm wrong. If you reply to me, please try not to sound dumb :x that's all I ask.

I also winced at that particular bit, Sharpay is not the type to meekly accept the role of understudy. It was definitely a false note. The producers probably thought (wrongly) that they needed to bring all the kids back together again as one big happy gang. Not necessary -- even 12-year-olds understand that Sharpay got what she deserved; her part of the story was over at that point, they should have just left her out of the finale or shown her frowning petulantly in a corner.

But you should grit your teeth and watch HSM2. It's better! And in that episode, Sharpay's "re-integration" into decent society is handled very well -- she is double-crossed out of performing her big number at the talent show, while the rest of the gang is a big hit. As they all sing and dance in a circle, Troy holds out his hand and invites the excluded Sharpay to join the circle. Troy is of course a good guy and this is totally in character.

The intended audience are pre-teens. This was NOT aimed for older teenagers and adults because if it was it would deal with a lot more real problems such as underage alcohol consumption, sexting, etc.

Since this movie is on a child-orientated channel, obviously it would focus on more age-appropriate problems like the more innocent side of peer pressure.

So to all the critic's out there remember this is a movie aimed for KIDS, not to adults who like to pick apart every single action of a movie. It is not meant to be realistic, highly complex and does NOT represent the average days in high school. SO GIVE IT A REST!

The original argument isn't a straw man at all.

Anyone with half a brain realizes that nearly EVERY show about teenagers in the vein of HSM and it's MYRIAD predecessors from decades past is actually designed PRE-TEENS. That's virtually the ONLY filter that can be applied to these films, regardless of their technical deficiencies and sometimes ridiculous plot devices, which the CORE AUDIENCE of 6- to 12-year-olds won't notice anyways. I guarantee that if you think back to your own childhood, you will find shows that pandered to YOU just as you think HSM is pandering to the pre-teens of today. This is nothing new, so feigning shock and outrage really becomes the straw man argument, in a way.

Kids at that age -- and that means ALL OF US at some point in our lives -- are full of conflicts and turmoil that they THINK no one older than themselves can possibly understand. They have fears about high-school, the onset of puberty, and the inevitable peer pressure that is slowly separating them from the security of their parents ideologies. Shows like HSM serve to validate these fears, albeit in a gentle way, while providing much-needed consolation that everything will turn out OK, and preferably with a Big Musical Finish. Naturally, when they get to real high school, they're confronted with an entirely NEW set of inner conflicts and turmoil that they (once again!) think no one older than themselves could possibly understand or has ever gone through before them, and they inevitably look back and wonder how they could ever have liked something like HSM.

My GF and I, both in our very late 30's, decided to check out this trilogy in 2011 (!), largely due to the original hype and marketing, but far enough removed from that timeline to keep a critical distance, and while we'd NEVER rate them as classics on any technical level, we had to admit that our inner 12-year-olds would have found a certain comfort in them and ranked them quite highly. Of course, our inner 14-year-olds just a couple of years later would have been embarrassed that we actually liked something like HSM, like, ever, and might never be able to admit it to our cool new friends, but by then we'd have had much more important fish to fry (well, at least to US, since the rest of the world just couldn't possibly have understood our weekly existential crises! LOLOL). But that's how it goes. Generation after generation . . .