What time is it? Summer time! Okay, okay, not quite. It is time, however, to talk about High School Musical, the film series that no one can forget. Well, no one who attended elementary school in the mid-to-late 2000’s at least. The songs, the dances, the characters, and more all combined to make the High School Musical trilogy one of the most well-liked and celebrated collections of Disney movies ever made.

Although all three HSM films were entertaining and highly successful, the series definitely hit its peak with High School Musical 2. It was all the rage at Moorsbridge Elementary School in 2007. I don’t know if it was the collection of catchy tunes accompanied by cheesy, but lovable dances or the remarkably intense storyline (for a kids’ movie), but everybody went absolutely crazy over that movie. I was actually one of the only kids who didn’t get what was so great about High School Musical…until I saw it. Shortly thereafter, I had the song “Bet On It” stuck in my head and it didn’t leave for months.

The massive success of HSM 2 brought a lot of pressure down on Disney when it came time to produce the final film in the trilogy. The expectation is always that the last movie in a series will be the best or at least always the one with the most hype-just look at Mockingjay Part 2. I haven’t actually seen that one yet, but from what I’ve heard it wasn’t all that great. The same can be said about the third HSM film, Senior Year-it just didn’t deliver. The soundtrack didn’t even come close to the one found in HSM 2, and the movie’s storyline was considerably less compelling than that of the second film, which isn’t really a surprise. Senior year? Come on, that’s boring. I’m a senior, and trust me, it is not that interesting. The dramatic summer vacation featured in the second film is far more gripping. That isn’t to say it was a bad movie, but it certainly lacked the magic of the second film.

This lack of magic is only natural, however, because there is always more excitement for the summer time than for the school year. A wide range of words accurately describe HSM 3: okay, all right, decent, respectable, and more. But only one word will ever apply to High School Musical 2. It’s simply fabulous!