Now Playing
Critics & Publications
Archives: A-Z Index
Advanced Search

Upcoming Release Calendar
Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss Film In Our Forums

sort by name

sort by score

53 Australia
34 Bedtime Stories
41 Beverly Hills Chihuahua
57 Body of Lies
68 Bolt
xx Bride Wars
63 Burn After Reading
65 Cadillac Records
58 City of Ember
69 Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The
82 Dark Knight, The
39 Day the Earth Stood Still, The
27 Delgo
43 Eagle Eye
36 Fly Me to the Moon
41 Four Christmases
28 Haunting of Molly Hartley. The
57 High School Musical 3: Senior Year
35 How to Lose Friends & Alienate People
57 Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D
61 Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa
53 Marley & Me
84 Milk
35 Mirrors
39 Nights in Rodanthe
50 Nothing Like the Holidays
45 Pride and Glory
30 Punisher: War Zone
58 Quantum of Solace
71 Revolutionary Road
36 Righteous Kill
60 Role Models
19 Saw V
57 Secret Life of Bees, The
36 Seven Pounds
49 Sex Drive
49 Soul Men
30 Spirit, The
53 Tale of Despereaux, The
51 Transporter 3
56 Twilight
xx Unborn, The
56 Valkyrie
70 Vicky Cristina Barcelona
56 W.
93 WALL-E
46 Yes Man
56 Zack and Miri Make a Porno

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

sort by name

sort by score

58 Adam Resurrected
64 Appaloosa
69 Ashes of Time Redux
68 August Evening
54 Battle in Seattle
76 Betrayal - Nerakhoon, The
70 Black Balloon, The
55 Boy in the Striped Pajamas, The
51 Breakfast with Scot
xx Cargo 200
63 Changeling
66 Che
84 Christmas Tale, A
93 Class, The
38 Dark Streets
57 Defiance
xx Dostana
70 Doubt
62 Duchess, The
46 Dukes, The
63 Eden
xx Extreme Movie
69 Fear(s) of the Dark
26 Filth and Wisdom
28 Fireproof
80 Frost/Nixon
43 Gardens of the Night
73 Girl Cut in Two, A
36 Good
54 Good Dick
73 Gran Torino
30 Guitar, The
84 Happy-Go-Lucky
31 Hounddog
26 House of the Sleeping Beauties
49 How About You
70 Hunger
72 I Served the King of England
70 I.O.U.S. A
40 Igor
79 I've Loved You So Long
64 JCVD
xx Just Another Love Story
29 Lake City
59 Last Chance Harvey
82 Let the Right One In
31 Let Them Chirp Awhile
xx Local Color
89 Man on Wire
74 Moscow, Belgium
36 My Name Is Bruce
28 Nobel Son
xx Not Easily Broken
64 Nothing But the Truth
40 Other End of the Line, The
34 Otto; or Up with Dead People
75 Pool, The
78 Pray the Devil Back to Hell
xx Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi
82 Rachel Getting Married
58 Reader, The
56 Religulous
32 Repo! The Genetic Opera
53 RocknRolla
64 Scott Walker: 30 Century Man
77 Secret of the Grain, The
84 Silent Light
86 Slumdog Millionaire
57 Special
80 Stranded: I Have Come from a Plane That Crashed on the Mountains
67 Synecdoche, New York
82 Tell No One
68 Theater of War
65 Timecrimes
83 Trouble the Water
43 Tru Loved
83 U2 3D
88 Waltz with Bashir
59 We Are Wizards
80 Wendy and Lucy
71 What Doesn't Kill You
55 What Just Happened?
61 Where God Left His Shoes
40 While She Was Out
81 Wrestler, The
xx Yonkers Joe

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

High School Musical 3: Senior Year
Walt Disney Pictures

High School Musical 3: Senior Year reviews


4.1

based on 26 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 56 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

FILM:

MPAA RATING: G for General Audiences

Starring Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Tisdalel, Lucas Grabeel, Corbin Bleu, Monique Coleman, Bart Johnson, and Alyson Reed

Disney's High School Musical phenomenon leaps onto the big screen in High School Musical 3: Senior Year, in which America's favorite high school students hit senior year. Amidst a basketball championship, prom and a spring musical featuring all of the Wildcats, Troy and Gabriella vow to make every moment last as their lifelong college dreams put the future of their relationship in question. A crew of sophomore Wildcats joins in the fun as the film's incredible new music and exciting dance numbers take maximum advantage of the big screen. (Walt Disney Pictures)

GENRE(S):	Comedy \| Drama \| Family/Kids \| Musical \| Romance
WRITTEN BY:	Peter Barsocchini
DIRECTED BY:	Kenny Ortega
RELEASE DATE:	Theatrical: October 24, 2008
RUNNING TIME:	112 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

These are standard youth-movie dilemmas, but they're brought to life by the high-energy cast and the musical numbers, which Ortega shoots with electrifying pizzazz.

Chicago Tribune Tasha Robinson

What it lacks in narrative ambition, it makes up for in dazzling choreography.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

For the most part, the film's musical numbers are dynamic, propelling the story forward. The same cannot be said about Peter Barsocchini's colorless screenplay.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Catherine Dawson March

Disney raised the stakes by turning its hit TV-movie franchise into a feature film – and the bet has paid off.

TV Guide Perry Seibert

It's a well-produced yearbook that will one day bring back sweet memories for the cast and fans, but probably won't be of interest to anyone who wasn't part of the scene.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

A sweet, innocent look at an impossibly idealized high school world.

The New Yorker Anthony Lane

They give excellent value for money, launching into song the way that normal folk go to the bathroom--regularly, politely, and because, if they didn't, well, darn it, they might just burst.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

This is a movie that offers simple, buouyant pleasures.

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

Exudes genuine appeal, thanks to director Kenny Ortega's brilliant choreography and a gifted cast.

Los Angeles Times Mark Olsen

For those scoring at home, the third entry in the "High School Musical" series is better than the second but doesn't quite sustain the unvarnished, giddy highs of the first.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

Teenthrob Efron will be missed in future episodes by both adolescent girls and their moms who are only too happy to accompany their daughters to the theatre, but he's a handsome talent who's graduated to bigger projects.

USA Today Claudia Puig

Even if the refreshing gust doesn't stay with you long, it's fun while it lasts.

The New York Times Stephen Holden

A candy-colored never-never land that Peter Pan might envy.

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

It's hard to complain about a pop culture phenomenon built on unabashed innocence. And anyway, we might as well get used to it: Neither the movie nor the passionate tween squeals at a recent preview leave any doubt that "HSM 4" is on its way - or that the inevitable "College Musical" will be far behind.

Empire Helen O'Hara

If you're under 12, you won't be disappointed. If you're over 12, the fact this is as funny and bright as it is insipid won't stop you from avoiding it like the plague.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Travis Nichols

No spoilers here, but there are enough hints that the incoming class of happy-go-lucky theater folk will have plenty to do in the already-in-the-works fourth installment.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

Efron is the epitome of sexless Disney heartthrobs, but he's an electrifying song-and-dance man, so much so that his castmates (Bleu excepted) look like they have concrete shoes by comparison.

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

Set against a production design seemingly inspired by the American flag, director Kenny Ortega's choreography is industrial and efficient, if haplessly stranded somewhere between Michael Jackson and the Village People.

The Hollywood Reporter Stephen Farber

The result unfortunately has the blandness of a mediocre TV sitcom.

Variety Peter Debruge

While Ortega and fellow choreographers Charles Klapow and Bonnie Story stretch their imaginations, there's something almost lazy about the picture's underachiever script.

San Francisco Chronicle Peter Hartlaub

Unfortunately, the writing has become so bad that it becomes impossible to keep your head in the game - even as your toes continue to tap to the beat.

Film Threat Pete Vonder Haar

Right out of the gate, we realize that bringing the series to the big screen makes the flaws that much more obvious. The voices are too thin, the music and lyrics too simplistic, and the production values are – frankly – too "televisual."

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

High School Musical 3 wore me out, but I'm not the target audience. My favorite high school musical was "Hamlet 2."

Boston Globe Ty Burr

For all its unforgivable blandness, "High School Musical" opens young audiences to the charms of this most transporting of movie genres.

New York Post Kyle Smith

There is also something surgically sterile. The movie sounds as though it was recorded in a padded chamber instead of a bustling school, and it looks like it came from some alternate world, one that basks in the eternal sunshine of the spotless skin.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

If you're gay and/or eight years old, HSM3 is the movie event of the year.

The average user rating for this movie is 4.1 (out of 10) based on 56 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Sam G gave it a2:
Not the worst film I've ever seen, but it comes pretty close. I wonder what Walt Disney (an anti-gay right wing conservative) would say if he saw what has his company has become. The music is fairly poor, the voices are fairly high and the whole thing is fairly crappy.

Aron J. gave it a0:
I cant sit here and deny the success and fanbase of this movie, or the ones before it. Its huge and the kids love it. But, from someone who knows movies, its a mess, a horrid mess. Since its aimed at kids, the diologue doesnt have to be great, or even decent at all, and its not.

Harry T. gave it a0:
People giving this film 10s and 8s because it is the best film in the series is like giving the flu a 10 because it is the least lethal disease i can think of. This film is part of the ruin that is modern disney. Disney's only hope lies in reinventing themselves and hoping that Pixar keeps up the quality and the rest of the company. For a Musical, the music in this and the other 2 films is horrible. In many modern musicals, there is a mix of music but in the HSM series it is just all pop and stuff that appeals to 8 year olds and under. The "teen" idea behind the film is horrible because these characters are impossible for any teen to empathise with. I mean how many teens do you know that have rich parents and are the popular kids of the school that always perform in the musicals and somehow manage to insult people while hanging out with their sibling? outside of the world of this kids' trash, there are no actual teens like these characters.

Amanda M. gave it an8:
If you hate this movie, you're probably 15 years old trying to outgrow tween Disney culture, - ad good on ya for graduating to South Park, but honestly if you're not in the midst of adolescent rebellion, this movie is absolutely delightful. It's a full on, full bore musical that's unashamed of its exuberance, innocence or over-the-top-ness. The musical numbers are terrific, and after a few years of working together, these kids have real chemistry and theyve taken the dancing up several notches. It's easy to dismiss Effron as a disposable pretty boy idol, but he's really got the makings of an honest to goodess musical star. Looking for mindless, guilty pleasure fun - see this in on a big screen and try not to smile or feel uplifted - I dare ya.

A, Markscont gave it a10:
It's a blast! A musical that isn't ashamed of being a musical, and now they have the bucks behind the to be as fab as tthey wanna be!

Fed Up gave it a0:
Ted Mack would have kicked this movie off of his show as that is how awful it is. Don't spend your hard earned money on this trash.

Brandon A. gave it a0:
High School Musical 3 is a BIG WASTE OF MONEY! THEY RUINED DISNEY! This Live Action, Tween Star nonsense needs to STOP!!!!! Where are the CARTOONS?!? Where on earth is Mickey?!?!

High School Musical 3: Senior Year Walt Disney Pictures

High School Musical 3: Senior Year
Walt Disney Pictures