High School Musical 2 (2007)

[00:00:03] This is a Bramble Jam Podcast. Summertime! Summer. Summer. Summer. Summer. It's decondescendance time right there, Bram. It is decondescendance time. It is summer, so that's exciting, and it is time for High School Musical 2. I mean, like, technically it's not. Oh my God, we're not doing this. We're not doing this summer solstice bit.

[00:00:34] I mean, it's close. When we air this is the 20th. That's true. That's true. Isn't that the solstice? I think it is the 21st. We're so close. Guys. 20th, 20th. Oh, it's summer solstice. We couldn't have timed it better. You can't make that up. We did it. Can't make it up. Summer. Can I tell you something else? Yeah, we did. Can I tell you something else we can't make up? What's that? Is that we still are stuck at 170 reviews, but we have a new one. So I don't really know how that works.

[00:01:04] John Lee iTunes is screwing us. Something. This is messed up. So what I think happened is we reached 300. I don't think so. Maybe somebody took the review back. Always a possibility. And then somebody added one and we netted out at 170. But Sarah 100116. We love her. We love Sarah. Maybe that's 10-01-16. Maybe it's October 1st, 16. Maybe that's what that is. An amazing person.

[00:01:34] Yeah. We know that for certain. Love the podcast. I watched all the DCOMs growing up. So I love hearing the reviews. Motocross was one of my favorites, but I also like Rip Girls. Let's get the 300 to keep this podcast going. Also, I've tried to comment multiple times on Spotify and it never goes through. Shrug emoji. So there you go. Well, what's interesting is this person who, God bless you, you're doing great work. Doing great work. Can't get the comments to go through on Spotify and can't get her reviews on Apple Podcasts to count. It's unbelievable. This is tough.

[00:02:04] Yeah. I don't know what. Sarah 100116 is a lot going on there, man. I don't have a sorcery that they're doing there. But anyway, we're talking High School Musical 2 today. The Deuce. What a movie. What a time. What a film. I got to rank this. What did I say? 17.2 million viewers of this one. So up 17 million people from Johnny Capahala back on board. Uh oh. So good for them.

[00:02:33] Uh, let's, uh, I'm excited to dive into this, but I'm also really excited about whatever the heck is in front of me for the DeLish today. Is that when we start with DeLish? We do start with the DeLish. That's the D. Okay. What is this? We got some sort of chocolate cake with powdered sugar. Yeah. I'm going to use this one because it's the prettiest. Sure. Um, so I made a chocolate lava cake for today. Um.

[00:03:03] Does it make you sad thinking that there are might be some people that are just. There are. That might just be listeners to the show and they don't care about this segment. Oh, that's so wrong. That's sad. I know. Um, but yeah, I mean, the main inspiration for this was the. The. Uh, it was the volcano from the Huma Huma number that I hate. Um, from that really offensive number that got added after the original airing. Yeah. Yeah. You hate that song. So yeah, you don't know any of the words.

[00:03:33] No way. They stick in my head and it's a catchy tune and I don't know what to do about it. Um, but it's my least favorite number. Um, but I kept thinking about the volcano and then the resort that they're at is Lava Springs. Um, and I also just enjoy eating a lava cake. So here we go. So how do you, I've, I've seen what these before. I know that they exist. Yeah. How do you make it? So there's a couple different methods. Um, I made one before previously made a bigger one.

[00:04:03] And so for that one, you bake the cake and then you like under bake it by a couple minutes. The inside is a little more gooey. And then you like poke holes in the top and you let the goo like fill in for this one. I just under baked them a few minutes. The inside was still my kids live for a Domino's lava cake, which is not high on my list, but they're big. They're big on it. They really should hang out with brand more. Oh, it's not lava at all, but it looks the prettiest. No, I'm just gonna have a bite. Just one bite.

[00:04:33] It's great work. It's great work. So you could in theory, like inject it with something. Mm-hmm. Or just under bake it. Mm-hmm. Save yourself an injector. I don't know, man. Do you think they're one use injectors? They're one use injectors. Once you do, you gotta discard it. That's what those things, Dan, in the public bathrooms where they have those discard for, you thought those were needles. It's actually just injectors.

[00:05:03] You gotta find a public restroom. Those injectors are going extinct. Extinct. Yes. Save the injectors. Save an injector. Save a cowboy. Let's take a break. We'll not come back. Will we? Yeah, we will. I don't think we're coming back from that. Well, we are, because we're talking High School Musical 2 today. That's all we have to do today, everybody. Come on back. We'll be right back here on Decom Descendants.

[00:05:26] We're talking High School Musical The Deuce today. Musical. Big episode, big movie, big fun. This movie premiered on the Disney Channel on August 17th. Very interesting. Three days before one Aaron Shay's birthday. It was like a birthday present. Some folks may have already been back at school.

[00:05:57] Yeah. Which is an interesting time for the summer. No. Yes. Oh, yeah. Two months after the equinox. This would have been a funny time to be watching. Like, down here in the South, you're already back in school. You're like, oh, I remember that. Remember when we got to do that. I remember summer. Hey, did this break any records, Brian? All the records. Yeah. All of the records. It's massive. 8 p.m. Eastern, for those of you at home. Which apparently included a telecast hosted by Kenny Ortega and the movie's cast.

[00:06:25] So they would do little fun interstitials. They would call that High School Musical 2 Wildcat Chat. So that's fun. Why Wildcat? I don't know. It's really weird. They pushed this movie so hard and it worked out for them. 17. You were 16, Brian, and Aaron, you were 18. Is it 08? 07. Oh, 15 and 17. At the time this aired, I was 16. Turning 17 in three days. That's right. This was one...

[00:06:55] Was I still pumped? Yes. You guys could both drive and have better things to do on a Friday night. I couldn't drive. Well, I couldn't drive either. The gray house was 17. 17? So you're 17. That's right. Why couldn't you drive? I hadn't taken driver's ed yet. Got you. Who knows? I had... So I guess I had my permit. I was 25 and married. But I didn't get my license until I was well into 17. You were 25 and married and you still sought this out to watch it.

[00:07:23] I was 25 and married and broke in St. Louis, Missouri with literally like maxed out credit cards and nowhere to go. But you were still paying for the Disney Channel. That's so great. We had such a big shindig. That's why we maxed out our credit cards. Credit card. You got it. It did smash the record of viewers by 10 million people. Oh, just 10 mil. So it was a hit. It was a hit.

[00:07:51] It's like every single person who watched the previous DCOM invited a friend. Is this the peak linear TV experience though? Like we're not far from stream, like big numbers on live. You are starting to go down like precipitously. Right? Like, I don't know about precipitously, but yeah, for sure. I, well, of course you don't know about that, but like I already, I couldn't know that

[00:08:17] by 2008, like I had a DVR and was not watching much of anything live unless it was sports. Right. So it was coming. Uh, Peter Barcenaki, uh, I don't know is back to write it. Kenny Ortega is back to direct it. The gang is back. Zach Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Tisdale, Corbin blue, the gang. They're all back for a $7 million budget movie. Holy moly.

[00:08:48] Seven in 2008. Yeah. So they had it. Are we ready? It is the last day of school. Um, before summer, summer and the gang is pumped. Um, because you know what, what time is it? Summertime. Summertime. That's exactly right. We got, how do we know it's summertime? Well, they sing a song about it. It rings twice. And, uh, what's your name? Watching it. The first bell is to say, Hey everyone. Choreography starts now. Yeah. Right. Summer's officially started.

[00:09:16] Second bell is head outside for outside choreography. Third bell. Get off property. Yeah. You also know it's summertime because of Miss Darvis is giant clock. Uh, she, she brought big Ben in. She said, big Ben, come on in, come on in. It's time. Um, Troy is still dating Gabriela. And they are both talking about summer, the summer gig. But what we know for certain is that these two have not kissed yet, have not kissed yet,

[00:09:45] but so close. So many, but they really like each other. And he makes it, uh, official. He wants everyone to know that she's mine. So she brands her by giving her a neck. He brands her by giving her a necklace with the letter T on it. That's just a cross necklace. That's just a Christian. Yeah, that's it. No, it's a capital T. Don't worry. It's a capital T. And she's like, is this, is the T for Troy? Maybe. Yeah.

[00:10:16] Uh, so when Troy first day of summer break, I think, I don't know. He is playing ball with his buddies. His dad is drowning in shorts. Oh my God. He is doing the best shorts for days. They are basically pants. I like, they are six inches past the bottom of his kneecap. Yeah. He is going to start for the fab five of Michigan in 1991. Yeah. They're ginormous. They're ginormous. Um, but they're all having fun.

[00:10:45] And then he gets a phone call. He picks it up and it is from the lava Springs country. Club saying, Hey, we heard about you. Your reputation precedes you. We would like for you to come and work for us this summer. Which is great news. They're longer than that. He was, he was peak long shorts. Yeah. They're longer than the longest short ever five. He's got shorts on longer than Jalen roads. He does. He does. They're very long. It's crazy. Um, yeah. The distance between the end of his shorts and the top of his socks is

[00:11:15] like maybe three inches. Oh, it's nothing. Inches. You don't need a full ruler. The aerodynamics there. Don't favor him. He could go parasailing. Yeah. It's tough. It's restrictive to us. Just like your knees. Anyway, so he gets this call and he says, this is wonderful. I need a job, but also you will. You know who else needs a job? Everyone else. All the rest of all of my friends. They all come work. All dozen of my friends. Specifically Gabriella. Gabriella.

[00:11:44] But then one thing leads to another and the whole gang. What was the plan for this country club? If the whole East high, you know, drama and basketball department didn't show up. Yeah. My guess, Dan, is that's either a, they'd had to pay the most living way. Most, most likely is they didn't need all of these employees. They did it because Sharpay asked because Sharpay, we find out Sharpay's parents own the country

[00:12:09] club and she requested that Fulton, who is the manager, hire Troy, uh, do whatever it takes. And so either they, things got away from him and he hired things definitely got away from him. He hired 12 people that he doesn't need to run the country club or they fired 12 people to make room for Troy.

[00:12:35] Well, half of them ended up or almost all of them ended up in the kitchen in the kitchen. Yeah. So a lot of people in the kitchen. Taylor ended up as like events coordinator. You don't really see Gabriela ended up as a lifeguard and Kelsey's playing piano, but well, the interesting thing about this and Martha are all in the kitchen. Troy and Chad are waiters. Like they were just like, yeah, kitchen. Yeah. But we'll cook some burgers. The interesting thing is they make it seem like this is some sort of resort.

[00:13:05] It's a country club. Yeah. Like this is a place people go to hang out for the day in their neighborhood or whatever. So this is like a serious, serious situation anyway. Yeah. I just can't imagine. I mean, I guess you'd have more people there during, during the weekday. But do you really need that many? I bet like, well, I mean, compared to during the year, wouldn't more people be like taking actual vacation? Well, they'd be at the pool a lot.

[00:13:34] I don't know. I just don't see how, like, where did your full-time year round staff go? I don't know. Well, they got fired. Either way, not great. Unless they had like college kids at the University of Albuquerque who went home and they were like, we need high schoolers. Could be. We gotta get those labor costs down. That's right. Sharpay does show up. If I learned anything from this movie, it's that this resort is super close. This country club is super close to the University of Albuquerque. The U of A, if you will. Sharpay shows up. It's totally a real college. And it was... Or was a real college. Not anymore.

[00:14:04] It was her idea to hire Troy because she is very much into Troy. Thinks that if I can get Troy to work here... Checks notes, hire Troy at any cost. Any cost. At any cost. It was any cost. That's right. But you know what? This summer is gonna be fabulous. How do we know that? And she sings it. And so, Troy, she sees Troy show up and she's like, yay, hubba hubba. And then a full flock of wild cats behind them come and she's like, well, that's not

[00:14:34] what I had in mind. And then finally, even though she's been at the pool all day, she looks up and sees the lifeguard and the lifeguard is Gabriella. This is worst case. Oh boy. She goes, this high school girl goes to yell at this grown man manager and is like, hey, remember what you said? You told me to hire him no matter what. And so she says, okay, if you can't fire them, get them to quit. Make their lives as miserable as possible.

[00:15:00] And so Fulton comes into the kitchen, scares them all, makes it seem like this is gonna be the worst summer of their lives. The rules are very strict. There are so many rules. So many rules. And you know what? This would be enough to break anybody, you know, to take them down. And Troy gives him a pep talk and says, guys, we can work this out. We can do this. Get your head in the game. We can work this out. And how do you know that? They sing a song. They sing a song. Pots and pans stomping around. It's a whole thing. Love it so much. It's wonderful.

[00:15:30] It's really inspirational. If you're worried about a lack of songs in this one, don't you worry anymore. Don't be. There's a lot of songs. And they all, for the most part, make sense in musical form. That's right. Unlike Bop to the Top. Bop, bop, bop, bop. Bop to the top. Where is that song and why is it? I'm still waiting for someone to tell me the plot of the Twinkle Town music. Impossible. You wouldn't get it? Impossible. Impossible. So, um. No, I wouldn't. Someone will someday, like some writer will be like, well, this is what I was envisioning. And I'll be like, no. No, you weren't. You made that up.

[00:16:00] Me and Arnold were going to do what? Nothing. You made that up after the fact. I'm not. I'm not having it. Um, but you know what? No amount of rules or serious lectures from Fulton can take Troy and Gabriella down. This is their summer. They're having dates on the golf course. They're having a great time. They fired up over there. I know. God bless you, sir. And that was a loud noise that would have scared Deca from.

[00:16:29] Deca from would have been terrified. You got like a triple fist pump first. And they find out that there is a. That's how excited he gets for the first golf course scene. What about the last golf course scene? Not even a contain impossible. Uh, they find out that there is a talent show at the end of the summer. Troy's not so sure about this. Is it Brand's fault you're not feeling about? Yeah, for sure. I always blame Brand. Yeah, that's fair. But Troy doesn't know if he's a. He knows he can sing. He can. But he's not his thing. It's not his thing. Basketball is his thing.

[00:16:58] You gotta have one thing in high school. He's freaky basketball boy. He's freaky basketball boy. He's freaky basketball boy. FBB. Gabriela is like, listen, Troy, you always make me want to sing. It's almost like you are the music in me. How do we know that? They sing a song about it. And so they decide that they are going to sign up and everybody's going to sign up too. Cause the Wildcats hear them singing because they're singing it right next to the kitchen. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:17:27] And you know what one Wildcat does all the Wildcats must do. So, so Sharpay, who was hoping that Troy would sing with her and the talent show arranges for him to be her father's caddy to eat dinner with the family, forcing him to be late for dates with Gabriela and Gabriela's more than understanding. She gets it. It's the job. Above and beyond. Yeah, she understanding. And at first Troy is feeling uncomfortable about this.

[00:17:57] Like I was supposed to be working with my friends this summer and now I'm out here doing this thing. I'm eating dinner and my friends are serving me and it's super uncomfortable. But her, but his dad shorts and all reminds him like, listen, there's shorts. You could, this could be good cat forever. You're not going to be a wildcat forever. And they have connections with the U of a scholarships. We can't afford college and we need to be upfront about that. We have a massive house, but we can't afford college problem in two. Could we, could we, could we, could we,

[00:18:26] downright affordable state college. Get out of here. Could we put this mini mansion with 17 bedrooms, a full basketball court, a space for a DJ, a pool, a trampoline and a, and a tree house. Could we put it on up for sale? And maybe you better do it before that subprime mortgage hits though. You know what I mean? Cause that's oh, wait, that's coming. No, we can't do that. We must maintain our lifestyle and therefore college is out this house. He's paying. Also this beat up truck that maybe ran in 1953. It's yours. That's right.

[00:18:58] Definitely not going to come back next movie. Anyway, his friends and I can't, I can't stress this enough. Please leave a review. Help us get to 300 so we can watch High School Musical 3, please. Please. Don't do it. And listen to our movie. Obviously. Ciao. So his friends start to feel like he's changing, you know, at first he's like kind of putting up a fight and then he's, you know, sending Chad back to put the cheese on his burger.

[00:19:28] But also it kicks up a notch when Sharpay's dad turns out to be on the board of the U of A and starts getting the basketball players to come over and rope him into playing in the arena. That's exactly right. Yeah. And at first they get him his own jacket. Yeah. At first Gabriela is standing up for him. But then, you know, finally she ends up telling Troy that, you know, I feel like you're starting to throw your friends under the bus and you're losing yourself. And he's like, I'm still making these promises. Right.

[00:19:54] And she doesn't necessarily like turn right away, but she's like, hey, you keep promising all these things and just know that promise is a big word and your friends take it seriously. And he's like, yeah, I got it. And she's like, okay, so here's all the things you've promised to do today. And he's like, oh, actually don't forget. The thing is. And she was like, you forgot. And he's like, I didn't forget. I just forgot it was today. Yeah. Staff baseball game. I'll be there. Staff baseball game. It's an important game with real baseball happening. That's right.

[00:20:23] He does not show up, but Ryan does. Ryan ends up showing up and he ends up get this. He ends up getting Chad to dance. But Chad doesn't dance. I know that he doesn't dance at all. He doesn't. He never has. He didn't dance in the first movie. He didn't dance earlier in this movie. He does not. He doesn't dance. He sports is. Yes, what he does is want to know how we know that. How is it? So that's on me. I should have asked. I will stand by.

[00:20:52] That's the most embarrassing song of this movie. How dare you? It's the most embarrassing song of this movie. Worse than. Easily. Shooky, shooky, happy, happy. Oh, no. Wait a minute. I'm telling the ones that originally showed that whatever that island thing is belongs in hell burning slowly. Humo, humo, noopo, noopo, abawa. You got it. Okay. The state fish of white. Of the songs sung by two pasty paper plate white people.

[00:21:17] Um, the song on the baseball field is the most embarrassing song of this movie aside from that one. Period. Nope. I saw that and I said, wow, it makes total sense that now one of the greatest loves of my life is the Savannah bananas and the party animals and just musical theater baseball. I said blue singing. He doesn't dance. Maybe you want to throw something to the TV. Well, the first time I watched it, it made me want to throw something to the TV and I had all those feelings again.

[00:21:43] You can't do this song where a guy's been dancing for two hours of film and going and then singing a song while dancing, saying I don't dance. It's the magic of a musical. You can do it. It's the magic of bad musicals. It is the magic of a musical. It's the magic of a musical. You're a bad musical. Yeah, you nailed it. You nailed it. So while Ryan is beginning to feel included by the wild cats. I missed that you're stupid earlier. I'm just trying to catch up. That's nice. What are you going to do? While Ryan is starting to feel included by the wild cats, he is beginning to feel rejected by his sister who is all in on getting Troy.

[00:22:11] Troy is not going to sing with. Yeah, they always sing in the star dazzle. That's right. Together. And she's just like, you know what? Ditching you for Troy. No big deal. Like your feelings don't matter. Yeah, that's right. So he decides I'm just going to put something together with the wild cats. We're going to do our thing and it's going to be. We had some fun on the on the field. I proved. They bonded over dancing or not dancing. Yeah, that's right. And I guess we talked about this while we were watching it. And listeners, I'd love to hear.

[00:22:41] You know, you could leave a rating and review and let us know. Please. After they graduate high school. Do you think Sharpay and Ryan ever spoke again? There's no way. They're enemies. I mean, like Ryan goes off to Juilliard. She stays in Albuquerque. In the first therapy session that he has, when that therapist cracks open that sister Pandora's box, he's done. So tell me about your sister. Yeah. Yeah, that's exactly what's about to happen. Yeah.

[00:23:09] It's going to be a full hour and he's going to be like in kindergarten and she's going to be like, oh, we're going to need more time. It's like we's crying. Yeah. So, um, or he's just like not going to understand it was a problem. Be like, yeah, like in my school photo, she's front and center weird. Yeah. And then I, I just feel like there's, he'll just be like, you know what? I don't need this. You're the one that you're the one that needed me this whole time. Like I don't need you.

[00:23:38] Uh, so that's just how I feel about that. That's right. Sharpay ends up basically forcing Kelsey to give her the music and me songs so that she can sing it with Troy. And maybe Troy will realize that Gabriella is not the music. Sharpay is the music. That's right. Maybe it's what can you do? All she ends up doing is scaring Troy. Yes. Doesn't like loud noises. She finds out. I've seen this movie. He doesn't like loud noises. He doesn't like loud noises. I've seen this movie less than High School Musical 1, but I've still seen this movie a lot.

[00:24:05] I've never really noticed how every time there is a loud noise, Zac Efron flinches. A loud, unexpected noise. From the first bell. Which is literally like going all the way around the bases to bad acting. So you know that there's a loud noise coming. You know, everyone's going to be in on acting like it's normal and excited. And you've decided to flinch. He is terrified. Yeah. Um, it's a choice. It's a choice.

[00:24:34] Um, and then if you're listening to this program, if you could just call us, let us know. That's right. You first you good. Uh, second. Why? Yes. And then Sharpay gets mad at Ryan when she finds out that he's working with the wildcat. So that's a whole thing. So she goes to. I ditched you. How dare you? How dare you? Ditch me once I already ditched you. I know you don't have anything to sing anymore, but how dare you? Yeah. Find something else to sing. First of all, how dare you?

[00:25:01] Um, so she goes and she tells Fulton, whatever you do, make sure that the staff can't perform. Right. And he's like, oh my God. And he's like, that's going to hurt your brother. And she's like, do it, do it. So he puts out a memo desk drawer, took out the whiskey. Did a couple of rails of Coke. Yeah. He did that long drag on the cigarette. Whatever. Listen, Matthew McConaughey, me and true detective. Yeah. He's like Ben Affleck with the Duncan outside. Like that's who he is. Whatever I need to do. He opens that desk drawer.

[00:25:31] There is a, like a half lit cigarette in the ashtray next to the whiskey. And he's just like, all right, whatever I need to do to get through this. Whatever. Also, I know you good. You good, Fulton? So he sends out a memo saying that the entire wait staff, kitchen staff, everybody, they have to work during the talent show. So that's unfortunate. What do you think is going to like allow Troy to have a change of heart?

[00:26:00] Well, thank you for asking. Does Troy still get to perform? Because I mean, he's an employee, but he's singing with Sharpay. So like what's, that's a tricky situation. Who cares? Uh, Gabriella. Do you think Troy cares? I think so. Yes. Gabriella finds all this out. She goes and she tells off Sharpay. And then she goes and she tells Troy that she's not sticking around the rest of the summer to find out what happens. How do we know that? She has to go her own way. Okay. How do we know that?

[00:26:30] Because they just sing about it. Okay. Um, now what's her shift done for the day anyway? Sure. Yeah. But she took her tea necklace off. So we know that's how you know, probably not coming back. It's the principle. So, uh, Troy is now really going through it. He goes outside, he shoots shots, he misses all of them. And that is how you know that he's really going through it. And he doesn't know how to handle it. Mm-hmm. And he, he just needs to think a bit. And he decides, you know what I'm going to do?

[00:26:59] I'm going to bet on, I'm going to bet on it. I'm going to bet on me. How do you know that? Well, he sings about it. Yeah. And he goes, he tells Sharpay that he isn't going to sing with her. And he's going to go back to work in the kitchen. And he's in a Wildcat shirt now. Yeah, that's right. He's back repping the gear. That's right. And she's just like, no, but you get a special exemption. And he's like, no, no, no. No, no. Once a Wildcat, always a Wildcat. That's exactly right. Except my dad said, no, not always a Wildcat. We'll get there. It doesn't matter. It's tricky business. When it matters, always a Wildcat. Always a Wildcat.

[00:27:28] He goes back into the kitchen and he makes up with Chad and I will allow Aaron to reenact the scene so that we can really feel like we were there. And go. Hey, Kelsey told us what happened between you and, what went down between you and Sharpay. I'm more interested in what went down between you and me, man. That's right. You did. It was better delivery. I know. I started laughing mid delivery. By the way, I'm pretty sure he ADRs the man.

[00:27:56] Like if you look at it, it's like the man has the man part of that line is like the whole line doesn't make sense because the man at the end, like it doesn't, it doesn't quite doesn't fit. Doesn't quite. But I, that scene just like, I'm more interested in what down between you and me, man. Perfect. Perfect. Brothers fight sometimes, but we're still brothers. Well, the boys are back. The boys are back. How do we know that? And we would love to talk about that, but we can't. No, sure can't. Nothing we can do about it, Hanson Todd.

[00:28:22] Well, I think we're going to launch a new podcast is where this man is gone and we bring in children every week to watch the beautiful movies with us and just share their childlike wonder. I love it. It's all rise. It's called the boys are back. And so that happens. They make up Ryan tells him like, Hey, I kind of feel bad. Yeah. My sister is one thing, right? I don't think I want to probably let her sing. Right. Yeah.

[00:28:50] She actually, you know, do make her saying that is her, her bit. She wants to be singing. So now I think you should still sing with her. Yeah. I think we're all cool with that. Right. That's right. And so he goes, he talks to her and he's like, I just to be clear, I'm only doing this for the wild cats. And she's like, I wish you were doing it for me. They have a whole thing. Great. Right. And then they're like, Kelsey's like, there's a new song. That's right. When he gets back to the team. So while he's off telling Sharpay, I'm going to sing with you. They had to plan. Word spreads through the wild cats.

[00:29:20] Oh, our number is back on. That's right. So he gets back and he's like, all right, I talked to Sharpay. They were doing this and Ryan's like, Oh, by the way, she wants you to learn a new song. It's a new song. Of course she does. Yeah. So she goes in and he, he goes and he learns this new song and they're just about to go on stage and he shows up and he's like Sharpay. Why did you make me learn this new song? She's like, I didn't learn a new song. And Ryan's like, my bad. You're not singing. You're not singing after all. I tricked everybody into being nice to you.

[00:29:50] So I pretended like I didn't want to screw you over and boom, it worked. That's right. So he goes on stage and he, you know, he sings a song about how every day is he's going to be in love for our lives. It's a whole thing. And, uh, Gabriella shows back up. She comes, joins him on stage. They have full wind machine. Uh, when she starts singing, he is scared because again, sudden noise. Um, but then he can't, he's looking all around.

[00:30:19] He's like, I hear her, but she's not around. Like it's, it's a whole thing. And then the crowd parts. There she is. She's got her tea necklace back somehow. Cinema. We don't need to talk about it. She has it. Doesn't matter. And that's the end of the movie, right? It's gotta be. There's no way there's like an extra number. They all get up on stage. They, they form a circle and hold hands. It's a whole thing. And they invite Sharpay to join them. Sharpay joins them. So she's learned her lesson once again, that being a wildcat is just the way to go. That's right. Um, and then she awards Ryan, the star does a little work.

[00:30:49] That's exactly right. And it's great. And what better way, what better way to end summer than by going and releasing fire into the sky, running through the sprinklers and having you or the music and me. I think share their first kiss. Sure. It's big. It's a moment. And that is not the end of the movie. Um, because we have to close it out by reminding everybody at home. This is, this is an all for one situation. Yeah. And also how do we know the real summer? Let's sing a song about it. Yeah.

[00:31:20] The real summer starts now. And Hannah Montana's there. Hannah Montana's there. And we have a pool party. I envision it is like an end of the summer staff party. We're all there. We're in the pool. We're singing. We're jumping in the water. Gabriella, I think almost drowned. She is solid. She could have died. Yeah. Yeah. It's fantastic. Someone check on her. And that is High School Musical 2. It's amazing how quickly you can get through a movie when most of it's songs. What? Doesn't matter. We're going to be right back. We're going to talk a little bit more about this movie. You thought that was Quivvy.

[00:31:51] We're only at 30 minutes, bud. Here on Decom Descendants. Bop, bop, bop. Hi, everybody. Welcome back. Yep. Decom Descendants. It's time to share our thoughts on how this movie has aged over time, what we think about it, all that good stuff. I've got some Letterboxd reviews that'll help us do that.

[00:32:19] Mia Lee Vecino says, the funniest subplot of this movie is how Troy is so jealous that Ryan and Gabrielle are hanging out. Troy, my dude, my man. This is such a non-issue. If you had actually been a team player and gone to the staff baseball game, you would have seen him and Chad perform I Don't Dance, a song very clearly about grappling with experimenting with their sexuality. Read the lyrics. Study up. They literally switch clothes at the end of the song.

[00:32:48] She is correct. Shree says four stars. The sexual tension in I Don't Dance. My goodness. Hey, if that's what the song's about, I stand corrected. Yeah. Best song. But that's not what happens in three. They don't continue that line. Well, maybe they experimented and they didn't work out. It's like, no. Okay. Maybe they tried and they were like, you know what? That's right. Not for us. And that's not our business. No, it doesn't. It isn't. Shree says, oh, sorry. Kirsten says four stars. Kelsey is the worst dressed character in the history of film. Wow.

[00:33:19] Wow. Wow. Just Kelsey catching strays. Unnecessary. Oh, my goodness. Beck says five stars. Can someone make sure that Wes Anderson is still breathing after the color scheme in this movie? That's funny. Ellie says four and a half stars. Troy saying I need some air to Sharpay while outside is so funny. I love this film. And Leah says four stars. I'm sorry, but there's absolutely no way Troy Bolton can read sheet music. Yeah. You are correct. We talked about that. We talked about that.

[00:33:49] Take the tape.com. We discussed that while watching this movie and you can listen to our thoughts while we watch it. Take the tape.com. All right. Let's share our thoughts on it. Aaron. Yeah. Wildcats. Get your head in the game. Yep. What'd you think? High School Musical 2. It's good to be back. So this is a movie that has actually gotten better over time for me. You said it. When I first watched it, I was like, well, this is a movie I'll never watch again. I think I would imagine 17 million people watch that.

[00:34:17] There was no way it could have met expectations in 2007. There's no way everybody would have been pissed. They're all older. They're all too cool for it. And they're watching it anyway. I'm sure they all were mad. I just like the whole drama of being like, even at, you know, 16, 17 years old, I remember being like, Hey, if you have a shot at a scholarship to college, like your friends are going to support you. Like, this is so dumb. Yep. Um, so for me, like the whole drama of it was dumb. I was frustrated that, I mean, as someone who like had the DVD for high school musical

[00:34:46] and was watching it like on repeat, um, had like a karaoke game of these songs, like this, I loved high school musical. And then you give me this and I was like, okay, so we're just really relearning the same thing. All of the lessons we just went through. Sharpay had this great, you know, arc in the first one. And then she's right back at square one. Um, and we're just watching her learn how to be a decent human being again. Yeah. I didn't, I was like, cool.

[00:35:16] This is just one of those movies where I will watch it when I'm, you know, if there are ever are more, this is the movie that I'll watch begrudgingly to be like, all right, cool. Like I want to watch the next one. So I have to watch two at the time there were only two. So I was like, I will never see this again. Um, but as I've watched it as an adult, like I still don't love the plot. Um, I still get frustrated that Sharpay is just stringing Zeke along. Like that poor man, like shoots his shot at the end of the first one.

[00:35:44] She's all in on the creme brulee and the cookies, whatever she, whatever he gives her. Um, but then two months later, she's barely speaking to him. But then at the end of this movie, I've never paid attention to them. Cause I'm always watching the, the two random lanterns floating off into the sky and like the fireworks. Yeah. But you see them, they come out, the whole group comes out onto the, after the party. Um, or no, it's before the party. Before the party. The night after the night, the night of the whole group comes out and like try and Gabriella are together.

[00:36:14] And you know, everyone's there and Zeke and Sharpay walk out hand in hand. They are out on the golf course. He is twirling her in his arms. And I'm just like, does a full pick up twirl, pick up twirl, like, you know, ring around the Rosie style in her, in his arms. And I'm just like, where is like, while the sprinklers sprinkle on, it is just, where is this movie? Um, we're just not going to get any more on Sharpay and Zeke. And I'm frustrated.

[00:36:44] And I wish we would. Um, but for me, I think the music numbers work better for me in this one. And I think it's because, you know, in a musical, you are singing your feelings. You're singing about what's happening. And this movie kind of nails that vibe. Um, the first one was in was meant to be a jukebox musical, musical, but Disney didn't want to have to pay for the rights to music.

[00:37:13] So last minute they wrote their own song. Where'd you find that out? I found that out in a book I read. Don't worry about it. Don't worry about it. They sing about it. So learning that came from the book, but the, the musical numbers in the first one don't flow like a musical would. Um, typically you should be able to listen to the soundtrack of a musical and understand roughly what the plot is. If you put on high school musical one, anybody's guess, anybody's guess what you're listening to.

[00:37:39] Um, you may figure it out and then bop to the top comes on and you're back at the start. Like, I don't know what's happening. What? Where? No one, nobody should do that number. Um, so yeah, I think as I've gotten older, the musical part of this, I've liked the soundtrack. I have liked better. Um, plot wise, it's not my favorite high school musical, but. Soundtrack wise. I like it better than the first one. Uh, no, I listen. I was always a high school musical to defender. I always said that it was the best one. And, uh, hard.

[00:38:10] The music in this movie is so good. One thing you've always said is you'd rather spend every single day on the golf course. And that's what this movie gives you. Yeah. Every day. Better than a bad day. Um, listen at the other day, when this movie airs, the one low point of the movie was the Gabriella song that I don't care about, but I still like it better than the Gabriella song in the first one. All of the other songs are bops, even fabulous, which I don't love the sharp pay songs, but that or that song is a fun song.

[00:38:39] Unfortunately on Disney plus you have to sit through the hoppa, lapa, dapa looper song. And that's unfortunate because it really is as low as it gets. Taking that out of this movie and streamlining this movie by five minutes would have helped it in my rankings tremendously. Um, the huma huma nupu nupa. That's it. The songs in this movie bops. The, I wish my brain would hold on to any other relevant information than knowing the name of that. There's something you can do. Your hand or your tie.

[00:39:08] Um, so I have always liked high school musical to better than one. And it remains true to this day. I think this movie. Frickin slays and, uh, it's awesome. Dana. It doesn't slay. Um, the, this movie is the same movie, but worse until you see third. Um, and when I say worse, I want to be very clear. The $7 million budget, they have put it all on screen.

[00:39:38] The, the musical numbers are bigger. They are grander to Aaron's point. They do make more sense. Uh, it, in the context of the story, the story is the same story. A song about, I don't dance. We've been dancing for two hours. Um, uh, Troy, not knowing if he still wants to sing, uh, them giving him a hard time about a scholarship opportunity. Uh, Sharpay being the literal worst person to adults and children. Um, no one learns anything from the first one.

[00:40:07] There was something. And I, I ranked the first one 11. Uh, and the reason I did that is because I think there's an important historical element to high school musical that needs to be shouted out and rewarded and talked about. And there was something pretty magical about watching that even as someone that that wasn't for me. So there was a magic about like this, like it seemed like a scruffy upstart. We're going to make a musical as a D com come hell or high water. We're going to go get our head in the game.

[00:40:35] This movie is, it has sequelitis has the, we'll do the same thing. We'll just do it bigger with more money. I want to make the same exact movie. Yeah. Um, and I don't like that. I don't like that in my popcorn movies that I go to the theater to see. I, if I, if I wanted to see, you know, the same movie again, I could watch that at home. Yeah. But the songs are better. The songs are more popcorn movies where it's like saying the actions better because the effects are better because the budget was bigger.

[00:41:05] The songs are better because they spent more time working on them and they had way more money and time to piece it together. And they took that money and time and chose to make the same movie again. Yeah. So for me, I would love just one movie where Sharpay's not the villain. Yeah. I just like, I have, I do not deny for a second, the songs are more polished and the dances and the musical numbers are more complex.

[00:41:29] There's no argument there, but there's some silly stuff going on in this movie and not in as fun away as I think the first one. And also the scene that we have to watch that people didn't have to watch when they watched the movie live. I think if you take that out and all of a sudden this movie is an hour 40 instead of an hour 46, it feels a lot, a lot lighter on its feet as it sits right now. It feels just weighed down. And so sometimes it's good stuff. It's just a lot of stuff. It's just making you feel like a teenager.

[00:41:58] You know, teenagers, they feel weighed down by all the pressures. I don't think that's it. Right. You're missing, you're missing what Ortega was trying to do here. I'm pretty sure that's not it. Well, yeah. Great disagree. The way it originally aired the with, it didn't air with the Huma Huma song. And I don't know if it was added on at the end of the credits or something. Like you could see it eventually before it got put into the middle. And I think it works great as like an end credits. You come back. You can go, yeah, whatever. If you sat at all the credits, here's this stupid silly song.

[00:42:28] You're a super fan. You want to watch some other bonus material, whatever. Sure. Absolutely. And that's the first time like it was on the soundtrack and I was like, what's this song? Did I miss this in the movie? And I didn't. It's just, you know, at the end of the soundtrack. And I was like, okay, sure. And then I remember the first time where I watched it and it cut to that scene. And I was like, what are we, what are we doing? What is, yeah. Yeah. Ryan is a fish. Ryan's a fish. He's a fish. He's a fish. She's the pineapple princess. Yeah.

[00:42:55] It's almost like they thought they needed a bop to the top number. And then they were like, we actually don't. We don't. But then the footage exists. They're like, I guess we do. Hands are tied. All right. Let's make our list. Let's check it twice. Where is High School Musical 2 going to land? And if it's outside of our top 10, has anything changed in our top 10? Erin, I'll start with you. So this movie is going to air at 11 on my list. Okay. Wow. It's really high.

[00:43:25] Yeah. You had High School Musical 2? Yeah. Yeah. There's just so many iconic things about High School Musical 2. Like the numbers are really great. Bet on it is a classic. We didn't even talk about it. You went by it so quickly in the synopsis. I thought we were going to dive into it and then. Sorry. Bet on it's in this movie. But it is just like an iconic thing that has been like spoofed and memed and just. It's iconically really stupid. Like. And we love it. Yeah. That's fine.

[00:43:53] As long as we know why we are all talking about it. Yeah. I mean, it's not like. It's not good good. No. It's dumb good. Yeah. It is a banger though. I mean, here is this high school boy singing about his feelings in the middle of a golf course. On the golf course. Running and prancing. More boys should feel the freedom to do that without ridicule. Yes. You said it. You said it. More boys should be able to sing about their feelings. That's right. Bet on it. Bet. That's where the kids got it. It was so high on my list.

[00:44:20] But to put it any higher would knock Halloween town out of my top 10. And I'm not ready for that to happen. I'm not ready for that kind of commitment. It's going to come in at 11. Just ahead of scream team. So. My top 10 has not changed at 10. Halloween town. Nine. Get a clue. Eight. Eddie's million dollar cook off. Seven. Phantom of the Megaplex. Six. Jack. Three. Cadet Kelly. Two. High School Musical.

[00:44:49] And one. Motocrossed. Well. I like it more. I see where it is. So. Today's a big day. So today's a big day because it's finally, we finally say goodbye to Phantom of the Megaplex. No longer in my top 10. And. You lost your mind. So number 10. Full Court Miracle. Number nine. Smart House. Number eight. Eddie's million dollar cook off. Number seven. Cadet Kelly. Number six.

[00:45:20] Get a clue. Number five. High School Musical. The OG. Number four. Motocross. Number three. Johnny Thunami. Number two. High School Musical. Two. A new entry. And number one. The greatest movie of our time in any time. Brink. Brink is a. Brink is an absolutely better movie than High School Musical. That's what I said. But. Oh my goodness. We agree. That's great. I love it when we agree. Yeah. It's fun when we agree. Nailed it. 23 gang. That's not bad. That's not bad.

[00:45:50] 23. I'll take that. I'll take it. That's like top third. It's top third. It is. It's right. I think we've done. We've done 69. It's exactly top. Top third. So there you go. 23. I'll take it. I'll take it. You can't deny the quality on screen at times in this movie. I want to be very clear. Like. I'm watching what down between you and me man. This move. Well, yeah, there's also that, but this movie sets itself up to it. Can't be terrible by comparison.

[00:46:20] I mean, like he was wearing a shirt that said Viva La Basketball. I do. But and I didn't like this movie at all. But like did it. If you scroll down any further, like, you know, Jet Jackson, read it and we jump in. Yeah. This movie just by showing up and having big dance numbers is an easier watch than those movies. Good company. So 23 for me right behind Z. No 23 and me. No, different story. You're going to want to contact them if you haven't yet.

[00:46:51] Right behind Z. Non right ahead of you wish 23 top 10 hasn't changed Halloween town full court miracle scream team. Get a clue. Eddie's million dollar cook off fan of the Megaplex Johnny tsunami. Mom's got a date with the vampire Cadet Kelly motocross number one. All right. There we go. Good on us. We are going back next week. We're headed to Halloween already again. Twitches to which is to spelled T. O. Oh, yeah.

[00:47:20] Twitches as well as well. Also, so do it that way. You will. Maybe that tells us something about the movie. I don't know. So it's like maybe there's somebody else and their twitches to like maybe there's another but to this I've never seen it tells us. Maybe the title tells us something about the movie. So I've never seen twitches to what it's going to tell me is that the twitches are back. Yeah. Yeah. If it was called twitches to the number would still would have told us something about the movie. No, but the fact that it has.

[00:47:49] Well, oh makes me think also that there's another set of twitches double twitches like they are twitches as well. Yeah, I think this is a movie I saw one time. Yeah, I've never seen it. So that's what I'm going with. I'm going with that. We're going to find another pair of twitches. I have no memories of this movie as well. Also, so come back for that. It's going to be a lot of fun until then. We're supposed to issue a decom all day. Bet on it. D com descendants is a Bramble Jam podcast produced in yeah, that Greenville, South Carolina at

[00:48:17] the Bramble Jam podcast network studios by Brandon Gray. Follow us on the socials at the com descendants. Follow us on the web. D com podcast.com. Leave us a rating and review Apple podcast Spotify. If you want to see us have to watch and review Lizzie McGuire and all those other movies to watch us watch these movies live.

[00:48:36] You're about to hear some ads that help keep the lights on here in the old studio. Thanks for listening or don't listen. It's really up to you at this point. It's at the end of the show. I mean, you're listening to me. Hi, but here they come. I promise they're coming. Yep. Here they are. Happy day. Don't move up, Gabriel. Yeah, we hate.