Zippy 'HSM 2' moves to country club setting

No one puts Sharpay in the corner.

If High School Musical is widely viewed as an updated, Disneyfied Grease - hoops star and science whiz court and croon, defying stereotypes and cliques - then High School Musical 2 is, as many have pointed out, its Dirty Dancing.

This upbeat spectacle, airing on the Disney Channel at 8 p.m. tomorrow (and Saturday, and Sunday, and next Thursday), takes place at Lava Springs Country Club, between junior and senior years, where Sharpay Evans (a dynamic Ashley Tisdale) rules the roost and the summer talent show. She wrangles a job for her crush, Troy Bolton (Zac Efron), and, unwittingly, the entire rest of the East High crew, including Troy's soul mate, brainiac Gabriella Montez (Vanessa Hudgens, relegated to a lifeguard uniform and sustained moping).

Troy is tempted not by the pink-addled Sharpay, but privilege and cronyism, moving from waiter to golf pro and lured by clothing, dining with members, and college scholarship, all the while ignoring his true friends.

HSM 2, enthusiastically directed and choreographed again by Kenny Ortega (who choreographed Dirty Dancing), features musical numbers as zippy as the first, and breakout songs for the comically adroit Tisdale and her former second-banana brother Ryan (Lucas Grabeel), who turns out to be straight. In the theatrical production, he decidedly lists in the other direction. His clothes are still unfortunate.

And, yes, there is a lot of face time directed toward Zac who, if you happen to be an 11-year-old girl, is dreamy.

HSM 2 is utterly watchable, harmless and, to a certain portion of the population, irresistible.

In the end, it doesn't really matter what a grown-up thinks. It matters what children think, and here's the pronouncement of one young viewer: "Best movie ever."

Until, of course, High School Musical 3.