What a misnomer. Neither fabulous nor much of an adventure, Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure off-shot from the popular High School Musical series but fails to capture the sense of joy and wonder those movies were all about. Of all the characters from that series to carry into a spin-off, why choose her? The Sharpay character was never all that lovable to start, because it’s not easy to sympathize with a character who’s both spoiled rotten and somewhat airheaded, and her own feature doesn’t make it any more bearable. Beyond a desire for money, it’s really hard to identify a reason why this was made at all. The characters are annoying, the musical numbers devoid of energy, and the whole story’s message is less than inspiring: success comes from lucky breaks.
Sharpay (Ashley Tisdale) has just graduated from High School (maybe you remember that?), and she seems to have a great opportunity waiting for her in New York City where she’ll finally get to pursue her dream of acting on Broadway. She packs her things in about 10 pink suitcases and heads to the Big Apple where she’s quickly thrown out of her apartment for having a pet, and discovers that the “big break” she thought was waiting for her isn’t what it seemed and gains a cutthroat rival in the process (Bradley Steven Perry). With the help of Peyton (Austin Butler), an aspiring film student intent on making Sharpay the subject of his feature, she gets by and toils away under the manipulative eye of Broadway star Amber Adams (Cameron Goodman), hoping for her big chance.
The characters are obnoxious, the plot unfathomably poor and implausible, and the entirety of Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure reeks of a money grab.
Blu-ray Bonus Features Two featurettes follow Ashley Tisdale as she traces the growth of the Sharpay character (all of which really happened in the HSM movies) and then Austin Butler who escorts us behind the scenes taking his film student character a bit far. A blooper reel closes out the disc.
"Sharpay's Fabulous Adventure" is on sale April 19, 2011 and is rated G. Comedy, Musical. Directed by Michael Lembeck. Written by Robert Horn. Starring Ashley Tisdale, Austin Butler, Cameron Goodman, Bradley Steven Perry.
