I finally got down to watching the very hyped-up High School Musical. And frankly, as sugary and cotton-candy the whole movie is, I actually enjoyed it! Infectious songs which kept ringing in my head after the movie and those awesome dance moves really captured me. Kenny Ortega who directed Newsies more than 10 years ago directed this Disney hit. Still fluffy fun, but story-wise much better than Newsies in that it is more coherent and less abrupt. And it does seem that 10 years down the road and Ortega has definitely matured in his style of directing. He still has that touch in the dance cinematic choreography but has also made flow of the movie smooth and updated. Anyway, fun to see a middle-aged Ortega playing around with the kids in the High School Musical making-of special.

Definitely worth watching!

Anyway, after watching Hairspray and High School Musical, I got a little more interested in teen sensation Zac Efron and decided to find out more about him. I must say, looking at his biography on IMDB.com, I am quite impressed with his resume. Mostly small roles in TV serials such as C.S.I. and E.R., but definitely dramatic roles that are a far cry from the teenybopper roles he's been getting these days.



Here's Zac as a youngster in an episode of E.R. where he played a gun-shot victim.



In fact, I was quite interested to see made-for-TV movie Miracle Run as he was reported to play a teenager with autism. And so I found this clip where Zac appears towards the 2nd half as the grown up version of one of the twins.



Miracle Run is a movie released by Timeline Television. The story revolves around the story of a single mother, played by Mary-Louise Parker, and her struggle to raise her twin sons who both were diagnosed with autism. Based on a true story, as according to the credits in the movie. A very Hallmark-ish movie which is big in heart. The clip above nicely shows her twins in therapy as children and their difficult adolescence as they grew up.

That clip was the 4th part. If I'm not wrong there are 9 parts altogether featured on Youtube.

Interesting to see that a movie has chosen to focus not only on children with autism but also on young adults with the condition. Just makes you realize that so much focus has been put on children with autism that the general public seldom think about what would happen to them when they grow up.

As for accuracy in the movie, I frankly don't know because I don't have much knowledge in the area of autism. There only thing I do know for sure is that there is a whole spectrum of autistic disorders with different presenting symptoms, which is why the accurate phrase to describe the condition is in fact Autism Spectrum Disorder. The twins in the movie appear to fall under the higher of the spectrum, possibly Asperger's, hence they are able to attend high school but have difficulties coping with social cues and situations and regulating their emotions. In fact, one of them is even portrayed with sensory issues as he has the need to bite his arm when stressed or become hyper sensitive to sounds when agitated. But other than that, I'm not sure if it the portrayal is accurate or not.

What I don't like about the movie though is how they portray the twins as geniuses, somewhat like savants. That's a stereotype and quite untrue for most people with autism.

Anyway, back to Zac Efron. I couldn't help noticing that huge gap on his row of front teeth! Was it there all the time and he just had braces to fix them recently or was that movie magic? I think I saw it in that E.R. clip also so must be real! Good thing he got them fixed!

Whatever it is, while he may not be the best of actors it certainly does seem that he is the type who has the potential to be daring in his choice of roles. If he maintains this integrity in showbiz, coupled with a clean image and more opportunities to hone his talents (acting, singing, dancing...), I think he can go quite far in this line.

But definitely and surely, he must be able to maintain that integrity. Hollywood these days is far too scandalous. Even his girlfriend Vanessa Anne Hudgens got caught in a photo-shoot scandal recently! Dangerous place to be in, it is...