Until now, the High School Musical phenomenon has been sweet, upbeat, harmless fun. With the third installation of the Disney pop sensation, which is also the first to be released theatrically, the fun stops being harmless. It is so sweet it can rot your teeth and send you into insulin shock.

I understand that High School Musical fans can’t get enough of their favorite characters no matter how the act, and that creative license can obviously be taken to fit the musical genre, but is it really necessary for any sense of reality to be bound, gagged and hidden in the basement? I mean, which major university holds a special freshman honors program three weeks before high school lets out, causing students to miss their own graduation?

Who sells the mansion and moves away with her daughter when she goes to college? Who rides around a college campus on a bike in a mini skirt and high heels? Yes, they’ve created an alternate reality for High School Musical where things like this can happen, but they also jolt you into semi-reality using names for crucial plot points like Stanford, Berkeley and, most importantly, Julliard. The situations that are supposed to build drama and suspense are so ludicrous they’re completely ineffective. We all know the musical kids of East High are graduating, staging one last show before they go their separate ways. What’s to become of Gabriella and Troy after graduation? How will Sharpay steal the spotlight this time? Will her brother Ryan finally come out of the closet?

There are plenty of chaste, romantic numbers, flashily choreographed and costumed numbers, and angst-ridden adolescent numbers about the trials and tribulations of growing up and making decisions. And really, I guess that’s all anyone expects, although the musical tribute to itself at the end was more than a little annoying. Newly-minted superstars Zac Efron, Vanessa Anne Hudgens, Ashlee Tisdale, Corbin Bleu, Lucas Grabeel and Monique Coleman all do what’s expected of them, which is little more than smile, sparkle, skip, hop and writhe. The mother sitting next to me at the screening I attended had two seven year-old girls with her and they were absolutely enthralled with everything but the kissing scene. “What did you think?” I asked her.

“I’m glad they finally graduated,” she said. “And I’m glad that I won’t have to have this playing in my house 24/7 for another six months or so until it comes out on DVD.”

I felt her pain. Expect the film to inspire many a pre-teen girl Halloween costume.

Rated G.

-- Lisa Johnson Mandell