High School Musical 2 isn't the sort of sequel disaster that, say, Grease 2 was. Nor can it be dismissed entirely as the Walt Disney Co. simply grabbing more cash from the fan base created for the original High School Musical.

Premiering at 8 tonight on the Disney Channel, the movie has enough appeal to keep many of its subteen fans happy. There are some good musical numbers here and there.

Still, it is a significant disappointment in the wake of the original's freshness. HSM2 feels more disjointed than the original, more calculating.

Some supporting actors seem shoehorned into scenes and dialogue, as if they had a contractual guarantee of a certain number of lines or Disney wanted to be sure to appease the fans of even the lesser characters.

Whereas the first movie tried to balance the story between Troy (Zac Efron) and Gabriella (Vanessa Hudgens), this one is much more tilted toward Troy and toward Sharpay, played by Ashley Tisdale, who by herself is raking in a lot of coin for Disney corporate-wide.

At the same time, the best production number in the movie doesn't even include Efron, Hudgens or Tisdale. The song, I Don't Dance, is a duel between Chad (Corbin Bleu) and Ryan (Lucas Grabeel).

And so to the plot.

No, first, to deal with one of the big teases about the movie, yes, Troy and Gabriella kiss. And now on to our plot.

It's the summer after the school year partly covered in the original High School Musical. Troy and his buddies all need to make money. Troy in particular is worrying about how he'll pay for college in another year. At the same time, he's looking forward to a romantic summer with Gabriella.

Suddenly, Troy gets a job Please see 'Musical', D4

Continued from Page D1 offer from Lava Springs Country Club. He leverages the offer into jobs for all his friends as well Gabriella becomes the lifeguard so the whole cast is working at the club.

Except, that is, for Sharpay and Ryan. Members of the club, they carry a lot of weight with management, and Sharpay has gotten the job offer for Troy. She hopes that having him there will give them a chance to get together at last. So when Troy brings along everyone else, including Gabriella, Sharpay comes up with even more seductive offers for Troy, including a possible scholarship to college.

Drawn to those possibilities, Troy begins to ignore his friends, and the bonds between them start to loosen.

Do not expect for a minute that this leads to an ending that is anything less than happy. Or tuneful.

But, in spite of the peppy What Time Is It opening to the movie, and the love ballad You Are the Music in Me, the path to the happy ending is at times a rocky one.

While the original HSM was pure fantasy, it was at least grounded in recognizable figures from high school. The sequel is more cartoon-like. The song Fabulous is too over the top, and Sharpay overall is even sillier than she was in the first movie.

HSM2 does try to offer reassuring messages, including some from the first movie. We're once again reminded of the importance of teamwork, and of accepting people's differences (a key element of I Don't Dance). Troy is not the only character who has to grow up in the movie. Sharpay's brother Ryan confronts his status as mere sidekick to his sister, and is helped to find success on his own.

The cast is still well-scrubbed and charming. Efron, doing his own singing after getting some dubbed-in assistance on the first movie, is a capable enough vocalist, although the harmonizing with Hudgens sounds a little odd if you have the first movie's duets stuck in your head.

Still, I expected better. I've seen the original HSM several times more than the casual fan, less than an HSM-loving 8-to-11-year-old and wanted this sequel to have the same engaging quality.