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High School Musical poster

Movies that feel likeHigh School Musical (2006)

A popular high school athlete and an academically gifted girl get roles in the school musical and develop a friendship that threatens East High's social order.

If you loved High School Musical, the closest films we have are The School of Rock (2003), Pitch Perfect (2012) and Hocus Pocus (1993). All three share High School Musical's witty and playful feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is You, the Living (2007).

🍅 67% Rotten Tomatoes★ 5.7 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Kenny Ortegawittyplayfulwarmcozystylishromantic
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If High School Musical hit the spot, these will too

Looking for the series itself? Also in this series: High School Musical 2 (2007) · High School Musical 3: Senior Year (2008)

The School of Rock poster
The School of Rock
2003 · dir. Richard Linklater
🍅 92%★ 7.2comedy · family · musicParamount+Starz

Both land wit and play at once

The difference: Reviewed even better

Fired from his band and hard up for cash, guitarist and vocalist Dewey Finn finagles his way into a job as a fifth-grade substitute teacher at a private school, where he secretly begins teaching his straight-A students the finer points of rock 'n' roll and the power of sticking it to the man. But as the school’s stern principal closes in and the Battle of the Bands looms, Dewey must risk everything to prove that rock 'n' roll can change lives.

Pitch Perfect poster
Pitch Perfect
2012 · dir. Jason Moore
🍅 81%★ 7.1comedy · music · romance

One thread runs through both: audition

The difference: Trades the comfort of High School Musical for an angle of its own

College student Beca knows she does not want to be part of a clique, but that's exactly where she finds herself after arriving at her new school. Thrust in among mean gals, nice gals and just plain weird gals, Beca finds that the only thing they have in common is how well they sing together. She takes the women of the group out of their comfort zone of traditional arrangements and into a world of amazing harmonic combinations in a fight to the top of college music competitions.

Hocus Pocus poster
Hocus Pocus
1993 · dir. Kenny Ortega
🍅 42%★ 6.9fantasy · comedy · familyDisney+

Kenny Ortega working the same nerve twice

The difference: Easier on the style than High School Musical

After 300 years of slumber, three sister witches are accidentally resurrected in Salem on Halloween night, and it is up to three kids and their newfound feline friend to put an end to the witches' reign of terror once and for all.

You, the Living poster
You, the Living
2007 · dir. Roy Andersson
🍅 98%★ 7.4drama · comedy · music

Common ground: musical

The difference: Leans harder into drama than High School Musical does

In the Swedish city of Lethe, people from different walks of life take part in a series of short, deadpan vignettes that rush past. Some are just seconds long, none longer than a couple of minutes. A young woman remembers a fantasy honeymoon with a rock guitarist. A man awakes from a dream about bomber planes. A businessman boasts about success while being robbed by a pickpocket, and so on. The absurdist collection is accompanied by Dixieland jazz and similar music.

Freaky Friday poster
Freaky Friday
2003 · dir. Mark Waters
🍅 88%★ 6.4comedy · family · fantasyDisney+

Both are built on the same subject: high school

Mother and daughter bicker over everything -- what Anna wears, whom she likes and what she wants to do when she's older. In turn, Anna detests Tess's fiancé. When a magical fortune cookie switches their personalities, they each get a peek at how the other person feels, thinks and lives.

We Bought a Zoo poster
We Bought a Zoo
2011 · dir. Cameron Crowe
🍅 64%★ 7drama · comedy · familyDisney+

The same mix in both: warmth, then comfort

Benjamin has lost his wife and, in a bid to start his life over, purchases a large house that has a zoo – welcome news for his daughter, but his son is not happy about it. The zoo is in need of renovation and Benjamin sets about the work with the head keeper and the rest of the staff, but, the zoo soon runs into financial trouble.

The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement poster
The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement
2004 · dir. Garry Marshall
🍅 25%★ 5.9comedy · drama · familyDisney+

Romantic comedy, and it commits to that

Mia Thermopolis is now a college graduate and on her way to Genovia to take up her duties as princess. Accompanied by her friend Lilly, Mia continues her 'princess lessons', like riding horses side-saddle and archery. But her already complicated life is turned upside down once again when she learns that she is to take the crown as queen earlier than expected, all while she meets a mysteriously charming young man.

A Cinderella Story poster
A Cinderella Story
2004 · dir. Mark Rosman
🍅 11%★ 6comedy · family · romance

Both keep coming back to the same thing: high school

Routinely exploited by her wicked stepmother, the downtrodden Samantha Montgomery is excited about the prospect of meeting her Internet beau at the school's Halloween dance.

Bedtime Stories poster
Bedtime Stories
2008 · dir. Adam Shankman
🍅 27%★ 6.1fantasy · comedy · familyDisney+

Both lean on wit more than on family

Skeeter Bronson is a down-on-his-luck guy who's always telling bedtime stories to his niece and nephew. But his life is turned upside down when the fantastical stories he makes up for entertainment inexplicably turn into reality. Can a bewildered Skeeter manage his own unruly fantasies now that the outrageous characters and situations from his mind have morphed into actual people and events?

August Rush poster
August Rush
2007 · dir. Kirsten Sheridan
🍅 36%★ 7.4family · drama · music

Stylish music in both cases

Evan, a musically gifted orphan, runs away from his orphanage and searches New York City for his birth parents. On his journey, he's taken under the wing of the Wizard, a homeless man who lives in an abandoned theater. After discovering his talent, the Wizard gives Evan the name "August Rush" and devises a plan to profit from his talent. Little does Evan know that his parents, Lyla and Louis, are searching for him too.

Enchanted poster
Enchanted
2007 · dir. Kevin Lima
🍅 93%★ 7.1comedy · family · fantasyDisney+

The same preoccupation in both: musical

The beautiful princess Giselle is banished by an evil queen from her magical, musical animated land and finds herself in the gritty reality of the streets of modern-day Manhattan. Shocked by this strange new environment that doesn't operate on a "happily ever after" basis, Giselle is now adrift in a chaotic world badly in need of enchantment. But when Giselle begins to fall in love with a charmingly flawed divorce lawyer who has come to her aid - even though she is already promised to a perfect fairy tale prince back home - she has to wonder: Can a storybook view of romance survive in the real world?

Cheaper by the Dozen poster
Cheaper by the Dozen
2003 · dir. Shawn Levy
🍅 25%★ 6comedy · familyDisney+

Tv movie with a pulse of play, in both cases

The Baker brood moves to Chicago after patriarch Tom gets a job coaching football at Northwestern University, forcing his writer wife, Kate, and the couple's 12 children to make a major adjustment. The transition works well until work demands pull the parents away from home, leaving the kids bored -- and increasingly mischievous.

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The best-reviewed films that share High School Musical’s defining feeling.