Disney Channel/Fred HayesIf you have never seen the Disney Channel classic High School Musical until now, as it celebrates its 10-year anniversary, how does watching it for the first time make you feel about Zac Efron?
Many fans got in on the ground floor when it comes to Zefron's cuteness, but some of us got our first introduction from later projects, like Hairspray (2007), 17 Again (2009), or The Lucky One (2012).
Others just saw him as the background on a friend's iPhone and said "wait, who's that hottie?" then started following his film career.
The point is: If you are just now losing your High School Musical virginity, it may change how you see Efron.
Please, take a moment, and revisit the teen romantic comedy through the eyes of a first-time watcher.
Efron has a more modern 'do these days, a grownup haircut for a grownup man, but his High School Musical hair has major throwback Justin Bieber vibes.
Throughout High School Musical it's a little different, too...
Sometimes it is straight at the ends, other times it flips out a little bit at the tips—like when he's getting active in the gym.
Yes, we studied it very closely.
The '06 look for Efron is super-cute. We wouldn't encourage him to give it a comeback, since it's looking so good now, but we can appreciate this High School Musical time capsule for his old 'do. We're swooning either way.
Aside from the hair, though, there were some style notes that kind of changed how we see him.
Seeing Efron in some of these get-ups made us knock the stud factor down a few notches.
Wearing a giant ring (presumably because he's a basketball champ, but still, it's a bit much) and an embroidered shirt that reminds us of our dad going to the casino, we're not super-crazy about the scenes when they dress his character in outdated, adult clothes.
Efron doesn't look like a guy going to a New Year's Eve dance, he looks like he's chaperoning a New Year's Eve dance.
We can't get behind the corduroy blazer situation. We're seeing an alternate future Efron we don't want to see. Sorry, Zac.
As for the rest of Efron's threads in the movie, we noticed a common theme: it's either athletic wear (which we're cool with) or... it's blue.
Sweaters, t-shirts, denim on denim (that balcony scene!), Efron's default student attire seems to be the color blue, which makes his blue eyes stand out even more.
This element of seeing High School Musical for the first time totally upped his stud factor overall.
We've been staring into those baby blues, but we kind of forgot how perfect they are until we saw this movie. Get this film's costumer an Oscar. They know how to play to someone's strength.
Something that didn't totally win us over?
Efron's basketball "skills."
The star athlete or "playmaker" is a sports god at his school.
Every time he walks into a room or hallway, there's a pep rally happening. He even has a giant billboard-sized poster of himself wallpapering part of the school.
But when we see him play... he's not that great.
Sure, they show Efron sinking baskets, and he makes them, but that's not necessarily enough to make us think this kid's getting a full scholarship on his hoops abilities.
Now, singing and dancing while practicing basketball? He's got that down for sure.
And we can't really evaluate Efron's swoon-factor based on his singing in the movie, since he's dubbed in the first High School Musical. (But if he were singing, we'd be even more smitten.) The moonwalk attempt makes up for it, though.
Oh, and back to sports for a moment, when Efron loses his basketball mojo, throws a ball at a fence, and sinks to the ground in defeat?
Temper tantrums aren't cute, boy.
Seeing an actor play an athlete in a movie often means bonus points for their stud factor. That's not really the case for Efron in High School Musical.
Here's something we can get on board with: his ability to rally the student body.
Efron turns on the charm in this movie.
He's likeable and sweet, kind to all of his classmates, and basically breaks down barriers so everyone feels like they can be a well-rounded individual.
You can like music and exercise. Ain't no shame, kids!
Ultimately, being introduced to this Disney hit didn't make us love Efron any less. Sure, THIS doesn't hurt too much either...
Anyway, as we were saying: Efron's High School Musical history is certainly nothing to be ashamed of.
It doesn't necessarily make him more of a stud, just a cute kid with a lot of star potential, but he hasn't lost points.
But we would like to request that he never bring back the dad chaperone or all-denim looks in the future, please. In fact, no shirt at all is totally fine with us.