User reviews

Dream High is a 2011 K-Drama based around the lives of a group of students at a performing arts school. It's basically a musically themed melodrama about some young people.

SPOILERS AHEAD!

The story centers on the prestigious Kirin Arts Academy; a school devoted entirely to taking young talented performers and turning them into future star musicians, dancers, singers, etc. It's not easy getting into this school, but if you do, you'll be trained night and day to realize your potential.

Enter our young aspiring artists. They come from differing backgrounds with varying experience and talents. They all try out to be accepted by the school; some make the cut and some don't for various reasons. One girl that fails to get accepted is given a chance to earn a special exception if she can bring in a couple of other students one of the teachers wants to train. Everybody soon converges together, and the story quickly focuses on the 6 young primary characters; 3 girls and 3 boys, some of which have made the cut, and some of which are trying to get in through the back door.

The characters are forced to get to know each other, and have to work together to accomplish their goals (or work against each other as is sometimes the case). Some grow in life over time as individuals, others fall prey to the emotional pitfalls of success and failure. Along the way, some friendships are born and others are crushed, romantic interests are explored, and so forth. This is all very typical stuff for this type of genre, and, it's done competently enough to be a solid melodrama all on its own. All this is set against the backdrop of their individual talents & the arts school though, and, that is where the show really shines.

Prior to watching this show, I already was aware that the 6 lead characters were actually fairly accomplished young musicians, dancers, and/or singers, in real life. There's a number of musical set pieces and performances throughout the show, and the 6 leads had no problem delivering the goods in that aspect when called upon. Actually, I was much more concerned if these people could really act, than I was worried they'd be able to pull off the musical numbers. Amazingly, they're all more than acceptable actors and actresses in their specific roles, and some of them gave quite good performances in regards. Overall: Fantastic Job Everyone!

I wouldn't actually classify this show as a musical; there are only but a few song & dance numbers (if that many) that spontaneously break out. Almost all of the musical performances are done within the context of story (i.e. during practice, stage events, try-outs, scheduled performances, etc). There's also only a handful of instances of one of the cast members singing to another one, but that's about it. The way the musical performances are incorporated makes for real nice blend to the overall story. Neither part of these differing show aspects interferes with, or outweighs, the other; this is an important part in making this show work successfully as a whole, and, it was all handled with a good deal of aplomb throughout.

There's a number of other secondary characters and story lines during this show's 16 episode run. Other artists come and go as guest stars, the school and teachers are focused on some, people's lives and families are looked at, etc. It's mostly all serviceably to effectively accomplished.

What could be improved here?...not much (if anything). Asking to tone down the melodrama a bit is just not going to happen with these KTV shows, so deal with it. I suppose the production company could spring for some space heaters for everybody on the set of a winter time KTV show in order to keep their young stars from freezing to death.

Bottom Line: This show is definitely geared towards a younger audience than I, but that didn't stop me from liking it anyway, and, I liked it a lot actually. It's enjoyable, and, it is quite good overall. The cast and crew of Dream High II has certainly got their work cut out for them if they want to be on par with this show.

8 out of 10 stars!...Well Recommended!

"Dream High" is a captivating musical drama that focused a group of young students of Kirin High School and their passionate journey through music to fulfill their dreams overcoming all the haphazard of life under the guidance of some motivating teachers. And the drama was simply moving and touching in many senses with fantastic music score. Some plot holes can be overlooked being mesmerized by the realistic plot line and natural acting.

From the third episode, I really got into the drama and it was overall so interesting and heart-warming. Tough but emotional character Go-Hye Mi (the then newbie actress Suzy Bae quietly succeeded in turning out the main character, she's an awesome singer too), her follower friend Yoon Baek Hee, fatty but cutely Kim Pil Suk (IU) (both of their transformation are quite interesting),helpful and caring guy Jin Guk (Taecyeon was so lovely and matured in that role), music prodigy country boy Song Sam Dong ( cool alien Do Min Joon of "My Love from the Star" was a way too crazy!), , handsome Jason, inspirational guide - teacher Kang and also the other supporting characters were touching at least for some moments .

At some times, the plot seems to get too melodramatic but I enjoyed the drama till the special concert whole-heartedly. It was an attractive display of modern Korean music and dance too.

"Nan kkumi issoyo. Khu kkum-eul midoyo" ( I have a dream. I believe in that dream)- then hard effort is imperative to fulfill any great dream. We can be in ease in handling difficult situations just by smiling at fears. A good teacher is like a light house. In ups and downs of life, family and friend support can turn out to be a great relief. And after taking a decision, don't regret over it, you've a chance to prove it the best!- these inner morals of this drama are easy to say, tough to implement in real life but obviously these have made the drama ultimately inspirational , moving and memorable .

Just to mention, I watched the impressive first season only and don't have any wish to watch the second season with totally different cast. :)

A misfit group of students at Kirin high school of art have to deal with all the teenage angst and dramas on their way to achieving their dreams. It has a formidable cast of stars who have all gone onto greater success. I am probably the wrong demographic for it to truly appeal to but overall an uplifting story and great adult roles where they encourage and draw the best out of their pupils. The biggest bonus is that it has the incredible Lee Ji-eun (I. U.) in a supporting role and her voice just lifts your spirits.

I loved this K-drama about high school kids pursuing their artistic dreams, and I'm a 55 year old woman! The soundtrack was awesome, and toe tapping, good for dancing! I even bought the CD on Amazon.

Dream High was on Streaming Netflix but for some unknown reason they recently removed it. I am so glad I got to enjoy it before it was taken off! You can still see it on the DramaFever website but it's not as much fun when watching on a computer instead of a 60 inch HDTV - plus unless you pay monthly on that site to take the ads off you are interrupted with them on DramaFever every ten minutes. Annoying!

I particularly enjoyed the story of the fat girl who lost weight in order to be taken seriously by her peers. Her transformation was beautiful.

The boy I liked the best ended up winning the girl in the end, but that was hard because the other boy was very nice too. I felt sorry for his character, he was obviously still in love with her.

Apparently there is a Dream High 2 sequel but none of the same cast returned so I will not be bothering with that one. I am not sure why they bother doing that -- bring back the same cast whom people felt close to the first time around.

Lovedddddddd the first season like straight up 10/10 !!!! Soooooo entertaining omg ! Just writing this review makes me wanna rewatch the whole drama again lol.. the cast was beautiful !! Straight up perfection !! Everything about this was soooo great !!!

Great acting. Dreaming of and working towards fame; the students work hard and some get tremendous support. Friendships flourish whilst in each others company. The adult relationships progress whilst the students relationships with each other change as they grow into adulthood. The one who should be thankful to those who gave great support does not acknowlege them when stardom arrives. The energy, pace of the film was good, thoroughly enjoyable. The acting and singing of Suzy Bae was superb

Season 1: The drama started off mostly alright for the first 3 episodes or so, but once they confined everything into the school settings, problems started to seep from every corner. Imagine all of the school related tired tropes and cliches amplified by cringe to create the cheesiest abomination. Jason as a character, actor, story and writing was easily the worst aspect of this drama. Which created one of the worst memorable dynamics with his love interest. From the outset, the plot followed a predictable trajectory but things got a lot worse around the last 1/3 of its run. During which the story became static, the characters fell apart and the drama started to shove empty scenes of side characters. They reduced Sam Dong screen time significantly as well. They also isolated Pil Sook and Jason despite being main characters and had little to no interactions with others later on. All of this led to a below average last episode and a lukewarm ending. Despite its flaws and problems, somehow it worked, to a certain degree.

In comparison, season 2 was an obvious downgrade in all regards, it's just plain worse. The empty scenes I mentioned earlier turned into amateurish random musical performances here. I noticed they were mostly using Korean songs in this season, compared to season 1 which had more western/global songs. In season 2, no one had any chemistry with anyone, all pairings were as incompatible and dry as they could get. It also had the same ending as season 1. I think the cast also had more idols than actors? Anyway, changing the directors and writers made its sequel DOA.

My review it's for the drama Dream High(2011).

A really good and motivating drama with nice cast, great ost ,dance and many moral messages about failure,friendship,acceptance and forgiveness. There are also some touchy moments and especially the role of Song Sam-dong is totally lovable (I really don't expect it).

It's worth to watch it and have fun with this enjoyable and pleasant drama.

If you want to get motivated when pursuing your dreams, you can watch this drama. I like the music and the spirit of their characters when pursuing their dreams. The only downside is the lipsync, it looks very unrealistic, a typical mistake for all K-Drama with singing scene. The only good one is when Kim Soo Hyun sing "Dreaming"

Dream High is a Korean musical drama television series. Dream High is what makes me like Korean songs. What I like most about Dream High is the story of the 6 main characters who work hard with each other, in realizing their dreams of becoming stars in the Korean music industry. Besides that, I also like the Theme OST Song called "Dream High", a catchy Korean song. Dream High is highly recommended for people who love Korean movies and Korean music.

The usual story of talented high school kids dreaming of becoming stars one day. I've seen this in "Fame" and the like, though I still found this entertaining. It's always moving to see talents being developed and dreams being fulfilled.

The one unforgettable thing about this is IU's "Someday" that I still listen to in YouTube from time to time.