Movie Musicals

What a fun movie! Crammed with little-known historical facts (although at moments it's hard to tell just what is fact and what is fiction), spectacular music, and great humor, this is a spectacular musical! Well, almost... the almost incessant swearing was a downer, as well as several bawdy comments that easily could have been left out.

It's hard not to compare this to Moulin Rouge, another movie musical using pop songs along with creative visuals to enhance the songs. So I'm not going to try to not compare them.

Moulin Rouge was definitely better. Beatles songs actually *are* better, but much of the time it felt like they were hesitant to play much with the actual musicality of it. The visuals, sure, the visuals can be as crazy as you want-- but the music has to stay classic Beatles, at least in tone, or everyone will be angry. Well, unfortunately, that means that many of the vocal performances sound like nothing but decent American Idol performances, lacking much of the musical originality that Moulin Rouge brought to the table.

However! Visually, this works almost as well. Not every scene is pushed quite to the extreme of Moulin Rouge, but there are definitely a lot of scenes that I remember because of the stunning visual effects. My favorite was probably the bizarre twist on "I Want You," where a series of robotic soldiers put several young men through a series of tests to determine draft eligibility.

Although this review is now incredibly long, I just wanted to briefly mention a few of my other favorite moments: "With a Little Help From My Friends" becomes a rollicking, well-natured partying song that conveys a warm fuzzy sense of camaraderie. "I Am the Walrus" is a stunning psychedelic whirlwind. "Strawberry Fields Forever" takes on a dark undertone as an artist furiously struggles to portray his thoughts on canvas. And "Across the Universe" takes place in the middle of a peace-march-turned-riot, as the singer stands amidst the screaming crowd firmly vowing, "Nothing's going to change my world."

Lots of brilliance throughout...and definitely worth rewatching. But all-in-all, it was just slightly disappointing, falls *just* shy of the mark of greatness. So close, Julie Taymor. So close.

This was one of my first musicals I ever heard. Since then I've listened to it so many times that it had started to lose its musical beauty to me. Then I rewatched the movie and... wow. Lots of energy. Lots of beautiful tunes. Lots of great dancing. This is one of those shows that just makes you all happy when you're watching it, even if it is disjointed plotwise. And who could resist Mr. Mistoffelees? He's just SO cool-looking. Erm... for a person dressed up as a cat, that is. :-)

There are very few musicals done as slickly or as magically as this. Yes, I've decided to use the word "magical" to describe this movie, despite the dismal setting and morbid plot. But there just are very few other words for it. Every musical number captured my attention, despite the fact that I am not crazy about the show in general. THIS is how movie musicals should be made. Take a look, people working on Hairspray. Don't let the movie musical follow down the path of The Producers or Phantom of the Opera as sub-par representations of good shows. The movie musical does NOT have to be dead, not with gems like this just waiting to be made.

At last! Stephen Sondheim's 1970 comedy that completely changed musical theater for at least a decade and a half is somewhere on DVD! And it's not disappointing in the least. Raul Esparza makes Bobby a very real person rather than a stereotype, and there are several "people to watch" in the ensemble cast of his married friends. (Kristin Huffman and Elizabeth Stanley in particular impressed me.)

Sondheim paints an intriguing picture of modern marriage and relationships through the eyes of Bobby, who wants to get married but sees how his friends' marriages have just made life far more complicated for them. His final musical number, where he hammers on the piano in an effort to work out exactly what this all means to him, is a stunning portrayal of someone finally coming to grips with the fact that love is always worth it.

A very minimalistic set allows for the slightly avant-garde script to truly shine. Characters unconnected to the current scene burst in and perform songs. An interesting choice here is that all the performers are not just performing vocally, but as the show's orchestra as well.

This show continues to be one of my favorites by Sondheim, and although this is not a perfect production, it captures what people love about this show - brilliant music, brilliant script, and a look at what love means in a modern day time. This is no 1960s romantic comedy. This is a new genre that nobody can quite classify.

One of the very few instances where I like the movie better than the OBC. But the OBC for Evita didn't do anything for me. Patti LuPone always sounds about 50 years old to me, Mandy Patinkin was tolerable but he just wasn't Che, and Bob Gutton, or whatever his name is, had a boring singing voice. (Well, so does Jonathan Pryce, but he just seemed to fill the role perfectly.) My only qualm about this is that they took "Another Suitcase in Another Hall" from Peron's mistress and gave it to Eva. Grr.

I've seen this on stage twice now, and it stills remains, if not one of my favorite musicals, one of the best. (Because... yes, I do like a few shows that really aren't that good. *shamed*) It's really a very touching story with lots of fabulous music. The only thing you have to be aware of if you're settling in to watch it, is that it's long and slow... but well worth it in the end.

I saw this for the first time at my aunt's house in Rhode Island, and it in turn introduced me to the theater version of this. Godspell is just such a fun show... so upbeat and energetic and full of fun. The cast of the movie is pretty good, definitely does justice to the score.

Nearly all of this movie is pure delight. Fantastic musical numbers, likeable main characters... great stuff. And then it gets to the end and everything goes haywire. Sigh. (Spoilers ahead.) Sandy discovers that the only way to get her guy is to change everything about herself. That is NOT sweet or romantic. That's bleak and depressing. (Although possibly more justified if you consider that he was apparently about to become a jock for her - so at least they were going to mutually try to change for the other person.) Also, the lyrics for "You're the One That I Want" make zero sense in that context. "To my heart I must be true"? That's clearly not the case, since she's just changed everything about herself for a guy. Harumph. That lame ending lowered my rating half a star. However, I am going to salvage the movie from the mess it turned into, by pretending that post-movie they tell each other, "It's okay, you don't have to change, I really DO like who you are" and all is well.

Pure delight. I'm a big fan of the movie and show, and this was a nearly-perfect adaptation of it. (Amanda Bynes was my one gripe - she portrays far too much confidence to play Penny. I missed that awkward character... I always sympathize with her.) This movie may not have the most substance of any movie out there, but it's certainly one of the best feel-good flicks I've seen in awhile. You can't help but come out of this with a smile on your face. Special "Yay" goes to James Marsden, who was absolutely perfect in his tiny role. Goodness, can that guy sing!

It was this movie that first introduced me to the wonderful world of Sondheim. Into the Woods remains my favorite Sondheim show, primarily because its plot is simultaneously charming and tragic. The original cast does a fantastic job reprising their roles in this video. Bernadette Peters, in particular, is awesome as the Witch. This is one of the best movie musicals I've ever seen - everyone go check it out!

This movie has the best cast of any Joseph performance I've seen or heard. Except for Jacob, who really can't sing at all. But Joseph, the Narrator, and the brothers are all outstanding. I've been a big fan of the show for awhile, but I never get bored of these songs. "One More Angel in Heaven" and "Song of the King" still make me laugh, "Close Every Door" still comes pretty darn close to making me cry, and "Go Go Joseph" still makes me start tapping my feet and snapping my fingers. Excellent, excellent. Now let's hope they do as good a job with Phantom of the Opera when that becomes a movie. (Hint, hint, Warner Brothers.)

This may well have been one of the most amazing movies I have ever seen, and I don't know how it happened. A traditional love story, no new twists there, paper-thin characters, melodrama galore... and better yet, everyone will sing pop songs? Not original songs, but *pop* songs. Say, "Like a Virgin" and "The Show Must Go On." Hey, I like musicals, but by all rights that should have been cheesy and stupid and all-around lousy. And yet.. somehow it isn't. I was enthralled with this movie by the time the first dance scene showed up. I have never, ever been a fan of Ewan McGregor, but since all he had to be here was sincere, he was perfect. Nicole Kidman was also fantastic in her (also not-deep) role. And the fact that neither one of them have particularly good voices didn't keep me from enjoying the movie - I *really* don't know how that happened. This movie is all about style over substance, and BOY, does it have style. It's got style overflowing and coming out its ears. Dazzling. Stunning. A spectacular film.

I am going to venture to do something I haven't done in a long time, and that is rate a movie 5 stars. I think it deserves it. The movie completely blew me away.

This is just a classic movie musical, primarily because Robert Preston is absolutely superb reprising his Broadway role. I grew up on this movie, but just rewatched it the other day and was reminded what a chaming story it is anyway... and the songs aren't half bad either ;-)

I really have very few complaints with this movie. It's charming, funny, and sweet. "On the Street Where You Live" is an amazingly beautiful song. If any guy ever serenades me, that's what I want him to sing to me. :-) My only real complaint is that Audrey Hepburn, while excellent as the transformed Eliza, she seems to be lacking something in the performance of the earlier character. Still, that's not enough to keep me from recommending this to all musical lovers.

One of the best musicals ever written directly for the movies, and the only one that was any good in the 90's. The story is intriging, the songs are marvelous... If you're at all a fan of movie musicals, check out this gem!

This show was clearly hoping for the international success of Les Miserables. At least one problem, however, was that the lyrics translated into English on the cast recording are TERRIBLE. I was relieved to hear the much more beautiful French lyrics when I watched this film.

That aside, this is really a very gripping musical. Garou is less "aww, a hunchback!" than many productions. He's pretty darn ugly, with a less-than-silky-smooth voice to match it. This means that the way we connect with him is most likely much closer to the way we're supposed to - we feel bad for him, but we really don't want him to be hanging around us all that often. His song "Dieu qe le monde est injuste," which comes across as just whiny in the English recording, here is poignant - the protest of a desperate man who feels he has always been on God's bad side.

I was especially struck by Daniel Lavoie's portrayal of Frollo. Starting off as unflinchingly rigid and slowly degenerating into a a crazed man filled with lust, he is at his best when he is caught in between- in the song "Belle," he finds himself drawn to Esmeralda but maintains a safe distance, only able to bring himself to long from afar. Great performance.

The dancers are a bit much. They fill nearly every scene, filling the stage with chaos that isn't always warranted. The gimmicky stage is also unneeded. "Tu vas me detruire," with its cathedral columns spinning to crush Frollo, was just silly, awkward and totally unnecessary.

Staging aside, though, the music is compelling, the performances are fantastic, and the lyrics are much much better in French than they are in English. Worth watching if you enjoy musicals and don't mind subtitles!

I had mixed feelings on this. I absolutely adored the original movie, and I absolutely adore musical theater and movies that have an abundance of musical theater people in them... but somehow this never quite clicked for me. Even musical moments that clearly should have been spine-tingling ("I Wanna Be a Producer," for example) simply weren't. I sat there thinking, "I should be enjoying this a whole lot more than I am." Just another example, I guess, of how something with a lot of energy on stage often loses that energy when it transfers to the screen.

Not to say this is a bad movie, though. I still enjoyed it, although never at any point did I think it was spectacular. There were a few moments that made me giggle, and the cast was all very good. The most surprising to me was Will Ferrell. He's one of those people I keep expecting to be really obnoxious in a movie, and then I watch it and think, "Actually, that was pretty good." The same happened here. This was a great part for him... made me laugh a few times.

And let's not forget to make a brief mention of the performances of Roger Bart, who's one of my Voices, and Gary Beach, who isn't one of my Voices but is still a musical theater person, and Uma Thurman, who isn't a musical theater person but also did a good job in her role.

Goodness, what can I say about this movie? It was incredible. Absolutely, truly incredible. I can definitely see why this show has lasted for so long and cultivated so many fans. The story, songs, and cast are all incredibly powerful. I at first begged to go see this just so I could see a few of my Voices on the big screen. But I found myself getting caught up in the stories of characters I hadn't really cared about before this. The funeral, for example, had never really touched me, but it was definitely one of the most moving scenes. What more can I say? Everyone needs to get out there and see it. NOW!

Such a delightful movie. Even though I'm not crazy about the songs, it's one of those movies that is just upbeat and energetic and infectious.

An incredibly well-cast version of Sondheim's musical. Patti LuPone, who I usually don't like, is absolutely perfect as Mrs. Lovett. George Hearn is also great in his role. The music is amazing, although most of the time it's hardly pretty. The lyrics are fascinating. There's a lot of great dark comedy in here. Overall, quite a treat to watch, especially after the far-more-bland Sunday in the Park With George.

This movie rules, it always has. The music is incredible, the dancing is awesome (check out the "Cool" dance sequence . . . very neato), and it gives such a powerful message, driving it home. This is one of the very few movies I have cried in, thus making it an amazing story. The original Shakespeare story wasn't nearly this ruling.(In case you're wondering, the other movies were A Walk to Remember, Savannah Smiles, Casablanca, and Monsters Inc.)