The Producers -- 2005 -- PG-13

This film is based on the Mel Brooks' Broadway musical which also starred Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick, which was based on the 1968 film of the same name which starred Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder.

Probably the easiest part of any musical is characterizing the main characters, and as with any musical, this is done very well. You get a real sense of who the main characters are as well as the supporting cast through their own character songs and moments.

The film had plenty of funny moments to it, and it even had a solid plot. It follows a down-on-his-luck Broadway producer who figures out through his nerdy accountant that with some creative bookkeeping, a producer can make more money with a flop than with a hit. So begins the roller coaster.

The way it all unfolded was just hilarious and the potential for the awful quality was there right from the get-go. The musical ended up being a romp called "Springtime For Hitler." Note this film is set close enough to the end of World War II to make this topic incredibly sensitive, so the potential for this to be a flop was right there. I found myself laughing at a lot of this and the ensuing madness when (surprise) the musical didn't flop.

There were some problems though. One of them is just in the musical to movie translation (and this may have been present in the original film). The first main scene in the office was incredibly long. After the opening scene where our producer is discussed as having another flop, we go to his office where all the principal characters and plot are introduced. This scene runs for over fifteen minutes -- an eternity for a movie. I felt it needed something to break it up a little.

In addition, I didn't quite understand the consequences of the premise. Apparently, if you bring in more money from investors than you spend on the product...you can get into trouble? Why would you get into trouble? Or my main question: if you are caught, why can't you just give the money back? This point was never explained, and I'm guessing they thought the audience would just get it? I didn't. When the musical did not flop, I didn't understand why they couldn't just say they were cooking the books and realized they did not require the funds they'd originally requested and simply return the investors' money. This was the only unexplained point, and it was big enough in my head to make the last third of the movie questionable.

If you can get past that point and just roll with it, it's a fun film though.

Rent -- 2005 -- PG-13

I've been waiting years for this one. I got the cast recording of Rent in 1997, a year after it came out on Broadway. 

This is a heck of a drama on screen. The relationships are engaging when watching them develop from the sweetness of Collins and Angel to the touching uncertainty of Roger and Mimi to the controlling/flirtatious rocky back and forthness of Joanne and Maureen, it seems to cover the basic types of relationship types we encounter or have even been in before. And then you have Mark who is just there giving us the tale from his vantage point, it seems, as he works to film his movie. Through Larson's wonderful music, we feel the trials these characters go through and the heartbreaks as they endure them.

The stage-to-screen translation worked very, very well and it delivers a powerful performance with nearly every main musical number intact. Some of the more recitative numbers from the show were changed into straight dialogue, and two songs were cut; Christmas Bells, which is a favorite from the show and I wish they kept and Contact, which I'm grateful was gone. I guess it was a fair trade-off.

Another bonus here is after listening to the cast recording for so long, most of the main cast in the movie was from the original Broadway cast meaning that the voices singing were exactly the same ones from the 1996 recording. 

Yes, some of the subject matter deals with homosexuality, but that is not something rubbed in the face of the viewer; it's simply an element of the story such as space travel is for Star Trek...simply there and we move on. Will and Grace is 100 times more in your face than this show is about that topic.

So my bottom line is that this is still a wonderful show, and the filmmakers did a great job on the movie of it. The biggest danger is trying to make a movie out of a musical is losing some of the magic of the stage; it wasn't lost here.

Corpse Bride -- 2005 -- PG

Whoa, now this was wild. A perfect romantic musical comedy set against a horrific, gloomy backdrop. Probably the only cross-genre horror-romance I've ever seen. The only trouble you run into was when it's over, how do you feel? Were you scared? Did you laugh? Did you get that warm, fuzzy romantic comedy date movie feeling? Are you as confused as I am?

The cross-genre thing aside, this was a really great film. It played up all the classic "dead" conventions of body parts falling off and such, while simultaneously constructing a great romantic storyline with one of the best conflicts (live guy marries dead girl). It ran through the film wonderfully creating awkward situations and a wonderful climax.

The characters worked well for me, the pacing and transitions show that Tim Burton is a skilled director, and the Danny Elfman music and songs, while definitely sounding out of character for the traditionally dark Elfman, are quite good. 

The only downfall is the musical sequences primarily serve to lengthen the dreadfully short 77 minute run time. I can't help but wonder why it was so short. Granted it moved really fast, but I kind of felt a little cheated when it ended so quickly. We could have tried to spend a little more time getting to know these characters, and it would have only benefited the film as a whole.

If you can wrap your mind around the bizarre genre cross in this one, it's definitely worth watching.

Barbie as The Princess and the Pauper -- 2004 - NR

Figured I've been subjected to this video about a hundred times, I might as well post something on it.

This is a musical film starring (yeah, you might have guessed already) Barbie blonde and Barbie brunette as Anneliese and Erika, the twins born to different sets of parents and who end up switching places. And that's where the similarities to the Mark Twain story end. Where the prince and the pauper switched places by choice, the princess and the pauper switched by circumstance and drama -- a better way, in my opinion.

The music was actually quite good, and I do find myself humming the tunes. The composer is obviously quite talented. The lyrics, on the other hand, are lacking a bit in the talent arena. The most glaring example or poor lyrics is the reference of "calico" to a male cat. The lyrics occasionally served to move the story, but on the whole, just were there to give the actors something to sing. One of the more popular songs (I say so, because I've been subjected to it through matching dolls -- girls are fun), "A Girl Like You," made little sense in the context of the plot, although parts of it worked to establish a little character.

As for the film, the plot, itself, was solid enough, but jam packed with contrivances. It is painfully clear that this movie was made for children since even the premise of the whole thing is contrived -- a kingdom is bankrupt because the mine ran out of gold. Let's think about this. This kingdom is positioned in the mountains and isolated. This means it should be economically self-sufficient, for the most part. Even if we consider that it trades with other kingdoms, trade is a two way street. If they are bankrupt, that means either poor management of assets or that the kingdom has nothing to offer for trade except gold. If that is all the kingdom has, though, it wouldn't be a kingdom. What we are supposed to accept from the very beginning to accept any portion of the story is that this kingdom's sole provider has been their gold mine as opposed to ANY exports, and rather than practicing good economics among their own people of this isolated kingdom in the mountains, the monarchy just bought stuff from other kingdoms and gave away all the kingdom's assets. Since the kingdom has clearly been in place long enough to build an ostentatious castle, this seem unlikely, but if the movie is to make any sense, we need to accept it.

Another contrivance was Preminger ordering that the princess be seized once he learned the truth. Let's be honest: can anyone other than the queen order that her daughter be seized. I mean, Preminger can suggest it, but if I were a guard and he said to seize the princess, I'd have some serious reservations.

The movie also implied that Preminger's gold was iron pyrite, but while this was interesting, it was never pursued. 

So, overall we have good music, shaky lyrics, good plot, but bad believability. I've been subjected to a few of these Barbie videos, and this was the start of a downhill slope for the films.

Dumbo -- 1941 -- G

This is a short little film from Disney's earlier days that would never get made today. Why? It contains a lot of smoking and one drunk elephant. But let's move past that into the film itself.

This is actually a really sweet tale about a baby elephant with big ears. He is rejected by his kind, loses his mother who tries to protect him, and is turned into the laughing stock of the circus. Dumbo is developed very thoroughly even though he never speaks a word, and you really feel for this little guy. He ironically befriends a mouse who becomes the equivalent of his voice from then on.

Bad things go to worse until he ends up drunk on champagne and we begin one of the trippiest sequences in film history: "Pink Elephants on Parade." Fantastic imagery here, but the rest of the film is simple and doesn't really need much else. It's short but complete.

Excellent offering from Disney before he sold out to make cute little animal cartoons later in his career.

Evita -- 1996 -- PG

In 1996, this film was nominated for a dozen Oscars including best picture. It lost most of them against The English Patient. The English Patient!!! This movie was robbed. It won best song to which Andrew Lloyd Webber quipped, "I'm so glad the English Patient didn't have a song in it."

I admit to loving the musical long before I saw the movie. I've seen it on stage and have both the original recording as well as the Broadway version, so I am obviously going to be a critic of this one. The movie version was incredible. That which would translate was translated, and tht which wouldn't wasn't. They brought back some material that was cut from the stage that worked incredibly well in a new context.

One big change was the movement of "Another Suitcase in Another Hall" from the mistress of Peron to being sung by Eva. While some criticize this move, the mistress was nothing more than a mirror of Eva, and giving that much time to a non-character is ludicrous in a film. It worked on stage since it gave the actress playing Eva a break. The context it was placed in in the film worked very well though.

The new song continues to bring tears to my eyes every time I hear it. The actors do an amazing job with it, and allow that suspension of disbelief even though they sing through the whole thing. That's an accomplishment. The power surging through this story as it comes to the end is wonderful. It should have won Best Picture. It was robbed.

Moulin Rouge! -- 2001 - PG-13

This was a really good movie, in my opinion. It moves from a solid acid trip in the beginning to a solid drama by the time the conflict is established. There are many who dislike it, but that may be the case of a movie fan watching a musical, which is what this is. It follows the traditions of musical melodrama, with a smattering of comedic pop parody thrown in. The melodrama in this film is nearly impossible to acheive in a traditional film, but for a musical, it is inevitable. 

The film contains a mix of original music and remakes of popular songs from the 70's through the 90's, the latter with often amusing results, that are likely deliberate. In many cases the writers inject plot relevant counterpoint over existing tunes, such as what was done with the song "Roxanne" near the end of the film. Just astounding. The villain teeters between comedic and evil on purpose throughout, but the relationship between Kidman and McGregor is wonderful and it builds to a riveting climax. 

If you dislike or don't get musicals, this movie will complete pass you by, and you'll hate it. If you have at least a healthy respect for musicals, or like me, you really enjoy a good one, this one works just fine.

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street -- 1982 -- NR

The 1982 video recording of the 1979 musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim at the height of his career. Sondheim has not turned out a show like this before or since. It was simply awesome. I have loved this story and cast recording every since I got it several years ago, and seeing it played out on stage was a real treat. 

hile the basic story is familiar to everyone (Sweeney Todd kills people giving them "close shaves" and Mrs. Lovett, his downstairs neighbor, uses the flesh for her meat pies with great success), this takes the horror and makes it into a melodrama where Sweeney Todd becomes a sympathetic character wrongly accused and sent to prison so the evil Judge can get ahold of his wife. When Sweeney returns having escaped prison, his wife is dead and his daughter, who was one when he was sent away, is now a ward of the judge, and the judge is planning to marry her. Sweeney wants his revenge and is willing to do whatever it takes to get it. 

It a wonderful revision of the gritty horror story of Todd and Lovett, and Sondheim's score makes it truly a cut above the rest.

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory -- 1971 -- G

Watched the classic movie musical version of the Roald Dahl tale. Light-hearted numbers with some very dark elements and sinister subplots give this film an almost universal appeal. A G-rating only turns off the most hardcore gorehounds.

The focus for this one is the factory itself. We get a slow build-up of the maia of the golden tickets and mucho development of Charlie and the other four kids before we hit the factory. Wonka, himself, remains mostly a mystery throughout the factory, appearing mildly amused by the goings-on of the kids and their parents, seemingly expecting things to go a certain way.

One might wonder whether this adaptation would fit the author's vision of the film version of his book, but in this case, there's no wondering. Roald Dahl wrote the screenplay, and unlike other novelists gone screenwriters (*cough*StephenKing*cough*), Dahl is actually very good at adapting his own work to the screen and making it work well. This film ends very much like the book in that the elevator climbs into the sky and out of sight.

This is a great movie that brings us back to the movie musical days and shows what that style of movie is really capable of doing at its best.

Labyrinth -- 1986 -- PG

A fantasy tale from the Jim Henson company involving a girl who unwittingly gives her baby brother over to the Goblin King causing her to have to follow him through the King's labyrinth in order to get him back. It's a great little story with some fanciful characters and good humor. Hey, what can you expect from Jim Henson at the helm and a Monty Python alumnus, Terry Jones, writing the screenplay?

While the story is overall quite fun, it is not without shortcomings. One thing that no one would be able to get away with in a normal story is all the coincidental things that go on. Nearly everything happens by apparent coincidence, chance, or just good luck. Sarah marks the ground. These marks just happen to be on movable tiles. Sarah falls into a oubliette. Hoggle just happens to be waiting for her there. They run up against a locked door running from the cleaners. There just happens to be a collapseable wall next to the door that Sarah just happens to find. Sarah escapes the junk lady. Her band of friends just happen to be right outside.

Can't fault the band of buddies as this sort of thing is typical of kid movies, which this one lays no claim to being more than. The over-emphasis on being friends gets grating after awhile, and I honestly wished we would move on from that. "Ludo and Hoggle friends..." Great.

These are my only complaints though. It's a fun movie to watch, and the music is awesome. Some parts are very 80's-ish in style, but it only adds to the nostalgia of the whole thing. I've always liked this film, and I still do.

Chicago -- 2002 -- PG-13

Movie musicals are rather few and far between when you look beyond the confines of animation which seems to require that the characters sing for some reason, and Chicago gives us a bit of a unique format for a musical setting. Rather than Rodgers & Hammerstein's classic scene-song-change format, we get musicals numbers interspersed within other scenes set like they are actually musical numbers behind the regular storyline.Fortunately, we are also given a decent reason for seeing it happen like this.

Roxie Hart is a wannabe star who is going out with a guy who promises her that he knows a guy who can make her a star. One evening, he reveals that he only told her all this to get some action out of her, and so she kills him and ends up on death row. The songs are frequent and serve to fill out the characters of those who sing them in most cases, with the exception of the notable tap dance number in the climax of the court scene which was nothing short of clever.

Roxie meets a host of colorful characters in prison while waiting for her trial including another wannabe/has been by the name of Velma Kelley, who was the big name in the news under the lawyership of Billy Flynn until Roxie came along and wisked the newspapers out from under her (until Roxie gets her dramatic irony). Velma moves from flippant to desperate as Roxie takes the whole spotlight away from her, and almost sends Roxie up the river in a final attempt to get herself off.

I see the musical numbers as the way Roxie sees the world. She is so desperate to become that big name on stage that she sees the world as a night club stage and everyone in the world players in a cabaret type show. Hence, all the musical numbers (except the deleted scene) occur "on stage" while real life goes on behind them. It's a fascinating device for a musical and only slips up in one way: a musical needs some plot songs too.

The songs primarily advance characters as they introduce themselves or react to situations; the tap dance number was the only one that advanced the plot. This means that every time a character reacted or introduced, the plot came to a grinding standstill as they sang. This is okay in the beginning, but near the end, we needed the songs to advance the plot as the character sang, and not continue with just show numbers; this is the reason I enjoyed the tap dance courtroom number so much because it advanced the plot and intergrated itself with the scene. Very cool.

This was a fun, simple little story with some nice musical numbers and some interesting characters. I can see why it did so well. Not a bad viewing at all.

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street -- 2007 -- R

I have loved this musical for years. It’s not often that you get a bloody, horror musical about a serial killer, and the very subject as the basis for a musical sounds like a horrible idea, but when you start with a powerfully dramatic play and throw Stephen Sondheim at the task of making it sing, you end up with something strange and wonderful. I had seen the TV version of the stage production, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. When I learned a real movie was being made out of the musical, I was excited. When I heard Tim Burton was directing, I was beside myself. I had to see it.

Granted, all this meant I was already a bit biased, but I was determined to be open to what lie ahead. I wasn’t disappointed.

The story was pretty much intact in its entirety. All the character and the drama was the stage was there, and none of it was stripped. There were a slew of necessary changes to take it from a stage musical to a movie, but unlike so many other movie musicals that came from the stage, the translation was done for the benefit of making a movie while retaining the musical qualities. This is a rare horror film that creates characters and drama within its run time, which is makes for a good experience.

When it comes to the songs moving from stage to screen, there were quite a few cuts. All of the choral scene change numbers were gone, and while I personally missed them, their not being there did not detract from the story, and I suspect if they had been left, even as voiceovers, they might have removed us from the movie experience. Stage and screen are different animals entirely, so the trimming of the songs and swapping of two numbers worked well within the screen construct.

The one song I wished they had placed was the sadistic tune of Johanna, sung by Judge Turpin. It was cut from the stage production because it slowed down the story, and the emotion in that song is put forth by the peeping of the judge through a hold into Johanna’s room, but I still feel that it would have added something significant to his character. Oh well.

The storyline concerns a man named Sweeney Todd, who we learn quickly was a barber formerly named Benjamin Barker that was thrown into prison for having a beautiful wife. The judge who threw him in immediately set himself upon having the wife as his own and rapes her, which leads her to take poison. Sweeney’s daughter, Johanna, only a baby when he was taken away, was taken into custody by the judge to raise as his own, and early on, he decides, after she shows interest in the sailor that rescued Sweeney, that he will marry her "to save her from the evils of the world."

Sweeney checks out his old digs on Fleet Street and finds a pie shop there owned by a woman known only as Mrs. Lovett. She is brooding over having no meat for her pies and as a result, she makes the "worst pies in London." She helps Sweeney get his feet back under him and even had his old razors stored in his former tonsorial parlor upstairs, which he uses to win a shaving contest and the respect of the townspeople as a barber.

Sweeney’s aim, of course, is to take revenge on the judge and town beadle for destroying his life, killing his wife, and stealing his daughter. He is fixated on it throughout, and when his attempt to kill the judge is accidentally thwarted, we begin the most famous part of one of the most famous serial killers in history. He decides no one is worthy of living and Mrs. Lovett decides that her meat pies are the perfect way to dispose of the evidence.

Most movies don’t require that much space for the entire plot, and I only gave a basic overview. It’s that in-depth. When it comes to the singing, the movie is cast using actors such as Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, and Alan Rickman who do fine jobs in singing their roles. I was actually surprised to find Depp in the title role, since I never suspected he could sing, but it turns out, he carried Sweeney very well, showing his extreme versatility as an actor, since Sweeney Todd is a hundred worlds away from Willy Wonka.

Being that it is a movie, it allowed for a ton more subtlety to be brought to the roles in ways that non stage could ever offer. On stage, you have to project everything, so the smallest expressions, which are ten feet high on screen, are invisible on stage. This nuance gave the film an air that definitely added to the experience and made the movie version unique in a way that the stage could never match.

So I thoroughly loved the film. I felt it did justice to the musical in the best way a movie can, and would be willing to watch it over and over. I already listen to the soundtrack constantly, and plan on grabbing the DVD as soon as it hits. A horror movie with a true dramatic is rare indeed, and this one is a gem to me.