The latest in Hollywood musicals doesn't disappoint, but those same arguments as to why it would disappoint, keep popping up. I'm going to come clean here when it comes to musicals. I try to pride myself on the fact that I can watch any kind of movie. Any genre, any era, any plot, but for most of my life, I have always had issues with musicals. For me, no matter what the subject matter is, the film-makers have to do everything they can to make it believable, so you need to give me a good reason why your characters keep breaking into song and dance for no apparent reason. A lot of musicals do that. What makes this one a little bit more reasonable, is the fact that, as soon as we fade up from black, at the very first frame of film, the music and the singing commences. So, the film-makers establish a tone, right off the bat, that this is a magical fantasy-land where people break out into song and dance ....... and it works.
The original musical theater writer and for this the screenwriter, James Lapine, takes us into an exciting concept of multiple fairy tales coming together to form a "What if" kind of plot that delves into exploring some of the more interesting continuations of these fairy tales. For examples we have Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, Little Red Riding Hood and Rapunzel, just to name a few. To help matters even more is the star power that permeates the film. Names like Streep, Ullman, Blunt, Pine, Kendrick and some dude named, Depp, all contribute their brand of skill to make these characters work. I did have some issues with Mackenzie Mauzy's Rapunzel. She actually managed to make Repunzel even creepier than Streep's Evil Witch, but maybe that was just me. Some of the hair and costuming seemed off a little bit too. Chris Pine's Prince Charming looks every bit like the lead singer from a 1981 British Invasion New Wave band. I kept chuckling every time I saw him, but the character makes up for it by admitting that even though he is good-looking and charming he is after all a womanizing asshole. A great attempt at bringing to light a concept that finally breathes reality into the situation.
As we are reminded of the more popular plot-lines of these treasured traditional fairy-tales by a very helpful narrator, eventually we see where Lapine and Director Rob Marshall are taking us when these fairy tales start to intertwine with each other. This is when the real fun starts and the originality of this script really begins to entertain. You begin to see how things would be different if these worlds collided (ala' an almost Quantum Leap kind of approach to changing the course of history albeit fairy tale history). I will say this, by the time we get to the last 20 minutes of the film my defenses started to wane. After hearing conversations, as told through song, for almost two hours, I was starting to get antsy and needed it to end, so I did feel it went a little too long, but I was glad to see this film and pleasantly surprised by the results. - Phils' Grade: B+
SEE - Phil Meets the Movies: Episode 5: Smell-O-Vision & Over-Crowding
We take a trip to the movies and provide a quick video review on YouTube.
http://youtu.be/amDy2s8Wdio
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