Cathy’s been a fan of this. She’s seen it on stage a few times, she listens to the soundtrack. Getting the Blu-ray was for her.
I’ve been exposed to a few of the songs. None of them ever really stuck with me. The hook for Master of the House is pretty strong, but I’ve always been disappointed with the whole thing.
The movie is a weird experience. It’s well shot. It’s dramatic, great sets, great period look… but it’s hard to get past the singing. For a story that takes place in the real world, it’s strangely hilarious to see people singing all over the place.
As a musical, I hate it. Very few good melodies. It’s made even worse by the fact that everything is sung. It isn’t a musical - it’s an opera. The result is that the material that should be treated as dialogue is instead sung, using terrible, aimless phrases. This is only drawn into focus more harshly when we get to a decent song.
The story is, sadly, not much better. The conflict between the leads seems strangely personal for something that shouldn’t be. There are romances and minor characters fit into the story, and all of them seem to be given greater weight than they should have. All of this is set against the revolution, which seems kind of silly. It would help if the poor uprising seemed to have a reason for standing up, but they just talk. It might be nice if there was a clearer example of oppression.
But I think I can see what the appeal is. It doesn’t work for me, but I think I see a romantic appeal to it. It’s aimed at girls. I also wonder how much my distaste for it is since I didn’t grow up with it.
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