On Film Musicals

Having just watched Mamma Mia , set me on thinking why some musical works for me and others not.

The classics would be oldies like My Fair Lady,The Sound Of Music and Oliver but my favourite is Hello Dolly for it has a nice balance of singing and dancing. In fact , I used to think that dancing waiters and ladies with parasols defines a musical.

More contemporary musicals would be Moulin Rouge, Perhaps Love and The Phantom Of The Opera , which works for me simply because I love the songs. These films use the 'play within a play' concept, where make-believe and reality is somewhat blurred, so seeing characters burst into songs anytime works too.

And the latest craze is The High School Musicals which I really enjoyed. I think it is brilliant to incorporate ideas from both the classics and the contemporaries, as it has great singing and dancing set in a high school theatre, and is given a fresh feel by adding in some MTV-style hip hop flavour to it.

Sad to say, although I really like ABBA's catchy tunes, I did not really enjoy Mamma Mia. Having established stars like Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan and Colin Firth sing and dance is just a little painful on the ears and eyes. And I can't help thinking that I am watching a Bollywood, Greek style musical here. The only part I like is the fresh faced Sophie and her nice singing. A great bore, Mamma Mia should have been just left on stage !

One last thought, with globalisation in the entertainment world, it is only be a matter of time before Bollywood invades into Hollywood. Not that I'm against this , in fact, I think it would be great if the combined talents can produce good entertainment.

Fantasy Books to Movie Adaptation: Love Them, Hate Them

Would I say I love or hate the way many classic fantasy books have been adapted to movies ? Well, I cannot say that I truly hate them, for I am always excited whenever Hollywood announce such projects. I do not really love them too (except maybe for the Peter Jackson's LOTR) , for what we usually get are dumbed down, Hollywoodised fantasy turned into action movies.

Reading any book , especially fantasy genre , requires a huge dose of imagination. I would say my imaginations usually exists in 2 dimensions, rather like figures in a comic book. In a movie, to see my imaginations take shape in 3D, in full colours, in impossibly beautiful scenery settings is wonderful, but at the same time sad. For these beautiful scenes will overwrite my initial visions. The feeling is just not the same anymore, and even if I reread the books, I find it hard to recapture the initial feelings. And then, I realise these new visions does not even belong to me , but to the directors' , and shared by millions of viewers.

In the end, there is only hope. Hope that the producers and directors do their best to keep true to the story. It is a good chance book lovers to share with movie lovers in the wonderful stories, and along the way, also bring new fans that will read the books because of the movie.

Prince Caspian: The Chronicles Of Narnia

I approached this movie with trepidations, wondering if this movie will rise above the "really a kid's movie" I bestowed on it's predecessor , The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. Well, glad to say that it was better than the 1st movie, it deserve to be described as "an above average teenage movie" (well, the kids have obviously grown up here now, so it cannot be a kid's movie anymore , rite ?).

The four main leads have much improved, unlike the 1st movie where they hardly make any impressions at all. Maybe that was the problem with the 1st movie, it feels ridiculous for four kids to be proclaimed Kings and Queens of Narnia. Now that they are older and more mature , it was somehow more acceptable. I do look forward to the next installment now, if only to see how Edmund and Lucy will blossom in their characters.

However , the newcomer as Prince Caspian does not make much an impression on me , other than being quite cute and having a soulful gaze. But luckily the much touted additional romance element between Caspian and Susan was not too bad. Except for a not so subtle first look at each other (roll eyes ...) and the compulsory "hero save the damsel"(roll eyes again!) moment, it was very barely there. And I actually think that the impulsive kiss by Susan at the end of the movie was kinda sweet.

Another major gripe is the many silly jokes inserted to lighten up the movie, which I feel is totally unneccessary. I mean, this story was set in 1940s England, an era where people do NOT make smart retorts or silly remarks . I would not mind a few jokes, but there were way too many that I keep rolling my eyes whenever yet another character make yet another cute quip ! Most jokes were so typical "American sitcom-like", I could almost hear the prerecorded laughter.

As usual there were many big battles and special effects thrown around the movie. Most were reminiscent of The Lord Of The Rings, but then which fantasy movie does not? So I shall keep my peace on this point here.

All in all, much better than the 1st movie, much better than I expected, and I can now safely look forward to the 3rd one.

Iron Man

Usually I do not like superheroes movies unless they are really good , and Iron Man is one of the more enjoyable one. Okay, the main reason I gave this movie a chance is Robert Downey Jr.

He is a critically acclaimed actor who unfortunately often made headlines for the wrong reasons. I have always liked him since his early films like "Chaplin" and am glad he cleaned up his act and made good this comeback movie.

I had some misgiving at first about Gwyneth Paltrow providing the eye-candy in this movie. Well , eye-candy she definitely is not, for she had quite a washed-out look throughout the whole movie , but that is in line with her character as the harrased , unappreciated assistant to Tony Stark aka Iron Man. She is the perfect foil to the irrespressible Robert Downey Jr. I only wish she didn't have such a silly name - Pepper Potts !

As for the bad guy, you can spot him one mile off. No surprises here from a typical villain, well, at least he didn't do the evil laugh routine , which really turns me off superheroes movies. As for superheroes moments , I would say there are very few here . No saving a busload of innocent schoolkids or catching a falling damsel in distress ala Superman - good !

All in all, quite a fun and enjoyable movie.

Quill , the Japanese film

Quill was shown on 8TV as a Labour's Day special . Quill chronicles the 11 years of life of a Labrador that became a guide dog for the blind . Although I was surprised it was dubbed in Cantonese , the voice actors did quite a good job here .

I expected Quill to be a touching tale of a dog's life . But the film style here is more documentary-like , which can get quite boring . Although Quill is quite a cute Lab , the funny or touching moments are few and far in this film . The problem is Quill is such a good , restrained dog that there is not a single bark from him throughout the film . His happiness or unhappiness is expressed by a few whimpers at most . The viewers only get to know of Quill's feelings through the narrator of the story .

I love dogs but somehow dogs that does not bark seem unnatural to me . I think I would much prefer Marley (of the The World's Worst Dog fame) more than the obedient Quill .