The Fantasticks
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Movie Reviews of The Fantasticks
Movie Review: Gone Awry
Summary: 2 Stars
I guess this is another example of how somebody tries to "improve" a classic broadway show. I had hoped the movie would capture the warmth and simplicity that I remember from the stage show, but it didn't. On the positive side, the vocals by Louisa and Matt were excellent. Joe McIntyre, in fact, gave a first-rate performance. But Joel Grey and Bernard Hughes were wasted, their parts turned into mere drop-ins. El Gallo was no longer a narrator and storyteller, but a sleazy Casanova. Too bad; "The Fantasticks" deserved much better.Movie Review: However enchanting, rather confusing
Summary: 2 Stars
I have heard glowing reviews about live performances of The Fantasticks, yet when I saw the DVD, I couldn't see the true magic. I suppose you have to see it on a live stage to actually have a thrill, otherwise, I'd never look at it. The movie version must have lost some sparkle in the transfer to the screen. I suggest you see the musical live (which I have never done), and if you truly enjoy it, try the movie. Don't buy the movie and then go see a live show.Movie Review: Bad editing
Summary: 2 Stars
Release the movie the way the director originally filmed it in 1995, instead of the chopped up version finally released on dvd.Movie Review: Please Give Us Back the Fantasticks
Summary: 1 Stars
When I received this DVD for Christmas, I was really anxious to see it. You see, my wife and I saw the Fantasticks when we were dating more than 40 years ago, loved it then and have loved the music ever since. I was hoping for a great movie. I knew that Joel Gray and Barnard Hughes would be great as the scheming fathers, but had no idea about the rest of the cast.
So I put it in the DVD player, waiting for the lyrical opening of "Try to Remember". From then on it was all downhill.
They have BUTCHERED this story. It has been turned from an idealistic love story about a young couple in love to a comedy about a carnival which two young people happen to wander through. Most of the music is gone, and what is left is rather poorly done. "Try to Remember" is tagged on ever too briefly at the end, "Soon its Gonna Rain" is more spoken than sung.
To make the music of the Fantasticks work, it takes good singers. And if the music does not work in this story, why bother? This cast just does not cut it. The boy and girl are adequate, but there is no chemistry between them. The main character, El Gallo, is played by Jonathan Morris as a schemer, (which is true) but not attractive enough, and nowhere near good enough a singer. A key to this plot is that when El Gallo captures the girl so that the boy can "rescue" her, he is so charming that she starts to fall in love with him. This is because of both his charm and singing voice. Jonathan Morris had neither. Of if he had them, they do not give him enough songs to sing in order to tell. Just think of the charm of Jerry Ohrbach, who originated the role off Broadway more than 40 years ago; (even as aging Lennie Briscoe in Law and Order Jerry Ohrbach had more charm than this El Gallo has) and you get a sense of what kind of character El Gallo should be. His character is crucial to this story succeeding. But not in this movie.
They have turned the focus from the songs and the kids and the love story to the Dads and slapstick comedy. This is a BIG mistake.
Then they have cut out most of the songs. If you do not believe me, watch the outtakes. The outtakes have the foundation of a good movie. If you add the musical outtakes to the movie it would be tons better and almost decent.
Basically, I am truly sad to say, this was a mess.
Instead of watching this movie, get the orignal NY cast soundtrack recording, put it on in a candlelit room with someone you love and a couple of glasses of wine, and enjoy what the Fantasticks should really be like.
Movie Review: Too Bad I Can't Give It a Negative Star
Summary: 1 Stars
Are you kidding me? I'm going to hazard a guess that most people who liked this cinematic atrocity never saw the Fantasticks live. Look, I appreciate the effort to give a fresh perspective to this timeless classic, but it just doesn't work. Not even close. People will always say that it isn't easy to translate a musical from stage to screen and I agree with them. But while I respect everyone's opinion I also have to ask what musical were you watching? The Fantasicks has NO set, everything is minimalist; I mean come on....how hard would it be to adapt it to film? There was way too much attention to altering the non-cumbersome dynamic of the stage version to make it more "interesting." To that end it has been hacked apart and re-assembled as something virtually unrecognizable. The pacing and flow are terrible! El Gallo is horrendous! But if I had to nail one thing, OK a few things, it's that El Gallo is not the narrator (hah?? that's like trying to do Hamlet without Denmark), Teller is not the Mute, and "Try to Remember," the show's anthem, is at the end???? There does not seem to be any reason for these bewildering alterations other than it appears that being different was a greater imperative for the director than was remaining honest to the charm and simplicity of the original. It's really mystifying how they could have taken something so easy and mangled it like this. I gave it a chance. But I still say skip this garbage. And I do mean garbage.