by popular demand
Newsies talk about a movie people either
love or hate many of the people I talked
to usually have a strong opinion about
this movie it wasn't a critical hit it
wasn't really a box-office hit either
but it's got a little bit of a cult
following over the years mostly among
girls and young women the majority of
other people seem to really find it
annoying and obnoxious and yeah I'd be
lying if I said I didn't kind of feel
that way too but I don't think it's as
black and white as others are making it
out to be it's not something to be
ignored or hated it is something to look
at it sold down New York and a bunch of
orphan boys okay I'm not gonna talk like
that but did you notice how knowing that
was that's part of the problem with this
movie but anyway a bunch of orphan boys
get jobs as Newsies kids that go around
delivering papers selling them all that
good stuff
they horse around get in fights they're
just a bunch of little delinquents and
lovable scams that you can't help but
question why they sing and spin seeing
the problem yet okay well let's keep
going child labor laws and unions are
threatened when the cost of papers for
the boys to sell goes up so the boys led
by a very young Christian Bale go on
strike and try to see how many people
they can get in their cause at first it
gets no clout but through a lot of
protesting and piling things up a lot of
people including a reporter start to get
involved and try spreading the word but
that doesn't stop an evil corporate head
named mr. Pulitzer to try to silence
them and bring them down for good will
the strike finally get enough speed and
changed the world of newspapers as we
know it
do old-time New Yorkers suddenly dance -
Ellen making music well okay the answer
to that second question is no and as I
said before that's part of the problem
but not the entire problem surprisingly
this is not a movie where you feel like
no effort was put into it it clearly did
have a lot of effort put into it and it
shows really look at this choreography
look at how fast they are look at how
tight it is this is a movie that clearly
had a lot of work put into the musical
production part then even to the stories
credit it's not that bad a story I mean
it's talking about interesting part of
history that
very few people know about and even the
actors aren't that bad I mean Christian
Bale is a good lead and there's a lot of
good support behind him for the most
part but we'll get to that the biggest
problem of this film is that it is in
fact a film but it's not done like a
film it's done like a Broadway musical
and you might be thinking what's wrong
with that he'll there's a lot of
Broadway musicals that were turned into
films the difference is when that
happened they had to make changes they
did this because Broadway audiences are
different from movie-going audiences and
with good reason
in a Broadway show an actor really has
to project really has to a mode and
really has to act big in order for the
audience all the way in the back row to
hear him as well as feel the emotion he
or she is going through that creates a
very distinct kind of acting that's
welcomed in theatre but kind of odd in
movies even for a musical which of
course we know people don't just sing
and dance out of nowhere in real life it
still seems a touch over the top for the
general audience to get into I find this
ironic because Newsies is now being
turned into a Broadway play and that
makes the most sense I feel like that's
where it belongs
but here it's just kind of awkward and
it doesn't really suck you into the
world that it's creating mostly because
it hasn't created that much of a world
the city looks like a realistic city the
clothes look like realistic clothes so
when people sing and dance and talk this
over the top
it doesn't fit if they did something
more similar to what Chicago did where
they really bring in the fantasy and the
illusion and the surreal nosov it it
might have had a better chance but as is
the majority of the scenes are just
waiting for the songs to come and go and
not really express that much and be a
little catchy I mean they're not awful
songs but they sort of have that typical
Broadway sound that for a movie audience
kind of creates a barrier for in film
you can get close-ups you can do zoom
ins you can pan back you can do all
these cool tricks with the camera but
everything is shot at a distance again
like it's a Broadway show and that's not
what we're watching
so the over-the-top songs and
over-the-top acting would work if it was
in an over-the-top environment but it's
not it's trying to make it look like a
historical look
New York of the past and if you don't
want to see a movie and instead want to
see a Broadway show that has a touch of
a cinematic look then you'll like this
movie fine I think that's why so many
girls and young women do get into it
many are Broadway fans well if you're
looking for a better balance say like
what Fiddler on the Roof did this one
relishes its over-the-top feel-good
attitude a little too much and comes off
unbelievably corny so I do kind of feel
bad for not liking the film because it's
very clear that people worked very hard
on it the music's not bad music the
dancing is good and for what the actors
were told to do they do it fine it's
just in the wrong video and I think
those filters really can get in the way
for some people so yeah I did find it
annoying and obnoxious and I didn't want
to fast-forward through a lot of the
scenes but I know there is an audience
for this that can get into that kind of
acting and that wonderful dancing and so
on and so forth
it's just not me I appreciate the effort
but this is a story I definitely don't
need to read all about
you