Mar 13, 2007

[Movies] Dreamgirls

I just love musicals in pretty much any way, shape or form. If course this is not blind love - it's still tempered with critical thinking and careful evaluation of the show's merits. In recent years, the transition from the stage to the silver screen hasn't always been great. We've seen less than desirable translation make their way past the gates of Hollywood. Fortunately, Dreamgirls is not one of those movies.

The music of this particular play has always been its strongest feature and the producers did an excellent job of making sure the film's musical component was well cared for. The performances are simply stellar, thanks in no small part to the vocal prowess of first-time actress Jennifer Hudson.

It's no wonder why she managed to sweep the awards season in the Best Supporting Actress category - you can hardly even remember Beyonce Knowles's acting beside her. I felt that Jennifer managed to be more of a lead actress than anyone else in the film, thus her awards. Her performance was simply amazing and overwhelmingly powerful, she truly brought the character of Effie White to life.

Some of the original songs felt a bit out of place and they helped drag the movie a bit further out towards the end, which was a shame. Then again, it's perfectly understandable since they were clearly created to put Beyonce more in the spotlight. They managed to draw attention to her, but perhaps it was too little too late in order to give her performance any true value. More notable was the performance of Eddie Murphy as Jimmy Thunder Early, although don't call it a comeback - with movies like Shrek 2 under his belt, he hasn't really left the Hollywood scene at any time in recent years.

This is definitely a movie worth watching, whether or not you're a show tunes fan. Be ready for a great musical bonanza and a very entertaining watch to boot.

No comments:

Post a Comment