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Fantasticks: Special Edition, The
List Price: Unknown [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Movie:
Really, who is making decisions at MGM? In the past year or so, they have produced a Super Dave movie, Yahoo Serious's latest effort, several pictures that were in theaters for mere moments ("Crime and Punishment In Suburbia", "Antitrust"), a giant failure ("Supernova") and even one halfway decent film ("Return to Me") that was poorly marketed. Now comes "The Fantasticks", a musical that has been sitting on the shelf for years (the Internet Movie Database says it was done in 1995!) and got a 6-screen release in 2000 before heading directly to video.
In fact, "The Fantasticks" shares one thing in common with "Supernova". Famed director Francis Ford Coppola, who is apparently a board member of MGM, attempted to edit that film into something that made sense - and he tried that again here, although uncredited, to try to make the film into a final product that the studio would want to release. The film revolves around two fathers (Joel Grey and Brad Sullivan) who attempt to get their kids, Louisa and Matt (Jean Louisa Kelly and Joey McIntyre) together. They hire a carnival performer named El Gallo to kidnap her so that Matt can rescue her, which leads to all manner of slapstick and drama.
"The Fantasticks" is not without its charms. Although the movie musical is long gone and certainly doesn't have much of an audience (as the results of the minor release would suggest), at least its light and sweet in nature. The song-and-dance numbers are enjoyably staged, but I just felt that the actors maybe could have been better selected. McIntyre was likely selected for his success with the teen group New Kids On The Block who, in 1995, may have still been popular. That doesn't mean that he's a particularly good actor - in fact, his performance here is occasionally unintentionally funny. Jean Louisa Kelly, who many may remember from "Mr. Holland's Opus", offers a more enjoyable performance and has quite a few well-done moments, but her performance suffers since her and McIntyre are not able to generate any chemistry due to his weak performance. Also worth mentioning, the cinematography by Fred Murphy is wonderful at times, with the open plains looking beautiful in 2.35:1 widescreen. A scene with dark clouds rolling through over the fields about 76 minutes in is gorgeous.
I honestly have not seen the original stage play nor am I really that familiar with it, but I just feel that, in a case like this, the actors from the stage play might have been better than actors such as these (for example, according to the commentary, actor Brad Sullivan is not an experienced singer/dancer) who likely aren't as experienced in this sort of thing. The movie musical doesn't have much of an audience in a time where, I guess simply, times have changed and things lean towards big-budget epics or even more modern independent stories rather than something simple and cheerful such as this picture. Still, even though I found it to be an interesting attempt, it doesn't quite succeed. It's certainly not bad enough to deserve a 5 year wait, but I just never quite felt it was as good as it could be, either.
The DVD
VIDEO: Although one might think that the film would have gathered dust in the five years that its sat on the shelves waiting for release, "The Fantasticks" actually is one of the better MGM presentations that I've seen lately. The studio has done some rather poor or at best average work with their releases in the past year or so, but this is a more than pleasant-looking effort. Sharpness is usually very good, although not terribly consistent - some scenes tend to look a little bit on the soft side.
There aren't too many flaws to be found, although I did notice a couple of minor spots. A few print flaws popped up suprisingly - some minor speckles and a mark or two. A couple of traces of shimmering also were visible. Noticable, but nothing particularly distracting.
Colors remain fairly beautiful throughout, as the vibrant colors of the carnival come through especially well. Colors look well-saturated with no problems. Overall, this is a fine looking presentation that, as one would expect, didn't get much wear during the 5 year sit it had.
SOUND: The film is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 and generally offers a rather enjoyable presentation of the material. The songs are very well presented, filling the listening space with ease. Surrounds are used nicely, either for the score or for some slight effects. Dialogue sounds natural and clear, with no issues.
MENUS:: Menus are not animated, but at least are colorful and easily navigated.
EXTRAS:
Commentary: This is a commentary from director Michael Ritchie, who provides a very informative look behind-the-scenes at the making of a musical, something that's not often seen on the big-screen these days. Most interesting is his discussion of the technology that was used to offer the tunes live rather than lip-synch to the tunes, with the exception of scenes that offered too much in the way of additional background sounds. Ritchie also goes into very good detail about the challenges of trying to produce this picture on a small budget as well as the differences between the stage play and opening that up into a filmed version. It's an informative discussion, offering a few entertaining stories along the way.
Deleted Scenes: There's a great deal of deleted footage here, most probably elements that Ford Coppola cut out of the picture during his editing, some possibly that Richie originally cut from the film. These are also separated into different sections. On their own are 11 deleted sequences - although there isn't a commentary to accompany these scenes to explain why they were taken out, due to reasons of pacing would be the likely guess on my part.
In an additional section, there are deleted and full-length songs. Deleted songs include "Try To Remember", "Plant A Radish", "It Depends On What You Pay". Full-length songs are "Never Say No", "Metaphor", "The Abduction Song" and "Soon Its Gonna Rain". Additionally, there is an alternate ending that's available in the main part of the "special features" menu. Although it's unfortunate that some of these scenes were cut out of the picture, I think that MGM might have kept this film on the shelf even longer had Francis Ford Coppola not performed some editing.
Final Thoughts:
Positive: Fans of musicals may enjoy "The Fantasticks" as a rental, although there also may be some fans of the play who may react negatively to the idea of the story translated to the screen. MGM offers fine audio/video quality, along with several extras.
Negative: I thought the actors were mixed, with some better than others and the film overall was decent.
Really, who is making decisions at MGM? In the past year or so, they have produced a Super Dave movie, Yahoo Serious's latest effort, several pictures that were in theaters for mere moments ("Crime and Punishment In Suburbia", "Antitrust"), a giant failure ("Supernova") and even one halfway decent film ("Return to Me") that was poorly marketed. Now comes "The Fantasticks", a musical that has been sitting on the shelf for years (the Internet Movie Database says it was done in 1995!) and got a 6-screen release in 2000 before heading directly to video.
In fact, "The Fantasticks" shares one thing in common with "Supernova". Famed director Francis Ford Coppola, who is apparently a board member of MGM, attempted to edit that film into something that made sense - and he tried that again here, although uncredited, to try to make the film into a final product that the studio would want to release. The film revolves around two fathers (Joel Grey and Brad Sullivan) who attempt to get their kids, Louisa and Matt (Jean Louisa Kelly and Joey McIntyre) together. They hire a carnival performer named El Gallo to kidnap her so that Matt can rescue her, which leads to all manner of slapstick and drama.
"The Fantasticks" is not without its charms. Although the movie musical is long gone and certainly doesn't have much of an audience (as the results of the minor release would suggest), at least its light and sweet in nature. The song-and-dance numbers are enjoyably staged, but I just felt that the actors maybe could have been better selected. McIntyre was likely selected for his success with the teen group New Kids On The Block who, in 1995, may have still been popular. That doesn't mean that he's a particularly good actor - in fact, his performance here is occasionally unintentionally funny. Jean Louisa Kelly, who many may remember from "Mr. Holland's Opus", offers a more enjoyable performance and has quite a few well-done moments, but her performance suffers since her and McIntyre are not able to generate any chemistry due to his weak performance. Also worth mentioning, the cinematography by Fred Murphy is wonderful at times, with the open plains looking beautiful in 2.35:1 widescreen. A scene with dark clouds rolling through over the fields about 76 minutes in is gorgeous.
I honestly have not seen the original stage play nor am I really that familiar with it, but I just feel that, in a case like this, the actors from the stage play might have been better than actors such as these (for example, according to the commentary, actor Brad Sullivan is not an experienced singer/dancer) who likely aren't as experienced in this sort of thing. The movie musical doesn't have much of an audience in a time where, I guess simply, times have changed and things lean towards big-budget epics or even more modern independent stories rather than something simple and cheerful such as this picture. Still, even though I found it to be an interesting attempt, it doesn't quite succeed. It's certainly not bad enough to deserve a 5 year wait, but I just never quite felt it was as good as it could be, either.
The DVD
VIDEO: Although one might think that the film would have gathered dust in the five years that its sat on the shelves waiting for release, "The Fantasticks" actually is one of the better MGM presentations that I've seen lately. The studio has done some rather poor or at best average work with their releases in the past year or so, but this is a more than pleasant-looking effort. Sharpness is usually very good, although not terribly consistent - some scenes tend to look a little bit on the soft side.
There aren't too many flaws to be found, although I did notice a couple of minor spots. A few print flaws popped up suprisingly - some minor speckles and a mark or two. A couple of traces of shimmering also were visible. Noticable, but nothing particularly distracting.
Colors remain fairly beautiful throughout, as the vibrant colors of the carnival come through especially well. Colors look well-saturated with no problems. Overall, this is a fine looking presentation that, as one would expect, didn't get much wear during the 5 year sit it had.
SOUND: The film is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 and generally offers a rather enjoyable presentation of the material. The songs are very well presented, filling the listening space with ease. Surrounds are used nicely, either for the score or for some slight effects. Dialogue sounds natural and clear, with no issues.
MENUS:: Menus are not animated, but at least are colorful and easily navigated.
EXTRAS:
Commentary: This is a commentary from director Michael Ritchie, who provides a very informative look behind-the-scenes at the making of a musical, something that's not often seen on the big-screen these days. Most interesting is his discussion of the technology that was used to offer the tunes live rather than lip-synch to the tunes, with the exception of scenes that offered too much in the way of additional background sounds. Ritchie also goes into very good detail about the challenges of trying to produce this picture on a small budget as well as the differences between the stage play and opening that up into a filmed version. It's an informative discussion, offering a few entertaining stories along the way.
Deleted Scenes: There's a great deal of deleted footage here, most probably elements that Ford Coppola cut out of the picture during his editing, some possibly that Richie originally cut from the film. These are also separated into different sections. On their own are 11 deleted sequences - although there isn't a commentary to accompany these scenes to explain why they were taken out, due to reasons of pacing would be the likely guess on my part.
In an additional section, there are deleted and full-length songs. Deleted songs include "Try To Remember", "Plant A Radish", "It Depends On What You Pay". Full-length songs are "Never Say No", "Metaphor", "The Abduction Song" and "Soon Its Gonna Rain". Additionally, there is an alternate ending that's available in the main part of the "special features" menu. Although it's unfortunate that some of these scenes were cut out of the picture, I think that MGM might have kept this film on the shelf even longer had Francis Ford Coppola not performed some editing.
Final Thoughts:
Positive: Fans of musicals may enjoy "The Fantasticks" as a rental, although there also may be some fans of the play who may react negatively to the idea of the story translated to the screen. MGM offers fine audio/video quality, along with several extras.
Negative: I thought the actors were mixed, with some better than others and the film overall was decent.
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