The Fantasticks

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David G 12/03/2024 The stage musical is wonderful, but it is an allegory and is structured be unrealistic. That’s the only way it works. The poor quality TV version with Ricardo Montalban and Susan Waston is far superior to this movie. I knew there was a problem when the took the narrator out and made him just El Gallo. The surreal breaking of the third wall is crucial to buy the simplicity of the story. The two house sets (watered down Terry Gilliam) are not enough to make subtext show through when most of the movie is too much like American realism. The show worked because it is simple and framed by the poetic narrator and song intros. Pretty enough but the singing is weak (or at least way to understated) and poorly balanced (when a four part song in round is sung, all four parts should be heard at all times). Skip the is movie and listen to the Jerry Orbach/Rita Gardner cast album OR the sixties TV version. Even with the lack of polish and truncated songs, the TV version captures the allegory of the show and its forced innocence far better. And no soprano does the ingenue better than Ms. Watson! See more Steve D 02/07/2023 I don't know if it is the show or the adaptation, but it didn't work one bit. See more 01/12/2016 I loved Jonathon Morris as El Gallo in The Fantasticks. Morris was charming, witty, a talented dancer, charismatic then abrupt, emotionally removed, distant. Perfect for the role. See more 02/07/2013 2/3/13 This is a "cute" film. It is a classic broadway love story, but with some little twists. Some of the songs were catchy, but there isn't a ton of substance here. It is a little cheesy. I thought it was just OK. See more 11/18/2012 The Fantasticks, based on the iconic off-Broadway musical, follows the story of two fathers who use reverse psychology in order to manipulate their children into marriage. Now, I have never seen the musical that this film was based on, but I feel that I can still fairly judge The Fantasticks on its own merits. Unfortunately, even without the most basic knowledge of the source material, The Fantasticks falls flat. The writer and director attempts to make the film odd and magical, but unfortunately it just comes off as creepy and needlessly dark due to over the top visuals and the inability of the writer to get down a clear and consistent tone. While the film has many great songs, for the most part the director is unable to find character actions that complement the music, causing the songs to harm the film's quality rather then help it. That said, I actually do like this film. Is it good? No. Is it entertaining? Hell, yes. I'm not sure if it's because the film is so bad, or if there it's because of the interesting plot and songs, or maybe just because of a charismatic performance by Jonathan Morris, but even though I acknowledge that the film is bad, I was incredibly entertained watching it. I guess that this film is a bit of a guilty pleasure for me. Despite the fact that I know I shouldn't like it, I enjoy it in spite of myself. While I perfectly understand why so many people dislike The Fantasticks (it is a bad film after all) I find some personal enjoyment out of watching it. Overall, while "The Fantasticks" does fall flat due to it's inconsistent tone and bizarre visuals, it's also very enjoyable based on how bad it is and the interesting premise. I recommend this film to anyone who either likes musicals, or finds a lot of enjoyment out of bad movies. I give The Fantasticks 3 out of 5 stars. See more 01/11/2012 You will either love it, or you will completely feel inferior to it, and therefore hate it... Pros: Good casting with Jonathon Morris {plays a comedic role in Bread}, Jean L. Kelly, Joel Grey {best known recently for playing the "Wizard" in the Musical show: Wicked, and Joe Mcintrey. Very nice locations in Arizona. For a Low Budget Film, it still managed to have small little special effects that added to the simplistic but whimsical story. Cons: The rest if the cast were to be desired, and the directing was quite unprofessional. {look on youtube for: "Just a little girl fantasticks" and you'll see the real reason why there's such an allure to the film.} Here's the Lowdown: It's a beautiful story, with wonderful actors and actresses, butchered by an inexperienced director and producers who definitely give it "cotton candy" like quality to the film. Which means: You may like the underlying taste of it, the pretty appearances of some of the cast, but it isn't overly substantial, and is finished off much to quickly. {I still like to watch it on occasion though.} *Jonathon Morris plays the seductive, El Gallo, and definitely carries this film's rather weak plot along. {You can't blame me for this statement! Morris has the well crafted physique like those Grecian sculptures! This may explain why it's mostly females who love this film. And maybe more than one reason why the male population grumbles and feel less than masculine when watching the 'sword fighting scene'} Joel Grey serves up a stellar performance too, bringing his obvious experience in broadway influence to the film. And Jean L. Kelly, and Joe Mcintrey serve as the re'latable victims, like when we were young and childish. Still reading? Good, keep going ***The film adaption of the Fantasticks could have been better, I assure you. But it still serves a good point, which is that despite all our romantic and immature thoughts. we all have to grow up one day. And through life's trials, it's the ones who come back to stand beside us, who can be trusted. And not the suave amorous posers, who seem to fulfill our dreams for the moment, but disappear as quickly as they came. Summary: This play originally was based loosely on 'Les Romanesque'. Now I really don't know precisely what 'Les Romanesque' is about, but it sounds absolutely elegant, because I think it's an Italian opera, or something like that. The story is about two fathers who use reverse psychology to get their children to fall in love; but, when the day comes when they want to marry them off, they don't know how to do it and not make their children suspicious of the set up. So the fathers decide on hiring the ringmaster of the traveling circus to come and "rape" the girl, so that her boyfriend will save her, and give a reason for ending the feud. Things get complicated when the "rape" is a little too successful though. The naive girl actually becomes enamored with the more sexy Jonathon Morris. And the boy becomes more ambitious when he experiences the "thrill" of saving a damsel in distress. Both children have their wishes fulfilled, and learn their lessons, becoming wiser and more mature human beings. Hope this helped, and you win a noble prize for reading my review! ~Musical Lover See more Read all reviews

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