8/10
It Has Billy Barty. What More Can I Say?
14 December 2011
Warning: Spoilers
Billy Barty is Rumplestilskin. good enough for me. any movie that showcases Barty's acting talent is watchable for that alone. this also happens to be a Cannon Farietale family musical, and i'm partial to those, so that makes for double enjoyment here.

this also has Amy Irving. cool. she was in 'Carrie' and 'The Fury'. cool. i love those horror flicks. she's good in this movie and does a decent job of singing and is often pretty funny too. can't say Irving is one of my favorite actresses or anything, but i've always liked her and been aware of her even though i don't seem to know anything about her. she's always seemed a likable enough presence in film.

the songs here are nice although i doubt they'll stop any show sometime soon. but i guess if forgettable tripe like 'The Fantastiks' can go on to become one of the longest running musical plays in theater history, than i suppose the music here will more than suffice. compare this musical score with say 'Stop the World' or the musical version of 'Lost Horizon' and you might rethink the music score here as fresh and breezy in contrast with that muck.

i liked this. i like Cannon Farie Tale musicals and i like fairy tale films in general. as long as they are the authentic thing and not just a bunch of revisionist hogwash. that's what is so often good about the Cannon Farie Tales, they don't attempt to rewrite the Fairy tales and usually present them as straight forward as possible.

personally, i liked Shelley Duvall's 'Rumplestilskin' better. probably because i think that Herve Villechaize is a more interesting actor than Barty. with due respect to Barty of course. i just don't think that Barty's career had the same cutting edge to it that Villechaize's did.

it's pretty easy to recommend Cannon Farie Tales to families. they are wholesome and unoffensive and pretty good for kids in terms of quality and intellect. they are definitely smarter property than what is usually sold to kids and families. with the recent trend and interest in fairy tales, Cannon also offers the more genuine thing without a bunch of big studio marketing rewrite.
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