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Much has been written about how this box-office flop became a cult favourite. The film cost $15 million to make, was released in 1992 and grossed less than $3 million at the box office. But since then, it has found a loyal following of people who found it charming and discovered that it actually has some very good music. I first saw the film in 1996 as some friends of mine were raving over this actor named Christian Bale. Of course, I’m a fan of musicals in the first place, so it wasn’t a big jump to assume I’d enjoy this as well. I was pleasantly surprised to find it does actually have a pretty compelling storyline along with a number of very catchy songs, including ‘Carrying the Banner’, ‘King of New York’ and ‘Seize the Day’. I also really love ‘Santa Fe’. The film is based on the true story of the 1899 newsboy strike in New York. Of course it’s been cleaned up a little (it is Disney, after all), but the idea of these young boys taking on the powerful newspaper magnates of the day is fascinating, a real David and Goliath story – and probably not a coincidence that one of the main characters is named David! |
Christian Bale is really good as Jack, and his singing voice is definitely passable. The boys are all well cast and I really enjoy Bill Pullman as Denton. The choreography is excellent. My main complaints about the film would have to be the uselessness of the Medda character (and her songs – ‘High Times, Hard Times’ won a well-deserved Razzie award for Worst Movie Song when the film was released) and the blah-ness of Sarah as a love interest. The same friends who introduced me to the film had a not-entirely-rational hatred of Sarah, probably based on the fact that she gets to kiss Jack, but even seen objectively, her character is pretty boring. People have had lots of fun picking out little continuity errors and everyone seems to have their favourite moments – one of mine is when there’s a big group number, and if you watch Christian Bale, he’s not really dancing at all, just kind of stumbling around. 🙂 It’s great that Disney recognized the many good things in the film and have brought it to the stage all these years later. Hopefully it will introduce a whole new generation to the film as well! |