A Great Use of Musical Production and Movie Development

Rating: 8/10 (18 January 2019)

26 November 2010. There are some amazing musical productions in this small, compact movie that captures some of the dazzle of best Oscar Picture CHICAGO (2002), particularly one of the earlier numbers using a similar flashy Richard Gere court revue. This is a more soft touch THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA (2006) as Christina Aquilera appears to get to escape the wrath of a devil and contend more with a softer version of Meryl Streep. The music itself doesn't quite have the poignancy and magic of MOULIN ROUGE (2001), the universal mass popularity of MAMMA MIA! (2008), and the haunting, ethereal sounds from THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA. This overly predictable musical, however extends itself in some great editing interspersing musical production numbers with movie scenes moving the storyline along and spends time on character plot development in a more convoluted path. The biggest weakness and one that makes its distractive presence noticeable is a technical one - the lip sinking. Even the first musical number is so disconnected between the acting and the singing that continues throughout much of the movie undercuts one of the crucial points of how BURLESQUE becomes more popular. There is also a weak scene in acting between Cher and Chirstina when the owner offers advice to her up and coming employee. The ending doesn't quite have the nice edgy feel of THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA and has a much more mass audience feels go ending and excludes that movies the dramatic collision with good and narcissism. Nevertheless, the energy, and entertainment value has bravado and power and compelling attraction.