Emotion over spectacle

Rating: 8/10 (16 January 2017)

I'm not big on musicals, but something about La La Land interested me to go and see it. I do admire Ryan Goslings previous work so that could have been it alongside the idea of making an old fashioned musical in the modern world I found interesting.
The musical numbers are very good, but they are not as spectacular as I imagined they were going to be and not as spectacular as what I have seen in old Hollywood movies.
However on reflection, I don't think it is trying to be. The dance scenes go for emotion rather than spectacle.
Other than that it was a really simple story well told. The look of the film is gorgeous, its set in LA, but its an LA that doesn't really exist except in the movies. Its a film designed to simply entertain and take you away for a couple of hours, and I must admit, it does that very well.
Gosling and Stone have enough chemistry to carry the simple plot throughout and there are funny moments, romantic moments and sad moments.
The seasonal changes gave me an inkling from the start as to where the film was going in terms of the ending but I did eventually like the way it didn't end too sugar coated.
One big drawback however will be the endless poor imitators that will come along on the back of it!