Sometimes more is better than less.

Rating: 7/10 (16 January 2017)

Okay so. I hate when people start reviews that way BUT this is a bit of a take a breath moment and keep it real. Sometimes in cinema a director/producer/writer etc will try to reinvent a genre. A revival if you like to make something popular again. Horror has been reinvented for generations, as have westerns and periodically, musicals. Unfortunately this movie will not revive the movie musical. As pleasant and mostly well meaning as this is, after hearing mostly positive reviews I walked into the cinema with warm expectations for a couple of hours of guilty pleasure enjoyment and walked out at the end in silence with the rest of the audience in a " that was quite good " kind of way. The story is not all engaging.The songs are not overly memorable and the pacing is fairly pretentious. It's a musical that is in denial about BEING a musical.I went to see an early run showing of Les Miserables in an IMAX cinema when it was released and the movie being applauded at the end because people had a fantastic experience. The mostly Luke warm experience of this with the occasional vaguely exciting dance number and the expressive quiet of the audience afterwards leaves nothing really left to say except. Pleasant enough and ultimately forgettable.