One of my favourites, whether of all-time or from my childhood with great music and laughs

Rating: 10/10 (20 May 2014)

Between the ages of 9 and 11, the Spice Girls were my favourite pop group, which was a legitimate enough reason to see this film. It was the first film I ever saw at the then-new Virgin Cinema (now a Cineworld) in Spytty Park, Newport, South Wales and I have loved it ever since. Within the following year when the video was released, I was in my now-defunct local Woolworth's with my mother and sister and when my mother asked if I wanted her to buy this movie on video, it was an offer I couldn't refuse. I have watched it several times when I was younger but not in recent years because the video is in my bed drawer with the bed drawer side to the wall (like my 'Charlie's Angels' movie DVD) so I decided to rent the DVD after not having seen the film for as long as I could remember. It's as excellent today as it's always been and upon watching this today, I spotted a few things that I hadn't noticed in previous viewings such as Mel B styling Bob Geldof's hair at a party, Jonathan Ross interviewing the girls early in the film and Barry Humphries playing the hot-headed newspaper editor Kevin McMaxford.
While this film has lines that are silly and make no sense (such as Clifford's hair-in-plug holes announcement) and a cheap-looking scene of the Spice Bus jumping over the Tower Bridge as the girls rush to their concert, the dialogue is memorable and funny in parts, the cinematography is suitably varied, the editing is straightforward yet effective, the pacing is swift and the acting is just right with the Spice Girls truly allowing their personalities to shine, particularly Emma and Victoria (who smiles a bit more here than people may think). Despite some of the songs having different instrumentations than one would normally hear, the music is a essential asset to this romp and it was a good idea for the Spice Girls to use their second album Spiceworld as the main soundtrack and there were even some delights from their debut album Spice. The incidental music may be rarely used but it included a groovy piece when we first see the girls' pregnant friend Nicola and creepy, tense music when the bald photographer steps out of the toilet for example. Although the Spice Girls are the main stars here, there was fantastic support from Meat Loaf (who references one of his songs before the girls encounter some aliens) as Dennis the Spice Bus driver, Richard E Grant as Clifford, Naoko Mori as Nicola and Claire Rushbrook as Deborah plus more celebrity cameos from the likes of Elton John as himself, Michael Barrymore as Mr Step and Stephen Fry as the judge.
Overall, this is an excellent musical comedy that didn't deserve the Razzie it received. 10/10.