It's a great musical, and a surprisingly entertaining one, too.

Rating: 10/10 (7 March 2003)

The Sound of Music
Julie Andrews stars in the film that set a course for future musicals and dramas.
`The Sound of Music.'
We all know the story. Julie Andrews plays a Catholic nun who becomes a nanny for Christopher Plummer's millions upon millions of children (not literally) in Austria. After a while she falls in love with Plummer's character. They sing. The children sing. We all sing for ice cream  err, I meannever mind.
Anyway, that's how the story goes. Interesting to note that three whole hours revolve around just that. But it is also interesting to note that the film is incredibly good.
Julie Andrews plays her character like it is she. She completely envelops her character. The role of Christopher Plummer turns out to be one of his only good performances.
For people that do not know, Plummer calls the film `The Sound of Mucus.' He hates it. It's all because people remembered him for it, and he could probably never get any good jobs in film afterwards. So, of course, he purposely chose perverted roles or co-star roles. Shame on him. He should learn to live with the fact that this movie made him  he wouldn't even be able to get `and Christopher Plummer as ____' roles.
My only complaint about this film is that the children can't sing worth a darn. Every time they start to sing my ears go numb. They are miserably off tune. They also can't dance.
I sometimes wonder if Kurt Russell and Richard Dreyfuss, both of whom tried out for the roles of the children, would have been better I wonderwonderwonder
DREYFUSS: A doe. A deer. A femaleBOB?! BOB (Bill Murray): Dr. Marvin?! DREYFUSS: Don't you see? HE'S NEVER GONE! Even when I'M TEN YEARS OLD!!! BOB: Is this some kind of radical, new therapy? DREYFUSS: You see?!
Okay. Maybe not. Stillhe couldn't have done much worse than the kids in this movie.
The cinematography is another thing worth noting about this film. It might not have been filmed in Austria, but I sure can't tell the difference.
And also worth mentioning is the fact that `The hills are alive with the sound of music!' scene has spawned off countless rip-offs, spoofs and goofs. In fact, I was just watching `European Vacation' about a week ago, and they had a scene where Chevy Chase is singing, `The hills are alive with the sound of Griswald!' One of many countless spoofs on the scene.
All in all, `The Sound of Music' is one of the most cherished and remembered films. Ever. Definitely worth seeing.
It's a great musical, and a surprisingly entertaining one, too.
5/5 stars -
John Ulmer