Was really liking it, until its final 30 minutes came along.

Rating: 8/10 (12 November 2011)

Most people are afraid to admit it but "The Sound of Music" remains one of the best and most classic musical movies ever made. I would also say that this is an almost perfect example of the genre but let me put some more emphasis on the word almost.
Honestly, you could you not like this movie? It's cheerful, colorful and very charming. It's set in great colorful environments, features a sort of simple, no-worries type of story (untill its final 30 minutes) and some great and very memorable songs. It's a movie that can really lift your mood while watching it.
To me this actually seems like a movie that can best be seen on the large silver screen. The nature environments, the sets, the colors, the camera-work, it all deserves to be seen on a large screen and it will make the movie no doubt look even better than it already does on an average sized television. There are still plenty of screening every year, so if you get the opportunity I really would recommend you to see this movie on the silver screen.
Yes, it's a long sit, since the movie is almost 3 hours long but the movie is definitely worth it. It still is a bit odd to me though, that no matter how long the movie is, its ending still feels very rushed. Seriously, the whole WW II aspects got hardly mentioned at all in the first 2 hours of the movie and then boom! Suddenly there is a war going on. There is no real good build-up to it in its story, which in my opinion seems like a bit of a missed opportunity. The final 30 minutes feel really crammed in and rushed. Besides, in my opinion the movie never really reaches a fully satisfying conclusion. It still leaves a lot of questions open and has some loose ends in it, as if they were perhaps expecting to make a sequel to this movie some day.
But this is not the only problem I had with the second half of the movie. I was really liking the movie for its cheerful atmosphere and uplifting story and characters but I did not at all see it's love story coming up. To me there was absolutely nothing at all that indicated that Maria and Captain Von Trapp were falling for each other and that these two persons were meant to be together. I was actually quite happy about it that for a change this looked to be a musical in which the two main characters wouldn't fall in love with each other. It pretty much came out of nowhere for me and it just didn't seemed to be something that this movie and its story needed.
No complaints about the acting obviously. It still is Julie Andrews' most iconic and memorable role and Christopher Plummer also did a pretty good job. You probably wouldn't had recognized him, since he's still so very young and different looking in this movie. Can't also really complain about the child cast, though I should say that's its just a bit odd that none of the children really look alike. The one has blond hair and blue eyes, while the other dark hair with brown eyes. None of them really look they could be brothers or sisters in real life. But of course I understand that it would had been quite hard to find 7, singing, dancing and acting children, that also all look alike as well.
With this movie Robert Wise once more showed his amazing versatility and talent as a director. Seriously, is there any genre this guy hasn't worked in? He of course had some practice already, with his other much acclaimed musical "West Side Story". But even when looking at just these two movies you'll notice how much different they actually are in its style and approach. Again, also this really shows how incredibly versatility and talented as a director Robert Wise was.
All in all this remains a nearly perfect musical movie, that despite all my criticism of it, really remains a great and truly enjoyable watch.
8/10
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