Newsies
Arguably one of the oddest films to emerge from the modern Disney Entertainment empire, this scrappy 1992 live-action musical tells the tale of a turn-of-the-last-century labor uprising among New York City's newsboys (or "Newsies")--an especially ironic topic given the Mouse House's own historical labor relations problems. It was also a valiant attempt to revive the glory days of the Hollywood musical, andAlan Menken(fresh from his triumphsBeauty and the BeastandThe Little Mermaid) serves up a rousing retro slate of songs (with lyrics by Jack Feldman) that both evoke theRagtime-era story and bring a musical revivalist's fervor to the task of reanimating one of filmdom's most endangered genres; a throwback to be sure, but an energetic and infectious one.--Jerry McCulley