the question is n't why has grease been reissued .
the answer to that one is easy : to celebrate the movie 's 20th anniversary and to make more bucks for paramount 's coffers because john travolta is once again a hot commodity .
no , the question that ought to be asked is : should grease be reissued ?
the answer is not an easy one .
grease is a fun movie , an entertaining fantasy of the ' 50s , embodying all the cliches of that era .
the music is lively and the dance numbers , choreographed by patricia birch , are energetic and high - spirited
.
travolta was at his pinnacle as a sexual icon , cool , but non - threatening .
but grease did n't break any new cinematic ground .
it was not a milestone in movie history such as citizen kane or easy rider .
what grease is - or has become - is the highest - grossing musical in film history .
ok , let 's not be a spoilsport .
grease is a fun and entertaining movie , even though it stretches credulity to see such performers as travolta , olivia newton - john , taxi 's jeff conaway and the multi - talented stockard channing try to act like high schoolers .
it 's nostalgic to recall how good a dancer travolta was , and it 's sad to think of what could have been had not a few missteps sidetracked his career .
he could have become a musical comedy star in the tradition of gene kelly .
cinematically , the musical comedy has basically gone the way of the dinosaur .
between grease and 1996 's evita .
, you can probably count the number of movie musicals on one hand .
two reasons have contributed to the demise of the genre : the first is that movie audiences have become more sophisticated , no , make that cynical and jaded .
today , if a character began to dance and sing with no orchestra in sight , he or she would probably be hooted off the screen .
today 's audiences lack the innocence , that belief in movie magic that is required for a musical to succeed .
secondly , a lack of talent .
performers with the charisma , the style , the larger - than - life panache of fred astaire , gene kelly , ginger rogers and judy garland are gone .
most singers and dancers remain on the stage , and those who do succeed in movies usually wind up in serious dramatic parts .
a good example is gregory hines , one of the greatest dancers in the world .
he danced a bit in the cotton club , tap and white nights , but those were essentially dramatic vehicles .
so , perhaps the reissue of grease can serve a purpose .
if audiences show enough interest , meaning if the re - release earns the studio enough revenue , it may spark a revival in movie musicals .
perhaps not original musicals such as singin ' in the rain , an american in paris or seven brides for seven brothers , but for broadway properties that have been in the planning stages for film adaptations for several years .
at one time or another , according to the industry rumor mill , hollywood has been set to create an animated version of andrew lloyd webber 's cats , a filming of the popular phantom of the opera as well as les miserables and chicago , the latter reportedly to star madonna .
so , let this grease be the forerunner of an armada of movie musicals .
let grease be the word that sparks this revival .
Output: P