Happy Columbus Day! - The Road to El Dorado

Dreamworks, 2000

Voices of Kevin Branagh, Kevin Kline, Rosie Perez, and Armande Assante

Directed by Eric "Bibo" Bergeron and Don Paul

Music by Elton John; Lyrics by Tim Rice

Uh, remember I said back in April that The Prince of Egypt was Dreamworks' only traditionally animated theatrical animated musical? Well...I was wrong. In my defense, this is far less traditional take on the genre. In 1995, Jeffery Katzenburg read a book on Hernan Cortes ransacking old Mexico and thought the Age of Discovery would be a great setting for a musical. By the late 90's, the darker, more adult story took a turn to the goofy as it was transformed into a comic adventure in the style of the Bob Hope-Bing Crosby Road To... movies of the 1940's and 50's. It was a huge flop in 2000, but how does the tale of two con-artists who discover a lost city in the Mexican jungle look today? To find out, let's head to Spain, where Cortes (Jim Cummings) is recruiting men to join him on a quest to the New World, and find out...

The Story: While Cortes calls sailors to his ships, con men Tulio (Kline) and Miguel (Branagh) use rigged dice to win money off sailors...though ironically, they win a map to hidden treasure off one fairly. The guards (and an angry bull) chase them to the dock, where they hide in pickle barrels that are loaded onto Cortes' ship. They manage to escape, thanks to the horse Altivo (Frank Welker), and eventually make their way to shore.

Excited about the possibility of unlimited gold, Miguel convinces Tulio and Altivo to follow the map with him. After many mishaps, Tulio is about ready to give up when they run across a native woman (Perez) running from guards. When they notice how similar the two men and horse are to their totem, they bring them through the falls and into the sprawling city of El Dorado. The Chief (Edward James Olmos) believes them, but his blood-obsessed high priest Tzekel-Kan is more skeptical until the two seemingly stop a volcano from erupting. As Tulio gets to know opportunistic Chel better, Miguel gets to know the city. He's in love with the culture, and doesn't appreciate his partner chasing after the lady...but it'll take both of them to evade not only Tzekel-Kan's magic, but Cortes as well.

The Animation: Gorgeous enough to make you wish Dreamworks hadn't fully embraced computer animation after this bombed. The colors are brilliant and warm, the backdrops lush and extraordinarily detailed, especially in El Dorado. While some of the 3D computer effects haven't dated well, others still look good to this day - particularly the work they do to make the gold at the end look like real gold, rather than just yellow. 

The Song and Dance: This is one of the funniest animated musicals out there. Branagh and Kline recorded together, even having mock fights in the studio with plastic swords, and you can hear their delight in throwing off ad-libs. (Many of which were so witty, they made it into the finished film.) Perez more than matches them as the smart girl who sees the guys as her ticket out of El Dorado. The action is genuinely rousing and well-done, and Elton John's music is probably his second-best from a film after The Lion King. Hans Zimmer contributed a delightful Spanish-tinged background score as well. Armande Assante has a grand time chewing the jungle to ribbons as the priest who thinks sacrifices and fear are the way to govern the people of El Dorado.

Favorite Number: "The Trails We Blaze" shows mishap after mishap (mostly happening to Tulio) as the grifters and the horse follow the map through the jungles. "It's Tough to Be a God" gives us Tulio and Miguel's early views on their newfound status among the people of El Dorado, and it gets wilder and wilder and more psychedelic as the two grow more inebriated. "Without Question" is the lovely ballad that accompanies Miguel exploring the city and learning to appreciate its inhabitants. The heartbreaking "Friends Never Say Goodbye" accompanies the montage showing how Tulio and Miguel's relationship fractures, even as Tulio prepares to leave for Spain. The lilting "Someday Out of the Blue" on the end credits is one of John's finest ballads (and is my personal favorite John single).

What I Don't Like: A lot of critics at the time complained loudly about the cliched plot...and yeah, they have a point. This is nothing many people haven't seen in movies ranging from the afore-mentioned Road to... series to the more dramatic Man Who Would Be King. There's also times I wonder what audience Dreamworks intended this for. Kid-oriented gags like them suddenly stopping the volcano and some of the jokes with the horse and armadillo mix a little awkwardly with scarier sequences like the chase with the magical jaguar, some near-swears, and Tulio and Chel's obvious attraction.

The Big Finale: I think audiences - and critics - at the time were still conditioned to think all animated musicals had to be Disney princess extravaganzas. This has long picked up a cult following that enjoys the action and finds the dialogue endlessly quotable, and it more than deserves it. If you're a fan of jungle adventures or either of the leading men, or are looking for a good animated movie for older elementary and pre-teen boys, you'll want to hit the road and take a look at this. 

Home Media: That cult following assures that it's easily found on all major formats, often for under five dollars.

DVD

Blu-Ray

Amazon Prime

Animation Celebration Saturday - FernGully: The Last Rainforest

20th Century Fox, 1992
Voices of Samantha Mathis, Robin Williams, Johnathan Ward, and Tim Curry
Directed by Bill Kroyer
Music and Lyrics by various

Messages about the importance of saving the environment were all over TV and movies in the late 80's and early 90's. The Exxon-Valdez oil spill and other ecological disasters made people more aware of just how fragile nature was. Along with the TV series Captain Planet and the Planeteers, this was probably the most famous cartoon - and to my knowledge, the only musical - to deal with the importance of saving our Earth. How well does its message come across today? Let's head to the title rain forest on the eastern coast of Australia and find out...

The Story: Young fairy Crysta (Mathis) is in training with elderly Magi Lune (Grace Zabriskie) to take over her role as protector of the forest, but she'd rather be out exploring the many wonders of FernGully. On one such expedition, she encounters Batty Koda (Williams), a fruit bat humans experimented on. His experience left him with an antenna on his head, a constantly-changing personality, and a hatred of all humans. The other fairies believe humans are extinct, but Crysta agrees to check this out.

She discovers a lumberjack, Zack (Ward), helping his buddies cut down trees for a new highway. When a tree nearly falls on him, she shrinks him to save him...but can't figure out how to change him back. Meanwhile, his buddies have cut down the tree that imprisoned Hexxus (Curry), the spirit of pollution and waste. Hexxus targets FernGully, laying waste to all before him. Zack can't bring himself to admit that it was humans who freed Hexxus, but he may not have a choice when the fairies have to defend their homes against this oily menace.

The Animation: Absolutely gorgeous, and probably the best thing about the movie. The animators actually went to Australia to learn more about the rain forests there, and it's obvious they did their homework. Each frame bursts with life, light, and color, from the well-integrated CGI flocks of tropical birds to the lush,  hand-drawn flowers and trees. "Dream Worth Keeping," with its glowing fungi and glittering backdrops, is particularly stunning.

The Song and Dance: My family used to watch this quite a bit in the early 90's. It's funnier than I remember, partially due to Williams' wild and creative improvisational riffs (seven months before the release of his more famous role in Aladdin), but mostly thanks to a script that's better than most people give it credit for. Some of Ward's lines are hilarious as he tries to deal with his change in size and his odd new friends who think humans were long gone from this world.

If nothing else, this features one of Tim Curry's best performances as the evil pollution spirit who wants to obliterate everything in his path. He's so over-the-top, he outshines everyone but Williams by a wide margin. Indeed, many fans of the film cheer more for him than for the fairies.

Favorite Number: Williams' "Batty Rap" shows just how batty this rodent went after humans got into his head. This stream-of-consciousness song gives Williams a chance to really go to town with his many references and breathless lunacy. "Dream Worth Keeping" is a slightly syrupy Sheena Easton ballad, but it does accompany a lovely sequence with Crysta showing Zak the forest and its beauty and falling in love with him. Curry scores with "Toxic Love," which was so sexually-charged, it had to be cut down before release in order to get a PG.

Two routines seem a tad out-of-place. A lizard (Tone Loc) tries to eat Zack, to the tune of "If I'm Gonna Eat Somebody (It May as Well Be You)." It's not a bad number, but the lizard is never seen, nor heard of again after Crysta saves Zach from becoming his meal. Likewise, the fairies' routine to a cover of "Land of 1,000 Dances" comes out of nowhere and serves no function, other than introducing the fairies to more of the human world.

Trivia: This was a passion project of producer Wayne Young, whose ex-wife Diana Young wrote the original FernGully book in 1977. Most of the money from film was donated to various environmental causes.

Though by no means a record-setter, it did well enough at the box office to warrant a direct-to-video sequel, FernGully 2: The Magical Rescue, in 1998.

What I Don't Like: While the side message on the dangers of animal testing still comes across thanks to Williams' performance, the main one about the damage to the environment caused by pollution and human negligence is well-meaning but muddled and and annoyingly preachy. Having a "toxic spirit" be the one who causes the damage is too obvious and kind of takes the easy way out, no matter how much fun Curry has with the role. And speaking of Curry, he and Williams pretty much leave anyone else in the dust. Ward isn't bad as sarcastic Zach, but Mathis is too cutesy as curious Crysta, and Christian Slater just sounds bored as her jealous fairy guy friend Pips.

The Big Finale: It's too dark for young guys, but older kids who can handle some of the scarier elements and have any interest in nature or saving the Earth, or folks who grew up watching it on video or cable in the 90's, may find much to enjoy in this one if they can get around the pushy message.

Home Media: Easily found in all formats, often for under 10 dollars.

DVD
Blu-Ray
Amazon Prime

Animation Celebration Saturday - The Lion King (2019)

Disney, 2019
Voices of Donald Glover, James Earl Jones, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Beyonce Knowels-Carter
Directed by Jon Favearu
Music by Elton John and others; Lyrics by Tim Rice and others

Frankly, of the films Disney had announced that they were going to remake, this was the one I was the least excited about. Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, and Aladdin are all well-known fairy tales that were told before and will likely be told again. Pete's Dragon and The Jungle Book were a bit dated and had room for improvement and experimenting. The Lion King, on the other hand, as I mentioned in my review of the original film, remains a favorite of critics and audiences alike. How could Disney improve one of their most beloved films? Well...let's just return to the Pride Lands, this time in CGI, and find out...

The Story: Simba (JD McCrary) is the prince of Pride Rock in the African savannas. He wishes he could grow up faster and be just as respected as his father, King Mufasa (Jones). His uncle Scar (Ejiofor) tells encourages him to go to the elephant graveyards beyond the Pride Lands, as only the bravest lions go there. Scar wanted him there so the ravenous hyenas, lead by Shenzi (Florence Kasumba), would kill him and his best friend Nala (Shahadi Wright Joseph), but Mufasa saves them. He's not as lucky when Scar lures him and Simba into a wildebeast stampede created by the hyenas. Scar lets Mufasa die and tells Simba he did it, forcing him to flee.

Simba is found by Timon (Billy Eichner) and Pumbaa (Seth Rogan), a meerkat and warthog respectively whose motto is "Hakuna Matata" or no worries. They take Simba to the jungle, where he and their friends raise the cub on a vegetarian diet to adulthood. Meanwhile, Scar has let the hyenas strip Pride Rock bare. The lions and other animals are starving, and Scar is trying to force Queen Sarabi (Alfre Woodward) to become his mate. The older Nala (Knowels-Carter) flees to get help. Simba refuses to go with her at first...until Rafiki (John Kani) reminds him that his father is watching over him from the stars and will always be there for him, and that he shouldn't be afraid of his past.

The Animation: The animals themselves look gorgeous. They closely resemble their real-life counterparts; it feels like you could reach out and stroke the lions' fur, or feel the sharp tip on Pumbaa's tusks. The backgrounds are rich in golds and yellows in the Pride Lands, deepening to greens and golds in the jungle.

The realistic animation is a double-edged sword. For one thing, it feels like gold, green, sienna, gray, and brown are the only colors in Africa, with the occasional blue of Rafiki's face coloring or Zazu's feathers. The glowing colors were one of the best things about the original. The realism also severely limits the animals' facial expressions. One of the delights of the original Lion King is how Disney managed to make the animals expressive and still look like lions, hyenas, and meerkats. Here, the animals never really smile, laugh, or do much of anything. (Although they do manage to get a few funny looks out of Timon and Pumbaa, especially when Nala is about to come after them.)

The Song and Dance: One of the things I did enjoy about this one, for the most part, was the cast. Matthew Broderick had always been a little bland as the adult Simba. Donald Glover gives him far more personality, and McCrory is adorable as his younger self. A few people had reservations about the goofball Regan as sweet Pumbaa, but he gives him the right good-natured sell and works well with Eichner. Jones is just as good in his second outing as Mufasa, and Woodard is an elegant Sarabi.

What I liked best about this one was the improved villains. In the original, the hyenas are a bit creepy, but are mainly played for comic relief. Here, they're downright terrifying, especially in the elephant graveyard. Kasamba's Shenzi is a tough hyena queen who may bow to Scar, but sure as heck won't to anyone else. Ejiofor is less smarmy and more menacing as the brother who wants to rule and is willing to kill to get a mate and the throne.

Favorite Number: "The Circle of Life" is just as awe-inspiring here as it was in the original, with the sun shining down over the waves of animals and Rafiki drawing the powder along Simba's too-cute kittenish face. "I Just Can't Wait to Be King" is less cartoony but cuter, showing off the baby animals of the savanna as Simba wishes he'd just grow up faster. "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" is built into a number for Timon, Pumbaa, and the animals of the jungle, and it's hilarious...until Nala jumps in and breaks up the party. Rogen and Eichner also have fun with "Hakuna Matata," which is expanded a little to show off more of Simba growing into adulthood. Beyonce had a hand in one of the two new songs, "Spirit," a rousing chant for Simba as he returns to Pride Rock.

What I Don't Like: Even more than Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, and the others...we didn't need this. Other than the change of mediums, darker villains, and two new songs (one over the credits), Disney didn't really bring anything new to the table. "Be Prepared" is shortened and is basically repeating the lyrics over and over; "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" doesn't feel nearly as romantic performed in the daytime. They've done this particular franchise to death already with two direct-to-home-media sequels, two TV shows, and a Broadway show.

Speaking of the Broadway show, like Beauty and the Beast, I wish the film had retained some of the songs from the stage version. "He Lives In You" is included on the soundtrack, but not in the film proper. "Endless Night" might have been a nice way to deepen the adult Simba and find out more about how he feels when Rafiki reminds him of who he is.

And as it is almost a shot-for-shot remake, it retains some of the more violent moments from the original, including the stampede and the attack of the hyenas in the elephant graveyard. You may want to try your younger children on The Lion Guard or, if you can find it, Timon & Pumbaa before coming to any of the movies.

The Big Finale: How could Disney improve on one of their biggest films? They couldn't. Unless you or your children are huge Lion King fans, fans of the cast, or are really bored this summer and want to see something for the family, I'd save the money and just rent the original again.

Home Media: The soundtrack is easy to find in all formats, including streaming and vinyl.

CD
Vinyl Records
Amazon Music

Animation Celebration Saturday - The Lion King (1994)

Disney, 1994
Voices of Matthew Broderick, Nathan Lane, Ernie Sabella, and James Earl Jones
Directed by Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff
Music by Elton John; Lyrics by Tim Rice

With the CGI remake having been released into theaters yesterday, I thought this was the perfect time to revisit the original. Disney didn't expect much of it when it was in production; they were as surprised as anyone when it became the biggest hit of 1994 and a touchstone with many children who grew up in the mid-late 90's. How does this movie roar nowadays? Let's join a crowd of animals as they make their way across the African savanna to witness the birth of a ruler and find out...

The Story: Young Simba (Johnathan Taylor Thomas) is indeed the prince of Pride Rock, a pride of lions who rule over the African savannas. He's thrilled and a little cocky about it, despite his love and admiration of his father Mufasa (Jones). Mufasa's brother Scar (Jeremy Irons) does not admire his brother. He was next in line to be king before Simba was born. He first tries to get Simba and his friend Nala (Niketa Calame) lost in the shadowy Elephant Graveyards, where they're attacked by the hyenas who think of him as their meal ticket. Mufasa manages to save them then, even forgiving his son. Simba's not so lucky when he's lured into the canyons. Scar lets Mufasa be trampled by a stampede of wildebeasts, but convinces Simba it was his fault.

The horrified lion cub flees into the jungle, where he befriends Timon (Lane) and Pumbaa (Sabella), a wisecracking meerkat and good-natured (if smelly) warthog. They convince Simba to forget his troubles and more-or-less raise him to adulthood. A now-grown Nala (Moira Kelly) comes around to hunt, but the older Simba (Broderick) fights her off before realizing who she is. They fall in love, but he's afraid to come back and is worried that everyone will think he killed his father. It takes the wise council of baboon Rafiki (Robert Guillame) to make Simba realize that, as Rafiki puts it, "oh, the past can hurt. But the way I see it, you can either run from it...or learn from it."

The Animation: Disney put a lot of work into making these cartoony animals look as realistic as they could and still be expressive. It mostly works, especially with the background animals, like those wildebeasts in the stampede or the animals in the opening sequence. There's some magnificiently lush backgrounds as well, from the "Circle of Life" opening to the dark and dusty elephant graveyards, to the rich rosy-gold flames in the finale.

The Song and Dance: For the most part, this still holds up pretty well. The story was Disney's first stab at something original and not based after a fairy tale or children's book, and as such, is fun and really quite touching, even mature in parts. Jones made such a majestic and warm Mufasa, he was one of the few voices from the animated film retained for the CGI version. Irons is an appropriately smarmy villain; the hyenas are really kind of creepy, especially in the elephant graveyard and towards the end, when they realize Scar hasn't quite delivered on his promises. Lane and Sabella were so well-received as Timon and Pumbaa, they got a spin-off TV cartoon based around them.

Favorite Number: It's hard to top "The Circle of Life," with the kneeling animals gathering around the rock and the light shining on Rafiki revealing the new king. It's probably one of the ten best opening numbers in film musicals. Timon and Pumbaa may not have been happy with Simba and Nala falling in love during the hit ballad "Can You Feel the Love Tonight," but the sequence is appropriately romantic, with the lions playing against the backdrop of the moonlit savanna. Timon and Pumbaa get to have more fun explaining their "trouble-free philosophy," "Hakuna Matata," to the young Simba. Simba also gets to have fun with the more cartoony "I Just Can't Wait to Be King."

Trivia: This one wasn't in development as long as some of Disney's other movies of the 90's, having only been conceived around 1988.

It was the biggest hit film - live-action or animated - of 1994. The Broadway stage show, done with African-style puppets and dance, was an equally huge hit in 1997 and at press time is still running at the Minskoff Theater. Timon and Pumbaa's TV show, The Lion King's Timon & Pumbaa, was also popular, running three years. A show for younger children, The Lion Guard, debuted on Disney Junior in 2016. There were two direct-to-video sequels, The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride and The Lion King 1 1/2, that I will likely review somewhere down the line as well.

A theatrical re-release and the 2003 Platinum Edition DVD added an additional song for Zazu (Rowan Atikson), "The Morning Report."

What I Don't Like: Not all the animals are portrayed accurately, especially the hyenas. Some of the sequences may be a little too scary for younger kids, and others may get restless with the savanna politics with Mufasa and Scar. Honestly, the opening is so strong, it can be hard for some of the other numbers to live up to it. Jeremy Irons isn't that great of a singer, and I always found his villain song, "Be Prepared," to be more than a little awkward.

The Big Finale: I like this a lot, but don't worship it the way a lot of people who grew up in the mid-late 90's do. I suspect a lot of it has to do with nostalgia. I was a teenager in '94, and it didn't connect with me the way the earlier Beauty and the Beast or later Hunchback of Notre Dame did. That said, it's still an excellent movie, one of Disney's better ones of their 90's "Renaissance." If you have older kids who love animals and can handle the darker sequences, they'll probably go wild over this one.

Home Media: Disney re-released this one on most major formats about two years ago. I have the original 2-disc Platinium Edition, but it's so hard to navigate (it took me 10 minutes to find the original theatrical edition, rather than the Special Edition), I'd go for the newer Signature Edition or the Blu-Ray.

DVD
Blu-Ray
Amazon Prime (buy only)

Rocketman

Paramount, 2019
Starring Taron Egerton, Jamie Bell, Richard Madden, and Bryce Dallas Howard
Directed by Dexter Fletcher
Music by Elton John; Lyrics by Bernie Taupin and others

I've been a huge fan of Elton John for as long as I could remember. His albums were always among my mother's record collection in the 80's, especially after he made his big comeback with "I'm Still Standing" when I was four years old. Unlike Bohemian Rhapsody, which mostly relies on concert footage, this is a full-blown jukebox musical, complete with splashy chorus numbers, reprises, and a five o'clock number. How does the life of one of England's most beloved and successful rock stars look on the big screen? Let's head to a rehab center with Elton himself to find out...

The Story: Elton John (Egerton) narrates his life story to an addiction rehabilitation group after fleeing a concert at Madison Square Garden. He started life as Reginald Dwight (Kit Connor), growing up in a cold and unfeeling household. His mother Sheila (Howard) hadn't wanted children and remains cold to him; his father Stanley (Steven Macintosh) is mostly out of his life in the Royal Air Force, and when he's around, he's even less affectionate. Only Reggie's kindly grandmother Ivy (Gemma Jones) supports his musical talent, especially after he gets a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music. His father walks out of his life after his mother has an affair, and while this does hurt him deeply, his mother's new boyfriend introduces him to rock and roll.

Reggie takes to this brash new sound like a duck takes to water, playing at local pubs. He joins a band, Bluesology, and discovers while backing an American soul group that he definitely has homosexual leanings. He's encouraged to start writing music and to change his life and name. Becoming Elton John, he's introduced to lyricist Bernie Taupin (Bell), with whom he has an instant bond. The two become fast friends and start writing songs together. "Your Song" is a big enough hit to prompt a performance as the wildly popular Los Angeles venue The Troubadour. It's here that John overcomes his stage fright and discovers his frenzied and electric performing style.

He meets the handsome music businessman John Reid (Madden) at Mama Cass' after-show party. Reid becomes his manager and lover, introducing him to the drinking, drugs, and partying that would mark most of Elton's career in the 70's. By the mid-70's, John is at the top of the charts, one of the biggest rock stars in the world...but his life is starting to spiral out of control. His parents don't mind his homosexuality, but they still don't show him any love. Reid is not only cheating on him, but stealing from him as well. John's attempt at a straight marriage only lasts a few years, and Taupin's had it up to here and leaves briefly. It's the loss of his best friend and a near-suicide attempt that makes John realize how bad things have gotten...and finally prompts him to clean up his act for good.

The Song and Dance: The eclectic numbers and spot-on performances are reason enough to check this one out. Egerton was selected to play John by the man himself. His instincts proved to be solid. Egerton is awesome, nailing many of John's mannerisms and beautifully portraying both the shy and flamboyant sides of John's personality. Bell's almost as good as Taupin, who continues as John's partner to this day, and Connor is a dead-ringer for the young John. Howard also does well as John's icy and uncaring mother. Madden portrays his lover as a charming cad who is out to use him and his career.

In fact, what I like is how honest the movie is about John's life, especially given that John himself agreed to it. Unlike Bohemian Rhapsody, it has no qualms about showing the darker side of the glamorous rock star life of the 70's or John's sexual relationships. I believe it's the first Hollywood movie from a major studio to depict a sexual relationship between two men.

Goes without saying that the costumes are especially incredible here, with John's most infamous costumes recreated in all their glittering glory. Dexter Fletcher also worked on Bohemian Rhapsody, and he does even better work here; the numbers are electric and beautifully staged, with some very catchy choreography.

Favorite Number: The opening number "The Bitch Is Back," with Connor and Egerton introducing John's drab early life, is catchy start that may be a bit surprising, with it's juxtaposition of John's bright colors against the pale pastels and black and white of his memories. "I Want Love," the Dwight family's realization that they're breaking apart, is absolutely heartbreaking. "Crocodile Rock" is as electric as it must have been the first night at the real Troubadour, with some great effects as Egerton literally lifts himself on the piano keys. "Pinball Wizard" depicts John's real-life concert tours, with swirling effects as we move from one venue to another. The title song starts underwater after John's suicide, giving us some nice underwater photography, and ends up in one of John's most famous performances at Dodgers Stadium in LA (complete with sparkling Dodgers uniform).

Special kudos to the finale, "I'm Still Standing." I was 4 when that song debuted, and I vividly recall seeing the music video on MTV when it came out. It's a near-perfect re-creation of that video, right down to John's white suit and the dancers' domino effect at one point.

What I Don't Like: While it's more honest about it's subject matter than Bohemian Rhapsody, it's still fairly cliched. It's also an R rating, and very much so. In addition to the man-on-man sex, there's some heavy swearing (including a ton of F-bombs dropped) and minor violence. The effects of John's lifestyle are shown on-screen, including his battle with bulimia and all the drugs and liquor he consumed. This is absolutely not for children, "fantasy" or not. Start them on The Lion King or John's earlier music videos if you want to give them a taste of his work. Egerton is electric as John, but he may actually be a little too conventionally handsome to pass for him (something John never was).

The Big Finale: If you love John and his music, musicals, or the cast, you won't want the sun to go down on this one before you check it out.

Home Media: The soundtrack is available on CD and on streaming from several companies, including Amazon Music.

CD
MP3
Amazon Music