The Great Caruso

MGM, 1951

Starring Mario Lanza, Ann Blyth, Dorothy Kirsten, and Jarmila Novotna

Directed by Richard Thorpe

Music and Lyrics by various

We jump from the world of romantic composers to grand opera for our next biography. Enrico Caruso was one of the major tenors of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He sang on opera stages across Europe and North and South America, but is primarily known today as one of the leading stars of New York's Metropolitan Opera from 1903 to right before his death in 1921. He also became one of the first singers to embrace the new recording medium, which not only bolstered his Met career, it made him one of the major superstars of the first two decades of the 20th century. 

MGM had been trying to get this movie off the ground for years. It wasn't until Philadelphia tenor Lanza joined the company in 1948 that the studio finally found its Caruso. How well does Lanza do as his idol? Let's begin with the birth of a great singer in Naples, Italy in 1873 and find out...

The Story: Young Enrico (Peter Price) is devastated when his mother dies. She encourages him to keep singing and training. Unfortunately, it doesn't earn the grown Enrico (Lanza) much money. He's singing for pennies in cafes when he tries to marry his hometown sweetheart Musetta (Yvette Duguay). Her father (Argentina Brunetti) disapproves of singing as a career and brings him into his flour business instead. He ends up being discovered by an agent at a cafe he's delivering flour to. Musetta's father fires him and turns him away when a storm ruins the flour. Enrico swears he'll come back after he's made money singing.

He does make money singing, working his way up to leading roles at Milan's famous La Scala opera house...but Musetta marries someone else. Heartbroken, he leaves for a world tour that ends with him at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. He accidentally insults one of the leading patrons of the Met, Park Benjamin (Carl Benton Reid), then  goes to his house to apologize and charms Benjamin's sweet socialite daughter Dorothy (Blyth). 

Neither Benjamin nor the New York critics find Caruso as adorable as Dorothy does. He finally weds her against her father's wishes after another long tour, attempting to prove himself as a singer of refinement. Opera diva and Caruso's fellow Met performer Louise Heggar (Dorothy Kirsten) tries to explain to Dorothy that Caruso's life revolves around his voice, but she's too much in love to care. They prove to be a happy couple with the world at their feet. Caruso, however, doesn't have long to live, thanks to illness...but his recordings and tremendous popularity assure that he will never be forgotten.

The Song and Dance: Lanza may have been born to play Caruso. Both men were said to be large in spirit, possessing of two of the finest operatic voices heard in the 20th century, and great lovers of women and luxurious living. Lanza pretty much blows everyone else off the screen. He's just as big and hearty as this movie, with its gorgeous settings and lavish recreations of many famous operas. In fact, this movie may be even more of a crash course in famous operas than it is of Caruso's life. You really get a sense of what made Caruso a star, and why many of these shows remain popular to this day. 

Favorite Number: We open with the young Caruso singing in a local choir that goes on a procession through the Italian town where he was born. He knows his mother is gone when she doesn't come to the window to watch him sing. "A'Vuchella" is the number Caruso sings with his friends at the cafe, while "La Danza" is the one that so impresses Casazza despite the spoiled flour. 

We see Caruso performing sequences from many major operas. Tosca is his first major hit at La Scala, and he does several different scenes from that throughout the movie. Kirsten joins him for the finale of Aida, the sextet from Lucia de Lammermoor,  and the title song of the Victor Herbert operetta Sweethearts. He's seen in segments from Pagliacci, Il Trovotore, Rigoletto, La Boheme, La Giocanda, and Cavaliera Rusticana in montages. Blyth joins him for the movie's big hit ballad, "The Loveliest Night of the Year," which Dorothy performs with Enrico during his birthday party. Caruso's last appearance is in Martha, but it's the show that literally kills him.

What I Don't Like: This is another musical biography that plays fast and loose with facts. First of all, Caruso never sang in an opera chorus. He always played leading roles. He was a hit at the Met from the first time he sang there in 1903 and never had to win their favor. He had many relationships with women not shown in the film, including one that resulted in the birth of two sons out of wedlock. He didn't meet and marry Dorothy until 1917. His voluminous recording career is barely touched on. He made over 200 recordings between 1903 and 1920, many of which survive and remain popular to this day. And while he did suffer a throat hemorrhage during an opera performance in 1920, it didn't cause him to die onstage. He finally passed away in Naples a year later while waiting for an operation.

And yeah, this follows all the standard beats of a movie biography. This isn't for you if you're looking for something with less music, or that treads new ground. The dialogue is as stiff as some of Enrico's costumes at the Met.

The Big Finale: This is a must-see if you have even a passing interest in Lanza, Caruso, or opera, or want to learn more about opera on the big screen and in general. 

Home Media: DVD and Blu-Ray only from the Warner Archives. 

DVD

Blu-Ray

A Song to Remember

Columbia Pictures, 1945

Starring Cornel Wilde, Paul Muni, Merle Oberon, and Nina Foch

Directed by Charles Vidor

Music by Frederic Chopin

This week, we're elevating our cultural status with a dive into biographies of classical musicians and opera stars. Polish composer Chopin remains one of the most beloved in classical circles. Many of his piano pieces continue to be played in concert halls and on classical music collections and radio stations to this day, and he remains one of the best-known musicians of his period. Does this movie do his short but dramatic life justice, or should it be sent back to Warsaw? Let's begin in Poland, with the music teacher Josef Elsner (Muni) as he discovers the young piano protege Frederic Chopin, and find out...

The Story: Elsner receives an invitation from music publisher Louis Playel (George Coulouris) for Chopin to play for him in Paris. Unfortunately, Chopin's family can't afford the trip. Chopin (Wilde) remains in Warsaw, where he sees his own people taken prisoner by Russian police. He and Elsner become Polish freedom fighters, even as Elsner continues to fight to take Chopin and his music to Paris. He's to play for a count's fancy banquet, but refuses when he hears that the Russian head of Poland is one of the guests. 

He and Elsner finally flee to Paris. Playel won't hear Chopin's music now that he's no longer a child protege...until Chopin plays his "Polonaise" for him. He introduces the young man to fellow composer Franz List (Stephen Bekassy). It's List who arranges for him to meet writer and critic George Sand (Merle Oberon), who greatly admires his music. Chopin his heartbroken when he loses his friends in the Polish secret society and walks out of a concert, but a great review from Sand gives him heart. They end up falling hard for each other, even as Elsner finally gets Playel to publish Chopin's work. 

He and Sand spend the next few years in Majorica, an island near Spain. Elsner can't get him to do concerts or send more music to publish and ends up teaching back in Warsaw. Things aren't so great in Poland, though. Chopin ends his relationship with Sand when he hears news of friends who were imprisoned during the 1830 November Uprising and she wants him to stay with her. He returns to Elsner and embarks on a series of concert tours across Europe to earn money for the Polish people...but it ends up being too much for his already weakened health...

The Song and Dance: Muni and a gorgeous production anchor this romantic melodrama. Muni takes top honors as the kindly teacher who never stops believing in his student, even when his student abandons him. Oberon is also excellent as strong-willed, demanding Sand, whose desire for love far outweighs her interest in patriotism. The sets and costumes are stunning for normally low-budget Columbia; the cinematography was Oscar-nominated. It looks every bit 1830 Poland and France, from the charming peasant costumes on Chopin's parents in the beginning to the lavish velvets, brocades, and braiding worn by the members of the French court to George Sand's austere dark masculine suits. 

Favorite Number: Pianist Jose Iturbi played all of the numbers we hear in the film, starting with the number young Chopin plays as Elsner arrives at his home. Playel may not be impressed by Chopin's "Polonaise in E Flat," but the audience certainly was. Iturbi's full recording of this number went on to be a best-seller. The "Heroic Polonaise" at Chopin's debut is every bit as stunning as Sand says in her review later, with Iturbi and Wilde throwing themselves passionately into it. Likewise, the number he plays at the reception hosted by the Duchess of Orleans is intense enough to understand why Playel wanted to publish it. The concert tour medley starts out passionate and gets increasingly weary as Chopin grows more and more ill.

Trivia: The scene where Sand brings a candelabra to Chopin's piano inspired a young Liberace to have one  in his piano act. 

What I Don't Like: This melodrama with music is a load of piffle that has very little to do with history. Chopin and Sand did have a passionate relationship, but she was just as big on Polish patriotism as he was. They did part ways, but for other reasons besides their politics, and she absolutely would not have forced him to choose between her and his country. Elsner was fictional, a representative of his many teachers over the years. While he didn't get to Paris until he was older, he did play outside of Poland as a child protege, including in Russia. 

Wilde was nominated for an Oscar as Chopin, but outside of his attempts to follow along with Iturbi's piano playing, he's dull as dishwater. Honestly, Oberon's Sand is vastly more interesting than this superficial pretty boy. He looks more like a vampire from an adaptation of an Ann Rice novel towards the end than a dying man. 

The Big Finale: Mainly for big fans of classical or romantic-era music or major fans of Muni, Wilde, or Oberon. 

Home Media: The solo DVD is part of Columbia's Screen Classics By Request DVD-R line and is expensive at this writing. You're better off streaming this one - it's currently free at Tubi with commercials. 

DVD - Screen Classics By Request

Tubi

Saluting Our Troops - Skirts Ahoy!

MGM, 1952

Starring Esther Williams, Vivian Blaine, Joan Roberts, and Barry Sullivan

Directed by Sidney Lanfield

Music by Harry Warren; Lyrics by Ralph Blane 

This year, we honor the women who have served our country with this unusual MGM musical. The WAVES, the Women's Naval Reserves, was largely disbanded in 1948. The Korean War made it necessary to recruit women for war duties again, so the WAVES were restarted. Hollywood jumped in to help recruit new members with this tale of three women from different backgrounds who join up and find love and adventure in basic training. How well did they do? Let's begin by seeing why each of those women joined the WAVES and find out...

The Story: Mary Kate Yarborough (Roberts), Whitney Young (Williams), and Una Yancey (Blaine) meet in basic training at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center near Chicago. Midwestern girl-next-door Mary Kate was left at the altar by her fiancee Dick (Keefe Brasselle), who wanted to see the world. Long Island socialite Whitney left multiple fiancees at the altar over the years. Brooklyn shopgirl Una is hoping to follow her sailor fiance Archie (Dean Miller) to Paris. 

Una and Whitney easily take to the Naval life. Mary Kate is initially homesick, until Dick turns up and says he doesn't think she can handle it. She stays to prove that she can be fully and truly independent. Whitney's having her own problems. She falls for the camp's doctor Lieutenant Paul Elliot (Sullivan) when they meet at a nightclub, but after he defends her against three WACs who picked a fight with her. He tells her she lacks discipline. Una tries to get them back together at a dance, to no avail. Whitney following him to a theater only ends in an argument over her abandoning suitors and him being snobbish. At least, no matter what else happens or where they're assigned after graduation, the ladies have each other...and the self-confidence they've gained from their military training.

The Song and Dance: Two things make this stand out from most musicals revolving around soldiers in the Armed Forces. First of all, this being about women recruits changes a lot. The ladies chase men, but they're also loyal to each other and their friendship. Unlike the guys, they don't want to just see the world. They want to prove that they can make a difference and take care of themselves. Finding a man is important, but so is finding themselves. Second, most musicals about military life tend to revolve around the soldiers' adventures on leave. This is one of the few to be set in a boot camp and show the women actually training. 

Williams is sassy and fun as the mouthy socialite looking for a cause besides avoiding marriage. Roberts starts slow, with Mary Kate spending most of the first half of the movie crying and moping. Once she faces Brasselle and that Naval board, she gains a spine and becomes a lot more interesting. You really do hope she stays. 

Favorite Number: Our first number isn't until nearly 10 minutes in, but it's Blaine, the five look-a-like DeMarco Sisters who always stick together, and the chorus to tell Mary Kate that they're "Glad to Have You Aboard." Williams and the DeMarcos have a number together at a talent show, with them swabbing the deck while tossing buckets of water at Williams and wondering "What Makes a Wave?" The three ladies join together at a polished pink tea room to wonder "What Good Is a Gal Without a Guy?" The DeMarco Sisters wonder the same when they reprise the song at the boot camp later in the film. 

Band singer Billy Eckstine makes one of his few film appearances in the night club sequence, crooning "Hold Me Close to You." Brasselle gets the ballad "I've Got a Funny Feeling" at another night club later in the film. Debbie Reynolds and Bobby Van get a random dance routine in goofy neon outfits to "Oh By Jingle" as a USO number for the ladies. The sweet "Navy Waltz" has Williams dancing with Emmett Lynn as the DeMarcos and the Chorus perform the dreamy number in the back ground. A black drill unit do a lively precision marching number to an instrumental version of the title song. 

They do manage to sneak in two low-key water ballets for Williams. She performs dives and dances in the water with two small children, Bubba and Kathy Tongay, who did their own water ballets in the early 50's as the Aquatots. Williams gets a solo water routine later, "dancing" with an inflatable Navy toy. 

Trivia: Sadly, Kathy only lived for a year after the release of this film. She died tragically after her father forced her to dive off of a 33-foot high platform in Miami, Florida. Her father was sentenced for manslaughter and served ten years. Bubba later became a lifeguard in Miami.

Williams redesigned the Navy swimsuits seen in the film, as she called the originals inappropriate for swimming. She also didn't get along with Lanfield and called him out for bullying Vivian Blaine.

This would be Lanfield's last movie. 

What I Don't Like: For all the seriousness of the military setting, this is a pretty goofy, fluffy musical. Most of the numbers have nothing to do with anything, including the Reynolds/Van romp that's dropped into the middle of the movie for no other reason than to have a big dance routine. The movie can't seem to decide whether it wants to emphasize the ladies striving for their independence and how important their relationships with each other are, or push the romances. Williams has absolutely no chemistry with the dull Sullivan, who is not only older than her, but acts like a jerk. Blaine has the opposite problem - she's a little too much at times, seemingly playing to the Guys & Dolls stage audiences instead of the camera. It's also pretty obvious this was not intended to be a Williams vehicle. Her two water sequences were forced in with a crowbar, and they look it. 

The Big Finale: While far from the best thing Williams ever did, it's charming enough to be worth a look for major fans of hers or lovers of the big MGM musicals of the 1940's and 50's. 

Home Media: On DVD and streaming, the former in a remastered edition from the Warner Archives.

DVD

Amazon Prime

East Side of Heaven

Universal, 1939

Starring Bing Crosby, Joan Blondel, Mischa Aurer, and Irene Hervey

Directed by David Butler

Music by James V. Monaco; Lyrics by Johnny Burke

Since we did a Bob Hope movie on Tuesday, we'll do one featuring his old friend Bing Crosby today, and one many of you might not have heard of. Bing was so popular in the  late 30's, he was able to wrangle a deal that allowed him to make movies away from his home studio Paramount. We've already seen the first and the last, Pennies From Heaven and If I Had My Way. How does this one compare to them, and to the other movies Bing made at Paramount at this time? Let's begin in New York, as singing telegram boy Denny Martin (Crosby) delivers a message to a wealthy family, and find out...

The Story: Denny has already postponed his marriage to switchboard operator Mary Wilson (Blondel) three times. Mary's hoping the fourth time is the charm, but the day they're to marry, he loses his job after he stands up for his friend Cyrus Barrett Jr (Robert Kent), an alcoholic whose father (C. Aubrey Smith) wants to take custody of his baby son (Baby Sandy) from him and his wife Mona (Hervey). Mona's had enough of Cyrus Jr and wants a divorce, something his father thoroughly disapproves of. Denny does manage to get a job as a singing cab driver, and even convinces Cyrus Jr. to go into rehab. His father, however, takes advantage of his absence to move against his wife on kidnapping charges.

Desperate, Mona leaves her son at the one place she figures no one will ever look - Denny's apartment. He and his Zodiac-obsessed Russian friend Nicky (Aurer) find themselves hiding the infant from the detectives Barrett Sr. hired to find the child. Mary hears them talking baby talk and thinks Denny's talking to a woman. She reports this to her gossip columnist friend Claudius DeWolfe (Jerome Cowan), who would like nothing more than to discredit Denny in her eyes. He first gleefully parrots her item about him seeing someone else, then decides he wants to deliver the baby to Barrett Sr. himself...

The Song and Dance: There's some charm to be had in this sweet melodrama with music. Crosby and Blondel work better together than you might think; her sarcasm plays well off his breezy manner. It makes you wish they didn't usually work for different studios and got to do more movies together. Smith also comes off well as the worried grandfather who thinks he can give his grandson a better home than with his liquor-addled father, and Baby Sandy is too cute for words as the infant in the center of Barretts' legal battle. There's nifty Art Deco sets, too, especially at the streamlined Frying Pan Cafe. 

Favorite Number: Our first number is "Happy Birthday to You," which Denny sings as he discovers Mona and Barrett Junior and Senior arguing over their child's future. He auditions for a job with the jaunty "Sing a Song of Sunbeams," which somehow lands him the Singing Cabdriver gig. "Hang Your Heart On a Hickory Limb" is the big number at the Frying Pan Cafe. Denny performs this one to sober up the very sloshed Barrett Jr, while waitresses become a makeshift chorus and the owner Mrs. Kelly (Jane Jones) joins two cooks as his backup singers. Denny sings about "The Sly Old Gentleman" to a lady in a cab eagerly listening to his every word. He performs the title song twice, as a lullaby to Baby Sandy and Mary as they look out over the rooftops of New York in the nighttime, and in the finale.

What I Don't Like: The entire legal battle over the baby comes off sounding more like one of Shirley Temple's movies than one of Crosby's and gets very annoying after a while. Aurer's Russian astrologist is dated and a little too goofy. Some of his gags with the baby seem to be more there to pad out the film than anything. In fact, the movie really takes a while to get where it's going. The plot with Denny and Nicky doesn't kick in until nearly 40 minutes into a 90 minute movie. 

More surprisingly, the songs are among the weakest from any Crosby film. None of the music really stands out in any way. "Sing a Song of Sunbeams" was a minor hit at the time, but even Crosby was disappointed with his songs in this outing. (Though he apparently otherwise enjoyed making it, later calling it one of his favorites.) 

The Big Finale: Not one of Bing's best films; mainly recommended for major fans of him, Blondel, or Temple's family melodramas.

Home Media:  Easily found on DVD, both solo and as part of two Crosby sets.

DVD - Universal Vault

DVD - Screen Legend Collection

DVD - Silver Screen Collection: The 30's

Election Day Special - Louisiana Purchase

Paramount, 1941

Starring Bob Hope, Vera Zorina, Victor Moore, and Irene Bordoni

Directed by Irving Cummings

Music and Lyrics by Irving Berlin

While you wait for the election results to come in, here's a hilarious political satire to check out. Louisiana Purchase started life as a Broadway show the year before. This spoof of political corruption in general and the state of Louisiana dropping Huey Long's Share the Wealth program and supporting the Franklin Roosevelt and his New Deal was a huge hit in New York, but does it still earn the vote with viewers today? Let's begin with Paramount's lawyer (Emory Parnell) as he and his secretary (Iris Meredith) and the chorus explain in song that this is a spoof and none of this really happened...maybe...and find out...

The Story: Three Louisiana House of Representative members have been using the federal funds for the Louisiana Purchase Company to furnish their lavish lifestyles. They're horrified when they learn that Senator Oliver P. Loganberry (Moore) is coming to conduct hearings into their corrupt activities. They force the fourth member, Jim Taylor (Hope), to lure Loganberry into a trap that'll let them blackmail him into dropping the matter. 

Taylor's friend Madame Bordelaise (Bordoni) suggests European beauty Marina Von Minden (Zorina), who is trying to earn enough money to bring her mother to the US, to be used as bait. She seduces him and gets him drunk, but then has second thoughts and claims she's his fiancee. Now Jim is really in the senatorial dog house...until he can filibuster for three days and keep Loganberry from making those changes to the legaslature!

The Song and Dance: Hope is backed by a great supporting cast in one of the rare Broadway adaptations of the 40's to be a fairly accurate adaptation of the original. It's so accurate, Bordoni, Zorina, and Moore repeat their original roles. Gorgeous production, too. It was his first color film, and Paramount really threw everything they had into it. We even get a fashion show mid-way through when Jim insists on showing off the latest fashions to impoverished Marina. Moore takes top honors as the rigid politician who is so into his job, he barely knows anything but what goes on at Capitol Hill. 

Probably the most famous moment from this today is Hope's filibuster in the end. It's hilarious, with him reading everything from Gone With the Wind to Goldilocks and the Three Bears to keep everyone from leaving. Hope has a great time with it, especially towards the end as it's becoming obvious Jim is burning out. 

Favorite Number: We open with the "Lawyer's Letter" and "It's New to Us," possibly the first and only time in film history that a musical began with a chorus routine that says "this is fiction, don't sue us." We don't get another number until nearly half-way in, but it's the sweet "You're Lonely and I'm Lonely" as Zorina begins to realize that Loganberry isn't really a bad guy. Beatrice (Dona Drake), one of Madame's girls, joins the chorus for the title song at the Mardi Gras parade. "Dance With Me Tonight at the Mardi Gras" says Zorina in a lavish ballet as she and dancer Charles Laskey pirouette around the ballroom. 

The film's best number was also its only hit on Broadway. "It's a Lovely Day Tomorrow" begins with black waiters cleaning up in the kitchen, singing about their hopes for a new day. Jim, stripped of his king's costume after Marina turns on him, sings along, but his heart isn't really in it. It's a simple but effective moment in an otherwise overstuffed movie.

Trivia: Gaxton, Moore's usual stage partner, played Hope's role on Broadway.

The Broadway show ran almost two years, not bad for the early 40's. It largely vanished until a concert version with the complete score played Carnegie Hall in 1996.

What I Don't Like: There's a reason this disappeared for fifty years. The political satire was amusing then, but largely hasn't dated well. I wish it was even more of a musical. There were more songs on Broadway that are only used as underscoring in the film. They could have gone a long way towards fleshing out other characters, like the corrupt senators and Beatrice. Zorina had at least one more ballet that gave her more opportunity to show off her real talents, too. She never was much of an actress. Berlin's songs are far from  his best, with only "Lovely Day Tomorrow" coming anywhere near his more famous work. 

The Big Finale: Mainly for major fans of Hope, Berlin, or big Technicolor 40's and 50's musicals. 

Home Media: DVD only as part of the Universal Vault Series.

DVD

Family Fun Saturday - Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile (2022)

Sony/Columbia, 2022

Starring Shawn Mendes, Javier Bardem, Winslow Fegley, and Constance Wu

Directed by Will Speck and Josh Gordon

Music and Lyrics by various

The children's books The House on East 88th Street and Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile date back to the early 60's. The tales of the Primm family, who discover a friendly singing crocodile living in their bathtub and takes him in, has entertained generations from New York and beyond. It was originally made into an animated musical special for HBO in 1987. There was talk about it moving into feature-length animation or a live-action/animated hybrid for years, but nothing came of it until it was announced in 2021. It finally debuted last October and did well with families looking for an alternative to gruesome horror and dour dramas. How well did they do bringing Lyle's story to life? Let's begin with magician Hector Valenti (Bardem), who is desperate to get onto a talent show, and find out...

The Story: Hector finds a baby crocodile singing in the back of an exotic pet shop in Manhattan. He dubs him Lyle (Mendes) and teaches him everything he knows about the stage. Lyle,  however, has stage fright and won't perform in front of an audience, even after Hector puts their New York brownstone up for collateral to rent a theater. That disaster causes Hector to lose their home. He ends up abandoning Lyle in order to find jobs and earn money to buy the house back.

The house is eventually sold to the Primm family, Katie (Wu), Joseph (Scoot McNairy), and their son Josh (Fegley). Josh is terrified about everything in New York City, from the subways to the city noises, until he discovers the now-grown Lyle in the bathtub. They eventually strike up a friendship after Lyle rescues Josh from a mugger, showing him how much fun the city and expressing yourself can be. He even manages to charm Katie and Joseph. 

One person is not charmed by Lyle. Priggish Alistair Grumps (Brett Gelman) wants nothing more than peace, quiet, and everyone obeying his rules. He sets up cameras to catch Lyle in the act, but can't prove anything...until Hector returns to see his singing pet. Hector still has big dreams of making Lyle into a singing star, but he also has big debts. Grumps finally convinces him to tattle on his pet and send him to the zoo. Not only does Hector regret it when he sees how upset the Primms are, but he still believes Lyle has what it takes to be a real star...if he can overcome his stage fright and share his talents with the world.

The Song and Dance: In many ways, this has a lot in common with the Paddington movies from a few years ago. A wild animal lives with a family in a major city and has to deal with a grumpy neighbor who wants to get rid of them. This one may be even more fun, thanks to the nifty animation on Lyle and some splendid performances. Bardem walks off with the honors as the shady magician who loves his scaly friend, but loves money and the stage more. Fegley also does well showing how Josh goes from terrified of everything around him to confident enough to help Lyle onstage. Attractive location shooting in the real New York helps ground the stranger aspects of the story in reality.

Favorite Number: Our first number is "Take a Look at Us Now," as Hector teaches Lyle the ins and outs of stage training, from dancing to making an entrance. "I Like It Like That" is the number the kids are performing at school when Josh accidentally gets in their way. Lyle shows Josh how much fun it can be to live on "Top of the World" when they dance and climb around on the roof of a Broadway theater. Likewise, he teaches cookbook author Katie to "Rip Up the Recipe" and improvise with her life and her baked goods. 

Hector makes a second stab at "Take a Look at Us Now" with a now-reluctant Lyle in tow, but it doesn't work out any better than the first. Lyle laments that they got "Carried Away" after he ends up in the zoo. Josh attempts "Take a Look at Us Now" at the talent show, but he's terrible. It's his brave performance that finally convinces Lyle to take the spotlight. The movie ends with the family singing along with Elton John to the inevitable "Crocodile Rock" as they head off to vacation. We get one last song from Lyle, "Heartbeat," over the real illustrations from the books in the credits.

What I Don't Like: This is another recent family movie that runs longer than it really needs to. Once again, some unnecessary gags with Lyle and the family and obnoxious Grumps and his cameras bogs down the middle section. While the first half is a pretty good adaptation of the books, the ending is totally different. In the original Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile, Lyle ends up befriending Grumps and his cat Loretta when he rescues them from their burning house. That might have been just as interesting as the sudden finale with the talent show, and make a lot more sense than what Hector reveals at the trial against Lyle.

The Big Finale: Charming and fun, if you and your family loved other recent children's book adaptations like the Paddington movies, you'll equally enjoy this trip to the Big Apple with Lyle and the Primms. 

Home Media: Easily found on disc and on streaming. 

DVD

Blu-Ray

4K

Amazon Prime

Celebrating the Day of the Dead - Coco

Disney/Pixar, 2017

Voices of Anthony Gonzalez, Gael Garcia Bernal, Alanna Ubach, and Benjamin Bratt

Directed by Lee Unkrich

Music and Lyrics by various

Disney and Pixar had apparently been planning this one since 2010, when it was going to be about an American boy who learns about his Mexican heritage. Research on the actual Mexico and its culture convinced the director to switch to it being about a Mexican child. Dia de los Muertos, aka The Day of the Dead, so impressed the animators with the holiday's vibrant colors against the macabre skeletons that they decided to make the story revolve around it. They worked hard to get the culture right, including hiring a mostly-Hispanic cast and bringing in Mexican songwriters to craft the score. Did they do well depicting Mexico and its people and heritage, or should this be allowed to fade away? Let's begin with the story of how Miguel's (Gonzalez) family traded music for shoe making and find out...

The Story: Miguel wants nothing more than to play music, like his late hero Ernesto de la Cruz (Bratt), but his family doesn't trust musicians after his great-great-grandmother Imelda's (Ubach) husband ran out to be a musician and left her alone. Only his great-grandmother Coco (Ana Ofelia Murguia) understands his passion. He accidentally breaks a photo of Coco and Imelda on the family's Day of the Dead ofenda (shrine with offerings) and discovers there's another section to it...a section with a man who holds a guitar that resembles Ernesto's. 

Miguel tells his family he wants to be a musician, but that ends with his grandmother (Renee Victor) destroying his guitar. He goes to take Ernesto's from his tomb, so he can join a contest. The second he does, he becomes invisible to the living. The dead, however, can see him just fine, including his late ancestors. Unfortunately, stealing the guitar put a curse on him. He needs a blessing from his family, or he'll die. Imelda won't do it unless he abandons music, and he won't stop the thing he loves most. An itinerant skeleton named Hector (Bernal) offers to bring him to Ernesto, if he can put his picture on an ofrenda so he won't be forgotten. 

Ernesto, however, is not what he seems...and he'll do anything to make sure he's the one who stays in the limelight and continues to be the one everyone remembers. Miguel, however, realizes that while music is important to him, so is family...and there's one person in the family who really remembers her father's song...

The Animation: Gorgeous, some of Pixar's best to date. The vivacious purples, oranges, and neon shades of the Land of the Dead are contrasted with the strictly flat and realistically dusty Land of the Living. So many images linger with you, from how perfectly every brilliant-shaded hair on the fur of the spirit guides move to the rickety wooden buildings, skeletal themselves, that move ever upwards. That first shot of Miguel going over the golden-orange marigold bridge to the Land of the Dead is absolutely breathtaking. 

The Song and Dance: Touching and beautiful depiction of Mexican culture and one of their most important holidays isn't afraid to ask big questions about life, death, and how one can follow their dreams without abandoning those who love them. Gonzalez, Bratt, and especially Bernal give pitch-perfect performances as the kid who badly wants to play music, the musician who believes in his legacy and image above all else, and the goofy guy who just wants someone, anyone, to remember him. I'm also fond of Miguel's ancestors, some of whom are pretty darn funny. There's a lovely score by Michael Gianncino and some terrific music; "Remember Me," the movie's main ballad, won an Oscar. The movie is so accurate to Mexican culture, actual Mexicans wound up adoring it. 

Favorite Number: Our first full number isn't until nearly ten minutes in, but it's "Remember Me." Ernesto performs it on a huge revolving stage, surrounded by dancers in flashy outfits. It's so huge, it seems fitting that it ends with no less than Ernesto's death. Ernesto's other big number is "Much Needed Advice," which he sings to a lovely senorita on Miguel's screen. Hector explains to Manuel how "Everyone Knows Juanita" in the Land of the Dead. "Un Poco Loco" is Miguel and Hector's number at the big talent show in the Land of the Dead. They really get into it, dancing up a storm...until Miguel's family arrives. They perform "The World Es Mi Familia" when trapped together. Imelda inadvertently ends up performing the traditional ballad "La Llorona" onstage after she's accidentally lifted up there while getting Hector's photo back. Miguel's solo for his family in the finale is "Proud Corazon." 

"Remember Me" is heard three more times. Hector performs it early in the film to the young Coco before he leaves. Later on, Miguel plays it for the elderly Coco to remind her of how much she loved her father. We also hear it over the credits, performed by singers Miguel and Natalia Lafourcade. 

Trivia: This movie got Mexican culture so right, it remains one of the top-grossing animated films of all time in Mexico. 

Won Oscars in 2018 for Best Animated Film and Best Song. 

What I Don't Like: It does run a little long. The middle sags a bit as we get a series of gags involving Hector, Miguel, and the people of the Land of the Dead who are almost forgotten and not put on ofrendas. It's not a deal breaker, but this is one of Pixar's longer movies. 

The Big Finale: Makes me wish Pixar took a stab at the musical genre more often. A must-see for lovers of Pixar, great animation, or anyone who wants to learn about Mexican culture and the Day of the Dead or teach their older elementary-school-age children and pre-teens about them. 

Home Media: As a relatively new and very popular title, this is easily found in all formats. Disney Plus has it with a subscription. 

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