But the soundtrack to an Adam Shankman-directed adaptation of the Broadway musical adapted from the 1988 film, is definitely a musical soundtrack. The opening song Good Morning Baltimore is a showtune through and through, with the big (blonde?) and beautiful voice of Nikki Blonsky leaving no room for argument.
The incompatibility of John Waters s irreverence and Broadway s shine are ever apparent. Yet, against the odds, these songs, the quirky lyrics and the quirkier performances, are defiantly great. The shear joy aroused by Christopher Walken and John Travlota (Mr.
and Mrs. Turnblad, respectively) singing Timeless is enough to get me in the theater. Throw in Michelle Pfieffer s devilish number Miss Baltimore Crabs where she sings about her days as the femme fatale of the teen dance scene, and you have what may be the best movie musical soundtrack since Oh, and did I mention Queen Latifah is at the top of her game as Motormouth Maybelle?
Fans of the Broadway musical (which I never saw) may be disappointed by the new songs Ladies Choice with Zac Efron and The New Girl in Town with Brittany Snow. They aren t nearly as fun as the original Broadway songs. In fact, the song Cooties written for Snow s character Amber, is performed by someone else on the soundtrack and doesn t appear in the feature film.
The replacement songs also target the PG-audience with their lighter tone. Thankfully, those songs don t last long and will likely show up in the film with choreographer/director Shankman s dances making up for the less interesting music.
News RSS