Trash,drivel, idiotic insult to ABBA and the movie industry.

Badly written, badly cast, badly sung, teriffically advertised, terrifically merchandised absolute pile of RUBBISH. How this is the number one selling British DVD of all time I will never understand. We're getting a bad name around the world for buying into this tripe. Thank the lord I didn't pay to watch it, it was given to my mother for her Birthday which we watched at Christmas. GIVE ME THOSE 108 MINUTES BACK!

One could sympathise if it was a school show but it is nothing more than a Love Actually on Holiday with badly re-sung ABBA hits. Just because ABBA is good, doesn't mean this rubbish film is or ever will be. Through-out the film, I was reminded how good ABBA was in comparison. ABBA's songs are very well written but I felt that the film fails to understand the power of these songs. ABBA songs are melodramatic, they can express great joy or great pain. The story really couldn't carry this off in any capacity. Tedious and trite, full of plotholes and boring. It has no drama, it exists only to make middle-aged wannabe's feel better about having no taste and serves to give those High School Musical pillocks another saccarine injection.

The bug-eyed elfin twit lead character is so unlikeable it makes my face explode. Her vacant idiot spamfaced husband-to-be might as well not exist, he has no screen presence. The friends of both daughter and mother are so undeveloped and unlikeable it's a wonder why they're there! You could have replaced them with dummies attached to a pole being shunted about the resort and no one would have noticed the difference. The 3 men in question are so smug and creepy that it's no wonder the bug-eyed platefaced cretin couldn't tell which one was her father, they all evidently share these personality traits in abundance

SHAME ON YOU MERYL STREEP. I expected it of the rest. One quick note to Colin Firth - WHAT ARE YOU DOING MAN?! Vermeer ...and then THIS?! Twonk.

Anyone who gives this 5 stars must be lacking in taste and brain weight.

...

Well I Absolutley HATED high school musical the entire film just irritates me. But i have to admit , the signing in this movie was actually really good and the songs were pretty catchy. The storyline wasnt particually original but it was still worth watching. I'd recommend renting this movie or watchig it on disney channel before you buy it though.

5 stars for the film, only one for the DVD

I'm afraid I have to agree with the earlier reviewer who said there is a fault with the DVD.

I have a 4:3 television and set my DVD player to letterbox. The film does not play in the correct aspect ratio, losing some of the picture at either side. Considering that one of the selling points of the 50th anniversary edition is that you get the entire original picture this is really disappointing. In addition, the picture appears to be somewhat squashed together so that the characters in the film appear far thinner then they should.

Initially I thought it was my DVD player causing the problems but I have no trouble with any of my other disks. After doing some research online at several other DVD review sites it appears that this is a problem experienced by quite a few other people.

I enjoyed the film, it's absolutely fantastic but please do not buy the standard (non Blu-ray) version of the disc until Disney get off their backsides and release a properly authored version. How Disney can make such a huge mistake with a release like this is beyond me, do they even have a quality control department?

I am VERY disappointed.

strictly fans here is your christmas present!

if you are a fan of strictly or of dancing then this is the dvd for you! full of beautiful dances, even if you dont watch the show you will enjoy it!

No sing along option beware!

Very disapointed. Pay twice as much for the blue Ray version and dont get the sing along version as the standard DVD. Let down.......

Mamma Mia! Gift Set [2008]

What can I say about this great film. Mamma Mia! How can you resist it! Fantastic movie. If you've not already seen it, give it a go, it's the best 'feel good' film in a long time. If you've already seen it, then you know what I mean. I received my DVD yesterday and have watched it twice already. Maybe one day I'll get fed up of it, but don't know when!
The film may not be to everyone's taste, but good for most tastes. There's a bit of comedy, romance and sadness, with a good happy ending. Easy to watch too. Lovely setting. The well known stars live up to their reputation by giving a great performance. You don't have to be an Abba fan, but with most Abba tunes, can't help tapping your feet. Overall, a good watchable film.
The gift set was extra special with book and pen, a little souvenir, good for giving as a present.
My seller is recommendable, quick delivery of item, impressive, thank you.

stunning!

Absolutely stunning. The sets, dancers and band are brilliant.
Darcey Bussell?........WOW!
Katherine Jenkins?........WHAT A VOICE!
The whole show is wonderful and probably better on DVD than sitting at the back of the O2 arena.

A Spoon full of pure delight !

This film follows the character of Mary Poppins the nanny who's practically perfect in every way. This timeless classic has magical and unforgettable songs for the whole family to enjoy. And this special 40th anniversary edition has some brilliant extras from a new short story with Julie Andrews, cut songs and a documentary of the making of the film.

I hate high school musical!

Ok i hate high school muscial 1,2 and 3!
But my sister is mad on it so to put a big big smile on her face am going to buy it for her for christmas :-P

So to all the high school musical hatters out they!
Do the right thing and buy it and hide and do not look back!

TOP DRAWER MUSICAL

Grab your pearly duds and adopt a London accent.

What a great film this is, great soundtrack and choreography. You feel a nice warm glow throughout and even the most Bolshy musical hater must be impressed.

Nice One Audrey

Disappointing

As a Sondheim fan I was really looking forward to this movie but it was a real disappointment. His brilliant score was poorly served in the hands of actors who cannot sing. Depp and Bonham-Carter looked bored to tears most of the time. And what happened to the humour? Sunk without trace. The only redeeming feature in the film for me was the villainous Alan Rickman. I guess I'm in a minority on this one but if you enjoyed the theatrical version, then leave the film alone.

One of the Best Musicals of All Time

Simply put, Oliver! is one of the greatest musicals of all time. It is filled with memorable songs -"Food Glorious Food","Oliver!","Consider Yourself" and"Oom-Pah-Pah" to name just a few - and equally memorable characters.

The film is a musical adaptation of Charles Dickens' classic novel and much like the story of Oliver Twist itself, it is a perfect family film. There are some frightening moments - the villain Bill Sykes played by Oliver Reed is scary enough on his own - but overall, the film will appeal to children of all ages as well as adults.

The story - which almost everyone is surely familiar with by now - revolves around a little orphan boy named Oliver and his life growing up in London. At first he lives in the workhouse with the rest of his fellow orphans but after daring to question Mr. Bumble, the overseer, he is sold to a family as a servant.

After a series of mishaps and close shaves, he meets the Artful Dodger - superbly played by a young Jack Wild, who gives his all in the role - and through him, the greedy Fagin (Ron Moody), who trains young boys to pick pocket treasures which he keeps for himself.

The film was shot solely in studios and on soundstages at Shepperton Film Studios but this does not translate at all to film. The sets perfectly replicate Victorian London, as do the costumes worn by the characters. A multi-Oscar winner and a massive success on its release, Oliver! is a worthy contender for the best musical all of time and will delight anyone who loves film.

''Are you a Good Witch or a Bad Witch''

The Wizard Of Oz [1939] I first saw this film with my Grandad on his television when i was a little boy and i still love it (who couldn't love this film). Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger, Jack Haley, Bert Larh, Billie Burke and Margaret Hamilton all perfectly cast. This film is as lovely today as when it was first made and i think this particular DVD release is a wonderful transfere to Disc, such lovely warm sepia and deep colours, it looks like a modern film, beautifully restored. (i wonder what the seven cast members would think of the film they made , not only restored but still loved by so many after all these years). Judy Garland is perfect as Dorothy and Jack Haley comes across so well as the Tin Man longing for a heart ''If I Only Had A Heart'' (Peep Peep)!. No review on 'The Wizard Of Oz' would be complete without a mention of my favourite charecter, The Wicked Witch Of The West played more than perfectly by Margaret Hamilton. She has frightened children for generations in the same way as Robert Helpmann did as the Child Catcher in 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang'. Though Margaret Hamilton is one of the film's main cast members, her appearance apparently on the film is about 15 minutes. Everything is so lovely about this film, the songs and all those wonderful sets, just think the special effects they had in those days, (I think for the time the special effects are superb). This DVD is a must for all friends of Dorothy, or you can't decide if your 'a Good Witch or a Bad Witch'. A good companion to this DVD is the release of the full screen version of 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang', like this 'Wizard of Oz' DVD, 'Chitty Chitty' is an equally wonderful transfere to Disc, with lovely deep colours, beautifully restored and looking like a modern film.

Not the widescreen version

Ignore the"On the DVD" part of the amazon review, as the version on this DVD is what you would see on a regular TV broadcast, i.e. the ends of the original widescreen shape have been cropped off to make the image 1.33:1 proportions. Only the opening credits (the vintage car race scenes) have the original letterboxed widescreen retained. Other than that it is fine, especially at the current bargain price, but if you want to see the images framed the way they were intended by the film's director then look instead for the two-disc anniversary edition instead.

Engage your brain, and you will be rewarded.

Wasn't sure what to expect from this, and I admit to leaving it on the coffee table for weeks before I finally slid it into the machine, but man....... this is easily the best film I've seen this year. Narratively inventive, stylistically diverse, philosophically robust, Todd Haynes has created something that is at the cutting edge of modern biography. Pure class!

You'll never see a better war film

I'm bemused by the tendency to assert that this film is a veiled Vietnam film,"ostensibly" about another war, as this Amazon review puts it. It IS about another war, one that was far more important to the nation where it was written and filmed, and in which the father of writer and director Charles Chilton was killed. Anyway, I watched it as a First World War film, and that is how it has always seemed to me: it comments on all other wars, implicitly, of course.

It's silly to compare or measure this against most other war films, because it is so unlike any other, but it stands out as a dramatic, cinematic, narrative gem. A serious musical about the horrors of war: sounds as likely as a serious musical about living in Nazi Germany. Oh, wait...someone did that too. Cabaret must owe quite a bit to this film, not least in the"tomorrow belongs to me" scene, although they wrote their songs from scratch for Cabaret.

The songs here are real, some the official versions from popular music hall, and some the unofficial versions sung by the troops, with considerably darker lyrics (though they omitted the rudest of the unofficial lyrics). The humour is black and dry as a tomb, and you don't quite know whether to laugh or wince in a lot of places (just do both). But the real beauty of the film is in the settings, which are sparse, only partly realistic, and sometimes subject to extraordinary changes. The most impressive are slow 360 degree pans, during which everything changes behind the camera's back, so that when you get back the character you started with, they are in a completely different situation. These and other rapid scene shifts are part of whole film's unreal, nightmarish quality that matches the subject matter perfectly.

If you haven't seen it, make sure you do. If you saw it long ago and dimly remember it and wonder if it was as good as you remember (or maybe better than you thought), I'd say yes, and you should refresh your acquaintance. This seems an almost absurdly cheap price for it.

Pure escapist elegance

Next time you have a rainy afternoon to spend with a box of chocs and a video, you can't do better than this. If you hanker for a time when everyone was elegant, witty and blessed with a honeyed voice, this is for you. The music is, of course, the main focus; but there's some brilliant acting going on here as well.

Smashing.

Don't watch this film.

I was really looking forward to watching this film having heard such great things about it; to say I was disappointed would be a major understatement.
I thought it was terrifically boring and the singing really did my head in - I knew it was a musical and I like musicals, but god, shut up already!
The only excitement came in the last ten minutes (having sat through almost two hours of crap) and then it ended all of a sudden and I was sat there like"what the hell?" with no clue as to what really happened!

It was god awful, and unless you would like to waste two hours of your life, don't watch this film.

Amazing

I didnt know what to expect from this dvd, as unfortunatley i have never seen the stage show, ive listened to the cd and it blew me away, so i ordered this dvd, all i can say is FANTASTIC its magical with stunning performances from all the cast and singers and the fab backing from the royal philharmonic-i would reccommend it to all LES MIS fans. It is truly awesome!!!!!