Review of The Sound of Music (1965) by Matthew H — 14 Apr 2014

Said to be one of the most unforgettable musical splendours in cinematic history, The Sound of Music was a film I couldn't miss.

Musicals are not my ideal kind of film but anything with Julie Andrews singing like Mary Poppins or Thoroughly Modern Millie is not a film I can miss out on, particularly one that won so many Academy Awards including the prestigious Best Picture award. Looking at it now, I really wonder why.

The Sound of Music feels a lot similar to Mary Poppins as it depicts a female character played by Julie Andrews sent to help out children through the magic of music. It felt rather familiar and felt like it didn't really break new ground, and the story was really not that satisfying for me. I found it to be thin and somewhat dull, putting all of its faith into visual elements and musical numbers.

Its story is overloaded with cheesy storytelling and corny dialogue, so the film is essentially a Dorito because it is essentially too corny and cheesy for my tastes. I mean I've seen a lot of cheesy movies before but never one as cheesy as The Sound of Music. There is really no dramatic impact in the film because it is so light hearted that it floated over my head, featuring a predictable plot which is way too optimistic about everything.

The Sound of Music is the greatest example of a cliche ridden musical film ever, and I don?t consider that a good thing. Admittedly, musicals aren't the best films at pleasing me when the characters are singing every five minutes, but if the songs are catchy and the story is interesting I am likely to enjoy it. With The Sound of Music, I found that this was not the case.

The Sound of Music is a film which has appeared to most of the world, but it didn't get me. I didn't find its songs catchy of very original, and its story was way too thin for my liking. I didn't have anything to take away from the story and didn't find it compelling since it is easy to predict everything that is happening and when it will happen, so there is no point waiting around for it to happen. Especially when viewers are going to find themselves waiting around for the excessively long running time of 174 minutes. I cannot eat cheese for 174 minutes straight so I certainly cannot watch it for that long. By the end of the second hour I was so bored and unsurprised that I turned The Sound of Music Off. I rarely ever do that because I like to stay to the end of films even if I don?t like them, but the end of a 174 minute film which created the formula for cheesy musicals and follows an excessively predictable formula is not one that I can handle. It wasn't one that Julie Andrews could save which is a shame because her performance was the highlight of the film. It seems that few people will agree with me about The Sound of Music, but people picky in watching romantic comedies and musical films will find that The Sound of Music is not their kind of film. It wasn't mine, and it is one of the least interesting musicals I have ever seen. It probably wouldn't have been if not for its bloated length, but that is not the case. The Sound of Music did not give me any greater appreciation for the effect of movies or the energy of musical cinema, it actually made me more reluctant to partake in exploring it out of fear I could encounter a film like this again. I?d say that The Sound of Music is one of the worst films to ever win the Academy Award for Best Picture, tying close with The English Patient Going My Way which all come second to Slumdog Millionaire. A lot of people will feel the thrill of the classical joy in The Sound of Music and find the energy in the music infectious, but I did not pick up on this and was weighed down by an excess of Doritoes and cliches.

Frankly, it is clear that The Sound of Music was a lot more impressive in its time, but musical films are not that common these days and cliche ones are looked down upon. Back in the day this may have set the formula for countless musical movies that came after it, but it doesn't restrain me for looking at it for what I saw it as truly being: a generic big budget musical with too much singing but not enough storytelling or originality to it. The story of Maria Von Trapp is not the most interesting one, and no amount of flashy scenery and high pitched musical numbers will ever prevent me from seeing that.

The appealing qualities in The Sound of Music were the lush scenery which was captured by some really nice cinematography, particularly the iconic intro tracking shots. And the musical score was decent even though the songs didn't appeal to me. The artistic direction of the film and costumes were also good.

Though I didn't feel the charm of The Sound of Music, I certainly felt the charm of Julie Andrews's excellent performance as Maria Von Trapp. Bringing along her beautiful singing voice and her undeniable friendly charm, Julie Andrews does manage to make this cliche ridden musical able to benefit from her performance since you can see that she is having fun making the film. I was able to come close to finding some enjoyment in the lightheartedness of The Sound of Music due to the charm of Julie Andrews? lead performance.

And Christopher Plummer gave a fairly good performance as well, sharing a strong chemistry with Julie Andrews.

But despite its visual appeal and the presence of Julie Andrews, I found The Sound of Music to be an excessively long and slow musical with minimal appeal and was overpacked with so many cliches and more corn and cheese than a bag of Doritoes.