Awesome meanders its way to nearly Awful. That 10-15 minute opening is wonderful! The brisk pace in both editing and music tempo, the fun lyrics, sense of humor, and intertwining of melodies sung from several performers - it's one of the best film set-ups of the year. But, as each of these characters proceeds to act in such selfish ways, there becomes fewer and fewer personalities to route for. And eventually, even the ones we like squander our affection like so many magic beans. In the end, there's no one to love. That said, the baker has a sweet moment of personal growth - albeit a bit cliché, but still very welcomed as the picture lacks any other. Sadly, even that hint of redemption is truncated when the tease of forgiveness is chopped down without further contemplation.

Without that anchor of connection with any one character, and without a clear theme, despite an opening that set up a host of magical possibilities, and despite some powerful performances and beautiful cinematography, the picture eventually falls down, breaks its crown, and the connection with the audience comes tumbling after.

Btw, this is an adaptation of a stage play that I did not see, but may just possibly be required to fill in any of the missing pieces. Also, I greatly appreciated the humor of the "Agony" tune -- that segment cajoled hearty laughter (in a good way). I'm betting the stage play does a better job of distributing this sort of ironic humor throughout -- where, here in the film, I'm thinking it probably simply got lost in adaptation.

-- Books by Author/Illustrator Ross Anthony --