Newsies (1992)
You ever have someone tell you that you have heard a song before or seen a movie before that you can't remember? For quite some time, my brother was adamant that I had seen this one movie at least once when we were kids. I'm not saying it's not possible, I mean, I can't remember every little movie, show or song I heard of watched in my younger years. Still, the more he said it, with my mother agreeing, the more I disagreed, but, in the same vein, the more I was curious as to what this movie was that I had apparently seen.
Then came ThatGuyWithTheGlasses, and specifically, The Nostalgia Chick.
I have made it no secret that I'm a big fan of Channel Awesome, and although my first introduction to ThatGuyWithTheGlasses was through the titular guy and his Nostalgia Critic persona, I must admit I watched more of The Nostalgia Chick's videos in the first month then even the Critics. Maybe it was her cynical nature that spoke to me- I'm a cynic and come from a long line of them- but the reason doesn't matter, I just liked her videos, and still do, especially now that the Chick, a.k.a Lindsay Ellis, has included her friends Nella and Elisa more and more in her videos (what can I say- I love those two, and anyone who dislikes them can suck my left nut).
I mention those two as they played an important role in the Chick's first storyline- The Dark Nella saga, which, while entertaining, I will say did drag on at times. Said saga concluded with a review of a movie that would banish the evil that was controlling Nella through the power of the fangirl squee (I am not making any of this up)- that movie was the very same film I had been told on many occasions I had seen.
Disney's 1992 musical flop, Newsies.
The review was entertaining and ended the saga on a fitting note, but served more as part of the story then a stand alone review, so I still only had a little bit of knowledge about the film. However, that knowledge was enough for me to find a copy to watch to both see if anything rang a bell and to see if the film deserved the criticism I discovered was thrown at it. Let's find out if either happened this is Newsies.
Plot
The year is 1899, the place is New York, and the film is a fictionalized account of the strike enacted by the newspaper boys or Newsies. I say fictionalized as while the strike did occur, this being a Disney movie, the ending is a whole lot more upbeat then what actually occurred, but I digress. We are introduced early on to Jack 'Cowboy' Kelly, played by a young Christian Bale, a charismatic Newsie who many of the others look up to. Jack dreams of getting out of New York and travelling to Santa Fe, New Mexico, and hopes to make enough money as a Newsie to do so. One morning he meets David Jacobs, played by David Moscow, and his little brother Les, newcomers to the Newsie life, and Jack takes David under his wing, using the precocious Les to sell more papers. After escaping from a mysterious man who has his eyes on Jack, David and Les bring him home to meet the rest of their family, including sister Sarah, played by Ele Keats, who takes a shine to Jack. David reveals to Jack that he had to leave school and become a Newsie because his father was injured at work, and without a union to protect him, was fired. At the same time, newspaper owner Joseph Pulitzer, played by Robert Duvall, decides to increase profits by raising the price of newspapers for purchase by the Newsies by ten cents, and fellow papers owners follow suit. Fearing they will be unable to bear the added cost, and inspired both by the recent headlines detailing the Trolley worker strike and David's talk of Unions, Jack rallies his fellow Newsies into a union, with Jack as the leader and David as the brains. The youths are aided by newspaper reporter Bryan Denton, played by Bill Pullman, who sympathizes with the kids and their plight and acts as their voice in the news, bringing the problem to the paper reading public. Pulitzer is no pleased with this and through means both legal and illegal, tries to break the union and end the strike. Along the way there are some catchy musical numbers and the usual trouble one could expect an up and coming union to face, but in traditional Disney fashion, everything turns out alright in the end.
Thoughts
First off, as stated, the film is far from historically accurate, but then again, this is Disney we are talking about- they have never been known for sticking to the source material too much, especially when said material is based in reality- see Pocahontas. That said, it is not a bad movie by any stretch of the imagination- the main characters are likeable and sympathetic, the villains are very much cardboard cut outs but again this is early 90s Disney and compelling villains weren't a big thing yet, and the songs are for the most part decent and catchy, especially Seize the Day, which is certainly the film's stand out song and will also never leave your head.
I'm not quite sure why the film was so critically derided when it was released, nor why it became a flop. Possibly the time was wrong- the live action movie musical wouldn't return to the forefront of cinema for almost a decade, and Disney itself was just getting back on it's feet with the films of the Disney Renaissance.
As I was four years old at the time of the film's release I can't say what it's marketing was like, and the only people I know that saw it at the time were my aforementioned brother and mother who said good things about it (of course my brother was only three years older then me so the point remains). Personally I think it was a matter of right film wrong time, because watching it now, it's a pretty good movie. Not perfect of course, Christian Bale, as great as he is as Batman, can't sing or dance too well and as the lead in a movie musical, those two things tend to be important. Likewise, as stated above and in the Nostalgia Chick's review, the villains, specifically Duvall's Pulitzer, is very over the top and cartoony- expected in a Disney animated film but somewhat out of place in a live action setting- I don't know if the script is at fault or Duvall just decided to overact at times, but it is distracting. Another element that doesn't play out as well as it likely would in an animated film of the time is the shoved in love interest- Sarah does not appear too much in the film and while we know she and Jack like each other, their interactions are minimal and thus their relationship is barely developed. Yes Disney love stories are not known for their realism, but at least the couples usually have a good amount of screen time together. Another issue is there are so many Newsies that they only get the bare minimum of characterization or development- hell, and I am stealing from The Chick's review here, there is one called Crutchy, and the extent of his character is right there- he is a cripple that walks with a crutch. That's about it, and he is one of the more development and seen Newsies outside of the leads.
However outside all that, the film isn't bad. It's fun to watch, doesn't drag too much, and the songs, while not always sung by the best vocalists around, are decent and catchy. The plot may be cliched at times and historically inaccurate, but again, Disney. Knowing the Mouse House as I do and the tropes they tend to fall back on, I was not surprised and thus could enjoy the film as it was- you get what you expect folks, and where the Mouse is concerned, keep your expectations moderate.
Conclusion
After watching Newsies, I can definitely say two things- first, I do not possess even the slightest memory of viewing this film before, regardless of what my family says, but that's not necessarily a bad thing- it means I wasn't going in with any nostalgic memories and could thus judge it as one does on the first viewing. Secondly, and as touched upon in the previous section, I don't quire understand the film's initial critical beating or why it flopped. However, I can understand why it has developed a cult following in the years since it's initial release, because as I said- it's pretty fun. Is it perfect, hell no. Is it entertaining, hell yes. Did it have the power to bring back one of my favorite internet personalities from the clutches of an Quasi-demonic intergalactic force of evil? Yes, and again, totally not making that up. If you haven't seen the movie or even heard of it, give it a watch. If you have heard of it but never seen it, give it a try, you may be pleasantly surprised. Oh, and also check out The Nostalgia Chick's work- if for no other reason then to understand what the hell I'm talking about.
3.5 Singing Christian Bale's out of 5
That's all out of me, until next time, I'm The Drew and I Be Awesome.
Check out The Nostalgia Chick's review here http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/team-nchick/nostalgia-chick/30920-newsies Along with the rest of her videos, and those of the other producers on ThatGuyWithTheGlasses.
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