Greenes Please don't spend money on this.

Huievest Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

Aneesa Wardle The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

bgandrl-904-261616 I'm amazed by the negs on this review space. I suggest all those haters read Michener's book. I was stunned when I heard there was a "musical" based on it, and not at all surprised how poorly it came across, from Broadway through all the movies UNTIL this one.The story is badly neglected in most productions, and the War is barely noticed.This is the best version I know of, great production values, proper respect for the story, EXCELLENT CASTING with believable people in all the roles. Mitzi Gaynor? You have got to be kidding! I own a copy of this DVD, but expected to be just as disappointed with it as other versions. Now that I have seen it, it is a keeper, and I think it's time to read "Tales of the South Pacific" again. Later on I will savor this excellent movie again.

TheLittleSongbird The remake of Bye Bye Birdie was lacking in energy, too TV-movie-like, not sharp enough and had only two good performances(proof that being more faithful doesn't automatically make it good), while the animated version of The King and I suffered from useless additional characters and some bizarrely staged musical numbers(Whistle a Happy Tune and It's a Puzzlement being the worst cases). But even they were not as bad as this 2001 version of South Pacific. The 1958 version was a long way from perfect- overlong, had a wooden Rossano Brazzi and distracting colour filtering- and was the weakest of the 1950s-1960s big screen Rodgers and Hammerstein adaptations, it did have Giorgio Tozzi's singing for Emile, nice settings, Juanita Hall, some energetic choreography, Mitzi Gaynor and Ray Walston so there was some entertainment value to be had.With this version, the only redeeming qualities were the beautiful settings(the one and only improvement over the 1958 film) and the magnificent music. The performances just don't work. Glenn Close is a great actress, but here her performance is charmless and her voice too sweet. She is also too old and the camera work is unforgiving. Rade Serbedziga is not quite as wooden as Brazzi in the 1958 film but he never ignites fire, a little lacking in passion. His singing is rather light-weight too, not a bad sound but not noble and rich enough, Some Enchanted Evening doesn't have the sensitive impact. Robert Pastorelli tries his best but considering how diluted the comedy is it does seem that he's trying too hard. Harry Connick Jnr is not a bad singer, one of the better singers in the cast actually, but his voice is not right for Cable, too croony and baritonal, Younger than Springtime sounds strained. And Lori Tan Chinn's Bloody Mary is a disaster, think of a scarier version of Rosanne Barr(a comparison already made) and you have Bloody Mary here, it was just weird.On top of the poor performances and generally just as bad singing, there is very little energetic or entertaining here. The settings are beautiful and this version is better shot than the 1958 film but not much visually comes to life, kind of like do the job but with no heart. As good as the songs are, the richness of the orchestration is missing, not badly played but the warmth and beauty just doesn't come out. The comedy is badly diluted, the cuts of Happy Talk and Billis' classic Brackett office scene are part of the reason but in general the tone of the film is too serious, which deprives the film of life and energy. The pace has too many moments where it feels lethargic and the choreography should have been much more lively and enthusiastic. The direction is pretty much the same as the visuals, gets the job done fairly competently but with none of the heart and charm you expect.All in all, hugely disappointing and a mess. As well as being a contender for being the most disappointing musical remake ever it's also a contender for the worst. 1/10 for the sets and music only. Bethany Cox

BadWebDiver I think this version of the classic stage musical works very well. It manages to capture the drama and a lot of the comedy of the original stage play, as well as fleshing out the locations and presenting the character drama very well.I especially like the way that the musical numbers are presented "dramatically"; not just glorified pop songs that are tacked on to the storyline as in a lot of contemporary musical films (like EVERYONE SAYS I LOVE YOU and even MOULIN ROUGE). It helps that the songs are purposely written for the story. The lyrics are delivered like dialogue that has been set to music, and I can tell the actors have been told to play their characters even through the song numbers.It's the main reason I think Glenn Close actually works as the lead female role here - even if she may be technically a bit old for the young love-lorn romantic; she certainly has the personality, and presents her role with enthusiasm; which goes along way in musical presentations.And Robert Pastorelli as the mischievous Luther is also very well-cast and has the right "feel" for the role; even if he isn't the sort you would normally associate with a classic musical role.As as an Aussie I have to congratulate Jack Thompson for playing the role of the Commander, who I think is one of the most underrated non-singing comic support roles in a musical. He puts a lot of personality in the role, and his balance or enthusiasm and dramatic gravitas was very well presented.Harry Connick Jnr is still one of my favourite modern singers, and he handled the military aspects and the romantic ballads very professionally. His personality seems somewhat subdued in this production; though I personally attribute that to the rather bland character that I think Cable is. I haven't seen any performance of this character I would regard as memorable.Overall a very high standard production that plays the story very well - and really kicks the stuffing out of the earlier film version, quite frankly.

FrSallyBowles Heresy. Unmitigated desecration of that which warrants more respect.Blessed Mary Martin, pray for us.Aside from quibbles arising from being local and recognising the locations this abomination has two central problems.1- Harry Connick Jnr. The man is about as charismatic as celery juice. Cable is not a role for his semi comatose croon. The way that he slaughters 'You Have to be Carefully Taught' is a good case for capital punishment. and2- That it is, as billed, very much a film of the Michener stories. R&H's SP picks up from the stories but the presence of the real war is all but totally removed. In the original libretto the only intrusion of the war into the world on stage is the sound of gunners overhead. My understanding is that this is a very conscious device to increase the drama of LaBeque's 'death' and reappearance, and to lend dramatic urgency to the evacuation. I suspect R&H meant that it should parallel American life during the war, there are disruptions but they are {unless you live in Pearl Harbor} in the outside world and largely filtered back as tales of exotic adventure.Glenn Close is a fine singer and actor but for Nellee she is simply too old. I can't find a case to age the character so dramatically other than adherence to the Michener stories or... Glenn's ego. Her age messes up the dramatic dynamics and various sexual tensions that serve to deliver the 'message'.Close's voice sounds unusually reedy here. Bad audio production or she's singing above her comfort zone.Some of Australia's finest musical theatre performers are confined to one line roles. A great pity, Simon Burke would have made a much better Cable. Angela Toohey did a superb turn as Sally Bowles recently.I don't think South Pacific will ever work on film- it's too finely balanced between beauty and horror for literal visual interpretation.Shelve this one with Bette Midler's assault on Gypsy- ideally in a lead box, locked and kept safely from children.