Screenwriting cousins Jeff and Gregg Sherman team up to craft this documentary exploring the darker side of the relationship shared between their famous fathers, Robert and Richard. Back in the 1960s, Robert and Richard Sherman rose to fame penning upbeat songs for such classic children's films as Mary Poppins and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. But the pair's catchy, optimistic ditties masked a contentious brotherly bond -- which ultimately grew so sour that their sons Jeff and Gregg weren't aware of
one another despite the fact that they only lived a few blocks apart. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
The film holds their Disney songs in such high esteem, and discusses them with such little context, that The Boys sometimes feels as though it is set in Disneyland, not the real world.
It's a solid chapter in the history of American popular song, an examination of Walt Disney's final career triumphs, a glimpse at both the daily grind and the eureka moments of songwriting, and a story of family dynamics all rolled into one.
The story of the men who wrote them in the golden age of Walt Disney Studios' movie musicals, brothers Robert and Richard Sherman, is one of the most fascinating chronicles of creative partnership never told.
Well-paced and full of anecdotal information, clips from the brothers' movies, and interviews with people who worked with them . . . . It's rich with history, and not just personal history.
The documentary covers 80 years of their lives, from a happy childhood right through to the present day, covering their personal and professional lives and offering a glimpse of their particular creative process.
A lively, engrossing, fascinating and well-edited documentary. It finds just the right balance between entertaining the audience and provoking them intellectually as well as emotionally.
Directors Gregory and Jeffrey Sherman, sons of the composers, have set themselves such a furious pace in parsing the full chronology that we only skim the surface of the Poppins near-disaster.
Although it doesn't quite uncover the dark underbelly of the sunniest songwrites in film history, this swell documentary about the Sherman brothers is full of great I-can't-believe-they-wrote-THAT-too moments and a fairly compelling narrative of the strange, strained relationship the two brothers had (have) behind the
surface of Disney smiles. Chim-Chim-Cher-Whee!
Superficial and didactic. The story of the brothers who wrote many of Disney's most famous songs (Mary Poppins, Jungle Book, It's A Small World, their filmography is extensive, etc.). This movie should have been less than an hour. The brothers had conflicting personalities and despite working together for 40 years
and professionally giving the impression that they were inseparable, they were never were close, and their families stayed divided for 40+yrs (even separate receptions after their father's (their kids' grandpa's) death). But that part isn't really touched upon or drawn out. Instead, you get to hear about 30 minutes worth of Mary Poppins behind-the-scenes, as well as detail about their collaborative process at Disney in the 50's-80's. Two other Sherman boys, one from each Sherman brother and who hadn't seen each other in 30+yrs, put together the documentary. It's evident in the filmmaking because the kids don't want to push their dads too far or challenge them in a way that would serve the film better; they stay respectful, reverent even, and the film suffers.
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