Newsies Reviews

An extremely odd and bizarre musical that still doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. Why Christian Bale was in this is beyond me.

really the last good musical before a huge death period for musicals in hollywood. great dancing and fun.

Believe it or not, I'm actually a fan of modern movie musicals. But I had never seen this one, and only finally caved out of sheer curiosity to see Christian Bale sing and dance. Boy am I glad I did.

Watching Bale was every bit as hilarious as I expected it to be. No wonder he's a bit embarrassed by this (in his defense, he signed on before it was changed to a musical, and was none too happy about it). Though he doesn't need to be. Even in something this silly, his acting talent really showed. The movie itself? Wasn't horrible, but probably isn't anything I'll ever watch again either. (and hey, I recognized at least 3 kids that went on to be on Hull High!)

I really enjoyed it.

A good musical. It's a good movie and I didn't think there was anything wrong with it.

Cheesy feel good movie, but I love it. love the dance and music and story.

Read all about it! Read all about it! "Disney" is unbearably cheesy! World in shock! Man, the only thing more annoying than sarcasm is "Disney". Now, that's doesn't mean that this film is bad, but it is certainly damaged by its being so blasted "Disney". It's bad enough that this is cheesy, but it's cheesy in a way that we've seen before.

The storyline is both concieved and told in a way that hardly drifts from the traditional "Disney" film. Okay, so the tone is different by a little bit. Of course, that's another flaw, as the tone is just different enough for the cheesy score and forced, overdrawn and musical numbers - which are also too similar to fellow "Disney" films - to not fit. Getting to other flaws, a lot of the acting is really, really bad. Don't worry Christian Bale fans, your man manages to work around that, as we'll discuss later, but most everyone else is embarassing. Really, when you think about it, the film's real problem is that it's just so animated and for it to be in live-action, it makes all of the cartoony themes that work in "Disney's" animated universe, fall flat and not fit.

Outside of being cheesy and overly "Disney", the film is pretty slow and will often fail to hold your interest, but it's not tedious, because there's still plenty to get you back into the film, such as the cinematography and production designs. The designs in this film are excellent, really capturing the period, but still being very dazzling and fun to watch, mostly because it's captured so well by the cinematography. Also, as overdrawn, forced and overly "Disney" as the musical numbers are, that doesn't mean that they're not very entertaining, being well-choregraphed, fairly well-sung and overall very well-directed. Of course, with the guy who was behind the moves in "Dirty Dancing" directing, what can you expect? I mean, it's a bit embarassing to see the great Christian Bale having singing and dance solos, but it's still pretty fun, regardless. Come to think of it, Batman might not be the best thing to evoke, because not matter how cheesy as this film is, it's almost infinitely less cheesy than any line in "Batman Begins". Speaking of Christian Bale, he also keeps the film going, not just because he can sure bust a move, but because he's still got that charm and charisma to carry the film and keep it rather interesting, because his character, generic though, he may be, is so interesting.

In the end, in spite of its slowness and being too "Disney", "Newsies", carried by its excellent production value, fun musical sequences and charismatic lead performance by Christian Bale, remains a dazzling-looking and rather charming little number.

Ugh. Something about this movie always bugged me. Maybe it was just too campy.

I thought this was a good musical. The songs were good and unforced. Upside Christian Bale! Downside you have to hear Bill Pullman sing...

Screw the critics, this movie is fantastic! I've seen it countless times and will never get tired of it. The music is fun, the story is great, and the acting is wonderful. There's nothing about this movie that I would change.

A young Christian Bale singing and dancing is always something to see. Though, based on a true story it is more about the music than the story. The songs are actually great and the kids dance their butts off. The movie drags a bit, but as a Disney musical, it's decent.

Grade: B+

try as it might, this movie just doesn't work. it wants so badly to be a blockbuster musical in the vein of Oliver! or Annie, but it isn't. the characters are cliche and uninteresting, the music is pretty forgettable, the choreography is boring and actually feels very forced, and most of all, the tone of the story just isn't musical material. a David-and-Goliath story is one thing, but one about unions? and a violent union at that? a compelling drama in the works, maybe, but certainly not a musical and DEFINITELY not a Disney musical. basically this movie boils down to a lot of sugar-coated mediocrity. hey, at least it's somewhat entertaining.

Seriously bad. I have to admit I'm pretty biased against musicals, but this has to be at the bottom of even that barrel. Hard to believe Christian Bale became the A list star that he is today after starting out like this.

Newsies is a family movie created for all ages. It is the true story of the 1899 Newspaper Strike against Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hurst.

I recommend this movie to ANYONE. It its a great story with a great cast. The characters are quite lovable, and the soundtrack is legendary.

Disney?s solution to the estrogen ridden ?Annie?. Chock full of deliciously musical propaganda. As hokey as a musical should be and unabashedly Disney. Formulaic and predictable but always entertaining.

A musical I actually liked...very rare. The showed us this movie in middle school, but it definitely stuck with me...

this movie is like, my favorite movie ever, i love christian bale!!! the acting and cinamatography was phanomanal

I could barely get through this goofy ass movie. The songs were lame, and I just don't enjoy watching a bunch of dorky boys dancing unnecessarily, even if one of them is Christian Bale.

This movie is absolutely ADDICTING! The actors do such a fabulous job and you will be singing the songs by the end of the movie and wanting to go buy the soundtrack! Gotta love a young Christian Bale! :)

This is a great movie that very few people have seen. It was a critical disaster, but I think time has been kind to the film. The acting is mediocre at best, but the music is great and it overrides anything else in my opinion.