Walking on Sunshine

Watchable... Nice settings, photography. Songs was best of overplayed Radio songs of the 80's. However... this film reminded me of a "The Asylum" film studio production of an attempt capitalize on the Video sales of "Momma Mia"! The problem is it is not an Asylum Film's production.

What is missing from this modern nostalgia musical was the 'Major Actors' which the audience could immediate identify with. I felt as if some kids got together and said.. "Ha, we can do that and we don't even have to hire FAMOUS actors"... the attempt failed.

As for why "Momma Mia" works and this musicals fails is, I guess it is easy to forgive "James Bond" or "Karen Silkwood" for not having the any musical ability or voice. It's not so easy to forgive basically "unknowns" actors for destroying the songs we have heard so often. I can not say "Songs we Love"... this may also be a bit of the problem. Though the songs were 'Radio Play' hits... the songs lack the cohesion of being by one "Group" like Abba in MM. A few songs I loved, but some I actually hated having to hear again and even cringed at hearing song so off key.

All is not lost, as stated, it is a watchable movie. Musicals seldom are box office draws. I must really applaud even this attempt which is better than many NEW Musicals.

The familiar story of a British girl going on a holiday in the Mediterranean and getting involved with a local boy. Once the summer's over so is the romance.

Three years later her sister is to marry that boy, so what is she to do?

The story unfolds in the background of beautiful seaside, nice old buildings and of course lots of songs from the 1980's. One needs not read too much into the story as there are few issues, especially with the ease which the main characters use the word 'love' as well as the speed at which they are prepared to marry...or not!

Ultimately, this is nothing more than a summer flick and will provide for a fairly pleasant 90 minutes.

Taylor fell in love with hottie Raf while on holiday in Puglia, Italy but, despite his entreaties to stay, she left to go to university. On graduating three years later, she returns to Puglia to holiday with her sister Maddie who is already there (they had decided on Puglia because it meant to much to Taylor). Maddie, who has a history of relationships with unsatisfactory men, announces that she has had a whirlwind engagement and is about to get married in two days. No surprises for guessing who the lucky fellow is...

So, let me see - a British film with a frothy story involving family relationships, secrets, romance, deceit, love, and squealy young women, in a sunny Mediterranean setting, with the plot advanced by way of the cast bursting into 30-year old pop songs at regular intervals. Walking On Sunshine isn't even a blood relation of Mamma Mia!, but it has definitely sneaked into its wardrobe, nicked its shorts, T-shirt and sandals, and put them on to make you think it is. Which gives two grounds on which to consider it - on its own merits, and by comparison to MM!.

On its own merits, it is amiable enough. The good points are that it is bright, colourful, cheerful and tuneful, and the two sisters (Hannah Arterton - younger sister of Gemma - as Taylor, and Annabel Scholey as Maddie) are both attractive and likable performers. The bad points are that it is completely predictable, the dance routines are pretty obvious (even as a non-dancer I can spot that they are not especially challenging) the cast includes two funny fat people (despite giving good performances, they are included solely for the sake of being funny fat people which, as a not particularly funny fat person, I object to), and the hot Italian blokes are indentikit and interchangeable (I accept that those who are fans of the male sixpack may feel differently).

And, compared with Mamma Mia!, it fares worse, for three main reasons. One, its following of the MM! template is absolutely transparent, from the squealy reunion at the start to the dramatic and heart-rending showstopper towards the end. Two, the selection of 80s hits doesn't have the emotional heft of a soundtrack selected entirely from the Abba catalogue. And third, and most importantly, it doesn't have a cast who bring the commitment and credibility to the froth in the way that Meryl Streep and co. did. Walking On Sunshine features a bunch of attractive 20-somethings (and one louche old lothario) who don't appear to work or have a single worry other than romantic ones: contrast Streep and the three Dads, all of whom were grounded in the real world.

If you didn't like Mamma Mia!, you aren't likely to enjoy this. If you did - well, like I said, it's sunny, cheerful and tuneful, so you may. And if you didn't see Mamma Mia! - then I guess it depends on why you didn't.

Pretty much what I expected - a just reading the trailer with a bit of common sense tells you all about the film and you can work the rest out with little effort! Music was OK - storyline totally predictable, acting pretty rubbish. Not my usual sort of film but went in a group. If you liked Mamma Mia you will probably enjoy this, but definitely not my cup of tea! Good bits were the scenic vistas (does make you want to visit) and the Italian eye candy for the ladies. Definitely not a 'deep and meaningful' film and when they launched into song at the drop of a hat, it got quite amusing (though I am not sure that was the intention). What I would call a fluffy film - no substance to it but I didn't fall asleep and I did tap my feet a few times!

I checked movie summary right away after the first song to see it said anything about being a musical, which it did not. One right after the other, they kept on coming. Seemed like they burst into song every 5 minutes. I probably would have enjoyed the movie had it not be for all the singing. I don't like musicals, so I fast forwarded through most of it. We looked it up, there are 14 songs they belt out through out the movie. Don't get me wrong they are songs I like, I just detest musicals. Storyline of the movie was good and what got me to watch it but I probably wouldn't have started the movie had I knew before hand.