lewis-51 The good part: the sets are lovely. The bad part: everything else. Start with the appalling choice of Glenn Close as Nellie Forbush. You've got to be kidding. Glenn Close is **one year** younger than Rade Serbedzija, who played Emile de Becque. That's absurd. She should be at least ten years younger, twenty would be better. The closeness in age is all too obvious in the movie. Glenn Close has no southern accent. Nellie is supposed to be a well meaning, sweet, naive twenty year-old from unsophisticated Little Rock. Glenn Close, to her credit usually, is just not that type of person. It just doesn't work. Worse, every time she opens her mouth to sing, this sweet little voice comes out. Sure, right. Glenn Close as Nellie Forbush is the worst miscasting I have ever seen. Rade Serbedzija actually does a good job.The guy that plays Luther Billis doesn't have the right attitude or communicate the right personna.The original movie with Mitzi Gaynor is far far superior. The play recently on Broadway (2010) is excellent. The show done on PBS a couple years ago with Reba McEntire is very good. If South Pacific is new to you, try to see one of those fine presentations.

phd_travel This version is terrible why on earth did they bother? If this is your first time watching "South Pacific" don't watch this version just go for the original. If you have seen the original don't watch this one or you'll spoil your image of "South Pacific".The casting is horrendous. Glenn Close is too ugly for what is a romantic lead role. She has no charm compared with Mitzi Gaynor. The new guy playing Emile is too scruffy and crude looking. He spoils one of the most romantic songs in musical history. In the original Brazzi was much more suited to the role - suave and romantic.Harry Connick's voice is not right for this type of singing - too Sinatra like. It has to be more Broadway verging on operatic. His love interest is played by a very common looking girl hardly worth falling in love with. Compared to the original France Nguyen was so much prettier. The Bloody Mary actress is hideous too.This must rank as one of the worst remakes of a musical ever. Even the scenery is uglier and not magical at all. Avoid at all costs.

Bobbyjeter Glenn Close is a fabulously versatile actress, so even though she is too old for this role, I think her wonderful acting overrides the problem about her age. She also sings very well, as does most everyone in the movie -- that's an answer to somebody who kvetched about the singing. Harry Connick, Jr. as Lt. Joe Cable? You'd be hard pressed to find much better. Ditto for Lori Tan Chinn, who does a wonderful job with all the acting and singing required of her as Bloody Mary.I can understand being upset with the singing of Rade Sherbedgia as Emile DeBecque, who lacks the operatic voice of Ezio Pinza, Giorgio Tozzi, or even Brian Stokes Mitchell. However, he has a credible musical theater voice, and he does such an amazing job with every minute of acting that his singing is excusable. I, for one, think it's very cool that almost nobody, if anybody, was dubbed. None of the major characters were, at any rate.Lastly, somebody made the comment that this is not a war movie? I have two responses to that. A) It says very clearly that it's an ADAPTATION of James Michener's South Pacific. For an adaptation, they stayed remarkably close to the script. B) The war may not be the main attraction of this movie, but don't you think the tension is much better because of how aware we are of the battle?Overall, I think they did a very commendable job with this movie. In fact, I just bought it. Don't like it? Don't watch it. There are plenty of people that do.

selffamily I loved this new fresh version of what has to be the best Rodgers and Hammerstein movie. The songs are beautifully delivered and being on a smaller screen (poverty wins at last!) means that wrinkles, pan-cake don't show. I missed "Happy Talk" (hence 8/10) but loved the remake unreservedly, as the colour changes in the original drove me crazy as did the original Luther Billis. I thought that this version had been remade perfectly for modern audiences who weren't old enough to have gone to the stage production or who weren't reared on Mitzi Gaynor and co. Today's audiences don't want to sit for 3+ hours, and I felt that this captured the spirit of it without labouring on. No problems here with Glenn Close, and I thought she would have been an older woman (we can't all be under 30)anyway, career nurse etc, making it all so reasonable.