Evita (1996)

The Worst Film Ever

Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

The positives, Madonna at her best and the story line was fine. The two well known songs were worth listening too then everything goes down hill from there. We thought the direction and production was poor at best and the rest of the score in this musical was dreadful almost painful, really disappointed. Will we be watching it again?, not a chance, the DVD is destined for the bin.

I first saw Evita on stage locally in my town and I was absolutely blown away. I didn't know musicals could be like that. Absolutely powerful are the words that come to mind when I think of Evita. I was very lucky, because a woman who had actually played Evita on Broadway was doing a production of it in my town and I loved her. Evita is my favorite musical for so many reasons I could write a dissertation on it. But that's not what this is for.One of the main themes of Evita is power in all forms: political power, social power, sexual power. With these themes, you need to have the music and acting to back it up, meaning you need instrumental power, rhetorical power (for the speeches on the balcony), and (most importantly) vocal power.Madonna does not have that vocal power. She does fine, but that's just it. She does fine. The vocal power of the role of Evita isn't just fine. It's jarring, it shakes your very soul (at least for me). Madonna, god she's trying, but she just wasn't the right pick. You need your leading lady to be imposing and her vocals to be incredibly skillful and expert in nature. I kind of have a soft spot for Antonio Banderas because I felt like he brought enough cynicism and biting critique to Ché that it worked even though his voice isn't the best. I'm a firm believe that as long as your acting and character is solid, your singing doesn't have to be the best. I don't really have any strong opinions on Jonathan Pryce as Peròn. He was a bit mediocre but not awful. Like I said, Evita is my favorite musical of all time. Everyone should have some impossible dream (haha Walz for Eva and Ché) and mine is someday playing Eva Perón. I am absolutely obsessed with this musical. This movie just took out so much emotional depth and detail. That's where it's downfall lies.Many will be quite harsh on it because it's pretty much all music (it's an opera, that's to be expected) or because it's boring. And to that I think it comes down to taste. Of course if you don't like musicals or you don't like more historical movies, you're probably not going to like this movie. It's not a complete waste of time. If you have the chance to see Evita on stage I would say definitely go for that over the movie, but if you want to get a bit of a mediocre version, than you can watch it and then listen to the broadway soundtrack and see which one you prefer. Me, I prefer the Broadway revival version with Elena Roger, and Patti LuPone's version is also phenomenal.In short, Evita (1996) simply could have been better.

I had seen many stage productions of Evita before this film version came out and was delighted by Madonna's performance, because she captured Eva Peron so well.However the changes from the stage to the screen were horrific. I have heard many of these were to gain the approval of the Argentine government for location filming. If so, they should have shot it elsewhere.Gone was the "Che" character (which was merely a chorus anyway as Guevara has no real connection to the Perons) but the replacement by Antonio Bandaras made no sense as he had to be coached. His voice was "okay" but fell in comparison to Madonna.Lyrics were changed, "softened" to make Eva less of a self-serving type, more approachable. Peron was not cast so much as a fascist (which he was) and Eva was less power-mad.It probably mirrors better the way Argentina would LIKE Evita to have been, but not what she was.

Andrew Lloyd Webber's smash hit musical Evita, is captivating and mesmerizing, based on the true story of Eva Peron, a girl who grew up without a penny, only just making ends meet, who becomes a successful radio and film actress, then marries Juan Peron a rising politician.With Madonna in the part of Eva the film was bound to cause some interest. People doubted her and questioned her acting skills, in my opinion Madonna really showcased her talent for both singing and acting with a very convincing portrayal of the iconic figure in Argentinian history. The facial expressions and hand movements made by Madonna fit Eva perfectly, she managed to portray her amazingly, and she also resembled the real Eva reasonably well, with the same sort of face shape and clothes. The outfits were perfect and played a rather large part in the film, with Madonna changing outfits 85 times. Wearing 39 different hats, 45 pairs of shoes and 56 pairs of ear rings throughout the film. The film has a great sense of style about it, which attracts lots of attention. Madonna also put a lot of emotion into her performance leaving everyone just as emotional as she was at the end. All in all the casting of Madonna as Eva was simply perfect.There was an unlikely casting of Antonio Banderas as Che, a character who questions the movements that Eva makes throughout the story. Banderas also showcases his surprising talent for musical theater, with his great acting skills and tremendous singing voice. His accent also adding another level to his performance making his character more complex and interesting. The dance between Eva and Che was well choreographed and effectively used in the film, it gave both Madonna and Antonio Banderas a chance to show off their dance skills. Jonathan Pryce's portrayal of Juan Peron the husband of Eva was intense and very believable, he used great facial expressions which created a whole impression of how Juan Peron was. The emotional storyline and great acting from the cast never fails to bring me close to tears at certain parts. The emotional deepness of the music is touchingly beautiful, although depressing at times, it fits amazingly well to the story and makes the film so great. So with a questionable cast the movie was bound to be highly anticipated, with everyone wondering just how good or bad it was going to be. In my opinion it was a very good musical film, it may have had a few slip up errors here and there, with people not getting the lips synced in certain places, but apart from that the film was well edited. Also with practically no talking the film can be enjoyed for its great musical score from Andrew Lloyd Webber. This musical film in my opinion is a triumph and always manages to leave me in tears at the end.