Not the film i remember in the theater
919143
I just got this dvd for xmas and watched it while scratching my head wondering why it was not as good as i remember. while watching the film i keep thinking to myself i swear there's a few scenes missing and wonder if im really crazy are not, i come on here to find the same complaints. while in the theater the movie was one of the best horror film i've seen in years, this weak and boring version that was put out at more than double the price of admission to the theater makes me wish i only had the memory of the theatrical version in my head. i only give 3 stars for the xtra features which i never watch anyway. now that ive watched this butchered version i hope whoever i give it to never saw it in the theater. i just don't understand why they have made these scene cuts that overall hurt the film. this is another reason why people download material for free. cuz why pay $25 to get ripped off by millionares. what a way to ruin a good movie. ill just go watch the real halloween dvd when i want to see something amazing.
1262460
I purchased this DVD because I love Alice Faye in any film. I knew the songs from this film for many years because I've several CDs featuring her film music but I had never seen this film (TCM rarely plays FOX films and I don't have the the Fox Movie Channel where I live).

About 1/3 of the way through the film, I suddenly realized that this was an earlier version of "Hello, Frisco, Hello" (which I love!), that also starred Alice Faye and Jack Oakie. The King of Burlesque has a current day Broadway setting (the 1930s), Hello, Frisco, Hello has a "Gay '90s" San Francisco setting. The plot is virtually the same - but who cares? It's Alice Faye!

King of Burlesque is Alice in her Jean Harlow look alike phase. Jack Oakie is considerably thinner and younger than his later films. Film fans will
recognized Warner Baxter from the classic "42nd Street". Fox contract players abound including pint-sized Dixie Dunbar and Aline Judge. Look for jazz legend Fats Waller as the elevator man turned show-saver and a very young Kenny Baker (who most notably, was in "The Harvey Girls").

As with all of the DVDs in the Fox Cinema Archives series, it's just the film - no extras, no chapters, no fancy inserts, no commentaries - just the film. Hey, it's better than nothing.
2761009
I rented this by mistake thinking this to be the other film by the same name and greatly disliked it. But everyone does not have my taste naturally. But pay more attention than I did and realize this is not the movie with Matt Damon.
4391909
Voice of actors did not match what was happening on the movie
965697
I watch a lot of old movies from the 30's and some of them are in pretty bad shape as far the quality of the print. However, this film from 1989 takes the cake and then some in the poor print quality department. I have never seen such a blurry print and I certainly would not have put it up for public viewing as Amazon has done here. Now, with that in mind, I watched it any way, thinking it may have some redeeming qualities. But, I was not rewarded for my eye straining. The film is not bad but adds little to the genre of Robin Hood type films...a piece of fluff with no meat, good guys vs. the bad guys, like a Saturday afternoon pop corn burner B movie. We've seen it all before and better done than this one.
3486675
This does not contain the original theatrical version with Kris Kristopherson, which is exactly what I bought this for.  This version does not flow well and the score is cheesy.  Payback is one of my top three favs of all time and this purchase was a big disappointment.
3518180
If you are a fan of the VHS or DVD copies of this movie you want to go ahead and skip this Blu-Ray. The animation is all the same but they changed all the dialogue and voice acting. It ruined the movie for me and I could only get about 20 minutes into it.

If you haven't seen the movie before please consult another review. I, however, recommend picking up the DVD instead.
1583859
After having loved the theater version soundtrack for 20+ years, I knew that I would probably be a little disappointed in the cinematic soundtrack.  However, I was even more disappointed than I thought I would be.  I understand that they recorded these tracks live and in one take as they were being acted out, but they were soooo rough.  Hugh Jackman, who I thought would do well, only did so-so.  His voice seemed too nasally, especially on Valjean's Soliloquy.  I think he would've been capable of a full rich tone, he just (for some reason) didn't choose to do it.  Amanda Seyfried, on a Heart Full of Love.....PLEASE hold a note at the end of a phrase...quit chopping them off and PLEASE lose that awful vibrato.  She sounded like she was a 13 year old singing on stage for the first time and she was so scared her voice was shaking.  I know she's capable of better musical quality than that too.  Russell Crowe was bad in spots.  I think his voice has potential and every once in awhile it would come out, but throughout most of the CD he was very flat, not necessarily in pitch, but in emotion.  Anne Hathaway did brilliant and so did Eddie Redmayne.  Both gave performances that lived up to the theater versions.  Of course, Samantha Barks did well and Isabelle Allen's version of Castle on a Cloud reminded me of the original theater version of the song.  When listening to The Bishop, I told my son..."the guy playing the Bishop sounds a lot like the original Valjean in the theater production"  I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was, in fact, Colm Wilkinson.  He did fantastic, as always, even in a smaller part!  I was disappointed that Do You Hear the People Sing and A Little Fall of Rain weren't included in this Highlights CD, especially since they're 2 of my favorite tracks from the original.  I had this CD for about a week and then I finally got to see the movie and I have to admit that seeing the film with these CD tracks incorporated in, did make some of the songs more enjoyable.  For someone who's not familiar with the theater versions of these songs, I think they will be satisfied and happy with this CD.  For the rest of us....a bit of a disappointment.
4330671
I came to this film with high expectations after watching the foul-mouthed but funny Clerks, but I was sorely disappointed.  This film is not in the same class. While the substandard black and white photography in Clerks added to the endearing ad hoc nature of that film, in this (although in colour) it just appears cheap and nasty.
A lot of the dialogue is rather stilted and inaudible, and the script, although subtler than Clerks, is nowhere near as funny.  Why Criterion chose to give this film their fine treatment is something of a mystery.
3316948
Actually I thought is was the movie instead it was the sound track..more hassle than it's worth to return it..my fault
4530657
I had such fond memories of this movie (saw it when I was a kid) but was quite disappointed when I saw it again just now. I guess it's just outdated, not so thrilling anymore as it used to be.
4008781
This was a movie from my childhood that I remember fondly. So, of course when I was searching for missing pieces in our family dvd collection I thought of this. It was much different than I remember. A great deal more singing, the story line was so so. The animation is still some of my favorite. Bluth was a master. It was cheap, so no complaints on price, but if I had a choice I would return it.
4723043
I saw this at the theater when it first came out. I was a little kid then. My memories of it, limited as they were, were fond. So I thought I'd rent it and show it to my kids. Wow! Bad mistake. Besides being badly dated at this point, it simply isn't any good. Starting from the beginning with the way overlong opening of Popeye rowing in to town in a supposed storm. The soundtrack is full of lightning crashing and the screen is darkened, but the scene was obviously filmed on a placid day. It's laughably bad. And it just gets worse. Robin Williams played Popeye like the old 1920's cartoon Popeye (which I love BTW) where Popeye was constantly muttering under his breath. It was great in the cartoons, but in this expensive, over-the-top musical, the muttering just gets lost. I suppose I liked it when I was a kid partly because I loved the cartoons, which my kids aren't familiar with, but also because production values weren't as slick as they are now. My kids, who are used to more modern fare, gave up on this halfway through. Don't waste your time
1080709
I have a copy of the original Billy Elliott in VHS Tape and loved it. I ordered the compact disk over a year ago and didn't watch it due to a move. I was shocked when I watched the CD recently as it has been edited and ruined in my estimation. Some of the raw street language is removed, which showed the contrast between the hardworking rough side of Billy's background and his love of dance.  The relationship between Billy's neighborhood friend was edited making it a very minor friendship which was not in the original.  All along the film I noticed minor changes that took the strong appealing part of the story away.  At the end when Billy's old friend from the neighborhood shows up at Billy's ballet debut dressed in "drag" with his obviously homosexual partner was completely omitted.  I thought it removed an important statement that Billy, who was ridiculed by family and some friends, as being effeminate just because he loved dancing, yet his macho friend from the neighbor turned out to be gay.  It ruined the whole story for me that I feel were important parts of the story and I think whoever is responsible made a really good story into a bland flop.
3863414
If you are a big fan of Korean cinema, this movie is not for you. I was sort of tricked into watching it because of the Korean cast with actors I really like. About half way through, I paused it and looked it up because it felt so off. There is a reason for this. It was directed by Andrew Lau of Infernal Affairs fame. Great Hong Kong action director. Unfortunately, here he tried to make a slow and complex Korean drama and failed miserably. This was a straight forward, two dimensional story with forced melodrama and kindergarten symbology. Now, don't get me wrong, Korean films can be very melodramatic, but this was done in such a blunt and ham-handed way that it came off as trite. The action sequences were so oddly edited that they seemed to belong to an entirely different movie. Also, this movie looks dated--like it was from 1996, not 2006. Highly disappointing if you are familiar with modern Korean movies at all.
3503963
Classic cinema.  The colorization process was pretty good.  I'm sure this was shot in black and white. Boy meets girl, fights evil that wants to kill girl and gets girl in the end. Human sacrifice. The natives dancing made me chuckle--hilarious and the bogawogawoo gibberish spoken by the natives cracked me up.  Very little character development.  Subservient woman. Even in the end, notice how the man sits in the wing back chair and she is depicted sitting lower than him by his side? Notice the strong woman is killed in the end?  And the weak girl sits nearly at the feet of the Hero adoring him. The way women are depicted in this old movies is a contrast to today's modern women. Plot is a rehash of the same story, I've seen in movies time and time again in modern times.  Raiders of the Lost Ark etc.  Interesting to see this made in 1930s.
4072787
I'm still a little disappointed in myself when I think that I sat through this whole movie.  The "hero" is the kind of man I would hate to have to walk past to get to my car after dark.  And he hasn't changed by the end of the movie.
The story starts with a woman in a position of authority trying to do something good for people who are imprisoned in a maximum security prison that orbits earth.  Things go from alright to desperate in a matter of seconds and her father calls in the one person capable of going in and bringing her out alive.  Not that the "hero" cares in the least about her or anyone else on the station.
The story was disjointed at best.  I watched it in a sub-run theater and when I left I thought the theater had never looked so grimy and dingy and dark.  Now I realize that was just my reaction to the lousy movie.
Let's put this in some perspective.  I enjoyed the TV show Firefly and I grew up watching war movies (Desert Rats, The Great Escape, The Longest Day, etc., etc.).  I also grew up watching Humphrey Bogart movies.  I own Timeline, Paycheck, Spider-Man, and The Avengers, and will probably someday own The Bourne Legacy.  I'm not opposed to action adventure movies.  I just thought that this one scraped the bottom of the barrel labeled "How despicable can we make a hero and still have the audience buy it?"