schines_22 This is apparently a twist on the 1958 original in which instead of a young, sexy nurse, it is a middle aged lesbian who falls for the French plantation owner on a south pacific island during WWII. I started watching this because I liked the original, but honestly, I couldn't finish this travesty. Harry Connick Jr is the only cast member who is remotely watchable. It seems to be universally acknowledged by everyone except Glenn Close that Glenn Close is decades too old for the role of Nellie. Songs have been deleted or changed. I'll never know why people try to remake classic movies with major changes just for the sake of change. No reason to watch this unless you need a laugh. Please don't judge the original by this farce!

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.

kmullen-4 Only recently did I fall in love with this musical when I watched Lincoln Center's stage production on PBS. I was curious to know more of its history and watched the movie adaptations from 1958 and 2001. Movies are definitely a different genre from the stage, and it was interesting to see that in each version, the choice was to develop dialog into visual action, focusing on rounding out a fuller story, rather than relying on the musical emphasis to tell the story. Stage productions demand more movement from the characters, more choreography, while the camera allows for more still and close encounters. On stage, the movement and music are what tell the story.In the bonus feature of the DVD, Ms. Close says something along the lines that a classic is a classic when it can endure many interpretations and retain its integrity. She also stated that she had wanted to do this all her life and remembered Mary Martin as the model for this role. It seems circumstances happened for her to fulfill her dream, albeit at middle-age. So it seems that a new adaptation for this more mature casting lent a new interpretation to this classic. They followed the precedent of the 1958 version in many ways, and even used colored filters for the Bali Hai number – with much better technique and effects! Overall, I thought the story, as they chose to adapt it, was put together very skillfully.I noticed in this adaptation that most all of the comic edge was taken out. In its place was a kind of dramatic /romantic pathos, which made the tempo a little slower and more deliberate. The re-arranging of some scenes, and certain deletions, contributed to a change in tensions between characters and in the flow of the story than found in the stage production.I thought the acting was very good all around. Ms. Close also talks about using dramatic interpretation for the songs, while singing. I very much appreciated her dramatic interpretation of the songs. But also felt there was a limitation in voice skill, and perhaps due to careful casting, the rest of the cast did not give her much competition. The interpretations through music seemed consistent with the pathos already established through dialog. There was no singing between Emile and Nellie in the scene at Emile's house when the guests have gone home. And Bloody Mary's 'Happy Talk" was also cut, as well as 'My girl back home…'. Again, the kinds of music deletions (as well as interpretations) gave the film a different emphasis. Even though it is a musical and uses music, it did not rely on the music (singing and orchestra) to tell the story as much as a stage production.However, the choral numbers (Nothin like a dame..." and "Wash that man..") I thought well were thought out and executed very well. Especially, the former: I fully enjoyed the composition of the shots and the editing. I noticed very wonderful composition of shots throughout.Though there is no specific age given for Nellie, plot elements do define it to some degree. Nellie struggles with her mother's assumptions and expectations for her daughter, especially regarding men and marriage, which might apply more to a younger woman transitioning away from home and parents, rather than a middle-aged woman. Indeed, the lines about marriage and men for Ms. Close's Nellie were cut in this scene with her mother's letter, as was any serious indication of an emotional struggle. This struggle, and the struggle with if she really knows enough about this man, give her character an emotional juggling act more typical for a younger woman in the new stages of love. But with the first struggle essentially cut,the tension of two struggles and the juggling is lost. Indeed, Ms.Close's Nellie seemed very confident, independent and secure, never too overwhelmed. Also, with a middle-aged Nellie, there has to be some assumption that she has her own romantic history, a certain wisdom from experience. Not all the traditional elements of the original play work for this interpretation.Another characteristic of Nellie is her southern roots. Ms. Close did not play her with any dialect, perhaps wisely. But I found that emphasizing to some degree this characteristic helps in the development of Nellie and her reaction to the news of Emile's children's mother.One of my favorite roles of Ms. Close is Sarah in "Sarah, Plain and Tall" (and its sequels), and she plays Nellie in a very similar fashion, which helped me understand her interpretation of Nellie a little better. (I personally would have preferred a softer hair-do and a few more feminine costumes for her Nellie.)

david_kravitz I enjoyed this TV movie more than many because it followed the original score albeit in a different sequence. As one of a series including Annie and Music Man, Disney are to be applauded for remaking these musicals. Clearly they have spent a lot of money. More, please. Glenn Close does well and helped in the production. She looks good as does most of the cast. Most of the original score is there but I have two criticisms. The lead male should have had a much deeper voice and secondly, what happened to the (arguably) best song in the show, Happy Talk? A great song and, I think, the only one to ever head the Top Twenty music charts, certainly in the UK.