Rating: 
Summary: Cirque Du Soliel: ALEGRIA
Review: Has life closed around you with the glib boredum of a dark iron cage?
Come remember...
Remember the joy of a child's smile; Remember the reason mountains are climbed; Remember the courage to defeat dragons; remember your dream to fly; live your life with HUMANITY, and always FIGHT for FREEDOM; EXPERIENCE ALEGRIA!!!
This tale is presented in the full scale magic of CIRQUE DU SOLIEL; acrobatic ballet, circus costumes, music, and light. It begins with the light from the eyes of a child...a light that is being stolen by Marchello, a villain enslaving children in the darkness of indentured servitude. Only one little boy holds onto a ray of hope through his friendship with Frack. However, Frack has not listened well to his little friend, and discovers that the "dragon" he must defeat to win his love is the same peril he must conquer to free the children; and so the battle begins...
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful, eery, lovely
Review: At first we find a dark circus where even the clowns are sad. And then a love story, magical because this dark circus is still filled with magic. Love saves the circus. It's very pretty and sweet. You know-- the kind of movie that makes you smile months later while writing a review.
It has a plot, which is very unusual for cirque de soleil. It's very different from the other dvd's. I liked it the best. Very beautiful soundtrack.
Rating: 
Summary: Not what you may expect
Review: Although it has a few performers from Cirque Du Soleil it's nothing like one of the specials you'd see on cable. It's a story and not a CDU performance. I was very disappointed. I had my three year old watching it with me and the first scene is a man in clown make-up who lies down across a train track, puts his head on one of the rails and closes his eyes. This with a train barreling down the tracks. He doesn't get squished but it was not what I was expecting. (I won't spoil the outcome.) My three year old ran out of the room.
Rating: 
Summary: Very disappointing
Review: This was awful - not much Cirque du Soleil here. They make great shows like O, La Nouba, Saltimbanco, Quidam, Mystere, but this a lousy movie. In looking at the movie trailer, it really contains most, if not all, of the worthwhile scenes. I'd definitely recommend against getting this movie.
Rating:
Summary: good one
Review: the production company behind these shows is very good.
worth seeing most of them
Rating:
Summary: Sorry, I agree with the dissers
Review: Funny how these reviews are all either one extreme or the other. I love Cirque du Soleil and saw 2 live performances in 2002. Bought this for my daughter thinking it was of the show. MAJOR DISAPPOINTMENT. The two stars I give it are for beautiful photography, staging, costumes, etc. It loses three stars for the "bait and switch" aspect of the marketing, and for the maudlin, predictible, and basically uninteresting plot. I love foreign films and have no problem with the dark aspect of the tale. Contrary to those who found it deep and moving, I found it a pretty superficial representation of the characters and their plight. As for actual circus stuff, the hoop girl is prominently featured on the cover- but my daughter did more demanding hoop tricks as a level five (beginning) rhythmic gymnast than the hoop girl does in the "extended" water special feature. Truly a frustrating experience "waiting" for the circus to begin. I have no interest in watching it again (in fact ended up fast forwarding to the end about halfway through) and will donate this copy to our local library with a BIG note attached explaining its true nature.
Rating: 
Summary: Mildly interesting; wanted more of the Cirque
Review: This is a movie (not a Cirque du Soleil performance) about a despairing character who experiences love-at-first-sight with a young woman from a traveling circus. This man, Frac (played by professional mime Rene Bazinet; he talks), was just about to commit suicide by lying across railroad tracks. He's saved by child character Momo, the narrator of the film's story, but the train which just misses running over Frac is transporting a circus performer Giulietta (Julie Cox) and her colleagues, real members of Cirque's Alegria show. She comes to him, they gaze upon one another, and there's ... emotion. Trouble is, the train moves on before he can catch her name; thus, Frac spends the rest of the film stumbling (literally) into her stage shows in his lengthy quest to find out who she is. There's also a side plot involving a slave master who oversees a bunch of street urchins who bring in money by selling flowers. This "modern urban fable" has a thin plot, filled with coming-of-age cliches. When all was said and done, I found it rather predictable.Acting kudos go to veteran Frank Langella, who played "Fleur" (Giulietta's father) and leant some great emotion and depth to the Cirque's stage master character. The Alegria cast was delightful, especially the clowns, and there were just enough visual treats (e.g., the excellent tumbling) to keep one watching. Although Franco Dragone did an admirable job as director (he came up with the concept for the Alegria performance), his commentary was disappointingly bland, with too many long pauses between ideas, and far more philosophizing than recounting stories about how the movie was made. The big hit(s) of this disc were the two "extended" (actually, under three minutes) scenes featuring the "Hoops" and "Cube Act" routines from the Alegria show. I've watched "Hoops" over and over, and continue to be amazed. Other features include music videos, a trailer and a short piece on the making of the movie. All are good, but not great. Overall, this disc would be a nice collector's item for Cirque fans, but those who view this strictly for the movie may be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: If these mimes could talk....
Review: As someone who is a connosieur of the Cirque du Soleil, I must say that this DVD was a profound disspointment. Considering that ALEGRIA is the name of one of their shows, and this film is NOT the stage performance (like SALTIMBANCO, or QUIDAM, for example), the title is misleading. This is actually a narrative movie. A BAD narrative movie. This has an ambitious artistic drive, that reminds me of teh Andy Warhol movies of the 70s, which very very daring, but they were a mess. This mess cannot be cleaned up. It has as much to do with the stage version of ALEGRIA as DEEP THROAT has to do with Watergate. I was so angry after seeing this film, I wanted my two hours back. just...don't.
Rating:
Summary: EXTREMELY DISAPPOINTED!!
Review: If I could rate this as less than one star, I WOULD!! This is NOT the live show performance of ALEGRIA that I was expecting and thought that I had purchased. It was a rather weird, dark and depressing movie with a fleeting snippet or two from the circus performance. What a let-down! VERY DECEPTIVE PACKAGING! I feel that all purchasers of this film should have the REAL Alegria made available to them at a reduced price. I REALLY FEEL CHEATED!! SHAME ON YOU CIRQUE DU SOLEIL!!
Rating:
Summary: Be aware
Review: This video was incorrectly packaged by Cirque Du Soleil. Those wanting to re-capture the wonder of the Cirque named Alegria and shown on BRAVO TV - beware! This video of the same name and produced by Cirque Du Soleil is NOTHING like what was presented on TV. This is a dark, depressing movie - not the program presented on TV . This MOVIE is inapproriate for children as well as extremely depressing for adults. I bought 2 copies thinking I was getting the Alegria performance I saw and loved on TV.
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