Rating: 
Summary: ALEGRIA- CIRQUE DU SOLEIL
Review: i WANT TO RETURN THIS DVD. I AM REALLY MAD BECAUSE IT WAS NOT WHAT I EXPECTED. REALLY, I DID NOT LIKE IT.
Rating: 
Summary: alegria the movie
Review: I absolutely adored this film. It takes you away to a world that is not based in reality and doesn't pretend to be so. If things don't always make sense so be it. The art and imagery are breathtaking. I would recommend this film to anyone who is remotely interested in Cirque.
Rating:
Summary: Cirque Du Soleil - Alegria
Review: BEWARE! BEWARE! This is NOT the Cirque Du Soleil performance of Alegria that has been seen and loved around the world. It is a "fable" with some short glimpses of that performance. To make the cover on the jacket look so much like the Alegria show is extremely deceptive. Fortunatly, my DVD was bad, so I can send it back for a refund.There is a nice moral to the story, and that is that love can conquer anything. But the majority of this video is about child kidnapping and abuse. If this is what you are wishing to purchase, great, but don't think you are getting a video like Quidam, which is the actual performance. I couldn't figure out how to give it 0 stars.
Rating:
Summary: The greatest love story ive ever seen on or off the stage
Review: Great family movie the kids will love it.The movie delves into the belief that love can overcome anything.My Wife and I loved the stage show so much we named our daughter Alegria.The movie just add's what the stage show could not...
Rating:
Summary: Boring clowns, Failures
Review: Clowns in the real life... more precisely people like you and me, grimed as clowns. They live like us, but a failure, boring life. One of them tries to commit suicide, and is too much a failure to succeed. I stopped watching before the end. Forget about it, buy "Quidam" from the same "Cirque du Soleil", it is great.
Rating:
Summary: ALEGRIA
Review: BEWARE! FOR THOSE WHO ARE FANS OF CIRQUE DU SOLEIL, AS I AM, ALEGRIA WILL COME AS A MASSIVE DISAPPOINTMENT. IT IS A FILM WITH A SILLY STORY SO INCONSEQUENTIAL, UNBELIEVABLE, AND NONSENSICAL THAT IT WILL APPEAL NEITHER TO ADULTS, CHILDREN, NOR THEIR PETS. THE CASTING IS ATROCIOUS: THE MAIN CHARACTERS ARE UNAPPEALING (EXCEPT FOR THE FEMALE LEAD)INCLUDING A MISCAST, HOPELESSLY OVERWEIGHT FRANK LANGELLA. THE FANTASTIC CIRQUE PERFORMERS ARE SHOWN IN EXTREMELY BRIEF EPISODES, SUGGESTING THAT THEY WERE MAINLY PICKUP SHOTS WHILE PERFORMING IN BERLIN AND CUT INTO THE BODY OF THE PRODUCTION FILMED IN AMSTERDAM. THE NON CIRQUE PERFORMERS, INCLUDING THE ALLEGED CLOWNS, HAVE NEITHER WIT, CHARM,NOR TALENT,ALL HALLMARKS OF CIRQUE DU SOLEIL. ALSO LACKING IS THE WONDERFUL MUSIC THAT HIGHLIGHTS ALL TRUE CIRQUE PERFORMANCES. FORGET IT!
Rating:
Summary: For two hours, you are not allowed to be like them
Review: I am disappointed with the reviews listed for this movie. While most of them hold valid perceptions and opinions of the movie, they fail to convey the meaning and spirit behind the movie. Perhaps the story is simple, but the undertones are complex and subtle. I purchased the DVD on the day it became available, and I am still seeing something new every time. It is a timeless story of pain, love, loss and unity. Rene Bazinet performs spectacularly in this movie, with facial expressions that can tell the story without words. Julie Cox performs as a confused woman who has to choose between the man she loves and her father. Frank Langella tells the story of a man who performs the show as a method to keep his daughter on his shoulders for just a little bit longer. Although the movie is not a film of the performances in Biloxi, MI (soon to be closed, October 2000), most of the characters reprise their roles from the stage show. Throughout the entire movie, the characters never sway from their roles, never once to become "like them". If you look closely, you will even see a guest appearance by Whoopi Goldberg, but you will have to discover which part she plays for yourself. The cast and crew of Alegria retell a classic story, and they do so by integrating their roles from the stage show into the story line. With the combination of sights and sounds, the movie can leave you with a feeling of awe. The characters' stage performances interweave so tightly into the movie that it is easy to miss some of the performers acting out their parts exactly as they have in the past. This movie is an artistic representation of an old story with new characters and new ideas. Although we have all seen and heard the story that is played out in the plot before us, Alegria manages to make us want more, to expect more. The characters make it so easy to fall into their world and forget about your own. The dreams that are played out on your screen before you, the stories of someone else's life, is the goal behind Fleur's show. "Fleur comes to understand that the mission of the circus is to console a suffering world, to invite the audience, like the performer, to step forward across an imaginary line separating darkness from the light. The show, like life, must go on.
Rating: 
Summary: A Cotton Candy Movie
Review: One of my favorite photographs is of a little old lady walking with cane, eating a huge cone of cotton candy. "Alegria" reminds me of that photo: in a dreary world, there is cotton candy and the joy of a moment which is beautiful, engaging, filled with awareness. No, the plot isn't much. And no, the dialogue is pretty mundane at times ("How do you feel?" "Happy and sad at the same time." "That means you're in love".) But what is captivating is the allegory and the symbolism: the constant interplay between real and fantasy, between good and bad, between love and loneliness, between childhood and maturity, between good and evil. To experience this, one has to be able to accept the film in and of itself: the music, the cinematography, the narrative sequence. No, it's not a stage performance, and no it isn't a 'movie'. It is a complete and unified emotional and artistic experience, and it's wonderful.
Rating: 
Summary: Long on eye candy, short on plot
Review: "Alegria", inspired by (but not the same as) the Cirque the Soleil show of the same name, is an attractive but unfortunately cliched story of love and hope. A young boy, Momo, who is forced into virtual slavery with other super-cute multi-national children, befriends a down-and-out street performer named Frank. Frank falls in love with Julietta, the star of the "Alegria" show that happens to be playing nearby. Frank and Julietta's romance causes some upheaval in the Cirque ranks, but in the end the two free the children from bondage, re-unite Cirque, and everyone lives happily ever after. "Alegria" the movie has the same beautiful visual style and air of romance found in Cirque shows. However, as a movie it fails in many ways. The plot is every bit as simple and obvious as described above. Likely the creators of the movie wanted to tell a timeless fable, but their execution is so heavy-handed and saccharine (especially in regards to those too-cute children) that it's difficult to take the movie seriously. Perhaps children and those who adore anything with cute kids will like it, but I feel most discerning viewers will find it as disappointing as I did. If you absolutely love Cirque or super-cute kids, you may consider getting this DVD anyways. It's nice to see scenes from the "Alegria" Cirque show (my favorite Cirque), the movie isn't so bad that it's painful, and the DVD does have some nice extra features. Note to one reviewer below -- I did review it as a movie and not as Cirque, so please withhold rating a movie until after you've seen it.
Rating:
Summary: Not what you might expect. That's why I liked it.
Review: Before buying this movie, I read everything I could to see if it was worth it. This is not a filming of the stage version of Alegria, this is a movie that was originally built around it and then took a very different direction. If you are looking for "standard Cirque," this is not the place to find it. Cirque du Soleil often goes beyond fans' expectations, and this is one more case. The movie is well done, though not appropriate for very young children. It is a simple love story, but with dark undertones. Rene Bazinet is excellent in the part of Frac, which was written for him. Julie Cox is decent as Giulietta, though I found her a bit flat. And Clipper Miano IS Momo. The movie alone is 4 stars, but with the DVD extras I give it 5. If you are looking for the spectacle normally associated with the Cirque, bypass this movie. If, however, you are open to the Cirque reinventing itself yet again, this time on film, give this movie a try. It's different, and therefore it isn't for everybody. But it worked for me.
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