Rating: 
Summary: Classic
Review: This movie musical was good, singing was great. I thought worst part was Glen Close's acting. Her singing was okay, especially Honey Bun (where she played the man). I did believe the French planter was in love with her, although one couldn't imagine why, but I didn't believe she was in love with him. She was in love with Harry Connic whose voice is definately lovable. The technical quaility was fine.
Rating:
Summary: Classic
Review: This movie musical was good, singing was great. I thought worst part was Glen Close's acting. Her singing was okay, especially Honey Bun (where she played the man). I did believe the French planter was in love with her, although one couldn't imagine why, but I didn't believe she was in love with him. She was in love with Harry Connic whose voice is definately lovable. The technical quaility was fine.
Rating: 
Summary: Norma Desmond's "Salome"
Review: This must be the most audacious vanity project in the history of entertainment. Rather than gracefully giving in to the fact that she is far too old to play her dream role, Ms. Close simply had one of the great classics of American musical theatre rewritten to suit her. Other reviewers seem to think that this is a "reinterpretation" akin to performing Shakespeare in modern dress. Hogwash! This is a NOT a visionary director looking at an old script through fresh eyes, this is an entirely new script! This is not James Michener's Nellie Forbush, this is Granny Clampett goes to Hawaii!! What's next for Ms. Close? A sparkling new "West Side Story" with Richard Chamberlain? How about "Granny Get Your Gun"? I had always believed that it was one of the tasks of the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization to protect the integrity of the R&H legacy. They should be ashamed.
Rating: 
Summary: I loved this new South Pacific Telefilm
Review: This new SP telefilm received harsh criticism
from my fellow American musical theatre fans on
theatre message boards and newsgroups-but I do
not share their negative opinion.This new SP telefilm
combines realism and emotional depth with the magical
romance and fun of the original stage musical.Glenn Close
and Rade Serbedzija give superb acting performances.
Much has been written about GC`s being too old to play
Nellie, but IMHO Ms.Close nailed it when she stated that
"Nellie is a state of mind." GC`s lovely performance per-fectly
captures the essence of Nellie`s warmth and optimism.MS Close
and Rade Serbedzija have wonderful romantic chemistry and their
scenes together are a joy to watch.
IMHO,the best thing about this new SP is Rade Serbedzija`s
Emile.RS proves that it is heart and soul and not a powerful,
rich,operatic voice that is most important in playing Emile.
Mr.Serbedzija`s renditions of "Some Enchanted Evening" and
"This Nearly Was Mine", sung with true , heartfelt emotion
are beautiful.The Dites-Moi number with Emile and his children
is so sweet-I loved the wonderful rapport that RS shares with
the child actors. Mr. Serbedzija combined quiet strength and
sincerity with a true, gentle sweetness and human vulnerability
into a very moving performance. Thank You Ms.Close for casting
Rade Serbedzija as Emile-his performance touched my heart in a very special way.
Concerning the other cast members-Harry Connick shines in his quietly effective rendition of "You Have To Be Carefully taught".
Robert Pastorelli is funny and endearing as Luther Billis.Lori
Tan Chinn was funny as Bloody Mary.
The location scenery was beautiful and the cinetography was
excellent.
I know that most people do not share my high opinion of this
new SP, and that is fine-I respect each persons right to have their own opinion. I loved this new SP and look forward to watching it on DVD for many years to come. Thank You Glenn Close
and ABC for a job well done.
Lorraine Chandler
Athens,Texas
P.S.It was good to see Jack Thompson again as Captain Brackett.
Rating:
Summary: Good remake, with emphasis on drama
Review: This remake is definitely not the 1956 movie - which is both good and bad. Good - because dramatically, this production is far superior to the movie version - the actors actually act, and the dramatic energy never lets down. Realizing the pitfalls of casting herself as a young, naive Nellie Forbush, Glenn Close wisely chooses to play the role as an older, more experienced woman in mid-life. Does it work? Absolutely - the romance between Nellie and Emile makes more sense, as Nellie's character actually has some depth. Bloody Mary comes off kind of creepy - which is totally appropriate to the part. Emile is a wonderful actor - with an accent which even sounds French (rather than Italian). The bad - while the more intimate approach to the songs works with Nellies songs - the songs for DeBeque were written for Enzio Pinza, and they require a strong, world class voice to bring them off. Although the character of DeBeque is very strong, and his voice is pleasant enough, it is too week to carry these songs. But since the overall approach to this production is to emphasize the drama, this is forgivable. Overall, a fine production - if you want the score sung well, listen to the original Broadway cast, the movie soundtrack, or the fairly recent studio caste featuring Paige O'Hara and Justino Diaz.
Rating: 
Summary: How Sad
Review: This remake was a disaster. A wonderful musical in the original that was remade into a plodding and dull film that lacks energy. I love Glenn Close--but this is a bomb.
Rating:
Summary: Woops!
Review: This was, to say the least, a very disappointing remake of a fabulous musical. It captures none of the vivacity or breathtaking beauty and terrible sadness of the time period (WWII, Pacific) that the previous edition mastered to perfection. It was a Woops! sort of production.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting, different take on SOUTH PACIFIC
Review: Though the stage show was one of Rodgers and Hammerstein's biggest hits, the script has not aged well. It is overlong and lacking in subtleness. The 1958 film, despite the beautiful scenery, is played woodenly. Even Rodgers and Hammerstein expressed disappointment with the finished film. So, in 2000, ABC TV and Glen Close produced a new TB film with a new script that weaves in most of the songs and situations of the original play while at the same time fleshing out the characters and making them more realistic. Is the film a complete success? Well, no. For starters Glen Close is too old for the role of Nellie. She does act it well, however, and she sings with a characterful chest voice though I do detect some of her high notes might be dubbed. I have just re-watched the movie and don't find her all that objectionable. She sounds like she is having fun cutting loose in "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair" and "A Wonderful guy." Remember too that Mary Marin and Mitzi Gaynor were both too old for the role originally. What Glen Close does play very effectively is Nellie's warring emotions. Aided by the camera work, we see her confusion and unhappiness when confronted with her own prejudices. Rade Sherbedgia certainly looks the part of DeBecque but since we are so used to hearing robust Bass singers in the role, his softly sung arias take a good deal of getting used to. Instead of an outpouring of emotion in "this Nearly Was Mine" he offers a more introspective take on the role. It's actually a good idea and might work better with a stronger singer. His acting is quite good but the script does tend to shortchange Emile in favour of Nellie. Harry Connick Jr acts the part of Cable quite well and shades the characters different emotions. True he is more of New Orleans than Philadelphia, and like the others he tends to pull the big musical moments inward. It is most effective in the scene after he first makes love to Liat and croons a tender "Younger Than Springtime." This is everything that the sung ought to be... passionate, sexy and filled with wonder. This is a young man caught off guard by true love for the first time and Connick communicates that brilliantly. His "crooning" is not wildly out-of-place and certainly in keeping with the types of singers he would have heard at home. Some scenes later he performs a remarkably understated "Carefully Taught" having played the intense anger in the dialogue scene that precedes the song. The result is more a case of Cable realizing what he is saying than just spitting out an angry indictment. It may not be the way it was originally done, but you can't argue with its effectiveness. Lori Tan Chin as Bloody Mary is much closer to the description provided by James Michener in his original novel than Juanita Hall. Hall indeed made the part her own, but that is not to say that hers was definitive.
In re-writing the screenplay, the scenes and songs were re-arranged from their traditional order. In this new version we see the first meeting of Nellie and Emile at an officers club dance, and the song "A Cockeyed Optimist" is used in this sequence to establish Nellie's outlook. It's part of her charm and clearly attracts DeBecque. The structure also allows the first two scenes of the musical to unfold simultaneously. Anyone considering a Broadway revival of SOUTH PACIFIC might do well to examine the TV film for its style and construction. There might indeed be a way to make the story work for modern audiences, clearing away some of the hoary old jokes and developing character instead.
Rating:
Summary: Promise of Paradise
Review: Truthfully, I was skeptical about the remaking of a movie based on James Michener's Pulitzer Prize-winning book Tales of the South Pacific. I mean, how could you top the 1958 version, which in my mind is one of the greatest love stories of all time. Well, that was until Rade Sherbedgia filled the role of the French Plantation owner, Emile. Glenn Close was a delight as Nellie. Here she almost adds a mature innocence to the story. She is filled with a intoxicating love for life, yet experiences the sadness of almost losing her chance at finding paradise because of her own inner demons. Harry Connick Jr. adds a much more lusty flavor to this version as the Navy officer who is entranced by a beautiful Tonkinese girl and the tropical beauty of Bali Ha'i. In general, there are a few scenes I felt were a bit overplayed and they should have included scenes that were much more exotic, like swimming by a waterfall or kissing while rolling on a beach in the surf. There is rarely a story that can so capture the imagination. It is a story of love and loss in which four souls don't know why they feel the way they do, they just know that they do feel themselves being drawn into the path of destiny. If you are looking for gripping suspense, drama, timeless songs, romance, seductive tropical islands, interracial romance and intense emotions all woven into a story about a naval base during the second world war, here it is! Terribly Romantic and an final scene that will make you cry. Not that it is sad, but because love can be so beautiful when two souls finally find what they have looked for all their life. If you love to run barefoot on a beach in the middle of a storm,
this is your movie! Note: If you love the song: Bali Ha'i, I highly recommend Enchantment by Charlotte Church! Her voice captures everything the song was ever meant to be.
Rating:
Summary: South Pacific Headin' South
Review: What a bomb! But it is always hard to equal, not to mention surpass, a cultural icon. The "Enchanted Evening" song is an outpouring of love and lust from a man deprived of the real thing for 2 decades. In this TV disaster it is a whoosie little ditty; about as convincing as powdered eggs. It's ashame that some young folks may miss the original screenplay (been there, done that) because they have seen this travesty.
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