Evita

I love musicals and was eager to watch Evita. I'm not the biggest of all Andrew Lloyd Webber fans, though Phantom of the Opera is phenomenal and all his work has at least one standout song(Memory for Cats, Don't Cry for me Argentina for Evita and Any Dream Will do for Joseph).

This Evita was so much better than anticipated. I cannot deny the music is wonderful, but I was also sceptical because of Madonna, who I like as a singer but not so much as an actress. I was proved wrong, Madonna while not quite my idea for Evita is wonderful in the role, she does justice to Buenos Aires and Don't Cry for me Argentina and the whole performance is very moving.

She has a good cast, with the dashing Antonio Banderas exuding tremendous chemistry with her and Jonathan Pryce a revelation as Juan Peren. The visuals are spectacular, the cinematography is sumptuous and the colours, costumes and settings are wonderfully vivid. The story might just lack the spark of the musical itself, but it is still emotionally resonant and the script and direction are more than credible.

Evita may drag a little towards the end, but overall it was a very good film and much better than I thought. 8/10 Bethany Cox

a surprising film. for the recreation of an image in each detail. for the flavor of great musicals. for Madona and her impressive work. for Jonathan Pryce. and for Banderas. it is a melodramatic story, remembering, in the same measure, the soap operas and the propaganda about Evita. but it is a film who descend from a musical. and this explains everything - the side of fairy tale, the love story, the chance to become, for many viewers, the film of a song. this is all.

Surely Madonna was made for this role, that of Eva Duarte de Peron, a young girl from the country who rises to the top with a combination of brains, wits, political savvy and sexuality. Sure she used men to attain her dreams, but what was a girl to do in 1930s-40s Argentina? Antonio Banderas is superb as Che, the "narrator" critic, perhaps the soul of the Argentinian peasants. Banderas' background is stage musicals, and he matches Madonna in every way. Jonathan Pryce is also excellent in his role as the dictator who rises to power only with the talents of Eva. This is not your ordinary musical. Almost every word is sung, as in opera, and the whole thing works. Andrew Lloyd Webber proves himself again a master tunesmith. Besides "Don't cry for me Argentina," all the other songs (if you can call them that) are beautiful, ranging from sweet ballads to waltz and rock. The film is lavish in breadth and depth, with thousands of extras just like the old Hollywood spectaculars. No f/x here, but real people. The cinematography is also superb. This is truly a triumph, a glorious experience, totally unique in film. Highly recommended. *****

As a person who is not a big fan of movie musicals, I was thoroughly impressed by the magnificent performance of Madonna playing the title role and singing the immortal hit "Don't cry for me Argentina." Jonathan Pryce and Antonio Banderas were also spectacular in their respective roles.(p)

Andrew Lloyd Weber's musical genius is captured in this touching and historic portrayal of the life of Argentine First Lady Eva Peron. A peasant girl who used her charms and elegance as an aspiring entertainer and rises to become the wife of Argentina's most powerful politician is sequentially presented with song and dance that only a masterful musical producer such as Weber could create.(p)

I highly recommend this movie to anyone interested in learning about the life of an important poltical figure of the twentieth century and being delightfully entertained at the same.

"Evita" is an opera, albeit a rock opera, in the true sense of the word -- there can't be fifty words of spoken dialogue in the entire movie. Music drama is a highly stylized form, which admittedly is not everyone's cup of tea. Perhaps that is why the overall rating given the film by IMDb voters, 6.3 out of 10, is as low as it is. To those of us who like the operatic form, though, this is an outstanding film, beautiful to look at, well acted, and most importantly well sung. The only weakness I found was the one that inheres in every Andrew Lloyd Webber piece: too much recycling of too few musical themes over two-plus hours. Nevertheless, Tim Rice's lyrics are wonderful, they are consistently inventive and drive the story. Madonna was good in the title role but Antonio Banderas's performance as Ché was great, both dramatically and musically. "Evita" is highly recommended, 8 out of 10.