The Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story

I don't know about the previous reviewer, but what possibly could have been done better than this superb documentary? Lifeless it isn't, clumsy it isn't. It's touching, and filled with many fascinating insights. The use of seeing parallel home movies by the brothers during their estrangement was an inspired one. It's very well done, people. It does exactly what it sets out to do, and then some. I hope people will seek out this film and see for themselves just how good it is.

For a Disney release, it's also interesting to see non-Disney films incorporated to give a more balanced look at the brothers' film scores. For baby boomers, this film will be an added pleasure, since so much of this music here most likely was a strong presence during their growing years. Don't miss this one!

Richard and robert are the sherman brothers. Two brothers, a song writing team, who started out on their own, and were later hired by disney. Their two families didn't meet until much later in life.they wrote some pretty big songs ( spoonful of sugar, it's a small world after all, so many more) for some pretty huge films (bedknobs and broomsticks, chitty chitty bang bang, winnie the pooh). And they won two oscars and three grammies ! Lots of time spent on walt disney, and some behind the scene stuff that disney was doing at the time. Fun footage of walt disney himself, julie andrews. Angela lansbury, even several sherman family members. Really interesting stuff! Directed by greg and jeff sherman. They are cousins, two sons of of the sherman brothers. More details on the shermans and their work at wikipedia dot org.

We were fortunate to see this film here in Toronto last night in advance of its (I think only) theatrical release. Even more fortunate was the fact that the two directors/sons and Dick Sherman were in attendance and did Q&A afterwards. Dick even had a piano and played some of the brothers' songs, explaining, among other things, how the music of "Spoonful of Sugar" was written as a reflection of the character of Mary Poppins. I'm a bit of a curmudgeon and attended with my 18-year old daughter. We both had tears in our eyes on several occasions during the film and afterwards. How two brothers who are so different can work so successfully together for so many decades and yet never see one another outside their working hours is a remarkable story, simply and lovingly told. The film also provides some interesting insights into the Disney studio during its heyday.

This is the third Disney documentary I've seen in the last couple months (this includes this film, "Walt and El Groupo" and "Waking Sleeping Beauty") and all three were enjoyable bits of nostalgia. However, unlike these other two films, the Shermans were most famous for their work but they wrote music for a wide variety of projects--not just ones for that studio.

The film begins in a way that took my by surprise. Apparently it was made by one of Bob Sherman's sons and one of Dick Sherman's sons. Neither knew each other and their families never really interacted--despite their fathers being brothers and long-time writing partners! Now that is weird and caught my attention, as it seems that over the years the two became more and more estranged from each other and were so unalike. What follows is a nice nostalgic look at these men and their lives and shows the many ways in which their music has shaped films and our culture.

The film is well made, fascinating and great for Disney fans and non-fans. While not as amazingly good as "Waking Sleeping Beauty", it is some documentary.

This little shown intimate portrait of the Sherman Brothers seems to have been largely overlooked in favor of the more broadly drawn "Waking Sleeping Beauty". That is most unfortunate because this is much more profound both as a peek into the creative functioning of the Disney empire...and as a fascinating unvarnished love letter to the astonishingly prolific and inspired team that gave the studio product so much of it's sparkle...

This is an exquisite film with the interviews and clips arranged for maximum impact...(the DVD is even more of a treasure trove...the out-takes and extended scenes being just as valuable as the material that made the final cut). The tear jerking moments depicting "The Boys'" relationship with Walt Disney...and his love for "Feed the Birds" has been hinted at before...but this film brings it into a clear focus that makes it a must see for everyone who ever loved one of the studio's films...or ever hummed along to one of the teams immortal creations.

There will be some people upset that this ends up being less of a happily ever after fairy tale than they would expect. This documentary lovingly depicts the somewhat strained relationship between two brothers who were very different people and how they were able to come together in one glorious project...the creation of songs that will live as long as there are children to re-discover them.

Co-directed by the sons of "The Boys" this is also a delicious portrait of the lives of two families...and of Hollywood Magic in the mid 20th century...

The moving reminiscences and archival clips are alone worth the price of the Disc!