Meat Loaf: To Hell and Back

On behalf of all REAL Meat Loaf fans far and wide, Let me just say...BRAVO. From Hell and Back ....more like from heaven ?...and back. Bat out of hell?....more like bat out of well....done! Congratulations to Jim Mcbride on genius directing, the man has such a vision. I have never been so taken aback by a biography. This is clearly not a rockumentary, however it is a very accurate and entertaining depiction of Meat Loaf's wonderful life as an immensely talented fat man. This movie was heart felt, touching, I cried, I laughed, I was scared, I farted a little. excuse me. Not have I been so excited about a movie since the 2001 when the biopic "Salt and Peppa: Puh Push it Real Good" came out.

Meat Loaf is by far the greatest rock star of the 1970s 80s 90s and beyond. This movie is based on his Autobiography of the same name. Although currently available on vhs format VH1 and Paramount Pictures are bound to give in to the demand for DVD format featuring all the promotional extras that went with it. This movie is good but as I stated in my headline summary it is mixed up in some parts. Certain people places and things did or did not happen. One piece of the book I wished they had filmed was Meat Loaf driving through Arizona to California during the mid to late 1960's and picks up a hippie drifter on the highway. It turns out in the book that Meat Loaf wound up giving a ride to Charles Manson. I don't know how fans of Meat Loaf would have taken it but it would have been one of those shock moments in Meat Loafs' life where everyone would have gone WHOOOOOAAAA dude that was unreal.

This docudrama starts with MeatLoaf (W. Earl Brown) as a kid growing up in Dallas 1958. He's a fat kid with a sick mother and a drunken abusive father. He's bullied by the school kids. He played high school football, and got into drama. He strikes out for Hollywood after the death of his mother eventually connecting with composer Jim Steinman (Zachary Throne) and future wife Leslie Edmonds (Dedee Pfeiffer). But old demons continue to haunt him.

I wouldn't say this is good drama. There are highlights, and the movie is checking off one highlight after another. There is even a 'The Voice' moment as Jim Steinman turns around and shockingly finds the chubby man with the Wagner voice. Brown does a great job impersonating MeatLoaf. I'm sure he got the job for his striking resemblance but they got a great actor to boot. He's the only one saving this from being a hopelessly bland docudrama.

If you have seen the "Behind the Music" type things on Meat Loaf, there was not much surprise here, but it was a good show. The music spanned years, and is as good now as it was then. The acting was better than I expected, and there was nothing about the story that seemed completely blown out of proportion. If you like Meat Loaf, I recommend catching it the next time it is on.

where do i start? i love meat loaf, i love his music, i love his acting career. but vh1 has let me as well as SEVERAL meat loaf fans down with this flop. first off, there are more albums then bat out of hell 1 and 2, which the movie seemed to have forgotten. and when an attempt was made to mention his dead ringer album in the studio, they got the lyrics wrong for peel out. their time line was way off, why was objects in the rearview mirror playing 13 years chronologically before it was actually released? vh1 took TOO many liberties in creating this movie and any redeemable moments were few and far between. i think that the actor playing meat loaf was a good actor, but come on, let's not slap a long haired wig on a big guy and call him meat loaf. meat loaf himself and his production company had nothing to do with this there are several inaccuracies and i dont think the creators of this c**p should have even touched the mother issue let alone interpret it the way they did. if you are a fleeting fan, go ahead, watch this movie. if you are a real fan then you will weep inconsolably.