Sorry I'm late, but I figure it'd be better to post in this thread than make a new one.
I have mixed feelings on the soundtrack. In some ways I think it's better than the OBCR, but overall I'd rather listen to that than this.
I can understand why "Mama I'm a Big Girl Now" would be difficult to make work on screen, but that's a big number from the show and I'm glad they at least recorded it for the end credits. Although I think the OBC version is far better.
I think Nikki's voice sounds a lot like Marissa, and I don't really mean that as a compliment as Marissa's voice annoys me. Although Nikki's is less grating.
Also, if they're trying to promote Nikki as the "Jennifer Hudson," of the film, then I feel it was a very unwise decision to cut out "I Can Wait," her big ballad number from the film. Without it, she doesn't have that much music to shine from other than 2 cute but definitely not standout solos in the first third of the film. They pretty much obliterated her part in "Without Love," so she barely has more to sing than the rest of the cast.
Which leads me to how they butchered "Without Love" so bad that it almost made me angry the first time I heard it. Not only is Zac Efron a completely mediocre and souless singer, but it sounds as if his voice has been partially digitized. Also, is it possible for Amanda Bynes to hit a semi-high note without doing those annoying scoops? And the fact that they transposed multiple songs in the movie because the actors' voices were too limited is disappointing.
The new songs in the film are forgettable, bland, and inferior to the original Broadway score.
James Mardsen sounds good. Michelle Phiffer and Brittany Snow, not so much. I can see why Snow's song became only underscore. Not only is the song not good enough, but her voice is almost non-existent.
To me, the highlights of the soundtrack are the updated orchestration, minus the overproduced saxophones on "I Know Where I Been." To me, that song should be more gospel feeling and less like a jazz standard. However, Queen Latfiah's vocal of the song saves it from both the misstep in orchestrations and the travesty that is Mary Bond Davis's overdone growling.
In fact, based on the soundtrack, I would say that Queen Latifah and Elijah Kelly are the two best voices on the soundtrack. I was thoroughly impressed by both of them. It's a shame though that they cut "Big Blonde and Beautiful" when it sounds incomplete without the full lyrics. And then to add the pointless reprise was well...pointless.
John Travolta sounds like his performance could be more sympathetic than Harvey's and Divine's, although most of his vocals I don't particularly care for.
So yeah, overall the soundtrack makes me nervous for how the film will turn out to be. Too much good material from the OBC score I feel has been cut, and too much mediocre material has taken its place. "Welcome to the 60s" still sounds overall great and in tact, as do "Run and Tell That," and most of "You Can Stop the Beat" (mostly because Penny's part has been divided into a duet between her and Seaweed, meaning that we luckily are saved from Bynes' sweet but weak vocals.) However, Link and Penny are definitely better sung by the stage actors and to me, their vocals are sorely missed.
Updated On: 7/17/07 at 11:39 PM
