Back in the late nineties when most of us Bad Movie Nighters were in our late elementary school years, I remembered seeing television advertisements for this film on Nickelodeon or some other channel that primarily catered to kids. Even at ten I was skeptical of any movie or album you could order directly off the television and I found myself wondering, "who even does that?' The answer is Sarah's mom and Sarah used to watch this movie constantly as a kid and fall asleep to the soundtrack. After she discovered that Tim Rice wrote the music for "Lion King" and this, she remembered that it was a bizarre, trippy nightmare and decided we should all experience it. It's only an hour and fifteen minutes but it felt so much longer. Also, here we go with another entry thanks to Andrew "tory-voting" Lloyd "frog-face" Webber.So the plot follows the Bible but if you're a heathen like me, you don't know what that is so I'll explain. Joseph is the favorite son of Jacob much to the chagrin of his eleven brothers who were not born of Jacob's favorite dead wife. Jacob gives Joseph a really tacky coat that drives the brothers to attempt fratricide and when that doesn't work they sell him into slavery. Joseph attains pretty high rank as a slave in Egypt but then gets sexually assaulted by his master's wife and thrown in jail. He managed to get out because he's really good at dream interpretation and uses it to win the Pharaoh's favor and become his right hand man. Joseph's brothers, now destitute without him, go to Egypt to beg for food and Joseph makes them grovel. He then plans to punish one for stealing a cup but forgives him and reveals his identity. Happily ever after.
This movie is an acid trip. First of all, it has a useless framing device about it being set as a school play in an elementary school with all the actors in the play also doubling as admin. The only purpose this seems to serve is to justify the existence of an ear splitting children's choir in some songs. The aesthetic of this film is basically a low budget kid's show during the scenes with Joseph's brothers and then Dr. Caligari's Tim Burton-esque gay nightmare while in Egypt. The original stage musical came out during the era of popular tribal musicals for adults like "Hair" and "Godspell" but that only explains so much. The music is all over the place involving songs in styles of western, cabaret, tango, Jamaican steel drum, Elvis rock, and more standard Broadway. Oh, and it's supposed to be FUNNY. It's sometimes funny but not in the right way.
Should you watch it is a bit of a debate. Sarah says yes. Adam says no. Kay says it's a fair candidate for watching. Keith was mostly ranting about the liberties taken with the original story. Decide on your own.
Adam's Review: "Proverbs, Chapter 4, Verse 15: Avoid it. Do not go to it. Turn away from it and pass on."
Spoon Rating: 4.5
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