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Movies / Upcoming / The Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story
The Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story

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The Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story (2009)

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Reviews Counted:16

Fresh:14

Rotten:2

Average Rating:7.5/10

Genre: Education/General Interest

Synopsis: If you grew up in the 20th Century, odds are you’ve been singing along to the Sherman Brothers’ songs -- maybe without even knowing it. The Academy Award®-winning brothers, Richard and Robert... If you grew up in the 20th Century, odds are you’ve been singing along to the Sherman Brothers’ songs -- maybe without even knowing it. The Academy Award®-winning brothers, Richard and Robert Sherman, arguably defined family musical entertainment with unforgettable songs like “Chim Chim Cher-ee” and “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” from Mary Poppins; “I Wanna Be Like You” from The Jungle Book; the score to Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and the most translated song ever written, “It’s a Small World (After All)” from the popular Disneyland attraction.

While their songs were cherished by both audiences and Walt Disney himself, outside the public eye, the boys’ personal relationship with each other was far less harmonious. In the feature length documentary The boys: The Sherman Brothers’ Story, a wide array of notable celebrities, professional peers, close friends, family members and the brothers themselves describe the Shermans’ eight-decade journey through love and partnership, loyalty and estrangement. "The Boys: The Sherman Brothers’ Story is a unique, yet universal story of two brothers pursuing true passion, battling personal differences and working as a team to, ultimately, walk with giants. --© Walt Disney Pictures [More]

Starring: Julie Andrews, Roy E. Disney, Samuel Goldwyn, John Landis

Starring: Julie Andrews, Roy E. Disney, Samuel Goldwyn, John Landis, Angela Lansbury, John Lasseter, Kenny Loggins, Alan Menken, Hayley Mills, Randy Newman, Robert Osborne, Debbie Reynolds, Stephen Schwartz, Ben Stiller, Dick Van Dyke, John Williams, Annette Funicello

Director: Gregory V. Sherman, Jeffrey C. Sherman

Director: Gregory V. Sherman, Jeffrey C. Sherman
Producer: Gregory V. Sherman, Jeffrey C. Sherman
Studio: Walt Disney Pictures

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Reviews for The Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story

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1 - 17 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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The film holds their Disney songs in such high esteem, and discusses them with such little context, that The Boys sometimes feels as though it is set in Disneyland, not the real world.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
11/06/09
Dan Kois
Dan Kois
Washington Post

The documentary covers 80 years of their lives, from a happy childhood right through to the present day, covering their personal and professional lives and offering a glimpse of their particular creative process.

Full Review Source: Jam! Movies | comment Comment
08/21/09
Liz Braun
Liz Braun
Jam! Movies
N/R

It's a solid chapter in the history of American popular song, an examination of Walt Disney's final career triumphs, a glimpse at both the daily grind and the eureka moments of songwriting, and a story of family dynamics all rolled into one.

Full Review Source: Globe and Mail | comment Comment
08/21/09
Jennie Punter
Jennie Punter
Globe and Mail

The story of the men who wrote them in the golden age of Walt Disney Studios' movie musicals, brothers Robert and Richard Sherman, is one of the most fascinating chronicles of creative partnership never told.

Full Review Source: Toronto Star | comment Comment
08/21/09
Greg Quill
Greg Quill
Toronto Star

Film buffs and cineastes will find the doc's inside-show biz stories a real treat.

Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | comment Comment
05/29/09
Steve Simels
Steve Simels
Boxoffice Magazine

A lively, engrossing, fascinating and well-edited documentary. It finds just the right balance between entertaining the audience and provoking them intellectually as well as emotionally.

Full Review Source: NYC Movie Guru | comment Comment
05/23/09
Avi Offer
Avi Offer
NYC Movie Guru

A touching and illuminating documentary about the songwriting duo.

Full Review Source: USA Today | comment Comment
05/22/09
Claudia Puig
Claudia Puig
USA Today

An excellent film -- entertaining and informative and sometimes stunning in its display of the personal demons shared by these two geniuses.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment Comment
05/22/09
Peter Hartlaub
Peter Hartlaub
San Francisco Chronicle

An absorbing study in creative tension.

Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
05/22/09
Lou Lumenick
Lou Lumenick
New York Post

An irresistible documentary about the inexhaustible sibling songwriting duo Richard and Robert Sherman.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
05/22/09
Laura Kern
Laura Kern
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story is, above all, a loving salute from sons to their accomplished fathers.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment Comment
05/21/09
Kevin Thomas
Kevin Thomas
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Be warned: you will leave this wonderful biography tortured by the classic songs threaded throughout.

Full Review Source: New York Daily News | comment Comment
05/21/09
Elizabeth Weitzman
Elizabeth Weitzman
New York Daily News

Directors Gregory and Jeffrey Sherman, sons of the composers, have set themselves such a furious pace in parsing the full chronology that we only skim the surface of the Poppins near-disaster.

Full Review Source: Time Out New York | comment Comment
05/20/09
S. James Snyder
S. James Snyder
Time Out New York

Anyone expecting a saccharine-mapped trip down memory lane from this engrossing documentary, directed by cousins Gregory and Jeff Sherman, sons of Robert and Richard, is in for a bittersweet, heartbreaking surprise.

Full Review Source: Village Voice | comment Comment
05/19/09
Ernest Hardy
Ernest Hardy
Village Voice

Evocative and intriguing, spiced by lush, radiant movie clips illustrating the Sherman brothers' glorious legacy of music.

Full Review Source: SSG Syndicate | comment Comment
05/19/09
Susan Granger
Susan Granger
SSG Syndicate

Engaging docu draws on plentiful archival footage and A-list interviewees, and should lure dedicated nostalgists.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
04/29/09
Dennis Harvey
Dennis Harvey
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

It might not break new ground, but this entertaining, inside-show-business documentary is greatly enhanced by the presence of the two engaging 'boys' of the title.

Full Review Source: Hollywood Reporter | comment Comment
04/29/09
Sura Wood
Sura Wood
Hollywood Reporter
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
 
 
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