Jan 16 2009
B+ Movie Review: Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog
The world of visual entertainment is changing. Not the way that we thought it would in the early 90’s, with interactive movies and virtual reality, but more in how we receive our media. It’s unlikely that if you’re reading this blog, you’ve not streamed video or downloaded a movie to your computer. Despite this, the industry that produces those neat moving pictures has not really altered how it makes it’s movies in light of the new viewing technologies.
What may herald the next generation of visual storytelling is a viral project called Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog.
Many things set the tale of Dr. Horrible apart from other films. First of all, it is a production that was meant to be seen on the web first, before DVD or the big screen. Second, it was a pretty low budget piece with name actors (Joss Whedon, director and producer, said that it was in the “low six figures” to make). And it’s advertisement was primarily by word of mouth.
The story itself is a catalog of B Movie staples that could have rendered it a horrid steaming pile of cliche’s but instead, by virtue of the talents involved, turned it into something amazing. Our story begins when would-be, big time supervillian Dr. Horrible (played by Neal Patrick Harris of How I Met Your Mother) plots his entry into the world’s premier group of supervillians, the Evil League of Evil. His chief obsticle is superhero and consumate jerk named Captain Hammer (portrayed with cheesy goodness by Nathan Fillion of Firefly and Slither). Also complicating matters is Dr. Horrible’s love for Penny (brought to life by actress Felicia Day), a kind hearted woman who doesn’t seem to know that he exists.
Clocking in at 45min or so total, this story has everything you’d expect from most feature length movies and more than some TV shows have in a whole season: drama, romance, revenge, violence, comedy and singing. Oh yes, the singing. The music in this story is incorperated well, neither detracting from or overtaking the spoken dialogue, but instrumental in establishing the mood and pace of the story. The music from the second installment alone was enough to make me want to accquire the soundtrack.
Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog doesn’t give you a lot of time to overexamine it, which is good because if there’s anything that can be checked off in the “suck” column for this one, it’s that it requires a fair suspension of disbelief. It’s a four color comic book world we’re dealing with, which could be hard to get into for people not already familar with the feel and absurdity of such a setting. It might be easy to lose the passion and emotion of the characters when you have to first accept that Dr. Horrible’s current project is a time stopping freeze ray.
But if approached with even the slightest allowance for nonsense, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog is the very definition of awesome. Starting with the absurd task of making something moving out of the spare time of a few entertainers and a shoestring budget, Dr. Horrible achieves and exceeds every expectation.
Keep in mind that people were buying it off of ITunes when it was still available for free on the internet. For that matter, people are buying it on DVD, though in truth that may have something to do with the special feature Commentary: The Musical. Whedon has said he’d like to do more Dr. Horrible and I can only hope that he gets the chance, as I can use more things to put a B+ on.
Just like I’m putting on this installment of the story; Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog is a B+ feature and if you haven’t checked it out, I recommend taking the time to do so.
In fact, here’s the link: Watch it!
