Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

An action-packed slog

an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

This is an allegory of a person's life and goals and dreams and disappointments, utilizing a long dead, pretty much forgotten king (actually "Pepin"), practically fictionalized to show off a new wave of musical theatre that has moved on to other avenues yet is still greatly influenced by this entertaining, if now dated style. Bob Fosse, who had been around seemingly forever when this began its lengthy run, took on all the individual styles that he had used in his previous works, and had his first singular work on stage that melded all of those experimental ideas that had mastered his reputation on screen with the film versions of "Sweet Charity" and "Cabaret".The whole idea of "Pippin" is basically a tale of growing up and finding oneself among the confusions of life. In the case of the dark ages prince Pippin, he's the smarter of the two sons of emperor Charlemagne, trying to figure out his destiny. Hr finds grandmotherly advice and love from a young lady, fatherly resentment and sibling rivalry. It's the "into the woods" theme with just one confused hero, and the giant in the sky is his own fear of an unknown future.The greatest of American heroes, William Katt, is handsome, strong and sensual, perhaps lacking the vulnerability that oozes off the original cast album from John Rubinstein. Ben Vereen remains "magical" as the leading player, reminiscent of el Gallo in "The Fantadtiks" and the emcee in "Cabaret". Big names in small roles cone with Chita Rivera as his sensual wicked stepmother who only wants to", Spread a Little Sunshine" and Martha Raye who encourages us all to keep livin' in an audience sing along. Certainly those who saw the original Broadway production or the smash revival will find disappointments in the cuts and certain aspects of this production, but it's what we've got as a representation of the original show. Most shows don't even get this! It's dated fun in its efforts to show us what it was all about, and indeed, there are moments that are quite wonderful. So as they had magic to do, some of it was really mystical.

I LOVE THIS MUSICAL (and this version in particular). I wish it would come back to Broadway and have Ben Vereen as the Leading Player again. Even though he is older, he would still be amazing. William Katt was great, Martha Raye was brilliant, and Benjamin Rayson was top notch as well.To the reviewer who said the ending is lacking: They did that on purpose. It is supposed to be anticlimactic. If you paid any attention to the rest of the show you would have realized how brilliant the ending is. They even say at the end that it is a 'musical comedy.' The ending is the funniest joke in the whole show.10/10

I'm in a production of Pippin (Player, Girl, Beggar, Courtier), and one day, my director sat us down and screened this movie for us. Well, Ben Vereen is fantastic!!! And Chita Rivera IS Fastrada. I don't think that anyone else can pull off being sexy in the same way that she does. The only one who blew it in my book was William Katt. He was a HORRIBLE Pippin. And what the heck was he doing bouncing around the stage like that yelling the line "GLORY'S IN THE AIR!" And the only thing that didn't tickle me like the rest of the movie did (the bedroom scene was HILARIOUS)was the cuts. They cut out Theo's duck dying and most of the lines when Pippin was made King. Some of the adlibs, I admit, were pretty funny, i.e. when the leading player yells at Catherine about flubbing the line ("But he touched my hand, they don't normally do that!" "I don't care WHERE he put his hands!"), but others were just really dumb. And the orgy scene made me blush furiously. Now, I admit, my production is cutting the bed scene and the duck dying, but it would've been better if we hadn't. The same applies for this. But other than that, this is a great movie.

This should have been great, but anyone familiar with the stage production will be disappointed. Great numbers are cut, (esp. most of Fastrada's "Spread a Little Sunshine" and all of Catherine's "I Guess I'll Miss the Man"). So are important lines, such as Pippin's discussion with the severed head after the poorly staged "Glory." When Pippin is king, he and others refer to critical lines that were cut, making the scene incomprehensible. They cut the death of Theo's duck, which is so important to that part of the show, and without which the rest of that that section makes no sense. They would have done better to cut all the ad libs and most of Martha Raye's pathetic (what's with the microphone?) appearance as Berthe. And to cap it all off, William Katt blows the final--and most important--line in the show, destroying the entire point of the production.