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TServo2049 t1_iy47h64 wrote

We bought the VHS at McDonald’s. Remember when they’d occasionally offer certain movies for a discounted price with the purchase of food? (I have a suspicion that at least in the case of Babes in Toyland, the studio was trying to get rid of unsold inventory…)

I remember being disappointed with the movie even as a kid, and I can’t even remember if I ever finished it (though I eventually watched the whole thing to make fun of it, around the time I was in college; no fun was had, it was an utter slog).

Even as a child I think I could tell that the Disney version with Annette Funicello was better.

At least I wasn’t alive to watch the long version that originally aired on TV, which had even more awful original songs in it. I don’t think I can take more cringey Leslie Bricusse lyrics than what’s in the shorter version - and remember, we’re not talking Willy Wonka-era Leslie Bricusse, we’re talking Tom and Jerry: The Movie-era Leslie Bricusse.

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Bears_On_Stilts t1_iy4io25 wrote

If you get the chance, check out Bricusse’s additional songs written to pad out his version of the Willy Wonka stage musical. They’re so weak, it’s no wonder the eventual Broadway version threw out everything but “Pure Imagination” and started from scratch.

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TServo2049 t1_iy4rskz wrote

Doesn’t surprise me. His work with Anthony Newley was great, but without him, that man was arguably the Nickelback of show tunes. The Rex Harrison Doctor Dolittle? Leslie Bricusse. Those sappy songs from Hook? Leslie Bricusse (and he wrote even more of them, back when it was supposed to be a full-blown musical). That stupid poem that stops the first Superman cold? Bricusse. (Thank goodness that wasn’t sung as originally intended…)

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