Gigi (1958)

Rating: 75%
Alright so here's the next best picture to review: Gigi.

Plot: Gigi is a young girl who lives with her mother and grandmother in turn-of-the-20th-century Paris. She is learning to be a courtesan from her Great Aunt Alicia while her grandmother spend time with a wealthy young man named Gaston who has grown to be bored with his life. After Gaston recently publicly humiliates his mistress, he decides to go on a vacation by the sea and Gigi convinces him to take her and her grandmother with him, and they have a great time. Because of this, Alicia wants to work more into Gigi's education to try to make Gigi as a prize to Gaston, much to the former two's unawareness.

While I wouldn't say this film holds up after all these years, I still ended up enjoying it for the most part. It's well acted, the story was not spectacular but it was still good, and the music was...alright. When I say alright, I mean that while you might like most of the music, most of the songs turn out to be very plain and not very groundbreaking as far as music goes - especially coming from the guy that did My Fair Lady. But at the same time I ended up liking the songs anyway at least when it came to the subject matter behind them. When I say that, I mean that some of them are about things I feel that we don't usually hear when listening to a musical such as songs like The Parisians and I'm Glad I'm Not Young Anymore. Yet at the same time I have issues with some of them like how Gaston's Soliloquy seems a little too similar to I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face from My Fair Lady, (to which I feel the fact that this was done by Frederick Loewe who has done the music for both of them explains it.) But I think the worst is the very first song Thank Heaven For Little Girls. When I brought up to my brother that I had just seen this film, the first thing he said was "wasn't that song just creepy?" Why would he say that? Because it's sung by Uncle Honoré who is an old guy. And and old guy singing about little girls...that does sound pretty darn creepy. But other then that, the characters where acceptable, the story was confusing at some point but was still enjoyable for the most part, ultimately it's not one of the best film musicals or musicals in general, but you can still enjoy it for the most part.

And that's my review for Gigi. It's not a great musical with it's songs that have somewhat unique subjects but doesn't change much in terms of tune, or characters and story that you would find particularly great or memorable. But it still turn out to be a simple musical with a simple story you'd expect from a musical that in a way makes it a decent time to watch.