Reviews

I'd recommend reading the subject contributor's paragraph four: the Bojangles number.

Says it all. That sequence plays as well today (Feb 2008) as it did so many decades ago. It is brilliant and close to timeless. The only other number (from filmdom's "antiquity") that comes close for years-ahead pizazz is the wonderful drunk elephants number in Disney's "Dumbo".

This is a nifty, gentle movie with some great Rogers/Astaire magic. Watch it and enjoy the simple pleasure of watching two possibly immortal pros in action.

Naf

The many comments I have read about "Coop" are essentially without merit. Many younger women--in film AND in "real" life--find vivacious, bright, charming men attractive. In movies we have more than one Fred Astaire flick, and another one or so with either Bogart or Cary Grant or Harrison Ford. Reality? How about Picasso, Chaplin, and any Techie billionaire with a Trophy wife.

No: problem here is that Cooper was obviously ill, and looked terrible in more than one scene. Additionally, I did not sense/feel the usual pizazz that Wilder could produce in some of his better films, such as, say, "Some Like It Hot." Ms. Hepburn is always charming; too thin for my taste, but a good actress in almost anything that she's done. Maurice is charming, although I prefer him singing ("Thank Heaven for little girls").

An OK film with little to recommend it other than Hepburn.

I have read some of the other reviews, and surely agree with those I have seen. Indeed, it is clear that some reviewers are surely cinema buffs, and can lay out their opinions with the precision that one expects from seasoned critics.

Fine.

I am an elderly dude now, and I look back on this wonderful film with the sweet reminisce of a Geezer checking out a film he first saw as a sophomore in high school. Yup: still funny, delightful in its occasional silliness. WONDERFUL performances by all hands, especially the multi- talented Mr. Grant. And Lorre? What can one say? A partial send-up of his role in "M" (I can do the critic thing too, of course), and Massey, Linconesque as always, is totally threatening here. (Great shot when the drapes are thrown back!)

This is a great film: funny, irreverent in a way; totally delightful. And just the thing for an old Geezer, cocoa in hand, orange cat in lap, to watch on a winter evening.

Nick Fortis, Old Dude, Los Altos California

I'm an old dude, 75 to be exact, and in my working days I was everything from a mainframe programmer to a HiTech startup Tech Admin. This sentence is here only to show why I am interested in the productions of Dreamworks and, of course, Pixar. Coming from a computer background permits me to be very, very impressed with the wonderful skill and creativity that go into making movies such as Shreck.

Now then: The movie itself is marvelous! The characters are gentle and funny; there is no gratuitous violence; there are innuendos, of course, but skillfully done in a way that the "libretto" if you will can be "read" at least two levels. The story line itself is charming, and the ending is a real, nifty surprise!

I add here that I've watched this with my younger G_Kids, who loved it; and also with my bride of fifty years, who loved it.

It is in all ways in a class with the best that Mr. Jobs has so far produced, which is saying a great deal.

HIGHLY recommended as good, funny, charming entertainment for a whole bunch of ages.

Nick Fortis Los Altos California