SimonJack Although I've been a movie buff most of my life, for my first few decades I didn't pay much attention to the people behind the movies, other than the actors. So, when I began studying the silver screen in earnest several years ago, I was surprised at the list of accomplishments of the Sherman Brothers. Then, I recently watched a newer DVD of "Mary Poppins," which I hadn't watched for many years. It had some bonus video short subjects, including background on the music. That peaked my interest more and I bought the DVD of the Sherman Brothers' story, "The Boys." I was further surprised to learn of their personality clashes over time. While they never broke out in angry turmoil, it became too stressful for Robert, who then moved away. That their different interests, personalities and characters should be a source of creative conflict is amazing. But, they both testify to that in the numerous interview snippets included in this biographical documentary. The separation of their families for nearly four decades – when they lived just houses away from each other while the kids were growing up – that was tragic. All the more reason to congratulate their sons Gregory and Jeffrey for meeting to bury the hatchets they didn't even know they had, and make this biodoc as a way to tell the story of the Sherman Brothers and their accomplishments. And, in the process, to hopefully get their dads back together. The documentary is first-rate in all aspects. It is excellent work, with excellent material that they researched and put together from the past. The interviews with others who worked with The Boys were spot on. And, this DVD too has some bonus material that gives even more information. I'm sure that the people interviewed are right – that many of the Sherman Brothers' songs will live on for generations. The most popular and well known are "Chim Chim Cher-ee," "A Spoonful of Sugar," "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious," "Winnie the Pooh," "The Wonderful Thing About Tiggers," "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang," "It's a Small World," and "Anything Can Happen." The brothers had great praise and admiration for Walt Disney. It was he who made them the resident music creators for all of the Disney ventures. Besides the two Oscars they won, they had dozens of nominations for major awards over the years and won a number. They wrote 31 major movie scores, live action and animated, for Disney and others. They wrote dozens of songs for the Disney theme parks and for the Disney TV programs. Several became pop hits over the years – in addition to the above songs from their shows. One thing that I found especially interesting about Bob, was his experience toward the end of World War II. He had just turned 17 and got permission form his parents to enlist in the Army in 1943. In this film, Bob says he and his squad were the first Americans to enter the Dachau prison camp. He said the sight of the corpses and ovens would be "nightmares for the rest of my life." The film has a number of interviews with A.J. Carothers. He was a long- time playwright and TV writer with Disney, and a close friend of both Bob and Richard. He said that the positive songs of the boys were uplifting to everyone who worked around them. He described their musical output as joyful, fun and romantic. They didn't create sentimental music, but romantic songs. He quoted author F. Scott Fitzgerald for his definition. "A sentimental person thinks things will last, and a romantic hopes against hope they will not." That's from Fitzgerald's first novel, "This Side of Paradise."Bob tells a story about how they came up with the word, "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious." "When we were really young kids, we went to summer camp. And, they had a contest. Who could make a longer word than antidisestablishmentarianism. That was a very famous word. And, we messed around. We came up with an idea for a word."The Boys and others have asked how many people can say "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" backwards. Richard said he could, and he rattled off a word. Unfortunately, the IMDb review won't accept my giving these examples with syllable breaks. The Web site says that my review contains too many spelling mistakes. So, I will just finish this with general references here. Julie Andrews said it the same way, but she admitted it as the syllables in reverse order – not the full word actually spelled and pronounced backwards. But even that wasn't the case, because in their example they recited six of the seven syllable breaks in reverse order but then said super backwards as well. So, their rendition is a mixed bag of some of the syllables backwards and in reverse order. For fun, I then spelled the word in reverse with syllable breaks for those who might want to take a crack at it. With this, it's obvious why the songwriters chose to try for just saying the syllables in reverse.For trivia fans, the one-word song title has 34 letters and uses 15 of the 26 letters of the alphabet. Of those, 16 are vowels and 18 are consonants. The vowel used most is the letter "i," which appears seven times. I offer this all in the spirit of the Sherman Brothers and Walt Disney who brought us so much laughter and many smiles in their music, movies and stories.

cessnaace This film is the perfect companion to the two CD set "The Sherman Brothers Songbook," which I listened to before I watched the DVD of this film.Let's start with what I already knew. I knew that the Sharman's had written the vast majority of the songs used in Disney's films of the 60s and early 70s. I likewise knew that they had written some of the songs used at the theme parks. But they wrote so much more.They wrote songs for albums by former Mouseketeer Annette, such as "Tall Paul," which topped the pop charts, and "Pineapple Princess." They wrote "Sweet Sixteen," which became a number one hit for Ringo Starr. They wrote songs for the film musical "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang." I knew that they had written "It's a Small World." But they contributed even more that I hadn't even remotely been aware of.If you've ever been to a Disney theme park, their footprints are everywhere. "The Tiki, Tiki, Tiki Room." "Magic Journeys" at Epcot. "Meet the World," used at Tokyo Disneyland. "There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow," the song used at The Magic Kingdom's Carousel of Progress." The real treat of the CD is "Makin' Memories," at "Journey Into Imagination" at Epcot. Disney edited a slew of photos ranging from touching to cute to funny to this song. It's was replaced years ago, but I've always loved that song.What shocked me is that they had written several songs for "Winnie the Pooh," and the Charlie Brown animated films.Their are some people that they interviewed for the film that were complete surprises, such as Turner Classic Movies host Robert Osborn, and director John Landis. It was also cool to see Pink Floyd covering one of the Sherman's classics.Some other nice touches include one of the Sherman's singing and playing the piano for "Feed the Birds." During this song they inter-cut Walt Disney feeding birds on the Disney lot.Highly recommended.

johnstonjames this, for me personally, was really absorbing and fascinating subject matter for a celebrity profile documentary. i'll have to admit i'm one of those persons whose life was profoundly effected by the Sherman Bros. music. not only did i grow up with it practically from the cradle, i sort of majored in it as a quasi-pupil of sorts. i probably am more familiar with pretty much all of the Sherman Bros. works more than anybody i've ever met. i used to listen to their soundtracks over and over and over...get the picture?i remember knowing the difference between their Disney and non-Disney musical scores when i was very young and others hadn't the slightest. i even revered the scores to Disney films like 'Family Band' and 'Happiest Millionaire' when others had long forgotten those movies. 'Family Band' and 'Millionare' were my first soundtracks ever. even before i had the original soundtrack to 'Mary Poppins' i had those. i was probably around eight at the time. so you can imagine the influence these two men have had on my life.funny thing is, i really know little or nothing about their personal life or about who they were. i am familiar somewhat with the chronology of their work and of the various songs and melodies, and i am familiar with the many photographic images, but that's about it. most of the stuff i discovered here in this documentary was news to me and i wasn't sure i liked everything i heard.i was somewhat shocked to learn that the musical duo that gave us so many happy, happy, joy, joy, children's ditties, were so petty, dysfunctional and cranky with each other. i have a brother, and we are close enough, but i know how this sort of thing goes. i guess i just expected more mature behavior from these two. knowing what i do know about personality types, i venture to say the problem might have lay mostly with Robert, God rest his soul, because he is more withdrawn and less communicative. these types are often moody and are often silent because they are secretive and judgmental. he is also the older sibling, and according to Rank, has the whole dethroned king complex. dunno. just guessing. it was sad, but very revealing to know this about them. i mean it really makes you feel like you kind of got to know them.there were some sweet, but overly brief interviews with Lesely Ann Warren and John Davidson. and it was interesting, for me, to hear 'Bedknobs and Broomsticks' star Angela Lansbury, talk about Robert and his service in World War II and how it effected his treatment on that film score. it was also of interest to hear that their father was a well known songwriter and a immigrant. never knew any of that.for true aficionados of the Disney classics, this film should be a real treasure. it is done with fondness and warmth without being overtly sentimentalized. for those that don't really respect or truly love the films of Walt Disney himself, this whole thing might not mean much at all.the Sherman Bros. are my favorite song writers for musical theater of the last century. true, a lot of musical theater doesn't always appeal to me, i find a vast majority of it overrated, but musicals are my favorite genre never the less. the Bros. have never gotten the respect of say a Rodgers and Hammerstein, Lerner and Lowe or even a Rodgers and Hart, i think it's time. their scores are truly whimsical and delightful treasure. even if the creators were grounded and mired in their own spiteful, crabbiness.

T Y Never heard of this movie? That's because it's not very good. For over an hour, it makes the fatal mistake of assuming that the audience is already interested in its topic. It doesn't draw you in or build. And the makers are unfamiliar with the concept of "getting to the point." After 45 minutes all we know is that the two famous song-writing brothers of countless Disney songs don't talk to each other. It teases this forever. We are going back in history and revisiting their childhood home; at a point it still hasn't conveyed anything beyond "they don't like each other." I lost patience waiting for them to get on with it and began to jump over portions. Bobby, a very sympathetic figure, is so difficult to understand they should've put sub-titles on screen when he talks.The aspect of Sherman songs that the movie doesn't acknowledge is that they are delightful to kids, and excruciating to adults. The Sherman brothers didn't write some of the most irritating songs ever written, they appear to have written ALL of them.(Supercalifragilisticexpialadocious, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, It's a small world, Let's go fly a kite, Feed the Birds, Chim chim Chiree, Winnie the Pooh, Hushabye mountain, me ole Bamboo, Toot Sweets) Songs that get stuck in your head in the bad way. The movie is really just an excuse to parade these songs past you.