> I also think that the, er, goodness of the songs makes up for the fact that maybe some of them don't move the story along.
>
> -eric "But yeah, if in reality someone were to suddenly start singing out of nowhere, even to advance the storyline, it would be very strange" sleator
>

I'm being overly harsh with Mary Poppins in terms of whether it's a good movie overall. If I arbitrarily apply my "Syrupy Ballad Warble-O-Meter" to the musical, and look at only that measure in terms of number of tunes per movie, then of course I'm judging it unfairly. I don't know -- as a kid, and you know how kids can have this thing about genuineness, even though I couldn't explain it then, I still couldn't stand *watching* people use a formulistic role to fake "extravagant emotes" onscreen.

It's possibly for the same reason that Sam doesn't like hearing people mumble gooey pet names like "Snookie Wookum Weetie Bunny Pie" in his presence, although the difference is that with star-crossed lovers I'm sure the sentiments expressed are quite genuine.