A fun and lively musical, Hairspray is just as funny and enjoyable on the smaller screen as it was in the cinema. Director Adam Shankman intelligently goes for the Susan Stroman route and shoots the film in an old-fashioned 60's-style, allowing the audience to see his impressive choreography without interruption. From the first number, "Good Morning Baltimore", we're primed for a fun time. Nikki Blonsky provides enough charm in her debut role as Tracy Turnblad with Amanda Bynes, James Marsden, Michelle Pfeiffer and Christopher Walken providing some great support. Only Zac Efron and John Travolta don't do as well. The former is as flat and boring as he was in High School Musical, while the latter's performance just can't shake off the feeling that it's Travolta wearing a fat suit and sounding like Dr. Evil. Marc Shaiman (the co-song writer of South Park and Team America) provides some great songs with humourous lyrics and while the film could have been snipped a bit, his work makes us forget that a bit. "Enjoyable" is probably the best way to describe Hairspray, joining The Producers and Chicago in the hall of fame of modern-day film musicals.
The opening musical number, "Good Morning Baltimore"
