FILM REVIEW- WALKING ON SUNSHINE

I know this review is way overdue, but here it is. I will be reviewing the British film ‘Walking on Sunshine’ directed by Dania Paquini and Max Giwa.

Going to the cinemas is something that I love doing so when the 2014 film ‘Walking on Sunshine’ came out my sister insisted we go and see it. The film had been categorised as a ‘British version on Mamma Mia’. I’ve always been a little unsure about British films, which I guess is kind of ironic considering I’m a British Actress but for some reason or another they always seem quite low budget and just cant reach the same standard as Hollywood. My sister was very eager to see the film so I thought why not; I had nothing else to do and maybe this film would change my expectation of British films. So we headed off to Harlow Cineworld with our orange Wednesday discount to watch the film. The first thing that grabbed my attention was the cast list. I was quite surprised to see such a random mix of people in one film. I was mostly shocked by that fact that Leona Lewis was playing a main role considering I’s never know her to be an actress.

When entering the screen I already had a pre-conception of the film and from the opening scene I knew straight away that my prediction was correct. Taylor played by actress Hannah Arterton leads the opening scene that takes place in an airport. It starts with Taylor being asked if she is here on ‘business or holiday’ she instantly looks into the camera, smiles and replies singing the word holiday. From that moment I knew that this film was going to be a car crash. The scene continued in this direction when the whole of the airport followed Taylor’s lead in the singing and dancing of Madonna’s classic song ‘Holiday’. If the singing wasn’t bad enough, I couldn’t stop cringing at the cheesy dance moves. I couldn’t figure out if they actually paid a choreographer to create this or if themselves had made up the moves. But either way it was disaster. 

As each scene continued I felt almost like walking out the cinema all together. During every scene the cast would randomly break out into pointless song and dance. I would understand if the songs that they chose had any relevance to the actual film, but I felt that the tacky songs and horrendous choice of placement ruined this. Every song that was put into Mamma Mia was there for a particular reason and as an audience member I felt connected to this and was able to enjoy it. Unfortunately I cannot say the same with Walking on Sunshine.

I was also appalled by the singing quality in the film. OK so I understand that they are actors not singers so they don’t all need to sing like Mariah Carey’s, but I do think that if they are going to be cast for a musical they should be somewhat decent. Through many of the songs I noticed that the character of Taylor was off key and at many times it sounded like she was trying far too hard to be able to sing. As a result of this she was all over the place and her voice tended to sound quite shaky and weak. Considering she was the lead role I definitely think she should have had a few more singing lessons beforehand.

As for the acting itself I was horrified by the standard. Correct me if I’m wrong but shouldn’t you have some acting ability in order to become an actor? This sort of thing really angers me because there is so many talented and experienced actors out there that have the ability and cant seem to get a break and then directors hire actors like this? I can’t quite see the logic in that. The only actresses that I will give credit to is actress Annabel Scholey who plays Taylor’s sister Maddie and Comedian Katy Brand who plays the role of Lil. I wouldn’t go as far to say they were outstanding but compared to the rest of the cast I did feel they captured their characters fairly well and I didn’t find it painful to watch them. I think Katy Brand’s character was supposed to be the equivalent to the role of Rosie played by actress Julie Walters in Mamma Mia. The only difference is Katy Brand’s character was chavier and more British extravagant character.

Overall if I had to give this film a rating out of five I would probably give it one star and that's me being generous. I would definitely say that this was a poor equivalent to the Musical Mamma Mia.