There's no arguing with success, and the magician team of Siegfried & Roy is nothing if not successful. The pair constitutes the highest grossing act in Las Vegas history, raking in millions of dollars every year at the Mirage Hotel. Now the Teutonic duo is trying to conquer another medium, the big screen, and its "Siegfried & Roy: The Magic Box" should be its biggest trick yet, snaring large audiences who don't have the inclination or money to travel to Vegas. For all their sleight of hand, however, the film is an often cheesy, less-than-thrilling account of the two men's lives and careers that will garner less critical than commercial response.
"The Magic Box", far from being a compendium of Siegfried and Roy's spectacular illusions, is actually more of a biopic, concentrating on the pair's childhood years, their initial meeting and early careers. Although snippets from their act are seen, most of the contemporary footage depicts the pair frolicking around their legendary Vegas estate, "Little Bavaria", with the myriad of beautiful lions and tigers they keep as pets.
Their backstory is too good to have been made up. Both grew up in Germany, where Siegfried started performing magic tricks as a child. Roy was an animal lover from the beginning and was actually rescued from death by quicksand by his pet, a half-dog, half-wolf named Hexe. The pair met up on an ocean liner, where Siegfried was working as a magician and Roy was a waiter, his cabinmate a pet cheetah (it must have been a very liberal company). Siegfried's act wasn't working too well, Roy suggested the addition of his cheetah, and voila, a legendary showbiz partnership was born.
These events are dramatized in hokey and unconvincing fashion, the story supposedly being told to a pair of young boys who sneak backstage, but the fun of the film lies in the excerpts from the duo's act -- performed on a spectacularly lavish stage setting -- in the close-up views of their estate and large animal menagerie, and in their spectacularly (not to mention suspiciously) well-preserved visages. The 3-D effects are used very effectively, with a good chunk of the film set on a surreal backdrop created with superb digital computer effects. Anthony Hopkins lends his gorgeously modulated voice for the narration, the oh-so-serious tone of which is more suitable for a documentary about the Dalai Lama than a Vegas magic act.
SIEGFRIED & ROY: THE MAGIC BOX
IMAX Ltd.
An L-Squared Entertainment Production
in association with Lexington Road Prods.
and Foundry Film Partners
Director: Brett Leonard
Screenplay: Lyn Vaus, Brett Leonard
Producer: Michael V. Lewis
Executive producers: Lou Gonda, Jon Ein, Robert Greenhut, Bernie Yuman
Co-producer: Jini Dayaneni
Director of photography: Sean MacLeod Phillips
Editor: Jonathan P. Shaw
Production designer: Steve Suchman
Music: Alan Silvestri
Color/Stereo
Cast:
Siegfried Fischbacher: Himself
Roy Uwe Ludwig Horn: Himself
Narrator: Anthony Hopkins
Teen Siegfried: John Summers
Teen Roy: Andrew Dunlap
Young Siegfried: Dillon McEwin
Young Roy: Cameron Alexander
Running time -- 40 minutes
No MPAA rating...
"The Magic Box", far from being a compendium of Siegfried and Roy's spectacular illusions, is actually more of a biopic, concentrating on the pair's childhood years, their initial meeting and early careers. Although snippets from their act are seen, most of the contemporary footage depicts the pair frolicking around their legendary Vegas estate, "Little Bavaria", with the myriad of beautiful lions and tigers they keep as pets.
Their backstory is too good to have been made up. Both grew up in Germany, where Siegfried started performing magic tricks as a child. Roy was an animal lover from the beginning and was actually rescued from death by quicksand by his pet, a half-dog, half-wolf named Hexe. The pair met up on an ocean liner, where Siegfried was working as a magician and Roy was a waiter, his cabinmate a pet cheetah (it must have been a very liberal company). Siegfried's act wasn't working too well, Roy suggested the addition of his cheetah, and voila, a legendary showbiz partnership was born.
These events are dramatized in hokey and unconvincing fashion, the story supposedly being told to a pair of young boys who sneak backstage, but the fun of the film lies in the excerpts from the duo's act -- performed on a spectacularly lavish stage setting -- in the close-up views of their estate and large animal menagerie, and in their spectacularly (not to mention suspiciously) well-preserved visages. The 3-D effects are used very effectively, with a good chunk of the film set on a surreal backdrop created with superb digital computer effects. Anthony Hopkins lends his gorgeously modulated voice for the narration, the oh-so-serious tone of which is more suitable for a documentary about the Dalai Lama than a Vegas magic act.
SIEGFRIED & ROY: THE MAGIC BOX
IMAX Ltd.
An L-Squared Entertainment Production
in association with Lexington Road Prods.
and Foundry Film Partners
Director: Brett Leonard
Screenplay: Lyn Vaus, Brett Leonard
Producer: Michael V. Lewis
Executive producers: Lou Gonda, Jon Ein, Robert Greenhut, Bernie Yuman
Co-producer: Jini Dayaneni
Director of photography: Sean MacLeod Phillips
Editor: Jonathan P. Shaw
Production designer: Steve Suchman
Music: Alan Silvestri
Color/Stereo
Cast:
Siegfried Fischbacher: Himself
Roy Uwe Ludwig Horn: Himself
Narrator: Anthony Hopkins
Teen Siegfried: John Summers
Teen Roy: Andrew Dunlap
Young Siegfried: Dillon McEwin
Young Roy: Cameron Alexander
Running time -- 40 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 10/21/1999
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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