Rosie Searle It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Mathilde the Guild Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Raymond Sierra The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

donniefriedman I'm always interested in movies about songwriters, being a huge fan of the Great American Songbook. This is the story of Bob and Dick Sherman who were in-house songwriters for Disney for a couple of decades. We have these guys to thank for the earworm "It's a Small World" along with the hit songs written for the grown-up mouseketeer Annette. Need I say more? I found the documentary engaging, mostly because I'm interested in the process of songwriting, and also for the human interest. These brothers, who worked closely together on the music, really had nothing at all in common, went their separate ways in their private life, so much so that their kids did not know their cousins. I don't find that hard to believe at all - plenty of brothers share very little of their lives. These two happened to be in business together, and they made it work.Most interesting was the insight into the inner workings of Walt Disney studios and the profile of Walt. I enjoyed the story about when Walt Disney went to New York to see Julie Andrews in Camelot to check out whether she would be suitable for Mary Poppins. The rest is history.Long story short, this is a doc that's worth seeing for audiences that are interested in songwriting and movie history, and perhaps for those for whom Supercalifragalisitc.... is a treasured part of their childhood. Myself, I'm not a fan of the Disney brand of musical of that era.

Roland E. Zwick "The Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story" is a documentary about Robert and Richard Sherman, the legendary songwriting brothers who composed the music for such films as "The Jungle Book," "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang," "Bednobs and Broomsticks" and their indisputable masterpiece "Mary Poppins," which features one of the finest scores ever written for an original movie musical.Though "The Boys" was produced and distributed by The Disney Studios - for whom the duo worked for many years – and was written and directed by their sons, Gregory V. and Jeff Sherman, this is no hagiography designed to provide a whitewashed account of its subject. On the contrary, it provides us with a warts-and-all look at the siblings who, while they could make great music together on a professional level, found it virtually impossible to harmonize on a personal one. In fact, their relationship was so strained that they essentially raised their families in isolation from one another (they even attended separate funeral receptions when their parents passed away) - and still today, the two men, even in the twilight of their lives, have yet to heal the breach that separates them.What's interesting – and, frankly a little maddening - about the film is that we're never quite sure what it is that caused this rupture, mainly because the boys themselves seem unable to account for it (half the time they seem to be unaware it even exists). All we know is that, for decades in public, they were able to put on a happy face and maintain the fiction that they were every bit as close as brothers as they were as songwriters, while out of the limelight and to the awareness of those who knew them, they had drifted irrevocably apart.Through interviews with their children, co-workers and admirers over the years, as well as with Bob and Dick themselves, the movie chronicles their childhood growing up in New York City, then Beverly Hills; their devotion and indebtedness to their songwriting father, Al Sherman; Robert's injury in World War II and the trauma of helping to liberate Dachau; their early years writing pop songs together and with others; their entry into composing for the movies with a song for "The Parent Trap." Then it's on to their years as the only songwriters lucky enough to be under contract to Disney; their close personal relationship with Walt himself; their Oscar-winning triumph with "Mary Poppins;" their eventual split with the studio after the death of Walt; their later work through the '70s and beyond; and their reunion at the London premiere of the stage version of "Poppins" in 2006.Despite the fact that the rift between the two is never adequately explained, the movie provides a treasure-trove of information, clips and snippets from that period in which they produced their work. There are moments of ribald humor and wistful nostalgia as we relive the memories the Sherman boys have provided for those of us fortunate enough to have grown up on their songs (they were even responsible for that most maddeningly memorable of ditties, "It's a Small World"). Indeed, in the face of all the personal animosity between the two men, it's the music and the memories that ultimately "help the medicine go down" while watching "The Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story."

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.

martin lane This little shown intimate portrait of the Sherman Brothers seems to have been largely overlooked in favor of the more broadly drawn "Waking Sleeping Beauty". That is most unfortunate because this is much more profound both as a peek into the creative functioning of the Disney empire...and as a fascinating unvarnished love letter to the astonishingly prolific and inspired team that gave the studio product so much of it's sparkle...This is an exquisite film with the interviews and clips arranged for maximum impact...(the DVD is even more of a treasure trove...the out-takes and extended scenes being just as valuable as the material that made the final cut). The tear jerking moments depicting "The Boys'" relationship with Walt Disney...and his love for "Feed the Birds" has been hinted at before...but this film brings it into a clear focus that makes it a must see for everyone who ever loved one of the studio's films...or ever hummed along to one of the teams immortal creations.There will be some people upset that this ends up being less of a happily ever after fairy tale than they would expect. This documentary lovingly depicts the somewhat strained relationship between two brothers who were very different people and how they were able to come together in one glorious project...the creation of songs that will live as long as there are children to re-discover them.Co-directed by the sons of "The Boys" this is also a delicious portrait of the lives of two families...and of Hollywood Magic in the mid 20th century...The moving reminiscences and archival clips are alone worth the price of the Disc!