Music

Watch Spice World tonight on AUX Box Office at 9PM

by Allan Tong

Remember the 90s? The mosh pits? The flannel? Britpop, grunge and ghetto fabulous? Well, you ain’t gonna find those here.

The Spice Girls were one of the biggest pop acts of that decade. They were a pre-fab, all-girl band who scored global hits such as “Wannabe” and “Spice Up Your Life.” Their popularity rivaled that of The Beatles 30 years earlier.

Like A Hard Day’s Night, Spice World captures a day in the life of the band leading up to The Big Gig. Unfortunately, Spice World feels more like the old Monkees sitcom. Flat jokes and cartoony characterizations reduce this comedy to a nostalgia piece.

Each Spice Girl gets a fantasy sequence, which often don’t make sense. A scene involving some shrub-like aliens seeking autographs is absolutely cringe-worthy. Scattered throughout are of course lots of musical numbers (22 in all) which undoubtedly helped the movie sell so many tickets in 1997 and (sort of) redeem the movie.

It’s more fun to catch several guest stars on screen such as Elvis Costello, Roger Moore, Mark McKinney, Meatloaf and Jools Holland, but they look out of place in the land of Spice.

There are hints of satire, poking fun at showbiz, which A Hard Day’s Night had in spades, but there’s not enough here to raise this movie above the cartoon level.

File under “kitsch.”