As a preview, let me tell you the story of the first time I rented Newsies. At first, when it orignally came out, I didn't really care to see it. It was based on a true story (the Newsies strike of 1899), and I'm not much of a history buff. When I heard a year or two later, that it was a musical, I changed my mind. I like musicals, you see-- especially if the music is upbeat. I hit my local video store, and found it in the "Musicals" section, as promised. I had five days in which to watch it. And I watched it five times before taking it back to the store.

I liked it that much.

Perhaps it was the music. The songs by Alan Menken and Jack Feldmen (not to mention the score by JAC Redford) had me dancing in my seat. Speaking of dancing, I found the choreography entertaining as well.

Perhaps it was the time. Being in my late teens myself (at the time I saw it), I could easily have seen myself playing Jack or even David. (I'm a wannabe actor/singer, too...) In fact, it's the first movie I've ever seen and actually said out loud, "I could have played that!"

Or perhaps it was the actors, names like Robert Duvall, Ann Margaret, Christian Bale, David Moscow, Bill Pullman, Gabriel Damon, Michael Lerner, Kevin Tighe and Luke Edwards. All of these I had seen before (though Moscow took some doing before I finally recognized him as the young Tom Hanks from Big), and liked. Often, in my opinion, good actors means good movie.

I've had this movie now for a number of years. And I watched it again the other day (I was listening to the soundtrack and found myself in the mood to see it). Do you know what I realized?

It's still really, really good. It captured me just as it had all those years ago, made me realize why I saw it so many times before taking it back to the video store.

The Plot: In 1899, Joseph Pulitzer (Duvall), publisher of the World raises the price of the newspaper to the newsies. The newsies fight back by going on strike. Harvey Denton (Pullman) of the Sun sees a news story, and follows their trials and tribulations, and eventually takes their side in the fight. Bale and Moscow play Jack Kelly and David Jacobs, the two newsies who start the strike. Edwards is David's brother Les.

If you like musicals, you'll love this movie. If you like history, you may enjoy this movie as well, though something tells me it's not terribly accurate. There are some pretty good performances here, and some awesome dance sequences. Dialogue is choppy in many places, and the accents-- especially by Bale-- are stereotyped, but the story moves, and in some places, even captures.

"Sieze the Day" and rent this overlooked movie.

This film is rated PG for language. Appropriate for most audiences

SCORE: 7 Good actors, great music, not-bad story. Love musicals anyway, so it's worth the see. Recommended for Musical lovers!