. but unfortunately no one thought about have van kill in order to save this doomed production . the only positive thing about him in the film be his nice singing voice . too bad the song be mostly insipid and sappy . why do i hate van so much . well and throughout the film he seem like he be do a third rate soupy sale imitation with lot of mug and bad joke and way too much energy spend try to make everyone laugh . the bad of these moment be when he be teach the class these kid laugh at everything he do . heck and van could have read the phone book or show them autopsy photo and they probably would have laugh . now van be not the only bad cast decision in the film he be just the most obvious . of course and have john gielgud ( a lovely actor ) play an asian be ridiculous as well a have michael york play peter finch brother . the bottom line be that because of these insane casting choice and the film be doom from the start . and the bad of them be the god awful bobby van . now in real life and he might have be a lovely person and it sad that in real life he die so young and but with the material they give him here i just want to rip out his tongue to get him to be quiet . now i also mention the song egad and those terrible song . the original lose horizon by frank capra be a subtle delight throughout and not a single song and dance number in the film . so why do they decide to add a bazillion song that do nothing to help the film . they only serve to make it seem like a gooey mess like the original doctor doolittle combine with lose horizon . the end result be a sickly sweet child movie not one that can be enjoy by anyone over 8. now if you can remove these problem and you have the basis of a decent film . after all and the plot be lovely and be still hide beneath all the goo . peter finch be particularly good ( though certainly not the equal of ronald colman in the original ) . but and consider that the original be a near perfect classic and why bother with this sticky confection . who want to wade through the treacle . by the way and this film be include in the 50 bad film book by harry medved . while i and too and dislike the film and it wasn not bad enough to merit inclusion in the book . i think it be include mostly because it be such a huge box office failure and because it be release just a few year before the book appear . an excellent book just not one of the best selection to the hallow hall of dreck .