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"Isn't "a cast ready to break into joyous song and dance every minute" the very definition of a musical?"
If so, SWEENEY TODD and CHICAGO need redefining...:). Even in a musical there is a level of reality you have to have for the fantasy/musical part to work. SINGIN' IN THE RAIN didn't have extras and stars looking constantly cheerful and ready to burst into song every five minutes--or knowing that they were in a musical. The numbers mostly grew out of day-to-day movie studio operations and believable situations. From the trailer, everyone in MM seems all-too-aware they are in a musical and are gonna entertain us no matter what it takes, and that kind of self-consciousness and overload is a musical buzzkill.
"This is supposed to be a FUN movie, not "Sophie's Choice 2", so everybody please lighten up."
Boy, that is a stupid criticism. For the nineteenth-eleventh-zillion time, a movie does not have to be serious to be good. And it doesn't have to be jukebox junk to be fun. The most enjoyable musicals are ones that are fun _and_ good.
