MOVIES: The Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story (2009, Gregory Sherman and Jeff Sherman)

The Boys tells the story of Richard and Robert Sherman, the only songwriters ever to be under contract at Disney. Even if you don't recognize the names, you'd recognize their music; they wrote the songs from Mary Poppins, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Winnie the Pooh, and The Aristocats; their non-Disney work includes Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Tom Sawyer, and Charlotte's Web.

We open with directors Gregory and Jeff, who are cousins and the sons of Richard and Robert, explaining that they never really knew one another growing up despite living blocks apart in Los Angeles. Their fathers, despite their successful professional partnership, were personally estranged. They didn't socialize and barely spoke to one another outside their office at Disney.

The movie never pays off with the story of that estrangement; perhaps the Sherman cousins were unable or unwilling to get their fathers to discuss the matter in depth. There are hints that it might have had to do with money, or with wives who disliked one another, but for the most part, the issue is left hovering in the background throughout the movie, begging to be delved into.

Still, the career of the Sherman brothers is interesting and impressive enough that even the relatively bare-bones "and then we wrote" approach of The Boys held my interest. I wouldn't necessarily recommend that you rush out to the theater to see it unless you have a particular interest in the subject, but it might be worth renting.