Let's be realistic.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

When Julie Andrews was interviewed 5 years ago that Carrie Underwood is going to portray Maria Von Trapp in an NBC remake of the "The Sound Of Music" musical, she wished her the best considering she knows how difficult the role was for her when she did it back in 1965. Instead of a TV movie, NBC did it by having a live musical stage play. No question that that NBC avoided turning it into a TV movie considering that it will draw comparisons with the iconic 1965 film as well as that of Underwood and Andrews.While it was reported that there were 18 million people who saw this on TV,many were disappointed. Obviously, many were expecting another iconic film. Too bad that it was far from it. And that turned against the musical from the people who saw the 1965 film especially against Carrie Underwood's portrayal as well as her singing the classic songs from it. That included from a cast of the former film Kym Karath,who played Gretl Von Trapp,who stated that the role of Maria isn't right for Carrie Underwood.But in spite of it, I still gave it an "okay" rating(6/10) considering that I tried not expect another iconic movie like the 1965 film which I gave a great rating(10/10).I decided not expect too much from it considering that Carrie Underwood is a non-actress unlike Julie Andrews,who just won the Oscar Best Actress Award for Mary Poppins for 1964,when he did the original film the year after.Added to that, it was obvious that Carrie would not be up to par with Julie in terms of singing as the former is a popular country singer who happens to be a throaty singer at most who probably never had vocal training unlike the latter who is formally trained to sing songs using her head tone vocals which makes Julie the better singer. Finally,the story setting was almost the same despite a few changes in the 2013 version like Maria not singing "I Have Confidence In Me" when she was going to the Von Trapp's home. So there is nothing much to compare.So viewers who are able to see this musical should just enjoy it and treat it as another version that does not need to be iconic. Besides,I did appreciate Carrie Underwood's guts to portray Maria knowing that there will be comparisons between her and Andrews and her effort to make it a decent musical. Despite being a non-actress and basically a country singer, I would say that she did give her best in the musical. Doing her best was average at best and made the musical a decent enough despite the fact that she isn't at par with Andrews in both acting and singing nor was the musical at the same level with the iconic 1965 film. The same goes for the members of the cast. That's all that matters.Viewers should just enjoy another decent version of it. Others just presented negative reviews of it because of their high expectations and for it to live up to the iconic 1965 film.

This was painful to watch and even worse than it should have been. I was open to seeing a TV version of the actual Broadway show as opposed to a remake of the movie. At first it was interesting to see the different songs, order of songs and dialog compared to the movie. Of course I knew things would suffer without the scenery and better costumes and sets. But the acting and casting was bad and the production felt cheap with ugly costumes and orange lighting.The casting is all wrong. As Maria, Carrie Underwood lacks a Broadway range in her voice - she comes across as strident and lacking in sweetness when required. But the worst thing is her blank expression throughout. She simply isn't an actress. I know it's unfair to compare her to Julie Andrews but Carrie is just too inadequate an actress. Steven Moyer as Captain Von Trapp lacks both dignity and kindness. The Broadway supporting cast sing well. Audra McDonald as Mother Superior has a great voice. The Von Trapp children especially the younger girls weren't cute compared to the movie ones. Strange choice to make them mostly dark haired. Rolf was too old looking.They got to stop doing these terrible versions. First South Pacific then The Sound of Music. Don't' bother to watch these since the original movies were perfect.

Carrie Underwood does a very credible job as Maria, and the kids are all pretty good. Stephen Moyer is also pretty good as the captain.Keeping in mind this was a live production and will be released on DVD/Bluray, I think all the cast members are to be commended. All in all, this version is well worth your time (and money, if you buy a disk.)The story was true to the movie, and the sets were very nicely built and displayed. This was quite a production- hard to believe the studio would take a risk like this, but it really paid off. We will have a Bluray as soon as they are available.The only down side to the TSOM 2013 is the complete lack of class shown by some of the 1965 version cast members. Their tweets and comments about Underwood after the live telecast were out of line and unnecessary, and demonstrated a marked lack of class. That is surprising coming from people of their age, and for me, they taint my happy memories of each. As a result, I will archive the 1965 version and watch Carrie Underwood instead- TSOM 2013 will be the version seen by my children. It is a worthy successor.

As a child, I was treated to my mother's record of the 1965 Sound of Music and spent a few family movie nights watching a VHS copy. Since I was not alive to see the original run of Sound of Music on Broadway, this 1965 record is the original version of the music and characters to me. Julie Andrews' enjoyable portrayal of Maria, Christopher Plummer as the respectable Captain Von Trapp, and the fun loving cast of children and Uncle Max is unmatched. Classic songs that I once broke into as a child, hiking up the foothills of North Carolina, have been destroyed in this "attempt." As darling and talented as Ms. Underwood is, her voice sounds very throaty and unpleasant in this rendition. Similarly, the entertaining and endearing group of nuns in the original turn into an ear piercing gang of screamers. After their first few songs, I had to mute them or prepare to start bleeding from the ears.All in all, this 2013 attempt is very disappointing. The magic of the original was not even remotely recaptured. Like the flu, you cannot wait for it to be over. Avoid.