So Spice World supposedly chronicles a week in the life of the Spice Girls. During this week, we meet a bevy of fictional characters, including the girls' overwrought manager, Clifford and his female assistant, Clifford's slave-driver boss, "Chief" (played humorously by Roger Moore), an evil newspaper man bent on trashing the Spice Girls' rep in his paper, a kooky director (Alan Cumming) trying to film the girls for a documentary and finally, 2 Hollywood director-types (George Wendt, "Norm" on Cheers and Mark McKinney, SNL) pitching a Spice Girls movie to their manager. Since Chief is on them to work, work, work, the girls are getting frustrated. All they really want to do is kick back a little and spend some time with their long-time friend, Nicola, who is about to pop, she is so overdue for the birth of her child. As Nicola visits, they reminisce about how they got their start, belting out an early version of "Tell Me What You Want" at a local pizzeria. They muse about what they'll be like in 10 years or so, older and each with kids. They hang out with fans, actually dunking a couple of kids in the Thames River as their boat tips, of course providing excellent fodder for the evil newspaper man.
Eventually, the girls have a blow-out argument with Clifford resulting in them deciding to skip their huge performance at their live concert at Albert Hall. They decide to go stay at the hospital with Nicola until her baby is born, causing their managers to bite their nails in fear that they won't show for their concert. As it turns out, Nicola has the baby in the nick of time and the girls decide not to let their fans down. As they approach their wild and crazy British-flag painted double-decker bus, they don't see their driver (Meatloaf), so Posh decides to get behind the wheel, making a mad dash to Albert Hall. Of course, the girls make it in the nick of time and all's well that ends well.
What I found most interesting about this inane movie was the fact that it was chock full of celeb cameos the likes of Elton John, Bob Geldof, Meatloaf, Hugh Laurie (long before he was House), Elvis Costello and so on. I guess everyone wanted a piece of the Spice Girls' action at the time. Sadly, with this re-release, I would have hoped for some cool special features like a look back by the Spice Girls now or at least some extra footage cut from the film. All you get is a lackluster bonus musical performance of "Mama" and the theatrical trailer. Boring.
I found in humorous that, according to the movie anyway, Baby Spice gets away with anything because of her innocent look, Ginger Spice constantly spouts useless knowledge that no one wants to hear (The smart one? Who'd have thought.) and Posh is a complete bitch who is totally self-involved. Ok, that one I can buy.
Although Spice World provides a modest amount of amusement on its own merits, Roger Moore absolutely hysterical as the calmly maniacal "Chief" with his CD plastered pristine walls, blazing fireplace and ever present pet on his lap. Now, the pet changes each time, mind you. A weird cat, a fluffy bunny and finally, a bottle-sucking baby pig complete his menagerie. He adds a welcome twist to the show.
Basically, this re-release of Spice World is simply for those who missed the movie either in theaters or on DVD the first time round and want a refresher before the Reunion World Tour. Unless you are a huge fan, you can skip it because there's definitely not enough new stuff in this re-release to warrant a second purchase. However, you may want to rent it if you've been missing the zany antics of the Spice Girls.
