Directed by their sons, Gregory Sherman and Jeff Sherman, The Boys enters a deeply personal and emotional environment that includes many of the key figures who worked alongside the Sherman Brothers in the golden years at the Disney studio. The cousins brought their fathers together after to create this testimony to their career achievements that has spanned over 70 years through 50 films.
The result is a clear depiction of two men with personality differences that could not be more pronounced, as the audience quickly notices while Robert and Dick share their sometimes-contradictory memories of each other to the world. It is repeatedly said throughout various interviews that it is remarkable how two people so different could work closely together and create such marvelous work but never see each other in their own time. The Boys suggests that because Robert and Dick were so different, they liked to live different lifestyles, one quiet, and the other flamboyant and this gave them little in common. There is a hint that without their inspirational and talented father who nurtured their talent for musical storytelling, the brothers would have never worked together and would have lived relatively separate lives in different careers. Their work brought success to Disney and new favorite films to children, but for the Sherman brothers is also brought the anxiety of spending time with a sibling that was different to themselves.
Of those who offered their memories and thoughts were Julie Andrews, Roy E. Disney, John Landis, John Lasseter, Ben Stiller, Dick Van Dyke, Debbie Reynolds, Hayley Mills, John Williams, Randy Newman, Mickey Dolenz, Robert Osborne, Angela Lansbury, Johnny Whitaker and their childhood friend Samuel Goldwyn Jr. As engaging and informative as these numerous accounts were, it was clear that The Boys is as much a testament to the Sherman brothers’ lives as it is to the aging figures of the original Disney studio who will have had their memories preserved through their interviews in this film. The separate interviews with the Sherman brothers were the most poignant of the interviews conducted throughout the documentary. At various moments, painful memories of their tense relationship prompt them to refuse to complete their answers. Their love for Walt Disney and their memories of his close relationship with them is a heart wrenching moment that will have anybody choking back tears.
In making the documentary, the cousin directors also had a personal goal that gave the whole emotional journey down memory lane a present day resolution. Their desire to reunite their fathers was realized and the hope that these men, now in their eighties, will rekindle a relationship that gave them so much success, and happy memories.
The Boys is well constructed documentary that brings the audience into the relationship of two brothers who, though forced to work together despite their personal differences, have brought beautiful music and happy memories to countless children and adults alike.
8 out of 10