I've read a bunch of reviews from critics and consumers who love the movie, with the reservation that "the songs don't sound enough like Motown songs."

But let's be real: giving "Dreamgirls" demerits for having showtunes for a soundtrack is like blaming "House Party" for having hip-hop songs for a soundtrack. The music is SUPPOSED to sound like that. In fact, Henry Krieger and Tom Eyen were quoted - back in 1981 - that they went out of their way to make sure the songs DIDN'T sound like Motown songs.

"Dreamgirls" is a Broadway musical adaptation, not a Motown/Supremes biopic. And even if it WERE a Motown biopic, only three of the thirty songs present in the score should actually sound like Motown songs: "Love You I Do", "Dreamgirls", and "Heavy".

The other performance songs should sound like the R&B and pop songs that were popular during the time period they are presented in, and save for a few anachronisms (wah-wah guitar on "I'm Looking for Something", 80s-style electric guitars on the performance half of "Steppin' to the Bad Side" and "One Night Only"), the music succeeds in this respect.

All of the "book songs" that work as dialogue in the film ("And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going", "When I First Saw You", etc.) are exmpt from period concerns, and could very well be presented in any way desirable (though it's best to keep them close to the other songs for consistency).

I didn't hear none of this shit leveled at "Chicago", whose songs do the same sort of line-straddling between Broadway showtune and period music that the songs in "Dreamgirls" do.

Thoughts?