When I heard that Cher and Christina Aguilera were doing a musical movie together, my immediate reaction was “Sweet!  I can’t wait!”, then immediately after that reaction I thought “Wait, this has big potential to be extremely stupid.”  After seeing Burlesque, I’m caught right in the middle of my original thoughts.

Aguilera plays a small town Iowa girl with big ambitions and big talent named Ali Marilyn Rose.  She leaves her dead-end waitress job and heads for LA to make her singing and dancing career come true.  She stumbles upon a neo-burlesque club and when Ali sees the burlesque girls performing up on stage, she knows she has found her place in the world.  Tess, played by Cher herself, has no interest in this country girl, and immediately snubs her off, indicating she does not have time for an amateur performer.  Ali, determined to make her dreams come true, ends up forcing her way into waitressing for the club.  By learning the moves and making her way up the hierarchy, Ali tries out for the burlesque show and Tess is quite impressed.  Tess eventually learns that not only can Ali dance, but she has pipes that can take a house down.  Ali becomes the feature dancing/singing sensation at the burlesque club, and everything is wrapped up in one nice little bow.

Burlesque has a lot to offer and is everything you want to see in a sensational musical movie… except a plot.  Although not worth mentioning in the story synopsis, Ali also falls in love with the bar-tender at the club and saves the club from bankruptcy. This plot reminds me of when I was little and played with Barbies.  I would think of this fantastical plot where my Barbie would save the day from being the best dancer/singer, getting the man, and saving the world.  This is essentially how Burlesque is, as well.  I was completely entertained by the costume, cinematography, and music.  Don’t get me wrong, Christina Aguilera can sing the heck out of a song and she is most entertaining.  I would give the music and dancing 4 stars, but the story only 2.  All in all, Burlesque is musically entertaining, but don’t see this one if you are interested in a mind-bending on the edge-of-your seat plot, cause you won’t find it here.