WebVideo Darn you Whedon!
DHSAB, apart from having a really awkward acronym, is Serenity all over again. It's not a comedy, although there are jokes and none of them fail, the focus isn't on laughing but having a bit of fun. It's not a drama although there is drama, it's just not weighty or filled with a sense of it's own importance. There is nothing about the style that says you have to take this story seriously, or that you have to be invested in these characters and then the ending hits you like a brick and you realise you were and are and that the whole thing is a work of genius, and why not just watch it from the start again? And again... and again.
It is a musical and surprisingly the songs were what I liked most. I'm sure they aren't impressive to anyone with a musical ear and there certainly aren't any orchestras or incredibly subtle patterns, but almost all of the songs (with maybe two exceptions) are fun to listen to and tell the story simply but very effectively and with leave you with their echoes well after the credits. Whats more you'll get to realise that Barney can really sing well.
So simply put, you should watch this. There isn't a reason not to, it feels short, light and unassuming, like something you can watch to relax and let your mind rest and then it becomes better. The ending is the best part, and since as I've said before it's short, you really should just sit back and give it all the chance it deserves. However the ending is the kind that will leave you feeling in a way you didn't expect and it even left me thinking about the point of stories and why we watch stuff like this. But I'm hyping it up to much, DHSAB is a success because it seems to expect so little. Go into it thinking that it's nothing more than a way to waste an hour and at it's worst, it will do that pleasantly
WebVideo Simply Amazing
There's no other way to put it. I normally hate movies; I find that the format of a movie is too restricting and concrete to tell a worthwhile story. In particular, movie musicals bother me, because they so often tell stories suited only for a stage.
That's not the case here. This is probably the best movie I've ever seen, certainly the best movie musical. It's wonderfully acted (Neil Patrick Harris, is it possible for me to love you more?), well-written, and while the special effects can be a bit simplistic, they're always appropriate. The style of the songs isn't precisely Broadway, because it isn't precisely anything; all they really concern themselves with is whether or not they're appropriate to the storytelling. That, along with the fact that the entire thing is surprisingly grounded in reality, means that this couldn't have been a TV show or a stage show, it had to be a movie. The medium was appropriate, as were the songs.
But the best part is how grounded in reality it is. This is essentially a deconstruction of the typical superhero movie, of Black And White Morality. Dr. Horrible isn't insane, he isn't bent on world destruction, he's simply evil because Evil Pays Better. But this isn't like Wicked, which I found to be more of a switch between who was the villain and who was the protagonist than true Gray And Grey Morality. This is true Gray and Grey, in the style of Into The Woods. Even though Dr. Horrible isn't insane or bent on world destruction he's still a bad guy, working towards destruction. And even though Captain Hammer is an asshole, he's still saving people. This is a story of a bunch of different people working towards different goals; the words 'good' and 'evil' hardly apply to them. This is explored completely, particularly towards the ending. (And speaking of which, that ending… talk about a Tearjerker.)
As I said, this is one of the best movies I've ever seen, and I can't recommend it enough. There is literally no reason not to watch it, and more reasons to watch it than there are lines. If you want great acting, wonderful songs and performing, genuine moral ambiguity, well-rendered characters that you connect to, brisk plotting, hilarious jokes, lots of emotion, and so much more, there's not a movie in the world that works better than this.