Hairspray (now showing at Liberty Theatre) — The world probably didn’t need another film version of John Waters’ 1988 romp any more than it needed a Broadway musical version of it. The whole cycle reeks of that movie-of-a-stage-production-of-a-movie debacle that has tainted the legacy of The Producers. Having said that, s new brand of Hairspray <$>is a hybrid of its predecessors: enormously entertaining but with only a touch of Waters’ signature dark, kitschy humour. It is, in a word, safe — one you would ordinarily never use to describe Waters’ work. Director and choreographer Adam Shankman keeps the tone light, the hair high and the pacing snappy, even while delivering the film’s segregation-is-bad message, which seems archaic and obvious 45 years after the movie’s setting. Newcomer Nikki Blonsky is an absolute delight as the film’s plus-sized protagonist, Tracy Turnblad, whose greatest dream is to make it as a dancer on The Corny Collins Show — that is, until she discovers the racial discrimination that plagues the programme. John Travolta plays it straight in the traditionally draggy role of Tracy’s mother, Edna, but there’s no sense of fun or camp in the performance, and you never forget that you’re watching Travolta in a fat suit. Michelle Pfeiffer, Zac Efron and Queen Latifah are among the ensemble cast. PG for language, some suggestive content and momentary teen smoking. 117 minuteswo and a half stars. — Christy Lemire