You feel, after two hours and a bit, that the Beatles deserve better and the Sixties a more defiant touch.
Across the Universe (2007)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted: 146
Fresh: 79
Rotten:67
Average Rating: 5.9/10
Consensus: Psychedelic musical numbers can't mask Across the Universe's clichéd love story and uninteresting characters.
Theatrical Release:28-09-2007
Synopsis: The Beatles' songs may have provided the soundtrack for the lives of those coming of age in the 1960s, but their extensive catalogue acts as the literal soundtrack in this romantic musical from... The Beatles' songs may have provided the soundtrack for the lives of those coming of age in the 1960s, but their extensive catalogue acts as the literal soundtrack in this romantic musical from visionary director Julie Taymor. Newcomer Jim Sturgess stars as Jude, a young man working on the docks in Liverpool. Eager to escape, he travels to Princeton where he meets Max (Joe Anderson). But it's his meeting with Max's younger sister Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood) that changes him. They quickly fall in love, but their relationship is tested by the chaos of the late 1960s and Max's unwilling tour in Vietnam. Throughout the film, characters burst into classics from the Beatles: frat boys sing "With a Little Help from My Friends," while Uncle Sam bursts from a recruitment poster with strains of "I Want You (She's So Heavy)." U2's Bono makes a cameo as a counterculture leader and croons "I Am the Walrus," and actor-comedian Eddie Izzard provides a trippy rendition of "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite." Sturgess has the voice, charm, and good looks to fill Shea Stadium with hordes of screaming young women. As Jude, he's earnest and certainly capable of carrying the film. Wood capably balances Lucy's naiveté and knowledge, easily moving between her love for Jude and her passion for her cause. Though the performances are strong, it's Taymor's gifted direction that makes ACROSS THE UNIVERSE so fascinating to watch. As in FRIDA and Broadway's THE LION KING, she proves herself an artist with creativity few can match. Director of photography Bruno Delbonnel also deserves praise for his contribution to the striking visuals. He has worked with Jean-Pierre Jeunet on AMELIE and A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT, and he brings the same sense of romance and whimsy to this unique musical. [More]
Starring: Jim Sturgess, Evan Rachel Wood, Joe Anderson, Dana Fuchs
Starring: Jim Sturgess, Evan Rachel Wood, Joe Anderson, Dana Fuchs, Martin Luther McCoy, Bono, Eddie Izzard, Salma Hayek
Director: Julie Taymor
Director: Julie Taymor
Screenwriter: Dick Clement, Ian La Frenais
Story: Julie Taymor, Dick Clement, Ian La Frenais
Producer: Suzanne Todd, Jennifer Todd, Matthew Gross
Composer: Elliot Goldenthal
Studio: Columbia Pictures
Reviews for Across the Universe
It’s too long, and the ambitious imagery (strawberries turning into bombs?) occasionally misses the mark. But it’s a fun ride all the same.
The film’s too long but when it works, as in a slickly choreographed military induction scene with Taymor’s trademark giant puppets and carnival heads, it’s exhilarating.
Across the Universe is much too literal-minded to be the far-out, visionary folly she may have intended – not so much cinema on LSD as the ravings of an earnest hippie in a recovery programme.
LIKE most musicals, the visually stunning Across The Universe has its hits and misses. But, as the film uses The Beatles’ back catalogue as its songbook, there really shouldn’t have been any duff notes.
After two hours of butchered classics, it's just a relief when it's over.
What makes this the Battlefield Earth of musicals is the plot – a wafer-thin affair that might have been written by someone who once skimmed a short magazine article about the 1960s while waiting for their hair appointment.
The more this musical tried to look relevant, the more dated it felt.
So far out it ain't never coming back. This flamboyant vehicle for The Beatles' music is boldness exemplified - even if it does frequently trip on its own ambition.
Thankfully, Sturgess keeps the film grounded with a rumpled, earthy charm, and Wood brings much-needed emotional depth. And yes, the songs will strike a chord as well.
Good casting and the wonderful strangeness of Taymor's vision means that this movie is great fun.
Taymor has mistaken a deeply clichéd view of the late ’60s for a radical slice of the zeitgeist. Let it be.
It's the sort of movie non-Fab Four fans may struggle to like, occupying a space somewhere below the inspired dynamics of Moulin Rouge but well above the dated dirge that was Rent.
Julie Taymor's love-it-or-hate-it musical is hugely ambitious but it works brilliantly, thanks to strong performances, a fantastic script, terrifically integrated songs and Taymor's inspired direction.
This ambitious musical balances its visual outrageousness with a moving story. It's a little exhausting, but also wonderful.
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