Review: ‘Across the Universe’ on DVD

Trevor:

I hate musicals. Despise them. Even for a very amateur “musician,† music lover and one who appreciates movies I have never enjoyed a musical. The lyrics never seem to fit with the music, the music always seems synthesized and fake and how does everyone all of a sudden know the words and choreography? For me, I just don’t get it. Even the classics and most famous of musicals I have trouble watching, I’m talking to you Andrew Lloyd.

However, Across the Universe I loved. Now I admit, I love the Beatles and everyone knew the words and dance steps and spontaneously broke in to song. The difference for me though was the music and imagery. One has to admit there is a difference between popular rock music and show tunes and this flick uses the former very well unlike other movies that fail spectacularly like Moulin Rouge (Worst. Movie. Ever.)

The songs were remade for the movie, which as a Beatles fan, I thought was great. I didn’t like Sadie’s throaty version of Helter Skelter so much but enjoyed Eddie Izzard’s half spoken/half sung version of Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite! All other songs were used to help tell the story or enhance the drama.

The story centers around Jude who travels from Liverpool to America to find his father who was a U.S. soldier. He finds dear ol’ dad working as a custodian at Princeton where he meets Max. Jude and Max become friends and Jude falls for Lucy, Max’s sister.

Eventually we get to New York where we meet a myriad of characters with more names from the Beatles song book. All of this is course told during the turbulent 60’s when the Vietnam War (sorry, conflict) raged and students across America protested and minorities struggled for equality. Lucy gets involved in the war protest movement while Jude hangs back and works on his art which begins to drive Lucy and Jude apart … oh, did I forget to mention the love blossoming between the two? Max, now a college dropout, gets drafted and sent to Vietnam and during a protest Jude gets arrested and deported. At the end Jude comes back to the U.S. and meets up with Lucy†¦ I hope I didn’t ruin for you.

Throughout the movie we are occasionally taken a strange journey using music and imagery. There are a few trippy scenes where I am not exactly sure what’s going on and have never been good at deciphering symbols. Nevertheless, they are all enjoyable to watch and the music is great to listen to. I usually enjoy a good Beatles remake and a large majority of these remakes are true to the original. I already mentioned Helter Skelter but I think Come Togetherfell a little flat even though Joe Cocker was singing. All the other actors perform well on their respective tunes and The Secret Machines show up with a rockin’ version of Flying.

All around this is a great flick for music and movie lovers.

(4 out of 5)

Zac:

Trippy would be one way to describe this movie, and unfortunately it is not a good trip. That’s not to say the movie is horrible by any means, its just nowhere near being great, maybe, just barely good, the production values of the film probably at least grant it good status.
The movie is crazy to look at and visual stunning most of the time, don’t let the early and awkward crashing waves fool you otherwise, but that alone doesn’t make a movie.
The songs, all Beatles classics, are good for the most part as well, with a couple of odd choices along the way, and the singing is adequate most of the time, so what holds this movie back?
First, the actors. They are just not able to perform at the level this movie wants to be. No one is horrible, but know one is that great either, Lucy’s brother, Max, played by Joe Anderson doing a Jude Law impression, is the most likable and interesting character but sadly he disappears for most of the last third of the movie, to Vietnam, and we are left following the standard and predictable story of Jude and Lucy; like in the songs you know, how clever!
The story here is the biggest problem, about half way through it stops making sense, doesn’t even try too, people just are singing with loose parallels between the songs and the story and it is really hard to stay interested; save the Revolution number.
Any who, if you like the Beatles you will find enjoyment at all of the little references, if you like musicals you might like it because they are singing, but creativity can’t save this film which lacks a well rounded presentation with everything firing on all cylinders, so if are looking for greatness, or even good entertainment, you might best be suited seeing something else this weekend.

(3 out of 5)

[rating: 3.5/5]

DVD Features:
Extended musical performances
Deleted scene Commentary with director Julie Taymor and music producer/composer Elliot Goldenthal
5 behind the scenes featurettes
Photo gallery