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• Director: Julie Taymor
• Genre: Musical/Drama/Romance
• Year: 2007

So, this British guy named Jude is out to look for his dad. This girl, named Lucy, is sending off her boyfriend to the war and in between them, is Max, the guy that meets Jude on this side of the Atlantic and introduces him to his family and eventually to Lucy. And because this is a musical based entirely on Beatles music, this couple and pretty much every character in this movie is conveniently named to match a Beatles song, Lucy (Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds), Jude (Hey Jude), Sadie (Sexy Sadie), Jojo (Come Together)…pretty gimmicky, but I suppose it works.

The story itself is a romance, focused mostly around Jude and Lucy and sideswipping around Max who is eventually drafted and sent off to the war in Vietnam. Unfortunately, this movie does not have the focus it should have. At 2 hours and 13 minutes, this movie was pushing it on the length category and frankly it could have done with some pretty good fat trimming. The problem I see here is the fact that instead of working a story where the lyrics of the Beatles songs could fit, it seems they tried to fit in songs and force a story around them. The whole bit around Prudence, and most of Jojo and Sadie’s story could have been done away with, particularly since the way it is presented to us is so disjointed and incomplete from the start. For example, the Prudence closet scene? The lover’s stage-quarrel between Jojo and Sadie? The fact that Jojo and Sadie inexplicably are back together at the end? Why waste our time on this when they could expand on the main story instead of brushing past some significant scenes such as the one where Lucy finds her peers (for the sake of not creating a spoiler I will be vague) doing something they are not supposed to be doing. That to me was a lot more important and barely got fifteen seconds on screen.

For somebody trying to look at the story for content, this all can be rather frustrating, specially when lines of dialogue are taken from Beatles songs pushed in to make them work, sometimes effectively, most often not. But that being said, this is a musical and for whatever reason they seem to get a lot more leniency when it comes to content than any genre. Frankly, having heard the hype on this film and comments from a lot of people around me, I think I could very well simply be expecting too much from a film, because most people are not bothered by this, or at least not bothered enough to bring it up.

There is no doubt that this film has gotten a great reception from the public and as far as musicals go I would have to say it is certainly on the upper half for entertainment value. This may be no Moulin Rouge, but you simply can not go wrong with Beatles music and artful cinematography. The true strength of this movie lies in its originality and willingness to present the material in a unique way that is often refreshing and visually intriguing, most memorable of which is a sequence as Max is processed for the army, which is not only texture-rich but symbolically effective; and while the material treated here may be pushing it on the trippy side, with a lot of filter work, its very nature as a musical helps to keep it from imploding. Add in the fact that you have some decent acting and pretty faces along with pretty decent voices and this film can save itself from its own shortcomings.

All in all, would I recommend it? Yes. Would I buy it? Only if it was on sale.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Notes: Some adult themes, drug content and brief nudity. Rachel Evan Woods is all grown up.
Quote: Army Sergeant: Is there any reason you shouldn’t be in this man’s Army?
Max: I’m a cross-dressing homosexual pacifist with a spot on my lung.
Army Sergeant: As long as you don’t have flat feet.