Across the Universe (2007)

Dreadfully misunderstood romantic musical is half love story, half psychedelic acid trip, all brought to you singularly by the Beatles. Set in the 1960s against anti-war protest, in England, Vietnam, and the United States, it tells of six friends: Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood), her lover Jude (Jim Sturgess), her brother Maxwell (Joe Anderson), rock singer Sadie (Dana Fuchs), her guitarist Jo-Jo (Martin Luther McCoy), and their shy friend Prudence (T.V. Carpio).As a lifelong Beatles fan, I more than enjoyed seeing every major character in this film (without forgetting the foul-mouthed Doctor Robert or the odd Mr. Kite) taking his or her name from a character in a song by the Fab Four. Furthermore, the soundtrack was phenomenally covered, for the most part. Even Bono from U2 makes an extended cameo appearance as a drugged-up, Ozzy-esque portrait of Doctor Robert, with a stellar delivery of "I Am the Walrus". The only two disappointments as far as the music goes were Sturgess's croaking performance of "Revolution" and Eddie Izzard's disturbing twist on "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite".The musical numbers, as well, were utterly fantastic. Many of them use the motion-capture animation used in films such as BEOWULF and THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN, to create the interchanging impressions of experiencing a dream or a drug trip; combined with blurred, illusional visionaries of nude swimming (a la the scenes from Tim Burton's BIG FISH), the effect is odd but fantastical. By far the most unpredictable number is "I Want You (She's So Heavy)", which according to this film means "Uncle Sam Wants You (Lady Liberty's So Heavy)".Whether you are a Beatles fan or not, ACROSS THE UNIVERSE should be easily entertaining. One which is barely familiar with the music of the Beatles will most likely enjoy this music for what it ultimately is. The songs, even for a Beatles fan, are often hard to recognize, though lovable, because the singers twist them into something of their own work, while in turn keeping the Beatles original tone, whether somber or exubriant. Main points go to this film for its unusual ability to alter classic rock music into seemingly original modern rock; I hope this becomes a Broadway show in the near future, in which case I will make every effort to see it.Full Review Coming Soon