Hit soundtracks shine, story underwhelms in ACROSS THE UNIVERSE.

Rating: 5/10 (15 August 2008)

My take: A visionary but utterly uneven musical. Watch it for the songs!
Before I even express my single regret for the Beatlemania-worship ACROSS THE UNIVERSE, there'll be a band of loyal fanatics out there who'll still defend this film from critics or simply critical viewers like me. "Oh, it's The Beatles. Screw You for not liking it for that!" They might say. But the powerhouse soundtrack is not the bad here. I wasn't even born during the supreme Beatlemania era but I know The Beatles music were and still is classic to this day. If you're a Beatles fan, there's no reason you shouldn't see this film, but I hardly doubt you'd want to see it for the story or its moralistic "messages". If I'd recommend ACROSS THE UNIVERSE to you, go see it for the music... and the music alone.
This imaginative but scattered musical drama centers on mid-Vietnam war era, where hippies and partying teens hit streets. The movie is about a story told amidst the band's famous hits, which leads to romantic moments, emotional moments of tragedy, friendship and many other surreal adaptations drawn from the imaginative minds behind the screenplay (and basically, the whole film itself). For the record, the imagination here is immense and elaborate in every sense. Come on! Any film to associate Vietnam war, the Hippie era with a pleasant array of The Beatles' soundtracks fits the category of imaginative and outlandish. And besides, simply the music of those famous songs are bound to lure any of you to the big-screen or the video store, making sure you won't miss a thing.
Everything about the soundtrack and the imaginative ideas are strong, but when it comes to finally telling a story, ACROSS THE UNIVERSE seems confusing and mostly dull. It concerns a love affair between a rebellious teen named Jude (Jim Sturgess), inspired from "Hey Jude", and Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood), inspired from "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", amidst a scandalous and chaos-ridden era of the Vietnam war. The story is convoluted and weakly-told. It's slow-moving and basically plodding, pretty weak when it comes to narrative. it all seems to be dependent on the Beatles music alone to carry the story, while it drags along. Director Julie Taymor has a thing for emotions, but she rarely swoops us here. Other than a blast from the past featuring Beatles favorites, the film rarely has a memorable moment once it devotes itself to dialog and screenplay.
ACROSS THE UNIVERSE is not a bad film, it's just a major disappointment. Any fan of The Beatles would come and see this one, come what may. While they'll get their just rewards, they'll still be forced plod along a tedious storyline. Scattered character bits and weak story-telling make up for one imaginative and colorful mess. See it for the music, but you still have the option to buy the soundtrack instead.
Rating: **1/2 out of 5.