Ticket To Ride

Rating: 8/10 (1 October 2007)

I first laid eyes and ears on the Beatles at age 11, and consider myself a charter member of the era and a volunteer protector of the legend. This was unapologetically the music of my young life. This is the music I introduced to my children, and God willing, will teach my grandchildren.
Fresh vocal and instrumental arrangements of the group's most famous songs, formed together as a story of young love in the midst of civil unrest and war, made interesting with fantastic choreography and special effects, and fun with Beatles allusions, were enough to hold me spellbound, laughing, crying, and overwhelmed, for more than two hours. It was a fantastic roller coaster ride and I wanna do it again.
In only the briefest moments was I disappointed or puzzled by some of the minor clichés and unnecessary puns, and in others, stunned with the intuitive RIGHTNESS of the images.
Since another commentator already mentioned it, I LOVED the funereal procession of soldiers carrying the Statue of Liberty to "She's So Heavy." You don't need to be an intellectual to interpret the message of patriotism as a crushing burden in those times. The use of "Strawberry Fields" was a deeply moving metaphor, as well, but I won't spoil it for you.
Some of the negative critical reviews, I suspect, were written by persons who either did not live the era or somehow expected the movie to deliver a profound, all-encompassing insight not demanded of other entertaining movie musicals. Someone even foolishly compared it to the ditsy long-ago Sgt. Pepper movie (with the Bee Gees and Peter Frampton), leading me to suspect that they had seen neither. No, you will still need to be a scholar of the Beatles, the 60s, and the Vietnam War in particular, if you want to begin to know "what it all meant."
But for those who simply want to enjoy a quality musical and visual production set to the images and music of their young lives, yet told fresh and anew by young talents, you will be very pleased. It resonates with love, care and respect, just like a ringing George Harrison guitar hook over a burst from Ringo's solid drums, leading into a soaring Lennon-McCartney harmony.