All you need is love

Rating: 6/10 (9 April 2008)

An original musical film, Across The Universe is a fictional love story set in the 1960s amid the turbulent years of anti-war protest, the struggle for free speech and civil rights, mind exploration and rock and roll. At once gritty, whimsical and highly theatrical, the story moves from high schools and universities in Massachusetts, Princeton and Ohio to the Lower East Side of Manhattan, the Detroit riots, Vietnam and the dockyards of Liverpool. A combination of live action and animation, the film is paired with many songs by The Beatles that defined the time.
Note: I am not a Beatles' fan. I have never been one and probably will never be, even after watching this film. I am only familiar with a couple of their more famous songs and I'm a fan of musicals. Now, I will say this film is extremely creative with its art direction, production design, choreograph, and anything else from the brilliant mind of Julie Taymor. However, I was kind of disappointed with the film as a musical.
I really don't like much of the Beatles' songs. In the film, you'll hear about 35. Out of those selected 35 songs, I would count 3 as some very good songs and 7 as good songs. Yeah, I'm not really into their music as much as the billions of people around the world. I just expected better songs, you know? However, I enjoyed the film.
When you first watch this film, it's hard to determine whether you will like or hate the film. In fact, it can polarize audiences. I felt like I could've hated or loved the film because some musical spots were fantastic and creative while others are incredibly horrible, in my opinion. I did like the cameo by Bono.
The new, fresh faces in this movie is good. As an ensemble, they're decent, compared to other ensemble-type musical films. The story, unfortunately, is kind of predictable. You might already know what happens to the guy and the girl and the whole formulaic thing behind that.
If you're a Beatles' fan, I don't know if you will like the film or not. I'm not so sure. I'm just an outsider who was just excited to see a musical, in which so many people I knew loved. This film could probably make you hate what they've done with The Beatles or love The Beatles even more because you've seen this film. It's your choice.