This was

Rating: 1/10 (1 July 2011)

not even a movie. I have never reviewed a movie before, but when I saw this film I felt compelled to warn people (and doubly so once I found out that some people actually liked this "movie").
When I watch a movie, I expect entertainment. I expect to at least be interested in some semblance of a plot, and I expect the music (especially in a movie which emphasizes music) to not only sound good, but to add to or re-enforce the plot.
What I got from "Across the Universe" was not in the least bit entertaining or interesting, but rather an enormously clichéd and uninteresting story. The plot was a shameless mess of a story, which was clearly nothing but a poor excuse to play a specific list of songs. Even the praised "psychedelic" sections are simply a few minutes of horribly edited paint throwing and a "solarize" filter.
The one part I could tolerate was the music. A few songs were even good covers, but most ranged from mediocre to things I could barely listen to. Even then, however, the characters inexplicably broke out into song for (often) no apparent reason.
For these reasons, I do not consider "Across the Universe" a movie at all. It is, at best, an absurdly long and poorly made music video which thinks it can be a musical if it fits enough songs into one storyline.
Most of the original songs were better than those in this video, and the story and visuals were a pitiful attempt. My recommendation, then, is simply to buy and listen to the original songs. It will save you time, you'll hear better music, and watching paint dry would be better than watching the video.