So exciting, I felt I should stomp and cheer. So delighting I'll watch it for a few more years!

Rating: Null/10 (11 March 2002)

I've just re-watched "Moulin Rouge!" on DVD and my foot is still tapping along to it. It's a wonderful, fantastic, sensation trip - an extreme triumph of style over substance, that lives on in my head where most movies fade to nothing.
One of the main criticisms leveled at the movie is a lack of a plot. Yup, I'll concede that. I'll furthermore add that it doesn't *matter*. It's a simple romance story - a very simple one - told with all the passion and vibrancy of love.
What's good about the movie, if the plot isn't great? Everything else. Firstly fire the Academy - Luhrman deserves, at the very least, an Oscar nomination for Best Director his work here. "Moulin Rouge!" looks absolutely *gorgeous*. It's lush, vibrant, almost drowning you visually. The costumes, pseudo-periodic, are brilliant. The set of the "Moulin Rouge" is fantastic and lavish. The city of Paris is done with a tint of larger-than-life, almost cartoonish feel, reflecting the fact this is a *musical* not a drama. And then we add Luhrman's use of zooming cameras, high-paced editing, cameras that swirl around with the dancers... I could go on. It's sufficient to say that the movie will leave you breathless.
The acting is top-notch, for what's needed. Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman show untapped vocal skills, as do the rest of the characters. Sure they're not deeply etched, but a lot of the emotion is conveyed through song - as musicals are meant to do. The Evil Duke - who wants Nicole Kidman's Satine character for himself - is played almost camply with delicious glee by Richard Roxburgh. All of the cast, including the talented Jim Broadbent as the owner of the eponymous nightclub, credit themselves here.
Finally of course there's the song. They're nearly all great. Blending a mix of old and new, sung to different tunes they can make you sad or make you just laugh out loud (check out "Like a Virgin"). You may deduct marks for originality, but you have to give the mark back when you can see the creative interpretations of the song.
Does "Moulin Rouge!" have any faults? Sure, the plot's a little tripe and the pacing of the movie sags somewhat in the middle, particularly after the adrenaline pumping introduction of the Moulin Rouge (which will forever ruin "Smells Like Teen Spirit"). But the film's vigour, passion, intensity, its medley of music and sumptuous scenery lifts it far above it's flaws. Extremely recommended. 9.6/10.