Depends on what you expected

Rating: Null/10 (9 September 2001)

I come from Europe and my perspective is invariably different. To see a U.S. movie based on one of France's biggest attractions, turned into a legend, is quite unusual. It makes it even more unusual to find out that neither the director, nor the main actors are from France.This is like making "The Patriot" with German actors. Evenso, this is not "Moulin Rouge"'s main problem because apart from the truly amazing editing and camera, and John Leguizamo, this piece of art is a bit too shaky.
I say for probably the 100th time that Nicole Kidman is a very unstable actress when it comes to delivering a truly good performance. Indeed, she has her moments, but in fact sucks in playing a courtesan(for those of you unaware- this is something like a prostitute). Her image is far from both Julia Roberts' Vivian Ward("Pretty Woman") and Jodie Foster's Iris("Taxi Driver"). They possesed charisma with intelligence, whereas Kidman has only unlimited sex appeal and beautiful eyes. That's certainly not enough. To top it off, she doesn't sing her songs(more on that later).
Second of all, Ewan McGregor who is otherwise very strong in his roles(Ah, that "Trainspotting") seems very "lost in the action". He does have his strong moments(mostly in the end), but is mostly lost behind John Leguizamo's performance. Speaking of Leguizamo, I have to admit he is more than convincing as the short in stature, but large at heart Toulouse Lautrec. What drove me more than mad is that most people don't even know who he actually was(YES- he was a real person, one of France's most celebrated artists, who died of syphilis). Anyway, Leguizamo deserves at least a few major nominations for secondary character(hint for the Academy).

I'm not even discussing the songs in the movie(great classics- pretty lame arrangement) because except for "Roxanne" everything pretty much fell behind the originals.However, it is not the songs that bother you, it is the fakeness of the performance. Why do you have to make Ewan and Nicole's voices seem so heavenly- IT'S SO NOT REAL!Every time I am asked about a musical, I give "Dancer in the Dark" as an example- pure, simple, brilliant(but that's another topic).
So, as a whole the movie indeed leaves an impression, that regretfully is not lasting. The motion, the action, the colors are very vivid, but i doubt they amount up to what Moulin Rouge was like a 100 years ago. It was something unforgettable, something this movie is not.