Missed the mark.

Rating: 4/10 (1 April 2003)

I love musicals. I love Nicole Kidman. I love Ewan McGregor. But in my opinion this film was a dull let-down.
Why was I so disappointed?
For a film that literally cries out for extravagant dance numbers, this film merely had a lot of action that through trick editing was merely *pretending* to be extravagant dance numbers. The scenes switch so quickly that you can never really see anyone truly dance, probably because they're not truly dancing. The exception is the final dance number where the Argentinian and one of the ladies tango and re-enact the lovers' story. However, that episode is so long drawn out and full of triteness that it becomes tedious.
On the subject of editing, I felt that the editing failed to provide the awe, energy and pizzazz that some of the dance numbers required. It left the actors looking awkward and ridiculous in parts, in particular the scene in which the group is demonstrating the ideas for the new show to the Baron.
Although Nicole Kidman is beautiful and talented, I didn't think she was warm and sensual enough for the role of Satine, and although she's not a "bad" singer, I felt that most of her big songs lacked the "oomph" required to give proper effect.
Overall, the feel of the film was very juvenile. I felt like the director was "dumbing down" the sophistication of what should/could have been a smart, naughty story about love, lust, envy and greed in the underworld. Instead, it felt sanitized, and because of that became nothing more than a typical Hollywood date movie in lingerie.
But the most painful of all were the dialog and the music. 90% of the film steals lines from contemporary pop music. And the lines are so brief and ecclectic it had me feeling like it was targeted towards people with Attention Deficit Disorder. I can only guess that it was an attempt to appeal to the masses -- and since I'm one of the few who didn't like this film, I guess it succeeded in that regard.
Clever appropriation of well known music and words can be very effective, but in my opinion "Moulin Rouge!" missed the mark, choosing to totally saturate the film with line after line of quotes from mainstream pop music...not even something cleverly obscure, only the most obvious and mainstream so that the most unworldly of viewers was likely to "get it". I found myself thinking "If they utter one more quote from Elton John I'm going to puke!".
So what did I love about the film?
The costumes and sets were fun, fantastical and lush. They created a magical atmosphere that promised more than the rest of the film could deliver.
And Ewan McGregor was by far the shining star of the film. He's a strong singer and absolutely brilliant actor. Too bad his performance couldn't eclipse the rest of the film's shortcomings for me.
In summary, it's a cute film, great for a family with kids, but don't expect anything too deep or original. Sadly, it suffers from "over-Hollywoodization". It's just too corny and trite.