Audacious!

Rating: 7/10 (7 June 2001)

I found the first half of this movie very impressive. The mixture of modern songs, big production musical numbers, gorgeous stars like Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman doing their own singing (good enough: they aren't as good as Meryl Streep in "Postcards from the Edge"), and editing tricks thanks to computer animation just had me sitting wide-eyed in appreciation. I would give this part of the movie an 8 or a 9 on the IMDb scale of 10.
However, then comes the second half of the movie. Early on, two or more songs are sung simultaneously (I remember particularly "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend") in such a way that works beautifully. But later, in a scene where 3 or 4 songs are sung in this way, the trick loses its magic and it sounds as if everyone is just screaming the lyrics. The story's superficiality also begins to take its toll on the film in the second half. The last 30 minutes are especially difficult to watch due to an excessively complicated plot and a drawn out finale.
But at least Ewan McGregor emerges from the movie unscathed. (I cannot say the same for the miscast John Leguizamo.) Let's have more of Ewan.