A big disappointment

Rating: 1/10 (16 September 2001)

My partner and I went to this film expecting, at the very least, to have an enjoyable time and, based on what we'd heard about it, possibly a 'life-changing experience'.
This is the first film for many years where we both decided to walk out before the end.
What is it that makes this film so appealing to so many and yet a complete anathema to others? Our taste is broad, we give most cinema a chance to engage and enthrall us, but this just left us looking at our watches and thinking of better things to do.
Lavish in production it certainly is, with some clever cinematographic tricks that George Melies himself would have loved, but all this cannot make up for the emptiness of the storyline, the dodgy editing, the lacklustre choreography and the butchered songs.
Why do people think Ewan McGregor has a good voice? He hasn't! Are people exposed to so much bad singing nowadays that they've lost all point of reference? Even Nicole Kidman's songs were dubbed in the scenes we saw before our exit.
Maybe we missed the point of the whole thing, maybe by not staying for the end we missed some crucial and 'life-changing' finale. Judging by the comments of others like us - who thought this one of the worst films they'd seen for a long time - I don't think so. Even with all the hype, a week after opening the cinema was only about half full on a Saturday night - don't be frightened to stand up and be counted all you other Moulin dissidents!