Probably not the musical you are thinking of

Rating: 7/10 (2 June 2001)

The word "musical" usually makes me think of those films from vintage cinema or those Disney animated films. Moulin Rouge is not like this.
The movie's tone is a bit more serious and contains suggestive dialogue (as it should be considering the setting). The musical numbers are a mix of both modern-style original and adapted songs such as Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You" and Madonna's "Like a Virgin." But, make no mistake -- neither the songs nor the score contain heavy rock-n-roll or electrics; think more along the lines of a full orchestra.
I thought the music worked well for this movie and offered a different style of storytelling than the norm. It had a pretty interesting musical-within-a-musical plot. The movie itself did seem visually hard-hitting and disjointed at times, especially in the beginning, but it does settle down once the love story gets going, and an emotional one it is.
Don't dismiss Moulin Rouge because of your predispositions, because chances are they don't apply in this case. It's not your typical musical. Also, it's not so much like Luhrmann's "Romeo + Juliet" -- you can like one and not the other.