Moulin SLUDGE

Rating: Null/10 (30 May 2001)

Moulin Rouge is a rather unfulfiling experience. I had heard and experienced the hype as well as the numberous bad reviews. I must say, this dazzling, fickle piece is not worth it. I am rather a fan of Baz Luhrmann so I was REALLY disappointed with this one. (I was in the cinema three days after it opened in a peak hour session with less than a dozen people seeing it.)
First of all, it felt like Luhrmann was a kid let loose in a candy store and just wanted everything. He just lost sight of the FILM aspect when he was thrown all that industry money. There were WAY too many elements thrown in for the sake of throwing in elements. Oh wow, isn't Baz intelligent, he's got all these different things in his film! The result is a hybrid, bombastic musical with the cinema sounding more like a rock concert than a nice musical about courtesans.
The visual merry go round is nausiating after a while. The whole morphing effect was overdone with a great sense of vertigo. A little bit for effect is fine but you can't do your whole movie in this way!
Considering they spent about $100 million on this one, they could have made realistic sets as opposed to deliberately artificial, commical ones.
Nothing in this movie is really original except for the writing/transformation of old songs into new ones. That I do commend the writers. The storyline is taken from an opera (I don't want to be a spoilsport so I won't tell you which opera) and the songs as I said, are all old stuff. I was thoroughly embarrassed for Nicole Kidman, especially in its rather boring begining.
Ewan MacGregor is excellent and has a really nice voice. I wouldn't be surprised if he releases an album next year!