Like an old-school musical; enjoyed it anyway

Rating: 8/10 (30 August 2019)

Surprisingly, this is a film in which characters suddenly burst into song. Sometimes troops of dancers glide onscreen to support them. Not what I expected, but I did like this movie. It features strong performances by the leads. The Elton John songs that form ALL of the soundtrack were carefully chosen to tie in to the story. The best example: the "Rocketman" chorus ("I'm not the man they think I am at all") fits perfectly with crises going on in Elton John's life, including his conflicted homosexuality. The sheer number of great songs, one after another, bang bang bang, makes it clear (as if anyone really needed reminding) how outstanding John and Taupin's songwriting was, in the early years at least. Hearing them again in this context, all in a single sitting and accompanied by great visuals, was totally different from hearing this familiar music on classic rock radio for the one-thousandth dreary time.
I kept wondering how a film like this about real living people could actually be brought to the screen. After all, it depicts a lot of very personal stuff about John's relationship with his parents (who are depicted in an unfavorable light, to say the least), his spoiled behavior and so on. Why would John and Taupin agree to let such a film even exist. But then the closing credits reveal that Elton John is "executive producer," which made me wonder if this was in some sense his personal vanity project. Even so, it's a fine film.
NB: For Soft Machine fans, there's an unexpected surprise. I'd forgotten that Elton Dean and Elton John worked together in Bluesology. That's depicted briefly in the early part of the film.