by Sarah Terzo

Created on: November 27, 2008   Last Updated: December 14, 2009

Pros: Some of the musical scenes are truly ingenious.

Cons: Sometimes Julie Taymor got just a little bit too weird for me

I had heard a lot about "Across the Universe" before I rented it, but really wasn't sure what to expect. Nearly everyone I knew who had seen the film had a powerful reaction to it- either positive or negative. From what my friends and family told me, I gathered that "Across the Universe" isn't a movie that most people find "okay." You tend to either love it or hate it.

I had experienced that similar disconnect of opinions with another musical, "Moulin Rouge," and I ended up loving that one. I had also heard "Across the Universe" compared to "Moulin Rouge" by some people, so I was eager to see it.

Well, "Across the Universe" was worth watching, but it definitely was no "Moulin Rouge."

Spectacle and song seemed to edge out plot in the making of "Across the Universe." The plot is somewhat threadbare and simplistic. The main theme is that of "boy meets girl, loses girl" etc.

One plot device that I really enjoyed is the way the movie introduces diverse characters from different parts of the world and then has them meet up later. The main character is Jude, a poor young man in Liverpool, England. Looking to escape the dead-end life in his hometown, he travels to America. Searching for the father who abandoned him as a child, he visits a university and runs into college student Max Carrigan. Invited to come home with Max for a family visit, he meets Max's sister, Lucy.

We have, as a matter of fact, already been introduced to Lucy. The musical number where both Lucy and Jude are introduced is arranged in a very clever way. We see Lucy dancing with her boyfriend at the school prom, then cut to Jude in a bar on the other side of the world. The same song is playing in each scene (though in different styles), tying the two people together. This technique is later utilized in a scene involving two funerals from two very different walks of life. The message is that no matter who we are or where we are from, music ties us together. The music of a generation, of course, being a central theme in this movie.

Max drops out of school, and he and Jude move to New York. There landlady/housemate is Sadie, an aspiring singer. Two other minor characters, JoJo (an African American guitarist who has fled the Detroit riots) and Prudence (a young runaway who is struggling to come to terms with her independence and sexuality) become friends of there's. Lucy soon

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>