Across the Universe (Two-Disc Special Edition)

Honestly, I've never been a Beatles-fan. That is, I've never been a Beatles-fan prior to seeing Across The Universe. I found it on a whim somewhere, watched it just as suddenly, and I was pretty much caught. It's not even my "regular type" of music, but the way the story unfolds and how the songs are adapted and presented is what makes it great. I don't know Paul from John back in '60-whatever, but give me a fresh take on it, apply it to something colorful, catchy and modern, and you've got me. T-Bone Burnett was brilliant on Walk The Line, and he's just as great here. The way I see it, he's basically unearthing old rocks and polishing them into diamonds.

You might need to be open to musicals, because it's still (basically) two hours of people dancing and singing in colorful environments. But it's set in the 60's environment, and plays across the entire story in many literal and appropriate ways. The production design and visuals is just as much part of it as anything else.

Below I'll be sharing thoughts on my favourite segments and songs. If you haven't seen it yet, you might want to check it out before reading any further.

The opening, with "Girl" is particularly lamentful, Jim Sturgess draws you into it with nothing but his voice, and only a hint of a song. Not long after he also begins "All My Loving" with only his voice, and it's one of my very favourite songs because it stays with you in some odd way, it's just a very accessible and memorable song. "Hold Me Tight" in between goes from being your basic dance romp to something else when it's sung by two people in two situations. What's nice throughout is that most of it sounds almost sung "on the spot", similar in a way to Walk The Line. "..Face" is annoyingly hummable and "I Want You" has the best guitar sound in the entire thing (save, maybe "Helter Skelter"). "Because" is a rare sort of halftime break because it's so ethereal, but I don't think that's different from the original song. "Strawberry Fields" is a great visual montage, the look of it lifts the actual song a lot higher than it stands on its own. Evan Rachel Wood shows her entire singing skill in "Blackbird" and "Hey Jude", although a bit literal, is also a good moment, especially just the calm opening.

Songs I'm not as fond of are "Come Together", "Why Don't We..", "Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite!", "Oh! Darling", "Happiness Is A Warm Gun" and "Don't Let Me Down". Mostly they're "B-songs", and they could all be dropped without affecting the primary story. There's also a lot of bickering between the secondary couple, and I'm not as fond of their singing in general. While Bono is odd enough, Eddie Izzard is just too odd, same goes for the song. Many songs are very literal, and overall I think it feels overly long, so it could've easily dropped 20 or 30 minutes and kept the other songs on the DVD or some alternate cut.

Anyway, that's how impressionable I am. Brighten it up and I'm there, and Across The Universe does the job well. It's fascinating and just overall enjoyable, with a new approach to a bygone era of music. It proves that a new method is often the way to appreciate something completely different.

I grew up with the Beatles, and though these folks obviously aren't them, they do a creditable job with the music. Some off notes are expected. Didn't know Evan Rachel Wood had a decent voice, but without more training, she should stick to acting. Plot is thin and predictable, but the music makes it tolerable. Sad that it continues the tradition in movies of depicting the drug culture/hippies as the pre-eminent experience of the times, even with the brief acknowledgement of middle-class America. But for the songs (memories!) and cleverly weaving them mostly appropriately into this story (better than "1969" and others), I would have passed on this as just another rock-based musical bit of pap to promote a drug culture that was only a small sideshow of the 1960s experience for most of us. The acting is good, not great, the mild and brief nudity not shocking, and no steamy sex or lurid violence. A good blend of quick shots tempers what could have been just another teen exploitation, and the story actually flows. Good color and some reasonably accurate history shoved into the story line. Some too brief and obviously contrived references to other Beatles' memorabilia are small bumps on its road. I like it for the music and a pleasant afternoon's movie entertainment. Drugs are for those who aspire to be losers in life, don't care about those who really care for them, or are too lazy to use what nature gave them already.

I bought this for my husband as a companion gift for his new HD LCD TV. He loves the Beatles & was intrigued by the use of their music in this show. He uses it to show off the TV's attributes... "Look at that color!", "Hear that sound!", "What a show!". I'm sure we will be seeing it over & over!

This movie is great you'll find yourself singing along and singing to the songs long after the movies over. The Beatles will always the greatest!

Across the Universe is a colorful and turblent tale of love and war in the late 1960s. Evan Rachel Wood and Jim Sturgess play Lucy and Jude who fall in love during the midst of the Vietnam War. This is a musical and all the songs are Beatles classics like Strawberry Fields Forever, If I Fell, Happiness Is a Warm Gun, I Am the Walrus, I've Just Seen A Face, and many many more. The acting and singing is superb and the plot works perfectly with the Beatles fun and moving lyrics. Look for cameos by Bono, Joe Cocker, and Salma Hayek. My favorite music number is I Want You (She's So Heavy) featuring a great new face Joe Anderson. I highly recommend this tripped-out, hippie love gem, enjoy!!