The movie musical has seen a recent resurgence. Or has it? Multiple attempts to recreate the once popular genre in the last six years following the successes of Chicago"" and ""Moulin Rouge!"" have been mostly failures (""Phantom of the Opera,"" ""The Producers""), and the mild successes (""Hairspray,"" ""Rent"") have been marginalized by fans of the originals. Director Julie Taymor decided to go in the direction of ""Moulin Rouge!"" and created ""Across the Universe,"" a musical with music from already existing pop songs, in this case - songs from the Beatles. With more than 30 Beatles musical numbers and six characters that all have names from Beatles songs, it seems that Taymor (""Frida,"" Disney's The Lion King) is taking on a project bigger than she can handle. But although the movie is often uneven and unsure of how to use the music to its advantage, the end result is a film that just falls short of being brilliant, which is still one to admire.
The film takes some time to find its footing. It begins with a Liverpool boy (Jim Sturgess) who goes to America to find his father and meets Princeton dropout Max (Joe Anderson) and his sister, Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood). But until the characters actually get to Greenwich Village, where the Vietnam protests are on the brink of explosion, it is impossible to tell when the film takes place; the actors look and sound so modern. When actress T.V. Carpio's character Prudence (so that someone can sing ""Dear Prudence"" to her in a later number, of course) sings ""I Want to Hold Your Hand"" to a female cheerleader and then remains undeveloped for the rest of the film, it's easy to think that the film is an excuse to cram as many Beatles songs in as possible, making for a movie that reads more like a train of cheap tribute music videos than a musical.
But halfway through the movie, Lucy and Jude (Sturgess) end up in a psychedelic drug-induced bus journey with Bono making a cameo to sing ""I am the Walrus,"" and the movie picks up. The music begins to flow in sync with the tumultuous events happening around it, and some of the numbers pop so brightly, with strong vocals and dazzling choreography, it's a letdown when the next one isn't as brilliant. One incredible number occurs when Max goes to an army recruitment office and is met with animated Uncle Sam posters bellowing ""I Want You (She's So Heavy)."" Sturgess is a talented new British actor with the singing chops to match, as he performs songs from the poppy ""I've Just Seen a Face"" to the movie's beautiful title song. Wood isn't entirely convincing as a well brought up girl who turns left-wing radical, but her voice helps carry the soundtrack with the upbeat ""It Won't Be Long"" and the mellow ""Blackbird.""
The Beatles were so attached to the '60s era in America, it makes sense that Taymor would position the Beatles as the soundtrack to an entire movie. It's not quite enough, however, as ""Across the Universe"" doesn't feel entirely genuine, with clichéd protest dialogue and trick-or-treat inspired hippie costumes. The 1979 movie adaptations of ""Hair"" and ""Forrest Gump"" do the era much more justice. But there is a reason that Hollywood has been pursuing musicals. At its best, a musical can carry a message much stronger than mere dialogue can, and ""Across the Universe"" knows that. One would hope that aspiring musical filmmakers could take this almost-incredible movie as inspiration.
