Across the Universe

Directed by: Julie Taymor
Starring: Evan Rachel Wood, Jim Sturgess, Joe Anderson, Dana Fuchs, Martin Luther, Joe Cocker, Bono, Eddie Izzard, Salma Hayek
Running Time: 2h 11min

Faith had me holding out that this would turn into something more than a mix mash of Beatles music videos, slowed down to excruciating speed and bled of all warmth and harmony. Instead, the story continues to unravel into splintering ideas and concepts, destroying any hope for any unifying story, while butchering one Lennon-McCartney classic after another.

Granted, there are some interesting visuals, and some nice takes on the Fab Four's catalogue, yet none of the revisions come close to the originals, ruining any effect the interesting set design and production could have brought to the source material. It would have been better if the original recordings could have been used, so not to distract from Taymor's attempt to visualize some of pop's most beloved compositions. Still, the tunes are so great, you'd expect that you couldn't go wrong, yet Taymor and company continue to prove that they can and will destroy such treasures.

Even Bono, probably as big as the Beatles in this day and age, manages to screw up his rendition of "I Am the Walrus", inviting comparisons of Across the Universe to the equally horrible Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band film staring various rockers from the seventies. The only saving grace for Across the Universe is Taymor's set pieces that harken back to her theatrical stage production days, when the film tries less to be a dramatic narrative/faux documentary and embraces a more musical design in spirit, visual choreography, and outlandish lighting and costumes. In these moments, the film reaches for high art, but it all comes crashing down like the final chord of "A Day in the Life", once the actors try singing like they are reading a script, and the tempo is slowed to a crawl. There are too many misses than hits to recommend this to anyone, Beatles fan or someone new to the material.

Grade: D+