You may recall Julie Taymor’s work from Frida and The Lion King. Ms. Taymor, known for her lavish set designs and innovative special effects is a visual wunderkind. Two of Rita’s favorite sequences in Frida, involves the horrific bus accident recreated by creepy puppet skeletons dancing across the screen and the operating table. There is also the first visit to America sequence where Diego and Frida become animated stop motion characters aboard an ocean liner. Diego Rivera even becomes a King Kong-like animated character scaling the skyscrapers. Julie Taymor excels at stylistic flourishes.
The same stunning visual images can also be seen in Across the Universe, a paean to the 60s and Beatles music sung by the main characters throughout the film. However, the narrative is very weak. The film is like a pot of mixed vegetables that well, just don’t taste very good after it’s done cooking. There’s Jude from London searching for his father at Princeton University who befriends college drop-out Max, and then becomes the boyfriend of Max’s sister, Lucy. The three take up housing with the colorful Janis Joplin clone Sadie, and her Jimi Hendrix doppelgänger boyfriend. Against this backdrop of 60s counter-culture, the Vietnam War, and the civil rights riots comes along the sing-a-long numbers of the Fab Four.
There is something a bit incongruous about the main song numbers and they tend to slow down the pace of the movie rather than advance the storyline. That said, Rita’s favorite number in the film was “I Want You So Baaaad.” This show stopping sequence brings an Uncle Sam recruitment poster to life as helpless Max is being shuffled through the draft board. This stunning number is highly creative, inventive, and really showcases Taymor’s expertise with film as a visual and special effects medium.
If you love singing along to the Beatles’ music catalogue, you might enjoy Across the Universe—just don’t expect much from the tepid plot.
