Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that although there's much to like about this Beatles-inspired musical -- it's visionary, it introduces young audiences to iconic songs, and it addresses important social issues -- some of the content is iffy for teens. Characters drink and take drugs without any negative consequences, and there are a few nude scenes (though they're artfully staged and echo the deep love between main characters Lucy and Jude). Still, teens are likely to relate to the film's powerful messages about the importance of friendships and the need to question authority when lives are at stake.
Families can talk about how the Beatles' music defined a generation. Are the songs as relevant today as when they first became famous? What about their music makes it so universal? Families can also discuss the counter-culture movement of the 1960s and '70s. Are young people as involved with politics today as they were then? Or does that kind of passion only happen in movies anymore? Do you think that era tends to get idealized today? Why or why not?
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: S. Jhoanna Robledo
There's no denying that Julie Taymor -- who brought Disney's The Lion King to glorious life on Broadway, and captured a painter's vivid existence in Frida -- is a visionary. In ACROSS THE UNIVERSE, the director taps into the Beatles' impressive, iconic catalog to tell the story of young love during the turbulent 1960s and 1970s. It's an audacious feat for which she deserves much praise. But the movie falls short.
Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood) and Jude (Jim Sturgess) are worlds apart, literally, as the movie begins. She's a high school senior cloistered in an affluent American suburb; he's the boy from Liverpool gifted with a talent for the visual arts but toiling in a factory. Determined to make something, anything, of himself, he relocates to America; befriends Lucy's brother, Max (Joe Anderson); and promptly falls in love. The realization hits Jude in a bowling alley, and what follows is a gleeful rendition of "I've Just Seen a Face." (Sturgess can sure sing, as can Wood, who does no wrong in this movie.)
But while Taymor's fantastical concepts are admirable, musicals -- even fevered ones, like Moulin Rouge -- tend to work better when the singing is organic and the setting naturalistic (as naturalistic as a musical can be, anyway), with characters launching into the perfect song to evoke emotions they need to express.
From that perspective, Across the Universe succeeds when, for example, Lucy worries that she might be giving her heart to a boy with a wandering eye and sings "If I Fell" in a touching interlude. But when the film segues into nonsensical bits -- Eddie Izzard's "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite," for instance -- it loses its way (that said, Bono does deliver a killer version of "I Am the Walrus"). Plus, some of the numbers are so stylized -- Max lying in a hospital bed among many others arranged in a circle, with a man dancing in the center -- that they're best left to the Broadway stage.
An insubstantial script also hobbles the film; despite the grave subject matters it addresses -- war, art, love -- and the fact that characters dabble in sex and drugs, Across the Universe remains lightweight. It's painted in strokes that, albeit stunning, are too broad. By the time the credits roll, it feels less powerful than when it began, and that's a shame. It could have been a contender; as it stands, it's a memorable, wonderful confection with too much unrealized potential.
For musicals that really hit the mark, try a classic like Singin' in the Rain, or modern-day successes like Moulin Rouge, Romeo + Juliet, or Chicago.
Rate It!
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Sexual ContentArtistic scenes show two lovers floating in water, naked and kissing; they're also shown in bed (under the covers), waking up together, and locked in passionate embraces a handful of times (deep French kissing). Two scenes show bare breasts, and men's backsides are visible as well. Passing references to promiscuity. |
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ViolenceSoldiers shoot at others during the Vietnam War; cops shoot at looters and beat protesters (one main character is bloodied); anti-war extremists build bombs; a quarrel between two men turns physical. |
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LanguageRuns the gamut from "bastard" to "s--t" and "f--k." |
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Social BehaviorCharacters plot ways to dodge the draft, sneak into the country illegally, and question the government (though all for reasons they deem noble -- i.e. to stop the Vietnam War). There's kindness between Lucy and Jude, even when they're at odds, and Jude and Max form a very strong and loyal friendship. |
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CommercialismThe film is inspired by Beatles music. Some labels of alcoholic beverages get screen time. |
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Drug/Alcohol/TobaccoCharacters smoke pot and use psychedelic drugs. They also drink quite a bit, from beer to hard liquor. |
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