Review of Across the Universe (2007) by Justin Z — 24 Mar 2013

Lavishly designed, finely acted and wildly imaginative in its dance numbers. I appreciate a lot of the artistic and metaphoric elements that Taymor put into the story through her imagery and costume design (as bizarre as it can get sometime). I do feel the director forgot there was a plot going on at points, as the fairly routine plot threads and characters gave way to the songs to the point that the various messages became disorganized and limp. There are a lot of elements that are presented and unceremoniously dropped because...well, just because (Prudence was almost entirely useless anyway). And it is TOO LONG!!! I appreciate trying to get as much as possible, but crossing the two hour mark for this is too much. A bit of trimming would have helped a lot.

Overall though, it's a fun artistic diversion. Just make sure you are in the mood for it and have someone to watch it with.