Across the Universe

September 21st, 2007 by James Cook | Source:

Directed by: Julie Taymor
Written by: Dick Clement, Ian La Frenais
Starring: Jim Sturgess, Evan Rachel Wood, Joe Anderson, Dana Fuchs, Martin Luther, T.V. Carpio

Score: 7/10

Original musicals don’t seem to get much play on the big screen anymore. Studios usually opt to make a remake of a big stage musical in hopes of winning an Oscar. Across the Universe, while not entirely original doesn’t rely on any previous stage version, and in many ways is a throw back to the big musicals of old Hollywood. It just happens to have the songs of the world’s most popular band backing up its musical numbers.

After hearing the concept for the movie I was pretty excited, it seemed like a pretty creative idea and something that a talented director could do a lot with. Unfortunately, while the movie has many great scenes it also has a lot of missteps that ultimately take a great idea and end up turning it into only a decent film.

Like most musicals the story isn’t that deep, it’s you’re basic boy-meets-girl tale. Jude (Jim Sturgess) is you’re average working stiff from Liverpool; he makes his way to America planning to track down his father whom he’s never met. He befriends Max (Joe Anderson) a college student and someone who doesn’t seem to like the idea of having his future completely mapped out. Jude eventually falls in love with Max’s sister Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood). They all make their way to New York City where they meet a cast of characters and the movie plays out with them living through the 60s trying to deal with the Vietnam War and peace activism.

The main problem I had with the film is that some of the musical numbers fall completely flat and aren’t enjoyable, and in a musical that’s bad news. There are a bunch of long-winded trippy drug sequences that one should probably expect when dealing with a musical set in the 1960s, but they just don’t work with the other non-trippy scenes. Bono makes an appearance as a musician that takes the cast through one of these trips, it drags on for far too long and it feels like the filmmakers just put Bono in the film because they could.

The film also has a problem with some of the characters, Prudence (T. V. Carpio) seems to add nothing to the film, it’s never really made clear what her motives are or why she’s even on screen as much as she is. Early on she seems to have a crush on a football player as she sings “I want to hold your hand” and she seems to be depressed the rest of the time. It appears she may only be in the movie so there’s an excuse to have a musical number featuring the song “Dear Prudence”. There is also Sadie (Dana Fuchs) an up and coming singer who falls in love with JoJo (Martin Luther McCoy), there’s a little too much of their story and the problems that they have to deal with. At times it’s an interesting side story but I’d much rather be watching Jude and Lucy or seeing how Max is dealing with the war.

With all that being said there are many musical numbers that work and are very entertaining. When director Julie Taymor brings the film back into a more grounded world the film works very well. Jude singing “Revolution” as he confronts Lucy about her peace work is one of the best sequences in the film, it’s simple and effective. Another scene that’s very effective and entertaining is when Jude and Max are out on the town with a bunch of college students and they break out into “With a little help from my friends”. It would have been a much better film if there were more of these kinds of moments and less crazy abstract things that you scratch you’re head at.

Overall, Across the Universe wasn’t as good as I was expecting it to be but it still manages to entertain. At times it drags and some musical numbers probably could have been cut. It’s still one of the more ambitious films of the year and for that reason it should be seen on the big screen.