Across the Universe 2007

      This is a fictional love story set in the 1960’s during the turbulent years of anti-war protests.  There is also the struggle for free speech and civil rights.  Included are mind explorations and rock and roll.  The story goes from high schools and universities in Massachusetts, Princeton and Ohio to the Lower East Side of Manhattan.  Moving on to Detroit riots, Columbia student riots, Vietnam, napalm and the draft to the dockyards of Liverpool.  There is a combination of live action and 3-D animation plus puppets.  Many songs are paired with the stories.

     There are a LOT of songs in this film and there is a good plot.  The characters are named after Beatles songs and most of what happens is an illustration of one of the songs.  Unfortunately, some of the contents is iffy for teens.  Characters drink and take drugs without any negative consequences.  A few nude scenes but artfully staged, does that make them better and more appropriate?  This film has powerful messages about the importance of friendships and the need to ask questions about authority when lives are at stake.  5* (I really liked this movie)

133 min, Drama directed and written by Julie Taylor and also written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais with Evan Rachel Wood, Jim Sturgess, Joe Anderson, Dana Fuchs, Martin Luther, T.V. Carpio, Spencer Liff, Lisa Dwyer Hogg, Nicholas Lumley, Michael Ryan, Erin Elliott.  

Note:  Imdb 7.3 out of 10 with 105,526 reviews, Roger Ebert 4*, Common Sense Media S. Jhoanna Robledo 3* out of 5*, age 14+, 3* violence, 3* sex, 3* language, 3* consumerism, 3* drinking, drugs & smoking, Rotten Tomatoes 53% with 179 critics 82% with 333,336 user ratings, RollingStone 2 1/2* out of 4* Peter Travers, empire online 4* Ian Nathan.

Special Note:  Director Julie Taymor watched the premier sitting next to Paul McCartney.  She was nervous about what he would think!!  She asked him at the conclusion, what he thought?  He said “What’s not to like?”  Paul sang along with the song All My Loving and this was a very moving moment for Taymor!!  Also, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono, Paul McCartney and Olivia Harrison praised the film after viewing.  Released on John Lennon’s birthday October 9th in the United States.

Mistakes:  Jude is packing up his stuff in his Liverpool bedroom after finishing on the docks.  We can see a Liverpool FC poster on the wall and the LFC crew design shown had not come into being in the 1960’s.  It would be more likely from the late 1980’s?