I like ELO, I thought.
I like Gene Kelly, I thought.
Olivia, Newton & John are always a pleasure to look at, I thought.
It's only £2.50 in the discount bin, I thought.
There are lots of enthusiastic comments on the IMDb, I thought.
How can I go wrong? That shows me, I guess.
The producers of this movie clearly thought that Olivia, Newton & John were the reason for the popularity of Grease. Xanadu provides proof that Grease's success rests on Travolta's shoulders.
To be fair, Olivia, Newton & John are saddled with some fair old drivel here, and it required someone considerably less lightweight to actually make something of it (if, indeed, anyone could have). Where frothy comedy is required, Xanadu is a froth-free zone.
The ending is appalling. The entire last third of the film is spent making it clear that the role of a Muse is eternal and there is absolutely no quitting it in order to assume mortality. No exceptions. None. And, after getting special permission to attend the opening of Xanadu, the ascension back to Mount Helicon duly takes place. So who is the roller waitress who turns up in the closing shot? Is it our heroine, belatedly let off Musing (in complete contradiction of everything which has gone before)? Is it a waitress who, just by chance, also looks exactly like Olivia, Newton & John? Or is it Kira (not that I recall any of the Muses being named Kira) who has sneaked out, in which case this can only lead to trouble when Wilfred Hyde White - sorry, Zeus - catches up with her? This makes no sense and is unfair to everything which has gone before.
For a musical, the musical numbers are sparse, drab, and boring. Only Gene Kelly, in a gently unchallenging swansong, comes out of them with credit.
The animated sequence is pretentious and not very good.
ELO's music is not bad, though not among Jeff Lynne's finest.
Michael Beck brings a whole new dimension to the word "miscast."
Olivia, Newton & John conveys rosy-cheeked wholesomeness adequately enough but, when the film as a whole is so comprehensively substandard, it requires a bit more than "adequate" to cut the mustard. The mustard accordingly remains resolutely uncut.
I like Gene Kelly, I thought.
Olivia, Newton & John are always a pleasure to look at, I thought.
It's only £2.50 in the discount bin, I thought.
There are lots of enthusiastic comments on the IMDb, I thought.
How can I go wrong? That shows me, I guess.
The producers of this movie clearly thought that Olivia, Newton & John were the reason for the popularity of Grease. Xanadu provides proof that Grease's success rests on Travolta's shoulders.
To be fair, Olivia, Newton & John are saddled with some fair old drivel here, and it required someone considerably less lightweight to actually make something of it (if, indeed, anyone could have). Where frothy comedy is required, Xanadu is a froth-free zone.
The ending is appalling. The entire last third of the film is spent making it clear that the role of a Muse is eternal and there is absolutely no quitting it in order to assume mortality. No exceptions. None. And, after getting special permission to attend the opening of Xanadu, the ascension back to Mount Helicon duly takes place. So who is the roller waitress who turns up in the closing shot? Is it our heroine, belatedly let off Musing (in complete contradiction of everything which has gone before)? Is it a waitress who, just by chance, also looks exactly like Olivia, Newton & John? Or is it Kira (not that I recall any of the Muses being named Kira) who has sneaked out, in which case this can only lead to trouble when Wilfred Hyde White - sorry, Zeus - catches up with her? This makes no sense and is unfair to everything which has gone before.
For a musical, the musical numbers are sparse, drab, and boring. Only Gene Kelly, in a gently unchallenging swansong, comes out of them with credit.
The animated sequence is pretentious and not very good.
ELO's music is not bad, though not among Jeff Lynne's finest.
Michael Beck brings a whole new dimension to the word "miscast."
Olivia, Newton & John conveys rosy-cheeked wholesomeness adequately enough but, when the film as a whole is so comprehensively substandard, it requires a bit more than "adequate" to cut the mustard. The mustard accordingly remains resolutely uncut.