This movie is a perfect example of how even your favorite actors will sink along with a shoddy script. Neither Olivia Newton John's beauty and singing, nor Gene Kelly's dancing could save it.
It's a musical/fantasy, and weak at each. Put it up next to the quality of other musicals and fantasies, this thing doesn't measure up. Olivia is a benevolent and naive goddess type creature, here to make music and dancing wonderful for the downtrodden. Or something like that. Her character is written like Greek Mythology Meets Bozo's Big Top. She appears/disappears via (ready?) a posted bill on a building wall. Mystical and inspiring? More like outrageously dumb, as are the lines she's expected to say with a straight face. Gene Kelly looks embarrassed. Like Olivia, he made the most he could out of this, but to no avail. As for that guy playing the romantic interest, he wanders around the screen aimlessly like he's on quaaludes.
Some of the music is OK, but ill used. The roller skating scene could have been fun, but it's buried in a mess of other dull and muddy imagery. The plot (if any) is feeble minded, and you never care about the characters or what they do. Three points for effort by Kelly and Olivia. Otherwise, Xanadu is a real Xanadud.
It's a musical/fantasy, and weak at each. Put it up next to the quality of other musicals and fantasies, this thing doesn't measure up. Olivia is a benevolent and naive goddess type creature, here to make music and dancing wonderful for the downtrodden. Or something like that. Her character is written like Greek Mythology Meets Bozo's Big Top. She appears/disappears via (ready?) a posted bill on a building wall. Mystical and inspiring? More like outrageously dumb, as are the lines she's expected to say with a straight face. Gene Kelly looks embarrassed. Like Olivia, he made the most he could out of this, but to no avail. As for that guy playing the romantic interest, he wanders around the screen aimlessly like he's on quaaludes.
Some of the music is OK, but ill used. The roller skating scene could have been fun, but it's buried in a mess of other dull and muddy imagery. The plot (if any) is feeble minded, and you never care about the characters or what they do. Three points for effort by Kelly and Olivia. Otherwise, Xanadu is a real Xanadud.