Rating: 
Summary: So bad, it's good...
Review: "Xanadu" has been and will always be panned by critics, and justifiably so on some levels; awfully written dialogue, corny special effects, and a storyline weak at best...but then there's the level in which it's resurfacing. "Xanadu" has obtained a cult following! I can think of few movies that can take me back to warm summers, feathered- hair beauties, and great music of the then- dying decade of the seventies (if I recall, it was released in 1980). This movie somehow embraces new age kitch in a way that can only be described in a situation on NBC's "Friends"...Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow) when seeing Olivia onscreen in Joey's apartment: "Oooh, Xanadu!" Forget the guilty pleasure label and the critics, laugh with the movie, enjoy Olivia as the work of art she is, and just remember when cheese was pretty hot.
Rating: 
Summary: Dated but thoroughly charming musical fantasy
Review: "Xanadu" is one of those films people either love or loathe. To love it is to allow yourself to get totally carried away by this rather spirited fantasy that is escapist, fun, and a treat for the ears and eyes. "Grease" may be more popular, but for my money Olivia Newton-John is a knockout in this movie and she and the terrific music of ELO make it one of the best musicals to come out of Hollywood since 1971's "The Boy Friend".Colorful, imaginative, and loaded with dance and spectacle, "Xanadu" is almost too far-out for most people to digest. Glowing muses, mannequins coming to life, Gene Kelly on Rollerskates... Definitely worth a look-see and chock full of kicky oddities like the 'things that make you go hmmmm' look of Livvy in her sun dress, leg-warmers and high heels. My Favorite class/trash film of all time!
Rating: 
Summary: Great music...
Review: "Xanadu" has great music...ELO and Olivia Newton John, with a little big band thrown in here and there. While I thoroughly enjoy the soundtrack of this movie, I find the acting to be passable but not outstanding, and the storyline to be somewhat disjointed. What was that animated sequence in the middle all about? Luckily, I am able to put the whole thing into perspective, since I was around when this movie came out -- disco was dying/dead, and punk was on the rise. Music and pop culture were trying to figure out what to do next, and "Xanadu" was a movie caught in the crossfire. This movie is a bit mixed up, only a "B-movie" at best, but it is definitely fun.
Rating:
Summary: Dated but thoroughly charming musical fantasy
Review: "Xanadu" is one of those films people either love or loathe. To love it is to allow yourself to get totally carried away by this rather spirited fantasy that is escapist, fun, and a treat for the ears and eyes. "Grease" may be more popular, but for my money Olivia Newton-John is a knockout in this movie and she and the terrific music of ELO make it one of the best musicals to come out of Hollywood since 1971's "The Boy Friend". Colorful, imaginative, and loaded with dance and spectacle, "Xanadu" is almost too far-out for most people to digest. Glowing muses, mannequins coming to life, Gene Kelly on Rollerskates... Definitely worth a look-see and chock full of kicky oddities like the 'things that make you go hmmmm' look of Livvy in her sun dress, leg-warmers and high heels. My Favorite class/trash film of all time!
Rating: 
Summary: Great Music But.....
Review: ... In what started out to be a promising film turned into one of the worst disasters ever put to celluloid.
It's the result of too many cooks in the kitchen, or too many ingredients in the pot. To top it off, Xanadu's script is perhaps the most ... ever written.
At least the music is terrific. The visuals sometimes measure up to the music but not too often. The best sequence is Don Bluth's animation in 'Don't Walk Away' which makes the rest of the picture look really bad.
If you're looking to take a nap, this is the film for you!
Try to forget about the bad acting, mediocre writing, ... choreography and non existent direction. Better yet, buy the CD and forget about this turkey all together!
Rating:
Summary: Ooohhh man.....
Review: .....just how can it be that something this "bad" be this good?! Xanadu was one of the greatest guilty pleasures in cinematic history. So hokey, corny, and silly, you'll watch the movie bewildered and with a big goofy grin on your face. Probably the ultimate tribute and swan song to '70s pop culture - a confused, overwrought, overdone mishmash of neon, disco, rollerskating, classic Hollywood musical (with a cameo by Gene Kelly), ancient Greek mythology, and even a touch of Disney style animation by Don Bluth (An American Tail) - in other words, a total mess! But yet, somehow it never fails to entertain! Now that's REALLY amazing! Featuring probably THE absolute best music ever by Olivia Newton John, it was a movie that perhaps best defined that confused cultural era we call the '70s - ridiculous, but a lotta fun!
Rating:
Summary: Roller-Disco epic from the 70's! Outrageous!
Review: .
You have to wonder what they were thinking when they decided to re-make the Rita Hayworth film "Down to Earth" as a roller-disco musical epic starring Olivia Newton John. It's interesting, but when you realize that the running time of this film itself lasts longer than the actual fad of roller-disco did, you have to wonder why they bothered! Gene Kelly seems lost in a musical nightmare, and the production numbers seem to scare him silly. It's as if he wonders how he got on the soundstage at all. The music is cute, the production numbers are a perfect example of 70's excess, and the story is ridiculous. All in all, I think it's a guilty pleasure to watch. Just don't tell anyone you enjoyed it, because they'll probably make fun of you. A perfect double-feature evening would be to watch this along with "Can't Stop the Music" starring the Village People. (Read my review on that one!) To quote Olivia Newton John: "Xanaduuuuuuu, Xanaduuuu-uuu-uuu!"
Rating:
Summary: Fantasy Fun!
Review: 20 years after this film first came out and it still has it's magic! And on DVD it's even more fun to watch! Because now you can just jump to all your favorite scenes, namely the singing and dance parts. Of course the acting and storyline in this film aren't the greatest, but this film was never trying to be a Gone With the Wind, or Star Wars. It's purly a fantasy fun excape film and on that level it truly succeeds! Hearing the songs will make you feel happy. There aren't too many films you can watch over and over again, but this is one of them, You'll find yourself watching it so much you'll soon learn the songs by heart! And the sets and costumes are so much fun to see, I always wanted to wear those outfits worn by the muses. :-) So check out this movie today, you'll think it's 1980 all over again, and be glad!
Rating:
Summary: Xanadu
Review: A movie with magic, wonder, humour, great music and pizzazz. A genuine feel-good movie that proves a dream can be made into a film.
Rating:
Summary: Workable premise, bad execution
Review: All right, get this. There's this Greek muse who shows up to inspire an artist whose life is in the doldrums. They end up falling in love and she makes his dreams come true by helping him open up a dance club. She also has an acquaintance from way back when pitch in. Unfortunately, there's a bit of a culture clash between the lovers, since muses aren't supposed to fall in love, but it all works out in the end. Admittedly, this is a pretty outlandish premise. Silly, even. But it's certainly a workable idea, and could have made for a great screwball comedy. But instead what we get out of it is XANADU, a really bad script that somehow got Olivia Newton-John and Gene Kelly attached to it. This script is so bad that not even director Robert Greenwald, editor Dennis Virkler, and DP Victor Kemper, guys who've done good work elsewhere, can fix it. In fact, these poor guys are totally hamstrung by the script's lameness. Even Kenny Ortega, the choreographer behind DIRTY DANCING, ends up turning in bad work (ONJ's dance moves near the end are a mess). And Don Bluth's animation is woefully out of place here. What the heck happened? Now, ONJ, then hot off GREASE, has acting talent. She can do light comedy. We see none of that skill in this film. The playful sexiness this lovely lady had in GREASE is replaced here with being handcuffed to bad plotting (the story goes nowhere, and the characters are as flat as it gets) and even worse dialogue ("Nobody's ever gotten out of here in the whole history of...the whole history!"). Even ONJ's costumes are ludicrous and silly, she only looks glamourous in this film when she's dressed in the army gear for her number with Gene Kelly. And poor Kelly, like ONJ, tries gamely to enliven the proceedings, but not even his charm can overcome such a rotten script. And why did they pick a leading man who can't sing, dance, or act? Michael Beck has all the charisma and screen presence of concrete. Also, Wilfred Hyde-White, as Zeus, sounds like he's half-asleep when he's delivering his lines. Speaking of music, almost all of the songs are used as background pieces. Rarely do the characters themselves sing. Doesn't this defeat the purpose of a musical? And also, the musical numbers are far too gaudy and over-the-top; the mixing of time-periods doesn't work. It also doesn't help that there are only two good songs in this film, "Suddenly" and "All Over The World." Everything else is either headache-inducing are needlessly sugary. This movie gets two stars only because of Gene Kelly and ONJ. Otherwise, this movie was a waste of their talent and time.
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