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Evan Rachel Wood, Jim Sturgess, Joe Anderson, Dana Fuchs, Martin Luther McCoy ... see more see more... , T.V. Carpio , Spencer Liff , Lisa Hogg , Nicholas Lumley , Michael Ryan , Angela Mounsey , Erin Elliott , Robert Clohessy , Christopher Tierney , Curtis Holbrook , John Jeffrey Martin , Matt Caplan , T.R. Boyce , Aisha de Haas , Leah Hocking , Bill Buell , Ellen Hornberger , Amanda Cole , Danya Taymor , Dylan Baker , Linda Emond , Lynn Cohen , Bill Irwin , Jennifer Van Dyck , Timothy T. Mitchum , Carol Woods , Elain R. Graham , Orfeh , Antonique Smith , Tracy Nicole Chapman , Yassmin Alers , Deidre Goodwin , Joe Cocker , Jacob Pitts , Staceyanne Chin , Jeanine Serralles , Leonard Tucker , Daniel Stewart Sherman , Harry J. Lennix , Logan Marshall-Green , James Urbaniak , Kathleen Early , Ching Valdes-Aran , Bono , Daniel Ezralow , Kiva Dawson , Halley Wegryn Gross , Luther Creek , Jerzy Gwiazdowski , Arabella Holzbog , Ambrose Martos , Peter Mui , Karine Plantadit-Bageot , Dan Weltner , Christopher Youngsman , Eddie Izzard , Ekaterina Sknarina , Tracy Westmoreland , Ron C. Jones , W.W. Wilson , Salma Hayek , Luke Cresswell , Jarleth Conroy , Mandy Gonzales , Destan Owens , Cicily Daniels , Saycon Sengbloh , Sam Kitchin , Chris McGarry , Frank Hopf , Bruce "Cousin Brucie" Morrow , Navarra Novy-Williams , Sarah Jayne Jensen , Michelle Lookadoo , Geoff Countryman , Julien Joy , Conrad Korsch , Brian McKenna , Jack Petricelli , Timothy Keiper , Arthur Lewis , Mark Lewis , Bryan Noll , Michael Arenella , Cyro Baptista , Frank Fighera , Ritt Henn , Mark Stewart , Bruce Williamson , Charley Drayton , Tom Grasso , Joey Sykes , Paul Wallfisch , Yasmine C. Lee , Brian Letendr , Tiger Martina , Tim McGarrigal , Allie Meixner , Dario Mejia , Angel Morales , Matthew Neff , Marty Lawson , Abdul Latif Salazar , Tyler Gilstrap , Greg Graham , Cody Green , Matthew Hamel , Sean Martin Hingston , Holly Ryan , Dell Howlett , Terace Jones , Dominique Kelley , Mari Koda , Jason Lacayo , Rika Okamoto , Danny Paschall , Nathan Peck , Andrew Turteltaub , Michael Tracy , Stacey Sund , Marcos Santana , Dennis Stowe , Matthew Steffens , Todd Michael Smith , Bradley Jordan Spencer , Ying-Ying Shiau , Nicole Wolcott , Wenshuan Yang , Giovanni Perez , Bobby Pestka , Kyle Pleasant , Avery Ragsdale , Desmond S. Richardson , Samuel Roberts , Alberto Dister Rondon , Natsumi Sakurai , Kenneth Ziegler , Jonah Spear , Chris Ghelfi , Adesola Osakalumi , Lara E. Tinari , Caryn Allen , Ronald Blackman , Erik Justin Gaines , Marlene Mason , Tanisha Mason , Cheryl McClurkin , Donald A. McClurkin Sr. , Lorna McClurkin , Bob Gaynor , Enrique Brown , Ryan Kelly , Luis Rojas Salgado , John Selya , Christine Woodside , Leah O'Donnell , Nicole Berger , Samuel Martín , Andrew Asnes , Patrick O'Neill , Olivia McClurkin , Terrell Middleton , Jada Scott , Brian Brooks , Shawn Burgess , Ian Carney , Sandy Chase , Ron De Jesus , Jean Emile , Billy Fagen , Angelo Fraboni , Kathryn Fraggos , Adolpho Blaire , Charissa Barton , Murl Smith , Jor-El Wharton , Devin Wharwood , Alyssa Woodside , Marcus Bellamy , Tim Acito , Kevin Aubin , Collin Baja , Michael Balderama , Kurt Froman , Cynthia Loebe , Max Carrigan , Martin Luther

Set against the anti-war protests, rock & roll revolution, and mind-expanding psychedelia of the 1960s, Julie Taymor's hallucinogenic musical follows the arduous journey of star-crossed lovers Jude (J... read more read more...im Sturgess) and Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood) as they and a small group of musicians are swept up in the raging waters of the volatile counterculture movement. Guided through their journey by a pair known only as Dr. Robert (Bono) and Mr. Kite (Eddie Izzard), Jude and Lucy are eventually forced to find their way back to one another after being split apart by powerful forces beyond their control. The music in the film consists exclusively of songs made popular by the Beatles during the time period depicted in the movie. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Flixster Users

84% liked it

307,260 ratings

Critics

53% liked it

154 critics

PG-13, 2 hr. 13 min.

Directed by: Julie Taymor

Release Date: September 14, 2007

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DVD Release Date: February 5, 2008

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Let me take you down cause i'm going to . . .Strawberry Fields . . . Jude From Across The Universe Jude From Across The Universe Jim Strugess the movie poster Across the Universe Jude & Lucy Across the Universe Across the Universe Across the Universe - under water Across the Universe Joe Anderson Across the Universe (2007) She's so Heavy Bono I love HIm Across the Universe Because the sky is blue . . .
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Flixster Reviews (46,578)

  • StarCrossedVoyager
    May 23, 2012
    StarCrossedVoyager
    Pretty much the only thing I loved about this was the music and a couple of the dance scenes. Evan Rachel Wood and Joe Anderson gave good performances, and it does give off some important messages about world peace and war however I just felt it was a waste of time. The whole way... read more through I was thinking 'why?'. It didn't really affect me too much and whilst the ending was good and unconventional, it dragged on too long and left me feeling like I'd wasted my time. Only for Beatles fans I think!
  • spielberg00
    December 30, 2011
    spielberg00
    Dreadfully misunderstood romantic musical is half love story, half psychedelic acid trip, all brought to you singularly by the Beatles. Set in the 1960s against anti-war protest, in England, Vietnam, and the United States, it tells of six friends: Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood), her lo... read morever Jude (Jim Sturgess), her brother Maxwell (Joe Anderson), rock singer Sadie (Dana Fuchs), her guitarist Jo-Jo (Martin Luther McCoy), and their shy friend Prudence (T.V. Carpio).

    As a lifelong Beatles fan, I more than enjoyed seeing every major character in this film (without forgetting the foul-mouthed Doctor Robert or the odd Mr. Kite) taking his or her name from a character in a song by the Fab Four. Furthermore, the soundtrack was phenomenally covered, for the most part. Even Bono from U2 makes an extended cameo appearance as a drugged-up, Ozzy-esque portrait of Doctor Robert, with a stellar delivery of "I Am the Walrus". The only two disappointments as far as the music goes were Sturgess's croaking performance of "Revolution" and Eddie Izzard's disturbing twist on "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite".

    The musical numbers, as well, were utterly fantastic. Many of them use the motion-capture animation used in films such as BEOWULF and THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN, to create the interchanging impressions of experiencing a dream or a drug trip; combined with blurred, illusional visionaries of nude swimming (a la the scenes from Tim Burton's BIG FISH), the effect is odd but fantastical. By far the most unpredictable number is "I Want You (She's So Heavy)", which according to this film means "Uncle Sam Wants You (Lady Liberty's So Heavy)".

    Whether you are a Beatles fan or not, ACROSS THE UNIVERSE should be easily entertaining. One which is barely familiar with the music of the Beatles will most likely enjoy this music for what it ultimately is. The songs, even for a Beatles fan, are often hard to recognize, though lovable, because the singers twist them into something of their own work, while in turn keeping the Beatles original tone, whether somber or exubriant. Main points go to this film for its unusual ability to alter classic rock music into seemingly original modern rock; I hope this becomes a Broadway show in the near future, in which case I will make every effort to see it.

    Full Review Coming Soon
  • cosmo313
    October 1, 2011
    cosmo313
    Amazing film. Just the whole concept of crafting a film based around the songs of The Beatles, and having characters named after characters from their songs seems really cool and unique to me. There's shades of autobiographical stuff in here, but it's mostly about capturing the 6... read more0s through the music of that decade's (probably) most representative band.

    Essentialyl it's the story of a Brit named Jude who comes to the States, becoems friends with a guy named Max, and falls in love with his suster, all the while experienceing many of the highs and lows that went on such as VIetnam, war protests, the counterculture, and what not.

    Ordinarily the story wouldn't be that impressive, as a musical or not, but the way this film is done, mostly thanks to Julie Taymor's brilliant visionary directing (some incredible artsy sequences) and some great renditions of classic Beatles tunes (complete with many injokes and references throughout in general) make this truly something special.

    You don't HAVE to be a Beatles fan to enjoy this, but it would certainly help. As long as you can appreciate the music and the time period, and don't mind lots of musical numbers (some of them very trippy and surreal), you should be fine.
  • fb634552688
    August 28, 2011
    fb634552688
    Good acting and an interesting concept, but the plot was dreadful, drawn out and I just plain found myself bored.
  • fb535316333
    June 2, 2011
    fb535316333
    A musically and visually enticing experience, ATU is a simple classical romance of two young lovers set in the 1960's told through a mosaic of beautifully choreographed performances.

    If you don't appreciate the music and art, then you're watching the wrong film.
  • ythelastman89
    April 10, 2011
    ythelastman89
    It's got to be my favorite "musical" out there. Thankfully it doesn't have the corny aftertaste of most like it, but this pays as much attention to its visuals as it does its music. It's one thing to hear a song, but when you can truly see it come to life, that's something else. ... read moreWhat's kind've crazy about the movie is that I definitely prefer a lot of the cover songs to their original counterparts. Julie Taymor's vision is unmatched when it comes to this type of movie, Baz Luhrmann pales in comparison. This is maybe one of the few musicals that happens to highly benefit from being movie rather than a stage production. The performances from Jim Sturgess and Evan Rachel Wood are incredibly genuine and realistic, which is really what you need when you're dealing with characters that break into song every ten minutes.
  • CreedsDelight
    January 23, 2011
    CreedsDelight
    It was okay. The songs were great!
    A little long though...
    Had me entertained throughout though.

    Grade: B-
  • MeetMeinMontauk
    November 13, 2010
    MeetMeinMontauk
    Incredibly colorful and creative!! I mean I couldn't make an entire movie out of songs written years before the movie. But the idea is revolutionary. And the colors and remakes of the songs are incredible.
    AC rating: Commentary was with the director and composer and it's amazing ... read moreto see how the film came from concept to execution especially with basically a bunch of no name actors. Loved it.
  • RossCollinsUK
    September 6, 2010
    RossCollinsUK
    High School Musical for adults.
  • bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb1
    June 24, 2010
    bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb1
    mostly a good movie but some stupid parts and I like most of the songs but I hated the mr. kite song. B

View All Across the Universe Reviews

Critic Reviews

Jonathan F. Richards
October 19, 2007
Jonathan F. Richards, Film.com

...the long and winding road that is Julie Taymor's opulent, eye-filling, and disappointingly uninvolving musical extravaganza... Full Review

Lisa Kennedy
October 5, 2007
Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post

Across the Universe isn't beholden to any stage incarnation. It owes its vision to the vibrant imagination of its director, who created a musical that reminds us how cultural-political events can chan... Full Review

Peter Travers
October 3, 2007
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

[A] visionary attempt to wed a story of young love and 1960s war protest to the Lennon-McCartney catalog.

Amy Biancolli
September 28, 2007
Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle

...Julie Taymor's rhapsodic mash note to John, Paul, George and Ringo falls just short of breathtaking. Full Review

Tom Long
September 28, 2007
Tom Long, Detroit News

Across the Universe is a classic example of ambition exceeding execution. Full Review

Terry Lawson
September 28, 2007
Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press

Most of the songs are performed in such saccharine style and staged so literally that they almost seem like they belong in a Broadway show. That's a very bad thing. Full Review

Kerry Lengel
September 27, 2007
Kerry Lengel, Arizona Republic

There's a lot of great stuff here, but it just doesn't come together. Full Review

Jeff Strickler
September 27, 2007
Jeff Strickler, Minneapolis Star Tribune

A groundbreaking, rule-bending, expectation-smashing musical. Full Review

Richard Roeper
September 18, 2007
Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper

It's flawed but sometimes gorgeous and uplifting.

Richard Corliss
September 17, 2007
Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine

Even those resistant to or unmoved by the story can appreciate Taymor's settings of the songs, and the arrangements by T-Bone Burnett and other studio masters. Full Review

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    • Jo-Jo: Never knock the way another cat swings, man.
    • Jo-Jo: Music's the only thing that makes sense anymore, man. Play it loud enough, it keeps the demons at bay
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