Xanadu (1980)

A wimpy remake of an already anemic movie (the 1947 Rita Hayworth vehicle Down to Earth), this glitzy musical from 1980 improbably stars Olivia Newton-John as a heavenly muse sent here to help open a roller-derby disco. Gene Kelly is mixed up in this well-meaning but goofy effort to fuse nostalgia with late-'70s glitter-ball trendiness, and he looks just plain silly. Directed by Robert Greenwald, the film doesn't even work as decent kitsch. --Tom Keogh Amazon.com

Michael Beck KILLED "Xanadu"

The ONLY reason this movie bombed is because of the incredibly horrible casting of Michael Beck as "Sonny," Kira's (ONJ) love interest. Had an ironing board been given Beck's role, the movie would have had more charm.

The movie is a fantasy, yet the very idea the beautiful Newton-John would pine for the unattractive, stiff, non-personality Michael Beck defies the standard suspension of belief fantasy films require of their audiences.

Musicals, perhaps more than any other genre, really need their stars to share -- if not charisma, then at the very least compatibility. In every scene with Beck, Olivia is sweet and perky and bubbly and awesomely beautiful. However, she's still being forced to create enough onscreen personality for both herself and her costar.

Plus, you expect the two stars of the film to sing a duet or two.

But Beck can't sing. No can he dance.

If you completely ignore Beck and soak up the rest of the film, you've got a great movie. It has it all: Olivia Newton-John, Gene Kelly, beautiful and colorful scenery, fantastic music and dancing, and enough kitschy special effects to make this a great energy film.

July 15, 2008

Xanadu is excellent

I remember watching this movie originally. It has all the things a teenager needs to enjoy a movie, great music, beautiful people, and most important, it is a tale with a happy ending. The guy does get the girl, and things do go right. There is already too much misery in the world. A lot of these so called reviewers seem to forget that movies were not supposed to be reality. They were supposed to pick your spirits up, bring them down, and get you to feel some emotion. This world is already at a point where nobody wants to feel anything, I say forget the impossible, enjoy the fantastic, and let the disbelief stay where it belongs, in real life. Your kids will love this, and if you can spend 90 minutes trying to be a kid, you will enjoy it. July 13, 2008

Wow I forgot the 80's

This sums up what the 80's was all about. Bad hair, clothing and acting. Get this movie just for those reasons. If you grew up in the 80's you should feel like you are walking down memory lane. July 12, 2008

Why did they even bother?

The one star rating isn't for the movie. Xanadu is what it is and I'm one of the people who love it. And because of that, I was really excited to discover they were putting out a special edition DVD. The original DVD only had the trailer as a bonus feature and between the movie's status as a cult classic and the success of the Broadway show I figured this edition would give it the treatment it deserved.

Boy, was I wrong.

Yes, it's cool that the DVD comes with a CD of the soundtrack. But most of the people who own the DVD have likely had the soundtrack for years. So now we have 2.

And the bonus features? The original trailer, a photo gallery, and one documentary. That's it. Which wouldn't even be too bad if the documentary was a good one. But it's not, not by a long shot.

For starters, there are no Olivia interviews in the documentary. I find it hard to believe that she wouldn't have sat down with the filmmakers for a few hours, but she's nowhere to be found except in the clips from the movie. And the clips from the movie? Apparently they weren't able to license the music because that's nowhere to be heard either. In it's place is just a bunch of generic synth music that wouldn't be out of place in an E True Hollywood Story.

And the real kicker? There isn't a single mention of Michael Beck in the entire featurette. How on earth do you do a documentary on a movie and completely ignore the male lead? It's just mind boggling.

All I can conclude is that this feature wasn't specifically produced for the DVD, but it was something they just found and threw in.

It's such a shame. There could have been a wealth of extras on this disc to satisfy the Xanadu diehards - a feature on the success of the music, a feature on the fashions, interviews with Olivia and Michael, a history of how the movie evolved into a cult favorite, deleted scenes, outtakes, karaoke versions of the musical sequences, something about the Broadway show and the previous stage versions......

But instead we get a photo gallery, the trailer from the first DVD, the CD that we all already have, and a single lame documentary.

What a missed opportunity. July 8, 2008

Movie looks and sounds great/cd content dissapointing

The movie looks great...the video has been re-mastered. The 5.1 surround sound is also a great improvement over the original release. If you like or love this movie..I highly reccommend this.
As for the so called "complete soundtrack"... the word complete had me hoping for additional songs such as "You Made Me Love You" and "Fool/Country" by the incredibly talented Olivia Newton-John.
The making of extra was nice and informative..I just wish Olvia would have participated.
July 5, 2008

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