Xanadu - Magical Musical Edition (1980)

So Bad it's just plain Bad

Please! Anyone who says that this movie is so bad that it's good is out of their mind. I really like Olivia Newton John, ELO, and certainly Gene Kelly. But just mixing them together doesn't magically make something worth watching. The story was painfully tedious to endure! I recently made the mistake of renting it, due to misplaced nostalgia. Please don't make the same mistake as me.
If you must see it then you should illegally download it; the makers of this move should not be entitled to make another cent off it! September 12, 2008

Fascinating cultural marker of the transition from the '70s to the '80s

We had purchased and enjoyed the audio soundtrack of this film back when it came out in about 1980. We were fans of ELO and had not seen the movie. The music was not our favorite by ELO, but still very likeable and upon re-hearing it in the context of the movie, I found myself hearing it in my head over and over, mostly in an enjoyable way... Olivia Newton John was not a big favorite of ours, but she won us over with her performance here, especially in the big scene near the end where she sings "Xanadu." Her freshness and sincerity put every over-commercial 21st Century synthetic diva to shame.

For those who were informed about Kelly's film history, the roller skating was a callback to "It's Always Fair Weather." His athletic abilities even at this age was impressive--he skates at a level that was unthinkable for older performers at this time. Older people were expected to get fat and sit in a rocking chair back in the 70s. Kelly broke this mold.

It was a fun experience to see it now, 28 years later! Put us into a wierd time travel trip. Glad we had never seen it til now, for many reasons. One is that we knew nothing of Gene Kelly at that time but have since become big fans of his work, and we have aged as he had by the time he did this movie, so it was really interesting to see him in this role. He was old when he did it, but the fact that he was seen as someone who would be accepted as cool by young people at the time is characteristic of the generation that also embraced artists like WC Fields and the Marx Brothers--unlike today, when young people's ageism is so entrenched and they are unable to enjoy anything that was not created during their own narrow, shallow little lifetime.

This film provides a rare insight into the transitory period between the 1970s and 1980s for those of us who experienced it and want to revisit the feeling of that important point in cultural history. There is still some of the tail end of counterculturalism imbued throughout the storyline, with the key figure going up against The Man and rejecting materialism and money. The imagery of white-faced jugglers reminds the viewer of the early 80s before mimes were epidemic. The magenta, orange and blue haired characters that pop up in the "All Over the World" scene were new, not yet the 1980s stock characters seen in films like "Liquid Sky" or MTV videos about four years later.

There is a sweetness among many of the dancers, especially one who does a short bit with Olivia Newton John (just before the tightrope scene)--it all evokes an era when we were just starting to reconsider gala shows, a pre-Cirque du Soleil when it was all just first being discovered and not yet anywhere near slick. There's a rawness but you can see the initial glimmers of a big postmodern spectacle. Kelly serves as a transitory figure bridging the old modernist spectacle with the postmodern. We loved the "opening night" scene at Xanadu and have re-watched it many times. It's geeky but charming.

The kitschiness s attested to by the fact that it was shown on LOGO, the gay cable TV channel. But of course that is also an indicator that it is a worthwhile work of art. Yes, it is mostly "bad," but in a way that transcends itself to become good. September 11, 2008

Nice upgrade

The new Xanadu DVD is a nice upgrade over the original release. The sound is far better, the picture is clearer and the widescreen is real widescreen.
As this film relies upon its songs to attract viewers, the only way to see it is in real stereo with nice, rich, clean sound--and this version of the DVD delivers just that.
Worth the purchase price for the Gene Kelly dance alone! September 7, 2008

Xanadu Magical Musical edition

Great sound and nusic. Excelent package. Wish they would have included a new soundtrack (everybody who is interested in buying this edition already have the original soundtrack)with bonus tracks, like Fool country and You made me love you that doesn't appear in the original soundtrack. August 30, 2008

A blast from the past

When I first heard that this movie was making a come back I knew I wanted to buy it. I was happy that Amazon had it and I ordered it right away. The last time I had seen this movie I was around 11 or 12 years old. This year I'm going to be 36. So it's been a while. Loved it then and love it now. We all have our favorites, don't we? August 28, 2008

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