Rating: 
Summary: Interesting, but Not Entertaining
Review: In 1967, Paul McCartney came up with an idea for a follow up to Sgt. Pepper; a TV special, written and directed by the Beatles themselves, where they would board a bus with a bunch of crazies and film whatever happened. Now, on album, the Beatle's are unsurpassed, but they knew little to nothing about making their own film and it shows. This is a weird, improvised movie that despite a great soundtrack seems a lot longer than it is. The nonmusical sequences are sloppy, with everyone talking at once and no one sure where they are going next. The musical sequences range from good to bad. George's "Blue Jay Way" is the best musical sequence, despite being one of the weaker songs, and John's "I am the Walrus", gives you images that are as strange as the song. The worst has to be "Your Mother Should Know", where the Beatles shuffle around in a big Busby Berkeley like production that only emphasizes what an amateurish project MMT is. This shouldn't dissuade you from buying the soundtrack, which is very good, especially as it has several songs not in the movie. Sadly, the CD does not include the booklet that came with the original LP. In it were stills from the movie as well as a comic book adaptation that was far more entertaining than the movie itself! A previous review summed it up nicely, for completes only.
Rating: 
Summary: Its Getting Better all the Time
Review: Everyone loves to trash this movie. But like Paul says, he defends this film because of the music videos of the Beatles playing songs that are absolutely some of the best rock to have ever been recorded. DO you want to see a video of I AM THE WALRUS, then step right up. What about the Bonzo Dog Band doing DEATH CAB FOR CUTTIE? Then here you go. I have the DVD, and let me tell you, that is the ONLY way to go, if you want to own this. That way, you dont have to watch the whole movie, if you just want to enjoy the music. And it is worth the $$ just for the videos, really. Also, there are a few cool newsreels tacked on for bonus footage, and a little essay about the Magical Mystery Tour film's history. (Did you know that they were going to release this as a full length feature film? Were they tripping?) For years, this film was not available, and BEATLES fans, who were not old enough to see it in 1967, had to contend to hearing second hand from hippies, about what the film was like. WEll, now you dont need some burn out trying to remember their mescaline trip, to discover what the film was about. Now, if NEMS would only release LET IT BE, life would be complete, eh? Go ahead and buy this. Compared with some of the rock musicals out now, it's a no-brainer that the BEATLES stab at independant film, is GETTING BETTER ALL THE TIME.
Rating: 
Summary: What The Hell Do You Think This Is
Review: And you still don't believe the Beatles invented the MTV Video? Well What THE HELL DO YOU THINK THIS IS?....The Surreal Life?
Rating:
Summary: A Cute, Silly Film
Review: I can understand why Magical Mystery Tour has been the victim of so much harsh criticism. One thing that film purists may complain about is the amateurish style of the camera and editing. However, Paul himself pinpointed the biggest trouble with the film back in the day: people were looking for a plot, but there wasn't one. But Magical Mystery Tour isn't a "regular" movie. The beauty of this film is that it's a complete fantasy and therefore a real, developing plot isn't necessarily needed. One legitimate shortcoming of the film is that it is a Beatles movie, yet it's actually not self-indulgent enough. The Beatles admitted that they were like bit players in their own movie, which is mostly true. The Beatles, along with Mal Evans, each play a character on the bus (only Ringo's character has more than a few lines, though) as well as the "4 or 5 magicians" who cause the magic to happen. (John also serves as narrator, among a couple other one-scene characters.) The other characters get about equal exposure as the Beatles (not including the songs themselves). It's been put around that, because Magical Mystery Tour was largely Paul's idea, the movie revolves around him, which is completely untrue--I don't believe that his "bus" character even says one word on-screen thoughout the whole movie.
Magical Mystery Tour is less than an hour long. There are a few scenes which are a bit too silly, but there's also plenty which are enjoyably funny: pretty much anything Ringo says to his auntie, Victor Spinetti's two-minute mumbo-jumbo speech, and, of course, the spaghetti dream. Naturally, however, the highlights of the film are the songs! The Beatles had been making promotional films (AKA "music videos") for their singles for over a year, and the visuals for these songs were the best-looking yet (the sequences for "Fool On The Hill" and "Blue Jay Way" are particularly stunning). If you need any proof that the Beatles spearheaded the style of music videos we know today, then watch Magical Mystery Tour!
Rating:
Summary: Great band, great album, horrible film
Review: INTRODUCTION:
In 1967, the Beatles released the third of their five movies, Magical Mystery Tour. It was accompanied by the release of their studio album of the same name. This film is the one that tends to get bashed the most. Are the bashers correct, or is this film an underrated masterpiece? Read on for my review of Magical Mystery Tour.BASIC PLOT:
The four members of the band have gotten onto a tour bus and basically go around acting silly. That's about it for the plot of this movie. And, of course, like every Beatles film, there are some music videos (known as promotional films back then) thrown in various parts of them movie. FILM OPINIONS:
I love the Beatles. I love the Magical Mystery Tour album. But this film is the band's biggest blunder of all! The movie has no true plot, and there is absolutely no character development - we don't even know if the members of the band are supposed to know each other in the movie! The only real reason I gave the film two stars instead of one is because of the videos for the band's songs that appear throughout the movie - some of these are actually quite entertaining. Likewise, some of the film's scenes are pretty funny (the scene of John shoveling pasta onto a large woman's plate in a restaurant is particularly amusing), but you're going to be left dazed and confused most of the time. If you don't believe that the Beatles ever did drugs, watch this movie and your mind will be changed. DVD:
This DVD version of the film contains a newsreel and some behind the scenes footage. These are good extras, but I was really hoping that the DVD would contain both the color and black and white versions of the film (the film was made to heavily emphasize color, but it was originally aired on British TV in black and white, much to the band's dismay.) Having both versions of the film would have been great for comparing the two. OVERALL:
It pains me to speak so harshly of my favorite band, but even they made a few mistakes - and this was the biggest mistake of all. Unless you're a die-hard Beatle maniac, I recommend steering clear of this film. Of course, even some die-hard fans of the band hate this film with a passion (myself included.) Don't be expecting much from this film - you're not going to get much.
Rating:
Summary: A good movie
Review: When I first saw this movie I liked it. Even though I wasnt taking drugs and smoking pot. So what if the beatles made a movie about a trip across England that made no sense. I LOVE THE BEATLES evan if they came up to me and beat me up I would still love them. So dont say your a huge beatle fan and you hate this movie.
Rating:
Summary: Shamefully underrated and quite enjoyable
Review: When I first saw this film I simply couldn't understand why so many people ganged up to trash it. I've seen it two more times since then with friends and my opinion has only strengthened. To me this is a far more interesting film than overrated boomer nostalgia like a "Hard Day's Night" because it gives a better look into their personalities--this is their film, and the truest test of just how much you're on the Beatles' wavelength, which means a liking for Goon-show type humor and pop surrealism. Therefore people who expect every movie to have a "point" or nice understandable plot should go back to kino-kindergarden and skip the film. (The sort of people who beat words like "self-indulgent" and "weird" into the ground to describe what isn't instantly understandable) MMT is basically a set of music videos loosely held together by the various goings-on during a Ken Kesey-esque coach trip. And at 55 minutes it's too short to be boring anyway. The entire point is to sit back and not bother--to quote Bob Dylan--shoveling each dream into the ditch of what each one means. The film of course has large flaws. There are quite a few comic situations, but the Beatles don't really develop them.(John and George are more out of it than Ringo and Paul too.) Some of the lightly sketched sequences do drag a bit as a result.But the movie's strength lies in its resolute silliness--like an overlush, parodic seaside "love affair", John dressed up as an Italian waiter endlessly shoveling mud-like spaghetti for a obese woman, or the Beatles capering around in wizard's outfits like kids who've eaten too much sugar. That silliness shades into genuine pop surrealism with the primitive, excellent videos for "I Am the Walrus" and "Blue Jay Way," featuring the most captivating use of superimposition, odd props in even odder locations, children, extreme lighting, and fleet-footed but purposeful intercutting.(McCartney made for an occasionally clumsy but effective director) They live up to the mood of the songs--they seem genuinely dream-like and make a good match with the Beatles' captivating videos for "Strawberry Fields" and "Penny Lane." Those videos, especially the former, freaked parents out in their day, and an extended music video like "Magical Mystery Tour" still manages to irritate people to this day. (Especially all those poor souls who begin by saying "I'm a huge Beatles fan but...")
Rating: 
Summary: On (off) balance not THAT bad
Review: Of the many reviews of this film, those approaching it from the perspective of Music Videos tied together with comic interludes exhibit the best approach. Recall, in the UK the music was originally issued as a double EP (only the five songs in the film). Those who comment on songs being left on the cutting room floor are confusing themselves due to the UK LP having a second side of previously only available as singles material. However, if the Beatles invented MTV (as George opined in Anthology), they did so by accident. Consider, many of the AMAZON reviewers have complained that "Strawberry Fields Forever," "Penny Lane," and "Hello Goodbye" were 'cut' from the film -- but they have it all backwards. Strawberry Fields and Penny Lane were released prior to the release of Sgt Pepper, and so also their repsective promotional films. "Hello Goodbye," the song and the film were recorded and released after Magical Mystery Tour, if I'm not mistaken -- the Sgt Pepper gear an embarrassing attempt to buy back some good will with the fans and press. And these songs were include only on the US version of the LP (as noted above) Also, the selection of songs themselves are not quite up to par. "Blue Jay Way" drags on too long (Don't be long, don't belong..." ad infinitum), "Your Mother Should Know" just isn't the kind of show topping finale for which one would hope, and "Flying" simply rumbles on, in a nice but going nowhere sort of way. Indeed, only "I am the Walrus" and "Fool on the Hill" stand out -- the Title track being okay, but certainly not proto-MTV video quality. All in all, it's a nice film and quite off-balance, and nowhere near as bad as many have painted it (expectations way too high on this one); however, it's also nowhere near as good, nor as interesting as many have suggested. As Beatles products go, it's worth a viewing, and perhaps a purchase (if properly warned, disposed, and prepared). One would hope that it will be re-issued in a restored edition with much additional footage to give the unitiated a better perspective (and maybe the 'cutting room floor' songs, eh?).
Rating:
Summary: A good movie
Review: When I first saw this movie I liked it. Even though I wasnt taking drugs and smoking pot. So what if the beatles made a movie about a trip across England that made no sense.The beatles may have gone through a bad time with marujana and drugs but this movie has some good and funny parts in it with the two exellent music vidios for I am the walrus and Blue jay way.Also the funny part with John shoveling the spagghetti on to Ringo's fat aunts plate. So if you love the beatles and you havent seen the psychedelic MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR rent it and see what you think.
Rating:
Summary: Better than many
Review: The Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour is an unusual oddity: it has a storyline, but it is almost impossible to follow. And though it contains dreamy colors, they are often pointless. At the same time, the musical sequences, specifically "The Fool On The Hill" and "I Am The Walrus" are brilliant, even if they have no bearing on the story. Rent it, but be prepared to use your fast-forward button.
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