Xanadu

Rating:
Summary: Pure cheese, pure fun, pure 70's!
Review: Let's face it: this movie won't go down as one of AFI's top 100. But it's fab! I remember seeing this when I was five. Only yesterday, we all broke out into songs from this soundtrack in the middle of a coffee shop .... (People really DO spontaneously burst into song and dance if you hang out the right places). IT'll stick with you for years always keep you smiling!

Rating:
Summary: Xanadu- pure magic and great songs, that's all you need!
Review: Every critic I've heard about this nostalgic movie seems to be wanting a "MUSICAL" to reveal what these kinds of movie are not supposed to.They're only supposed to entertain and nobody could say that the dances, effects and the best songs ever produced weren't worth it. Besides, who was it that said Olivia Newton-John lacks charisma?He must be blind and deaf !!! I have it on VHS, LD and can't wait to lay my hands on the DVD format.

Rating:
Summary: A FANTASTIC MOVIE
Review: Michael Beck and Olivia-newton-JOHN Where great in in this movie.The music by ELO sent chill`s up and down my spine.Not since grease that Olivia sounded just as good as she doe`s today.And for Michael Beck he alway`s get`s the job done.He was good in the warriors too.Can`t wait for Xanadu tyo come out on DVD in the middle of july and hope to see the warriors come on DVD soon too, HURRY!

Rating:
Summary: fantastic movie more than 5 star`s
Review: Michael beck and olivia newton john where great the music of elo gave me the chill`s never heard and saw anything like that since grease. olivia has a great voice has well.And for michael beck he`s a good actor,he was good in the warriors too! good job...

Rating:
Summary: A GREAT MOVIE
Review: I LOVE THIS MOVIE. I HAVE IT ON TAPE BUT I CAN'T WAIT FOR IT TO COME OUT ON DVD SO I CAN BUY IT. I THINK THIS IS A GREAT MOVIE THE MUSIC,DANCING EVERYTHING HOW CAN ANYONE NOT LOVE THIS MOVIE.

Rating:
Summary: flashy, now cult-classic with a great soundtrack.
Review: I remember watching Xanadu at the movies in 1980. I remember the bad reviews it got, but I thought it was great entertainment. Sure there is no political meanings, or great acting, but it is retro escapism at its best.

Rating:
Summary: WHO CARES ABOUT THE CRITICS???
Review: I also loved this movie as a kid -- between this and Grease, I thought that it was believable. I always thought Michael Beck was a talented actor (I've seen him in various movies, he never got his due). And Gene Kelly has always been fantastic. The one thing in this movie that I loved besides the song "Magic" was the sequence done with Olivia and The Tubes, when it goes from the 40's to the 80's and both musical fourms connect, it was pure magic to my eyes. I love movies, and I wish they would go back to musicals because this always entertained me much more, especially when I was a child. I'm gonna buy this video right now!

Rating:
Summary: A Lovely Fantasy with an Important Message for Young & Old!
Review: For years, I have been so tired of hearing the negative reviews of this movie from stodgy movie critics. They've said things like "this film was a bad career move for Olivia" or that it's silly and pathetic. Well, all I have to say is, "Thank God for the internet!" Finally, we can hear the raw voice of this film's devoted fanbase, and not that of a stuck up critic of the media establishment. I was so pleased to come across so much glowing praise (vs. negative) for this picture via this forum, I was of course inspired to write my own review.

Of course this movie is silly. The dialogue is a bit cheesey at times and the acting tends to be somewhat stiff. But elements don't make the film outright bad. It is pure escapism... plain and simple. A chance for the viewer to be transplanted into the optimistic dawn of the 80's where the L.A. landscape is colored with futuristic and retro pastel hues, adorned with art deco touches, and folks had neon stars in their eyes. It was a simpler and innocent time, before the onset of the harsh and technically complicated 90's. (When record companies actually HAD internal art departments that painted enlarged album cover panels to hang outside of record stores. Oh, the bliss of vinyl nostalgia!)

I saw this movie when I was 10 years old, and it's had a magical impact on me ever since. Of course I loved roller skating and Olivia Newton-John (unicorns and rainbows too!) at that young age, but as I've gotten older, I've realized that this film means so much more. Being an artist, I loved the premise of a beautiful muse, Kira (Olivia), being summoned by the discarded renderings of a frustrated painter, Sonny Malone (played by Michael Beck). She then sets him on a path to follow his dreams, meeting up with Gene Kelly's character, Danny Maguire, the retired 40's clarinet player who also has a dream. It's the merging of music and art that is the true magic happening here--the magic that moves us mere mortals throughout our lives. It's touching to see Kira's vulnerability when, eventhough she's a goddess, she finds herself falling in love with Sonny.

I also had an appreciation for this film's attention to detail and accuracy because my own father is a scholar in Greek mythology. When Kira is trying to tell Sonny that she is a muse, only sent to inspire him but NOT to fall in love, she starts to say "... my real name is Ter..." but she is cut off by his kiss. "Terpsichord" is what she meant to say. Terpsichord is the muse of song and dance.

Anyway, the colorful cinematography and soundtrack by ELO and John Farrar are the most delicious aspects of this film, aside from, of course, Olivia's ethereal beauty (LOVE the differently colored animated neon-like halos that outline her and her 8 muse sisters!) and wispy, flowery wardrobe. She is truly convincing as a goddess. Of course all of us little girls wanted to "BE Kira," but the important and truly beautiful message of this film is to always follow your dreams and vision and love makes anything possible.

So come on. Unfurrow that brow and lose your inhibitions. XANADU is NOT a movie to be taken so seriously, but not to be taken lightly either. And certainly not dismissed as mere celluloid fluff. Go on and allow yourself to "believe" in the "magic" of XANADU!

Rating:
Summary: You have to believe it's MAGIC!
Review: I loved Xanadu,no matter what some may say it's a Great movie.You have everything a good musical needs:a loose story,gorgeous music(ELO,Olivia Newton-John,Cliff Ridchard and Gene Kelly)A superstar(ONJ),a movie/musical legend(Gene Kelly)and a fresh young face(Michael Beck).There is also a beautiful animated sequence by Don Bluth.Olivia doesn't just look good in Xanadu,no she looks out of this world!!

Rating:
Summary: Redefines the genre or something
Review: Xanadu is truly one of the best-worst films of all time. I suggest that for a truly intense evening of bag-on-head viewing you unspool "Sextette" starring an almost embalmed Mae West, followed by "Xanadu" and then, as a finale all to itself, roll out "The Young Girls of Rochefort" by Jacques Demy in all its English-dubbed glory.