Product Description

Across the Universe from director Julie Taymor is a revolutionary rock musical that re-imagines America in the turbulent late-1960s a time when battle lines were being drawn at home and abroad. When young dockworker Jude (Jim Sturgess) leaves Liverpool to find his estranged father in America he is swept up by the waves of change that are re-shaping the nation. Jude falls in love with Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood) a rich but sheltered American girl who joins the growing anti-war movement in New York s Greenwich Village. As the body count in Vietnam rises political tensions at home spiral out of control and the star-crossed lovers find themselves in a psychedelic world gone mad. With a cameo by Bono Across the Universe is the kind of movie you watch again like listening to a favorite album. (Roger Ebert CHICAGO SUN-TIMES)System Requirements:Run Time: 133 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: MUSICALS/MUSICALS Rating: PG-13 UPC: 043396194625 Manufacturer No: 19462

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #123 in DVD
• Brand: Sony
• Released on: 2008-02-05
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
• Formats: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: Cantonese, Chinese, English, French, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish
• Dubbed in: Portuguese, Spanish
• Number of discs: 2
• Dimensions: 1.25 pounds
• Running time: 133 minutes

Amazon.com
Set in America during the Vietnam War, Across the Universe is a powerful love story set against a backdrop of political and social unrest: it's a story of soul-searching, self-doubt, and individual powerlessness cleverly conveyed through a multitude of Beatles songs. Like young adults all across America during the 1960's, Jude (Jim Sturgess), Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood), Max (Joe Anderson), Sadie (Dana Fuchs), Prudence (T.V. Carpio), and JoJo (Martin Luther) are in turmoil over the war; questioning their individual roles in the war effort and struggling to find a way to hold true to their beliefs while making a difference in the world. While love proves a powerful uniting force, its limitations become clear as relationships are strained and broken over individual perceptions of responsibility to cause and country. A fairly bizarre juxtaposition of extremely stylized, almost hallucinogenic scenes of swirling colors and reflections, highly choreographed dance segments, seemingly commonplace character interaction, and emotionally packed close-up footage of characters lost in contemplative song, this film imparts a good sense of the confusion and passion of the time and is at once powerful, invigorating, and disturbing. The film runs a bit long at 2-hours 11-minutes and several segments drag noticeably thanks to some incredibly slow song tempos. Warning: this production may change how you think about a favorite Beatles song forever. --Tami Horiuchi

Beyond Across the Universe

On Blu-ray

The Deluxe Soundtrack

Beatles audio CD

Stills from Across the Universe (click for larger image)

Customer Reviews

All you need is the Beatles!
I disagree with whoever said that this is for those who were born before 1955. I was born in the 70s, but I have been a Beatle fan since I was 12, and could easily relate to the film. That said... I don't know what other people's problem with Across The Universe is. "There's little plot", say some - it's a MUSICAL! I'm yet to see a musical that's heavier on the plot than it is on the music. And here, the lack of a deep plot and complicated character development is compensated aplenty by gorgeous visuals and great music. Normally I'm not a fan of "style over substance", but I can't deny that this was positively the most delightful movie experience I've had in a while. Yes, the film has problems. Poor editing being the worst. You could easily cut out at least two long scenes, namely the "Dr. Robert" and the "Mr. Kite" ones. Even though Bono was surprisingly good as Dr. Robert, those scenes and characters did absolutely nothing to advance the story, and felt like an all-too-long acid trip (not that I know what that feels like, but one can speculate). I would have loved to see those scenes replaced with something more relevant, which would have been easy to do, given the wealth of amazing songs at their disposal. But overall, this is a touching and beautiful film, at times bizarre, other times sad, and so sweet towards the end that it might give you cavities. Definitely unique, and definitely worth seeing.

Pleasantly Surprised...
I'm not a huge Beatles fan, but I like their music and this movie was recommended from a Pink Floyd board that I visit. I wasn't sure what to expect as I was going into this movie. But I liked the way that they used the Beatles songs. I also liked the cinematography in this movie.

I liked the way that this movie portrayed the 60's. And I was kind of surprised that it didn't show the protesters as being all lily white.

Anyways, good movie.

Absolutely perfect
This DVD is perfect in every way. The story line involves a group of young people in the 1960s with the backdrop of the counterculture movement, along with the protests against the VN war, all to the tunes of the Beatles. There have been so many '60s films -- yet this one is totally fresh. The talent of the performers was amazing, each one simply masterful. The choreography was riviting -- stunning. The scene in the recruitment center reminded me of the Joffrey Ballet's "Green Table." I hate to speak only in hyperbole, but this film is worth it. I recommend it wholeheartedly.