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Monday, August 15, 2011

Xanadu

Released: 1980
Musical
Starring: Olivia Newton-John, Gene Kelley, Michael Beck
Director: Robert Greenwalk
Running Time: 93 minutes

The breakdown:
8 muses in the shape of women come down to Earth and inspire people to create.  This is the story of one of those girls, Kira.

Ok so this is a really badly written movie with really cheesy scenes and some terrible acting on the male lead's part, but I still love this movie.  There's dancing, singing, roller skating, and some great Art Deco sets.  The reason why I love it is most likely sentimental.  My uncle repeatedly watched this movie when I was little and I heard the soundtrack nonstop for years.
First off the plot.  There's this mural in L.A. that has 8 women on it.  All of them come to life and dance around (in really cute outfits that still look cute today) and take off for the purpose of inspiring people all over the world.  Well, Kira, played by Newton-John stays in L.A. and falls in love with the man she's supposed to be inspiring.  She's adorable in this role!  She's a good actress and sings like a dream.  She's one of the highlights and I love most of her wardrobe in the film.  She inspires the artist, Sonny Malone, played by Beck, who's pretty terrible.  He couldn't sing so they got someone else to do the vocals, he really can't act, in fact, I don't know why they chose him at all.  Gene Kelley plays Danny McGuire, a wonderful role with all of his singing and dancing top notch.  Anyway, Kira inspires Sonny to do some of the best painting of his life.  While he's on the beach he runs into Danny and they eventually become business partners to build the latest greatest disco roller skating rink (it's 1980 remember!)

The most awesome thing about this movie is the soundtrack.  I like every single song in the film and Olivia Newton-John is magic!  This was Gene Kelley's last film and he was really good in it.  I know there's a lot of people who probably won't admit they like this movie, but I'm not afraid.  I love this movie because I have great memories attached to it and the music kicks ass!

In fact, Macy's just recently started using a remade version of the the song from this movie called, "Magic" in their television ads. 

If I can catch this on cable, I usually listen to it more than watch and it brings me into such a good mood and lifts my spirits if I'm down.

I can't recommend this movie unless you want to see some great roller skating scenes, or see some visuals for the great songs.  I can and do, recommend that if you've never listened to the music, you should.  It still stands up today and doesn't sound dated.  My favorites are Magic, Whenever You're Away from Me, and Dancin'.

For the movie, without my sentimentalness getting in the way I give it 2 out of 5 ticket stubs because basically the plot is lacking and there's just not enough there to make a movie out of it.

For the soundtrack, this is one of the best I've ever heard created for a movie alone, I give it 5 out of 5 microphones because the songs are so contagious and you can't get them out of your head in a good way.  They stand up over time and you can relate to them today.

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