Xanadu suffers from clumsy acting, bad script
Summer goes out with a minor splash as “Xanadu” seeks to recapture the in-nocence and the theatrical dazzle of those old Hollywood musical extravaganzas. But not even the elegance and grace of Gene Kelly, whose “American In Paris” and “Singin’ In The Rain” epitomize the very best of the celluloid musical, can do much for “Xanadu.”
Olivia Newton-John may be lovely and she can sell records, but she can’t sell this giant-sized mistake. As for poor Michael Beck, who is cast as the romantic lead he wanders around with a permanent look of hopefulness apparently expecting something good to happen any minute. Nothing does.
The movie skews young and certainly the PG rating could have been G. I suspect the distributors feared a General rating might insult the pre-teens who’d otherwise be counted upon to line up at the box of-fice. The idea was that if they liked “Grease,” they’d support “Xanadu.”
Olivia Newton-John spends most of her time on roller skates while gliding through 10 original songs. The tunes are just good enough to sell albums and “Have to Believe in Magic” is already on the charts. The title song is doing well too.
The production numbers (of which there are too few) are inventive in terms of costuming and lighting, but the dancing and the staging are quite ordinary in a harsh, fairly energetic way.
The genius of the choreography is in fooling us into believing Olivia Newton-John is really performing dance routines. She cannot dance so she’s put on roller skates and slides around gracefully waving her arms. In the love-duet with Beck, she and he dissolve into animated characters and then the cartoonist takes over. The ploy in the big finale is to have Olivia appear in a different costume every 15 seconds and do a sort of march step around the chorus.
The objective of all this business is to create the illusion of Olivia dancing when, in fact, she does not, except for a brief baby-tap routine with Gene Kelly. As pretty as she is, one is compelled to watch Kelly. The vestiges of his mastery are too seductive.
The story of “Xanadu” is no better than it has to be, probably worse than it should be. Olivia Newton-John plays Kira, a beam of light who purports to be one of the nine muses of mythology. She’s been sent to earth to fulfill the dreams of Kelly and Beck. The first wants to own a nightclub, the other wants a chance to expand his talents as an artist. Kıra brings them together in a big art-deco mausoleum that combines the best of the swing era with the hard rock approach to dance music.
One wonders why such a project requires the magic of a muse from on high when Don Kirschner could probably have done as much. Anyway, the collision of these two musical styles - swing and rock is the basis for the best production number in the movie.
“Xanadu” features clumsy acting and a terrible screenplay. The happy aspects are lighting and costume. “Xanadu” is a non-stop light show and the imaginative use of light technology is exciting.
The costumes are a lark and run the gamut from sweet-simple and girlish to punk outrageous. The hallmark of all the costuming is leg warmers. A peculiar mass of crumpled wool hugs Kira’s ankles whether she’s in dainty heels or skate boots. The rest of the dancing cast sports leg warmers too in all manner of fabric and color. They’re plainly hideous which means leg warmers are probably destined to be the next big fashion fad.
MOVIE REVIEW, By Marsha Fottler