Xanadu - Magical Musical Edition (With Complete Soundtrack CD)

• Xanadu
• Two of a Kind
• The Pirate Movie
• Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
• Olivia Newton-John and the Sydney Symphony: Live at the Sydney Opera House
• Xanadu on Broadway (Original Broadway Cast Recording 2007)
• Roller Boogie
• A Celebration in Song
• Village People - Can't Stop the Music
• Grease 2

Anyone who says that this movie is so bad that it's good is out of their mind. I really like Olivia Newton John, ELO, and certainly Gene Kelly. I recently made the mistake of renting it, due to misplaced nostalgia. But just mixing them together doesn't magically make something worth watching. If you must see it then you should illegally download it; the makers of this move should not be entitled to make another cent off it. Please don't make the same mistake as me. Please. The story was painfully tedious to endure.

This film provides a rare insight into the transitory period between the 1970s and 1980s for those of us who experienced it and want to revisit the feeling of that important point in cultural history. Older people were expected to get fat and sit in a rocking chair back in the 70s. It's geeky but charming. But of course that is also an indicator that it is a worthwhile work of art. Glad we had never seen it til now, for many reasons. It was a fun experience to see it now, 28 years later. The magenta, orange and blue haired characters that pop up in the "All Over the World" scene were new, not yet the 1980s stock characters seen in films like "Liquid Sky" or MTV videos about four years later.

Kelly serves as a transitory figure bridging the old modernist spectacle with the postmodern. Kelly broke this mold. The imagery of white-faced jugglers reminds the viewer of the early 80s before mimes were epidemic. He was old when he did it, but the fact that he was seen as someone who would be accepted as cool by young people at the time is characteristic of the generation that also embraced artists like WC Fields and the Marx Brothersunlike today, when young people's ageism is so entrenched and they are unable to enjoy anything that was not created during their own narrow, shallow little lifetime. Olivia Newton John was not a big favorite of ours, but she won us over with her performance here, especially in the big scene near the end where she sings "Xanadu." Her freshness and sincerity put every over-commercial 21st Century synthetic diva to shame. The kitschiness s attested to by the fact that it was shown on LOGO, the gay cable TV channel. There is a sweetness among many of the dancers, especially one who does a short bit with Olivia Newton John (just before the tightrope scene)it all evokes an era when we were just starting to reconsider gala shows, a pre-Cirque du Soleil when it was all just first being discovered and not yet anywhere near slick. Yes, it is mostly "bad," but in a way that transcends itself to become good.

One is that we knew nothing of Gene Kelly at that time but have since become big fans of his work, and we have aged as he had by the time he did this movie, so it was really interesting to see him in this role. Put us into a wierd time travel trip. We were fans of ELO and had not seen the movie. For those who were informed about Kelly's film history, the roller skating was a callback to "It's Always Fair Weather." His athletic abilities even at this age was impressivehe skates at a level that was unthinkable for older performers at this time. There's a rawness but you can see the initial glimmers of a big postmodern spectacle.

We loved the "opening night" scene at Xanadu and have re-watched it many times. The music was not our favorite by ELO, but still very likeable and upon re-hearing it in the context of the movie, I found myself hearing it in my head over and over, mostly in an enjoyable way. We had purchased and enjoyed the audio soundtrack of this film back when it came out in about 1980. There is still some of the tail end of counterculturalism imbued throughout the storyline, with the key figure going up against The Man and rejecting materialism and money.

The sound is far better, the picture is clearer and the widescreen is real widescreen. Worth the purchase price for the Gene Kelly dance alone. The new Xanadu DVD is a nice upgrade over the original release. As this film relies upon its songs to attract viewers, the only way to see it is in real stereo with nice, rich, clean soundand this version of the DVD delivers just that.

Wish they would have included a new soundtrack (everybody who is interested in buying this edition already have the original soundtrack)with bonus tracks, like Fool country and You made me love you that doesn't appear in the original soundtrack. Great sound and nusic. Excelent package.

I was happy that Amazon had it and I ordered it right away. The last time I had seen this movie I was around 11 or 12 years old. Loved it then and love it now. This year I'm going to be 36. We all have our favorites, don't we. When I first heard that this movie was making a come back I knew I wanted to buy it. So it's been a while.