The best thing that this film has going for it, is the wonderful Beatles songs. For that alone, the film is noteworthy. I can never get tired of the Beatles.
Looking at the film itself, being that it’s a musical, I tried, for the purpose of this critique, to strip away the music and look at it as its own piece. And as such, it does not, for the most part, holdup that greatly together. It reminds me of a milder version of Hair. But instead of going all the way, as Hair did, Across The Universe resembles more a long music video. And as so far as music videos go, some parts are very creative while others are mediocre. It has some fine acting, but the plot is an escort to the songs instead of having the song accompany the story. Maybe that was the intention of the filmmaker but for me that didn’t work that well. The songs provide good material and I can see the challenge in composing a storyline which will enable as much use of the songs as possible. I do not feel that was well achieved. We have seen other films who made use of strong music (e.g. The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and Muriel's Wedding, making use of ABBA songs) where the songs weighted heavily but did not take over the plot. Still, it’s the Beatles’ music and if you love the Beatles you will enjoy this flick.