I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Admirable film.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Xanadu is a film I would not recommend under any circumstances. Its an early eighties relic that should have stayed in the disco inferno it crawled out of. Starring Olivia Newton-John and Gene Kelly, Xanadu is meant to be a tongue-and-cheek homage to those MGM musicals we all see snippets of while googling Gene Kelly. What turns up on the screen is more of a glittery MGM homicide. A bland story starring bland characters who dance blandly to bland music. The only thing not bland about this movie is the set-design which resembles a cocaine addict's wet dream. Seriously an irresponsible amount of money was spent on these lavish sets all of which was wasted on talent-less hacks who didn't know how to choreograph musical numbers or stick the camera in a good place.The only other standout is the incredibly hokey special effects which include badly executed cross-fades, obnoxious whizzing orbs of light and streams of cheap looking fluorescent colors. It feels like they just cracked the technology and haven't quite worked out the bugs. This all would have been fun to watch in a guilty pleasure/Uwe Boll kind of way if it hadn't been so freakin' slow! I've had dentist appointments that felt shorter than Xanadu. Xanadu is also composed of a grating soundtrack provided by The Electric Light Orchestra and a mural of dancing muses springing to life only after someone litters. Its clear whoever suggested I watch this piece of neon glinted garbage wanted to punish me for something.

So I've known about this movie for a few years now and I just recently watched it for the first time. I had no idea what to expect but I was expecting the soundtrack to be great, cause I really like ELO, and I wasn't disappointed. Jeff Lynne sure knows how to make a great and catchy soundtrack. But to be totally honest, the soundtrack was the only saving grace for this movie to me. I had no idea what to expect when I watched the movie, cause from what I've heard from a lot of critics and people, it's not that great (It has a 5/10 on IMDb). But I wanted to give it a chance cause there are so many reviews that said things like "Xanadu isn't that bad" and "Give Xanadu a chance!" So I did. Was it good? No. But was it the worst movie I've ever seen? No. I've seen much worse. If you've seen Xanadu, you'd know that it's extremely cheesy. The acting and the effects. I usually don't have a problem with cheesiness (I actually liked Teen Beach Movie cause of the cheesiness). But this was cheesy to the point where it was kinda hard to watch. And the storyline actually sounded like a good idea. A man makes a painting come to life and she keeps appearing everywhere. That was kind of a bad description, but you get the idea. But the whole movie just felt like filler and I didn't feel like I got to know the characters very well. I must have missed a really important detail in the movie cause it was really hard to follow and didn't really seem like it was going anywhere. Once the movie ended, I remember thinking "Wow, nothing really happened." And that's not what I'd want my first thought to be right after a movie ends. With ALL of that being said, I do love the soundtrack and that's why this has a 4/10. If I was rating the movie alone, it'd probably be a 3 or 3.5.

I think this film will "suffer" the same fate as The Wizard of Oz, which was also a flop when released. It took time, but that film generated an entire universe of spin off materials (calendars, what-nots, stills... Heaven knows what else!) From my perspective, the film was attempting, among other things, to sketch the link between music of the "Big Band" era and Disco, which borrowed a great deal from that era. A couple examples: Xavier Cugat's song "Brasil" of 1940 was redone by the Richie Family to great success in the mid 1970's. The song "More More More" by the Andrea True Connection could be dropped back in time and played on a radio station in the same year as "Brasil" premiered and the audience wouldn't have batted an eye.Yea, I know; "everyone hates Disco!" I didn't; I loved it. I didn't listen for "philosophy" or "secret messages" - It was fun, upbeat, happy music - the same Ethos as that which "mused" the Big Band Era.I thought the scene where the rock band and the 1940's orchestra merge was utterly brilliant, and portrays exactly what Disco was. Keep in mind that Big Brother had decided that Disco had to go so movies such as Xanadu and "Can't Stop The Music" made it a point to not mention the disowned stepchild by name...And Xanadu is above all Art, and should be experienced that way. If it's analyzed with a caliper it will come up short... But there's "Magic" in it, as there is in all real Art.Heck; El Greco rearranged the city of Toledo on canvas to create the Magic of his work "A View of Toledo." I'm sure critics back then fumed that he'd moved the city landmarks all around... but 500 years later we're still enjoying it, accurate or not.In some more enlightened era this motion picture will, I think, be cherished as a lovingly crafted cameo of a splendid moment in Time... which had great music, fashion, and Eros; so much unlike the present "Soviet era apartment complex" dreariness which presently smothers us.

Favorite movie quote - "Don't give me any of your "white-ass" attitude!" If you're seriously looking for the cheesiest of the cheesiest of the cheesiest in movie-musicals (circa. 1980), then just say "Xanadu, please!" Nominated for 7 Golden "Razzy" Awards in such top categories as "Worst Actress", "Worst Actor", "Worst Picture", and "Worst Musical", Xanadu so rightly won this highly-coveted prize for "Worst Director" which so deservedly went to Robert Greenwald.When it comes to all-out silliness and stupidity that seems to prevail with so many Rom-Com/Fantasy/Musicals, I honestly don't think that any others in this genre get much more empty-headed and mind-numbingly inferior than did the likes of Xanadu.Neither camp, nor cute, nor hip, nor clever, Xanadu literally scraped the absolute bottom of the barrel when it came to its terribly conceived story-line, its lousy musical numbers and its completely amateurish performances by actors who convinced me that they were total boobs acting out their parts in a second-rate, high school production.This "so-bad-it's-bad" musical extravanganza was a total embarrassment on all counts. Xanadu took the meaning of the word "sucky" to a whole new level of loathsomeness.I cannot fathom why people incessantly rave about veteran actor Gene Kelly and his role in this musical mess. Kelly was 68 years old in Xanadu and not only was he pathetic to watch during his dance numbers (just like everyone else was), but his screen-charisma, in my opinion, registered at a complete "zero".Besides that, I thought that the trite and snivelling on-screen romance that transpired between the 2 lead characters (played by Olivia Newton-John & Michael Beck) sucked to the 10th power, and beyond.I can't believe how utterly dismal Xanadu's visual effects were. With its $20 million budget I should have been wowed right out of this world with this film's dazzling production values.And, talk about a shallow plot-line - Xanadu's dumber-than-dumb story actually hinged on (get this!) having one of Zeus's daughters (Kira) sent to Earth with the all-important mission of seeing to it that Hollywood got to have its very own roller-skating, disco place. (Spare me!) Yes. I will admit that some of ELO's catchy, synth-pop tunes were toe-tapping good, but this was in no way nearly enough to save this piece of extravagant nonsense from sinking down into the muck & mire of movie-musical disaster.I would call Xanadu the Titanic of all musicals, bar none. If you're like me you'll love to hate this movie with an undying passion.