Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		2.5

Xanadu Blu-ray Movie Review

A-muse-ing.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman March 13, 2016

Is this what it's like to be high? Forget costly, dangerous, and illegal narcotics. Shell out $15 for Xanadu's Blu-ray and get to tripping.

Knowing nothing about the movie, and judging by its poster art and its title, Xanadu looks like it could be a classically styled cheap 70s Sci-Fi movie, maybe in the tradition of something like Barbarella meets Logan's Run. And it might have fared better in a different life built of flimsy plywood sets, poorly painted blasters, and big space helmet hair. Audiences instead get...this. For those that might not know,"xanadu" is actually a real world. The trusty Mac OS X widget dictionary defines it as a noun "used to convey an impression of a place as almost unattainably luxurious or beautiful." That's a pretty lofty bar to set. Xanadu refers to what is supposedly, then, some unspeakably grand place that, by movie's end, becomes a Mecca of trippy lights, dance, leisure suits, and roller skating. It's the coup de grâce of a movie that's incomprehensibly bad, not "incomprehensible" as in "one cannot understand the story" but instead as in "what the heck were they on when they made it?"

Talk about edge enhancement.

Sonny Malone (Michael Beck) is a gangster...er...an artist who recreates album covers with paint and canvas. One day, he meets a girl in the park. They kiss, and she vanishes. He becomes obsessed with finding her, and is astonished to see her on the cover of an album. But neither the record exec nor the cover's original photographer have any recollection of her. Sonny finally tracks her down. She calls herself "Kira." The two share an instant attraction. Meanwhile, in his quest to find Kira, Sonny meets Danny McGuire (Gene Kelly), an ex-musician looking to rekindle his past and open up a new club. But where? None of the locations have spoken to him. Kira prods Sonny into helping Danny find just the right place...where dreams can come true!

Xanadu is sort of like a bad movie time warp back to a world that almost looks alien, and sounds it, too. It's terribly dated in every way, whether considering the clothes, the hair, the special effects, the music, or the style. All of it is just sort of tossed up on the screen with little care as to whether it makes sense, and for the most part, it doesn't. Sure there's a loose narrative, but unlike the better musicals -- like Gene Kelly's own Singin' in the Rain -- there's no greater identifiable purpose other than to flood the eyes and ears with visual and aural hallucinogens. It certainly seems to speak to its era, and it seems to keep speaking decades later. The movie has gained a rather serious cult following, probably because, yes, it's a quick and easy "high" that sets the mood or, maybe better, reinforces it. But even pushing aside the admittedly lame drug references, there is a legitimate, toe-tapping, good-natured vibe to the movie. Yes it's crude and grossly overdone, but one cannot help but smile at both the absurdity or the spirited performances, on both sides of the camera, that make it happen. These are performances that don't shy away from making this movie whatever it is -- whatever they wanted it to be -- and whatever audiences want to see in it.

But even just a large assortment of nonsensical "stuff" needs to have some sort of common theme. Maybe that theme is "revitalization." The old auditorium is transformed into an "almost unattainably luxurious or beautiful" place of happy song and dance and who knows what else. Gene Kelly's Danny McGuire finds himself revitalized by the prospect of being in the middle of a booming music business again. Young love is in the air, and it even turns into an animated sequence that reminds of Thumbelina. Maybe, then, that's why Xanadu has earned some sort of weird cosmic cult staying power. Perhaps it's the movie saying that nothing ever goes out of style, that there's always a way to recreate the past, and to make it better at the same time. It says there's a way to chase down dreams and that there's some higher power out there looking out for everyone's best interests, that brings cosmically kindred, but otherwise disparate, souls together in an effort to make dreams come true. And it all happens in a place where everyone dances in line and suggestive psychedelic overtures abound. Who knows. Just watch it, marvel at it, experience it and take the trip again or for the first time.

Xanadu Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Xanadu's 1080p transfer shows some age, but it's a relatively stable and, sometimes, attractive presentation. Grain is thickly layered, for the most part. It spikes to a sharper and sloppier structure in places and finds a thinner veneer and finesse in certain other areas. Detailing is hardly revelatory, but it captures the finer points of skin, period attire, and other interesting bits, like murals, artist canvases, paint-splattered palettes, and all sorts of nifty details in Danny's luxury home and in the before-and-after Xanadu location. Colors satisfy, showing good saturation and vibrance but maintaining a pleasant neutrality. Clothes, paint, and all variety of multicored lights, decorations, and accents around, again, Danny's home and the renovated Xanadu look quite nice. Black levels usually hold a fairly deep shading, but are home to the thickest grain. Flesh tones find a handsome neutrality. Compression artifacts are few and far between.

Xanadu Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Xanadu sings and skates onto Blu-ray with a capable DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack. Lifelike clarity is never superb, but the track presents all of its varied styles, from big band beats to sharper 80s Rock riffs, with satisfactory definition and verve. Spacing is generally strong; never does the track feel confined or tiny, instead allowed to breath with ample surround support and an appropriately large front end stage. Music feels richly vibrant and the movie larger-than-life thanks to its smartly dispersed music. Many sound effects push through the stage with excellent, seamless transition from one speaker to the next. Various electronic pulses, blasts, whatever push through with enjoyable detail and placement accuracy that mimics movement on the screen. Dialogue is adequately clear, center focused, and well prioritized.

Xanadu Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Xanadu contains no top menu. Supplements must be selected while in-film from the pop-up menu.

• Theatrical Trailer (480i, 2:02).
• Going Back to Xanadu (480i, 27:15): A retro behind-the-scenes look at the movie.

Xanadu Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Xanadu may not be the epitome of bizarre cinema -- there's some really crazy stuff out there -- but it really is weird, and not particularly good. It is enthusiastic as it goes about its business, though perhaps with a lot of misappropriated styling. Its oddities only add to the charm, but charm does not make for a good movie. In fact, Xanadu was supposedly one of the driving inspirations behind the creation of the "Razzie Awards," the annual anti-Oscars that celebrate the worst of the worst on the year that was in the moviemaking universe. Universal's Blu-ray release of Xanadu features fair video and audio. An old making-of is included. Recommended, because no movie library is complete without Xanadu in there somewhere.