Across the Universe

When young dockworker Jude leaves Liverpool to find his estranged father in the United States, he is swept up by the waves of change that are re-shaping the nation. Jude falls in love with Lucy, who joins the growing anti-war movement. As the body count in Vietnam rises, political tensions at home spiral out of control and the star-crossed lovers find themselves in a psychedelic world gone mad.

Julie Taymor's Beatles jukebox musical landed with a thud for most critics, who felt the psychedelic visual ambition couldn't rescue a thin love story and underdeveloped characters — though a vocal minority, including Roger Ebert, ranked it among 2007's best films. The divide is less about the music than about whether the spectacle substitutes for or genuinely serves the emotion.