Greetings, can-cannibals! ROBOGEEK here with one of my oh-so-rare reviews, so I hope you're paying attention. (I'll keep it short.)

First of all, an important disclaimer: Until yesterday, I've had an unwavering aversion to virtually all live-action movie musicals made since 1954 - and my personal concept of hell is having to eternally endure the collected works of Andrew Lloyd Webber (who I think should be brought before the World Court for crimes against humanity).

Anyway...

MOULIN ROUGE, Baz Luhrmann's phantasmagoric musical extravaganza, is a sweeping love story set at the end of the 19th Century - and is the first truly great film of the 21st.

(Really.)

Ceaselessly spellbinding and gloriously incandescent, this is the power of cinema unleashed - a tour de force that rhapsodically refashions the movie musical with the full fabric of the medium at its disposal.

A sense-stunning spectacle fueled by unbridled passion, this is certainly the most viscerally exhilarating film I've seen since CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON (my favorite film of last year); actually, one could argue MOULIN does for the musical what CROUCHING TIGER did for the martial arts genre. It's more waking dream than movie, something you can't quite believe actually exists - much less got financed by a Hollywood studio (my Robo-hat is off to Fox).

Like CROUCHING TIGER (and, it occurs to me, TITANIC), MOULIN ROUGE is not simply a sensory feast for the most voracious A.D.D. appetite, but a thoroughly transporting and emotionally fulfilling experience. Amid all the razzle-dazzle is a palpable immediacy inherent to the narrative that resonates - and captivates.

Indeed, MOULIN has all the heart, soul, and humanity that the boundlessly banal PEARL HARBOR promised us in its marketing but proved woefully bereft of (as it will be of the repeat business the former will enjoy - particularly from teenage girls, methinks).

The film is an impressive high-wire act of cinematic virtuosity, immediately leaping to soaring heights at its very outset - only to miraculously maintain them while risking disaster at almost every turn with blissfully anachronistic music, populist sensibilities, laugh-out-loud humor, love-love-love-LOVE, and heartbreaking tragedy. A potential train wreck at any given moment, it all works brilliantly, yielding an exceptionally daring and triumphant film.

This provides a fantastic showcase for Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman, who (as a poet and courtesan, respectively) finally get an opportunity to shine as true stars in a film worthy of their talents - which, particularly in the singing department, prove quite revelatory. And while this was an on-screen pairing I had been previously apprehensive of, it works like a charm, with great support lent by Jim Broadbent, John Leguizamo and the rest of the cast.

As for what it's about...

Well, as advertised, it's indeed "a story of truth, beauty, freedom and, above all things, love" - as well as a "spectacular spectacular." (And that's really all you need to know.)

Feed your soul. Go see it RIGHT NOW.

- Robogeek

P.S.: Oh, and before anyone brings it up in Talk Back, the 21st Century began six months ago. (And while MEMENTO was certainly brilliant, I don't think it quite achieved true greatness.)

P.P.S.: To a couple Talk Backers who weren't paying attention... I actually love a great many movie musicals made before 1954 - most especially AN AMERICAN IN PARIS ('51), SINGIN' IN THE RAIN ('52), TOP HAT ('35), THE WIZARD OF OZ ('39), YANKEE DOODLE DANDY ('42), GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES ('53), ON THE TOWN ('49), GIRL CRAZY ('43), THE GREAT ZIEGFELD ('36) and ZIEGFELD FOLLIES ('46). Musicals made since then - including WEST SIDE STORY, THE SOUND OF MUSIC, MY FAIR LADY and GREASE - generally give me the heebie-jeebies. (Don't ask why, they just do. I'm not saying it makes any sense.)

P.P.P.S.: FYI, for those of you who may be curious, I adored Luhrmann's STRICTLY BALLROOM (saw it at Cannes in '92), but didn't particularly care for his ROMEO + JULIET.