The bottom line is that these are extremely talented young singers singing the best rock songs ever written, and the choreography and visual effects that accompany each song are eye candy in the best sense of the phrase. This is the kind of movie that has the potential to impress both a 50-year-old baby boomer and his 14-year-old High School Musical-obsessed daughter. If you get into the spirit of it, you’ll want to watch it over and over again.

Special Features:

The first disc of this “2-Disc Deluxe Edition” features a commentary by director Julie Taymor (who directed, among other things, The Lion King on Broadway) and composer/arranger Elliot Goldenthal, as well as a few alternate takes of Eddie Izzard’s appropriately out-there performance of “For the Benefit of Mr. Kite.”

The second disk, however, is the real special-feature oasis, with a number of documentaries – one making-of, one that showcases the cast of unknowns, another featuring all the music, etc. Best of all, it features extended cuts of eight different songs from the film.

All the features are well-done, although unless I missed something in the commentary, the behind-the-scenes drama that happened right before the movie came out is never discussed. Supposedly, the studio was unhappy with the length of Taymor’s cut of the film and went ahead and cut it themselves, which resulted in a big fight between the two sides. Luckily a compromise was reached (official running time: 133 min.), because it would be a shame if something this successful was killed by squabbling.

Movie Grade: A-
DVD Grade: B+
Overall Grade: A-