A disclaimer: I am the most casual of Beatles fans. Honestly, I had never even heard "Strawberry Fields Forever" until I saw Across the Universe. My interest in Julie Taymor's hodgepodge musical homage to the Fab Four and their era was a purely cinematic one. Maybe if there was something more on my iPod than One I would have found Bono's cover of "I Am the Walrus" a bit more exciting. As it was, like the rest of the movie, it just struck me as a cheap ploy, an easy way to spur nostalgic feelings that the viewer might mistake for actual excitement and emotional connection.

Everything about Across the Universe comes off as prefabricated and forced. Even the names of the characters--from our heroes Jude and Lucy to supporting players like JoJo and Sadie--are secondhand. Respect for cultural moments and movers-and-shakers is one thing, but the parallels here are extreme to the point of stifling. I think the climatic chorus of "Hey Jude" was intended to be moving, but was instead sterile in its predictability.

Visually, Taymor does some interesting things, playing with montages, perspectives and occasionally crossing over into the surreal. But every time I was about to be drawn in and get lost in the images, the too-close musical overlaps threw the fantasy back to earth. Nothing original was actually happening, only a decades-old mood was being forcibly brought back to life.

The movie only begins to cross over into creative territory with its covers of Beatles classics, occasionally radically refashioned. In particular, T.V. Carpio's slow, melancholic interpretation of "I Want to Hold Your Hand" almost made watching at least part of the film (i.e. the first five minutes) worth it. Then again, the original isn't so very sacred to me. But, after watching Across the Universe, it doesn't seem like such a bad idea to keep some distance between our cultural icons and us.