Have You Seen The Green Fairy Yet

The fact that Mrs TheNeil desperately wanted to see this instantly set alarm bells ringing. She'd already had us sit through the lacklustre Evolution and the excruciating Cats and Dogs so naturally I was all too aware of her below par track record. Still, she's the boss and anything to keep my little bundle of loveliness happy. So what is it tonight my little lamb chop (oo-er)? "Oh we're off to see a musical". Pardon? Have you gone mad woman? Hollywood doesn't make musicals anymore. Have you gone stark raving… That look of disgust that she gets from time to time kind of renders argument useless. Oh well, let's get it over with.

Fundamentally a love story, Moulin Rouge comes as something of a shock. I had no idea what to expect and with only the faintest inkling that it was musically based, I feared another slush-fest like Grease or something equally hideous. Is that what I got? No way.

The enormity of the opening 20 minutes conjures up images of the old time Hollywood musicals and even evokes memories of the hypnotic dance routines of the 30's. It's more than that though as the music has your brain baffled - Julie Andrews? What's going on? Ahh I get it, this is a tribute to The Sound of Music…only it isn't. The music flows seemingly endlessly but shifts it's style, tempo, period and ends up being the biggest summer-time megamix that you'll ever here. Moving from Marilyn Monroe through to Kurt Cobain by way of The Beatles, Whitney Houston and The Police, it's a non-stop rollercoaster that whips you into a frenzy.

With burn out a problem, the film shifts more into comedy and indeed almost ends up being Monty Python-esque (well who else could hold an impromptu dress rehearsal to the tune of that can-can song (sorry, I don't know what it's called - music isn't my strong point) while being stuck in a giant elephant?). Comedy comes up time and time again and manages to encapsulate farce, double-entendres, and pure insanity (let me just state for the record that I was killing myself as Jim Broadbent warbled his way through Like a Virgin).

The romantic setup maybe the classic love triangle and fundamentally it's nothing new. We know how it will end and we know how the story will progress but it doesn't matter. The emotions on display are captivating and so incredibly powerful that you can't help but be enthralled. Viewed retrospectively this combination of high drama and almost surrealist fantasy would sound wrong but here it's right as the transition from one state to another is well handled. The love story that is the film runs throughout and it's the strengthening romance that alters the style of the story - As passions increase, the frivolity is replaced with drama.

The production reeks excess and the visual style transports you back in time. The opulence sits alongside the grime of low life Paris but you never feel it. The end result makes you feel as though you're back in the magical world of the musical. Like the music that accompanies it, the look and feel of the film hits you in the face and if it's nothing else, it's never bland.

The rapid editing adds not only the Bohemian quality mentioned before, but lends the film an air of magic due to it's detachment from reality. Maybe that's what makes it possible to accept Elton John songs being crooned by Ewan McGregor. Who knows, who cares - it just works.

Being a review by my good self (hey, that's a shock isn't it) I suppose I best have a go at trying to pick fault. Hmmm. Nicole Kidman can't say Moulin Rouge properly? Toulouse Lautrec has an annoying lisp? Actually the only 'problem' that I had with it was trying to find my feet and work out what sort of film it actually was. Not often I'm stumped for scathing criticism.