By Gene Siskel, Movie critic
SO FAR, WHEREVER it has played, the musical fantasy Xanadu
with Olivia Newton-John has been laughed off the screen by critics calling it one of the year's worst films. But it's not that bad. It's more ridiculously naive than awful.
Newton-John makes her second screen appearance here following her debut two years ago in Grease,
the best-selling movie musical of all time. Again she is cast as a contemporary Doris Day with an up-beat tempo. And again there is no doubting her fresh appeal to boys and girls.
The problem with Xanadu
is its pathetically thin script. Newton-John plays Kira, one of Zeus' nine daughters, also known as Terpsichore, the goddess of dance and song.
When Zeus overhears Sonny Malone (Michael Beck), a young commercial artist, complaining that his dream of becoming a genuine artist will never come true, Zeus springs into action and sends Kira out on roller skates (yes, roller skates) to inspire him.
Kira rolls by Sonny as he walks in an oceanside park in Santa Monica, Cal. She gives him a kiss and then disappears. Dressed in white, Kira is your standard woman as goddess. On roller skates.
AS FATE WOULD have it, and fate would have a lot in this movie, Sonny stumbles across a retired businessman named Danny McGuire (Gene Kelly in his first film in seven years), who also has been touched by Kira.
It seems that 35 years ago, right after World War II, Danny was a clarinetist with the Glenn Miller band, and Kira inspired him to open a nightclub. When the club tapped out, Danny joined his family construction business in which he made millions and lost his soul. He'd like to open another nightclub.
So, let's see. We've got two people with dreams and one muse who can help peoples' dreams come true: Now if Kira could just get Danny and -Sonny together....
Except that what can you come up with that will satisfy an artist and a nightclub owner? Kira, Danny, and Sonny come up with a nightclub. Which is fine for Danny, but what about Sonny? Oh, well, to apply logic to a movie such as "Xanadu" is to give yourself a headache.
How could logic possibly figure in a movie in which Olivia Newton-John sings one of her big numbers with her head and hair surrounded by a neon light? The film is packed with special effects that are only mildly distracting. At one point Kira and Sonny are transformed into cartoon characters, into little fishes that don't look a bit like Kira or Sonny. A cute idea, maybe, but not very well executed.
TRIBUNE MINI-REVIEW:
Lost in the stars
** (2 stars)
XANADU
Directed by Robert Greenwald: written by Richard Christian Danus and Marc Reid Rubel: photographed By Victor J. Kemper; edited by Dennis Virkler; music by Barry DeVorzon, Jeff Lynne, and John Farrar; produced by Lawrence Gordon and Joel Silver; a Universal release at neighborhood theaters. Rated PG.
THE CAST
Kira - Olivia Newton-John
Danny McGuire - Gene Kelly
Sonny Malone - Michael Beck
Simpson - James Sloyan
Helen - Dimitra Arliss
Sandra - Katie Hanley
Richie - Fred McCarren