Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Binding: DVD
EAN: 9780783234250
Format: Anamorphic
ISBN: 0783234252
Label: Universal Studios
Manufacturer: Universal Studios
Number Of Items: 1
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen
Publication Date: 1999
Publisher: Universal Studios
Region Code: 1
Release Date: 1999-07-20
Running Time: 96
Studio: Universal Studios
Theatrical Release Date: 1980-08-08

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Spotlight customer reviews:

Customer Rating:

Summary: I forgot how much I loved this movie
Comment: this was such a great time warp movie for me! I forgot how much I loved this movie and ELO's music. Took me back to the early 80's with my roller skates and blue fuzzy balls on the skates. What a hoot!

Customer Rating:

Summary: Finally...It's here! XANADU REMASTERED!!
Comment: This movie came out when I was 6 years old. I have watched it so many times I could quote every line. My whole family has seen it this many times. We can ALL quote it. If I ever have a daughter she will be named Kira. I have never worn an electric orange jump suit, but I know all the words to all the songs!

This movie is not a good movie. We all know that. The writing was terrible and it was shot with what appeared to be a home video recorder, but...this movie IS a classic! You can't take that away! How can you put Olivia Newton John in THAT outfit in her PRIME and NOT have a classic!? OH MY GOD!! I wanted to marry her...and I'll tell you what...I STILL DO!! She is perfection in this movie. Also...the songs are all amazing!! Why do we need a well written movie when we have a Goddess...or a "muse"...and the greatest soundtrack of all time!? Yeah...I for one am excited about the release of this DVD!!

You HAVE to believe we are magic!

MeVeN

Customer Rating:

Summary: Junk food for the soul
Comment: What is it with this movie? The acting, such as it is, never rises above what you'd experience in a high school play. The director was obviously busy doing something else. The choreography is laughably dated. The special effects -- including Olivia Newton John's "youthful" appearance -- are cheap and ugly. The songs are catchy, but still utter crap. And lastly, did Olivia Newton John, Michael Beck or Gene Kelly spend any rehearsal time on roller skates before the cameras started rolling? The three of them are clearly uncomfortable on wheels, awkward and clumsy --especially ONJ and Beck; in a few spots both actors appear close to taking a spill. All that being said, I just couldn't take my eyes off the screen. I didn't see XANADU when it was released in 1980; in fact, haven't seen it until November 2007. A feature article in Entertainment Weekly magazine on the new Broadway musical based on the movie is what interested me. "Could this movie be as bad as everyone says it is?" I asked myself. Well, yes. And no. The movie is a classic piece of ineptitude, but it is fun in spite of itself. It inspires the same sort of embarrassed enjoyment that hearing an REO Speedwagon song does: if we're with friends we laugh at it; if we're alone, we know every lyric and sing along. We might be a bit embarrassed, but it's not hurting anybody else (unless, of course, the neighbors can hear).

Customer Rating:

Summary: Has Universal done right by this?
Comment: Last time they released this soundtrack in the USA (after an Import from Australia had been available for years) and didn't bother to add the B-sides of the original 45's. Short songs from the ending - "Fool Country" and "Drum Dreams" - and ONJ singing "You Made Me Love You" from the record that Danny buys....these should have been added. And yet they sat still gathering dust in the Universal vaults.
Leaving those of us who bought the Australian edition looking at the US release and thinking, "So..?"
If this edition doesn't include those songs...and the promotional special, "Making Xanadu" that includes interviews, behind the scenes shots and footage of the wrap party...why release this?
If Universal is listening and this edition doesn't have this, there's still time.
Paramount just pushed back the release of "The Invaders" to add commentary and a recently rediscovered long version of the pilot episode.
We'll wait a little longer for you to do right by this "guilty pleasure" film and excellent soundtrack.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Unless you absolutely need it now, wait until after June 24...
Comment: Xanadu:Magical Music Edition DVD is being released by Universal on 6/24 (SRP also $19.98). Extras will include the Going Back to Xanadu featurette and the film's theatrical trailer, along with the complete soundtrack on CD. It would be nice if it had two DVD commentaries, one featuring the Director, ONJ and Michael Beck and the second featuring comments from Jeff Farrar and Jeff Lynne. One hopes the complete soundtrack CD also includes Fool Country, Drum Dreams and the instrumental opening score.
However, if you must have a copy RIGHT NOW of this great campy flick featuring great tunes by Electric Light Orchestra, and Olivia Newton-John (duetting with ELO, Cliff Richard, The Tubes and Gene Kelly ... take that Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett!), you can't go wrong with this currently available edition of this nicely priced DVD, which features the original trailer and actors and production credits.

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Editorial Reviews:

A wimpy remake of an already anemic movie (the 1947 Rita Hayworth vehicle Down to Earth), this glitzy musical from 1980 improbably stars Olivia Newton-John as a heavenly muse sent here to help open a roller-derby disco. Gene Kelly is mixed up in this well-meaning but goofy effort to fuse nostalgia with late-'70s glitter-ball trendiness, and he looks just plain silly. Directed by Robert Greenwald, the film doesn't even work as decent kitsch. --Tom Keogh