Since writing this post over two weeks ago, which was more about what messages should be sent to Hollywood rather than a critique of movies I have not seen, I am now 50% capable of speaking directly about the quality of the films under discussion.

Moulin Rouge is only a "musical" by definition. It is nothing like what other films come to mind when one uses the term. I have never seen a movie that looks anything like this one. There is more energy in this than most action movies, more color than Shakespeare In Love, and zaniness that would make Terry Gilliam proud. The age old story is as gleefully stereotypical as Dudley Do-Right, and yet the emotions are real. Few movies are quite as heartbreaking, and fewer still are fun just the same.

Before I recommended that this movie be supported to send a message to Hollywood that musicals should not be a dead genre. Now I have one very important additional reason to support it: It's *good*.