Search - Moulin Rouge [Special Edition] on DVD

MPAA Rating: PG-13 Content Advisory: Questionable for Children, Sexual Situations, Suitable for Teens Movie Release: 2001 DVD Release: 10/14/2003 Format: DVD - Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV Audio Tracks: English, Spanish Subtitles: English SwapaDVD Credits: 2 Number of Discs: 2 Run Time: 2 hrs 8 mins Studio: 20th Century Fox Total Copies: 22 Genres: Musical, Romance, Musical Romance See Also: Moulin Rouge!, Moulin Rouge [Pink Cover], Moulin Rouge [Widescreen]

The third film from pop-music-obsessed director Baz Luhrmann tweaks the conventions of the musical genre by mixing a period romance with anachronistic dialogue and songs in the style of his previous Romeo+Juliet (1996). Ewan McGregor stars as Christian, who leaves behind his bourgeois father during the French belle époque of the late 1890s to seek his fortunes in the bohemian underworld of Montmartre, Paris. Christian meets the absinthe- and alcohol-addicted artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (John Leguizamo), who introduces him to a world of sex, drugs, music, theater, and the scandalous dance known as the cancan, all at the Moulin Rouge, a decadent dance hall, brothel, and theater that's the brainchild of Harold Zidler (Jim Broadbent). Christian also meets and falls into a tragically doomed romance with the courtesan Satine (Nicole Kidman), who becomes the star of the play he's writing, which parallels the couple's romance and utilizes rock music from a century later, including songs by Nirvana, Madonna, The Beatles, and Queen, among others. Loosely based on the opera Orpheus in the Underworld, Moulin Rouge was shown in competition at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Nicole Kidman - Satine
Ewan McGregor - Christian
John Leguizamo - Toulouse-Lautrec
Jim Broadbent - Zidler
Richard Roxburgh - Duke of Worcester

Dancing, music, love, and excitement meet in the lavish romantic musical Moulin Rouge starring Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor. Fox has done an absolutely stunning job on this 2.25:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer. All aspects of this picture, including colors, black levels, and fleshtones, look even, well rendered, and bright. No digital artifacting, edge enhancement, or shimmer is present anytime during the film. The audio is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS Surround. Both of these tracks are full and bombastic with both the front and rear surround speakers utilized through most all of the film. No imperfections, such as distortion or hiss, are heard during any of the dialogue, effects, or music. These two soundtracks are very nice and should give any home theater a hearty and hefty workout. Also included on this disc is an alternate French and Spanish Dolby 2.0 soundtrack, as well as English subtitles. This two-disc set of =Moulin Rouge includes a ballroom-sized array of extra features. Starting off disc one (aside of the movie) is "Behind the Red Curtain," a group of about eight featurettes about the making of the film. The two commentary tracks -- one by director Baz Lurhmann, production designer and costumer Catherine Martin, and director of photography Don McAlpine, and the second by the director and writer Craig Pearce -- are both informative and entertaining. Each of these tracks includes a lot of technical information about the movie, as well as anecdotes and stories about the cast and crew. Disc two includes a 28-minute "Making of Moulin Rouge" documentary from HBO that is standard promotional material, including interviews with selected cast and crew members. "The Stars" is a unique menu that allows the viewer to look at interview and pre-production test footage from different stars of the movie. "The Story Is About..." is some interview footage with the director as well as some text-only story line and script comparisons. "The Cutting Room" includes a short interview with the director and Jill Bilcock on their approach to the editing and structure of the film, six different "abandoned edits" of scenes, and some "pre-visualizations" of three separate scenes. "The Dance" includes four full-length dance sequences that were eventually trimmed in the final film (for time purposes). There is also a music section with four segments detailing the film's soundtrack (including interviews with composer Craig Armstrong, musical director Marius De Vries, and Fatboy Slim). Also included in this section is a music video for the song "Come What May" as well as "The Lady Marmalade Phenomenon," an MTV performance of the song with behind-the-scenes clips. Six separate sections make up "The Design," including some still archives on the costume and set design, a graphic design animated gallery, two interviews with the designers, and some production footage on the creation of the storyboards, costumes, sets, and concepts. "Smoke and Mirrors" is an area that includes interviews with the conceptual artists and effects team about some of the early 3-D renderings of the film's surreal world. Finally, there is a section on marketing that includes trailers, TV spots, television and media coverage, still galleries (photo, poster, and little red book), a music promo spot for the soundtrack, a Japanese trailer (!) for the film, and a trailer for the director's "Red Curtain Trilogy." Phew! Obviously, Fox has put a lot of work into this two-disc DVD set, and as such, they've turned out a winner. This is a great package that should keep fans busy for hours upon hours. ~ Patrick Naugle, All Movie Guide