grantss Very silly movie. Basically one huge music video for the Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour album. Music is great, of course, but the video and segues are self- indulgent, meaningless crap. The acting, especially by the Beatles members, is atrocious.If it wasn't for the music and the fact that this is the Beatles, this would be a 1/10 movie.About the only upside is that now I know where the band Death Cab for Cutie got its name from...Not worth watching, not even for its link to the seminal album.

supernintendo128 I heard that when this movie first came out, it was panned by critics. Being a fan of the Beatles, I decided to watch it anyway, expecting it to suck. It didn't.The story is that Ringo takes his aunt on the Magical Mystery Tour with the other Beatles and a bunch of weird stuff happens. That's it, honestly. So don't expect a story that makes sense.The writing is literally nonexistent; This was all done impromptu. The Beatles literally just took all of their friends and family on a trip outside the country and made everything up as they gone.The comedy is admirably pretty decent. I liked the scene where a Drill Sargent taught everyone how to attack a cow and I found the racing scene mildly amusing, but I especially laughed at the stripper scene where her breasts come into view and they put a censor box over them. That was just really cheap that I couldn't help but laugh. Although I do think that some scenes drag on for too long.The cinematography was great and even innovative for it's time where it made use of the kaleidoscope lens, impressive lighting effects, cycling through colors (which I'm sure was impressive at the time because this was long before Windows Movie Maker), etc. Speaking of color, it's probably a good idea to bring up that this movie was shot in color and it was supposed to be released in theaters. Somehow, it ended up as a Made-For-TV Movie and first aired on the BBC1 which was only broadcasting in black and white at the time, which probably led to it's poor reception. The movie was later released on BBC2 which was broadcasting in color but that barely helped because only around 200,000 households had color TVs in the UK at the time.The highlights of the movie are definitely the music videos. Obviously the music is amazing, being a Beatles film and all, and the accompanying music videos are just as good. All of the videos fit the song really good. The music video for "The Fool on the Hill" captures the whimsical tone of the song, the one for "Blue Jay Way" fits perfectly with the eerie and mysterious atmosphere the song gives out, and the music video for "I Am the Walrus" makes about as much sense as the actual song. Special mention goes to the video for "Flying", which is just a bunch of landscapes with the cycling color effect. The video is actually kind of pretty. Except that, again, this film was originally broadcasted in black and white, and even when it was broadcasted in color a few days later, few people had a color TV. So back in the day, this video was boring and ugly.My final thoughts are that I think this movie is pretty decent and is not as bad as people make it out to be. Although while this movie did fail in it's home country, it did gain a cult following here in the US, mainly broadcasting on indie or public access TV. I recommend this film to Beatles fans or anyone who wants to know what the 60s were like.

clivey6 Context is everything, and I cannot think of a worse way of watching this film than how it was first presented; on Christmas Day evening, with a disapproving dad and bewildered uncles and aunties, on a small black and white telly. While much of Sgt Pepper raised a glass to the older generation, and was both out there and inclusive, Magical Mystery Tour takes the brakes off to deliver a total freak-out, and it really should end up like the finale of The Italian Job, with the coach dangling off a cliff. 'Hang on lads,' Macca might shout. 'I've got an idea!' A recent showing on BBC2 may have helped with the documentary preceding it, with both Ringo and Macca on good form, along with lowered expectations, but I really enjoyed this film. It's not too long - only about an hour - with some fine Beatle songs in it. Much of it isn't really dreamlike, but more an odd nightmare, but it did put me in mind of a David Lynch film, in particular Mulholland Drive. It's true there isn't much 'magic' in it, it seems to seek to alienate, or disturb. I'm thinking of the dream sequence where a grinning Lennon - at his most Michael Caine-like - heaps spaghetti onto a fat woman's plate.I am the Walrus looks rubbish on youtube, but in the context of this film looks quite quirky and polished, the Beatles' animal outfits anticipating the Soft Bulletin and Coldplay. Same with Fool on the Hill, a bit rubbish on youtube but in the film seems to be inspired from the Bergman classic The Seventh Seal.A lot of the humour seems less out there since Python and Vic and Bob came along.I know this isn't meant to be the best Beatle film, but honestly I've had worse times watching the others. I can't always get away from the fact that a lot of A Hard Day's Night is aimed at young teenage girls, or that the fabs are stoned throughout Help!, which has a goofy, lethargic, let's spoof Bond plot. Yellow Sub can be a protracted bore and of course Let it Be is no one's idea of fun. In some ways Magical Mystery Tour is the less dated of the lot, but it's also a bit of a time capsule. I'm glad it exists, and while Paul may have instigated it, it's the last time John Lennon looked truly happy to be a Beatle.

Rodrigo Amaro The Beatles takes us on a long and psychedelic road trip with their "Magical Mystery Tour", a happy, cheerful and unusual road movie whose point is to be happy and incomprehensible.If you're feeling down this film and the music will make you better but don't wait for a conventional musical film. Here we have The Beatles on a bus along with eccentric passengers such as Ringo's aunt (played by Jessie Robins) and a dwarf photographer (George Claydon) going to weird places, colored locations and unusual situations, sometimes dreaming, other times not, and of course, listening to songs that goes for the "Magical Mystery Tour Theme" to "I am the Walrus" and others. It's not bad as people say, but it's certainly not an experience where everybody can get something of positive, it depends on your views of films and what you like. To me, Beatles can't go wrong although this tour is very messy, sometimes it makes no sense at all unless you're high or drunk (which might be a great experience while viewing this film, it might work better). Here's four guys having a nice time, doing their best while acting and playing songs, having a moment of happiness and happiness is a great thing, specially if displayed on film which is quite rare. Might not have a purpose, it doesn't make too much sense but it's pretty decent and very watchable. 9/10