Clevercell Very disappointing...

Baseshment I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Odelecol Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

ChanFamous I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

jc-osms The Beatles first project after the death of manager Brian Epstein was this half-length psychedelic TV movie which garnered a hostile press reaction when first aired on Boxing Day 1967. Epstein's death apart it should have been a crowning glory to a great year for the group which saw their music hit new heights, but its bittiness and wackiness missed the mark with the mainstream population and as has been said before showed that yes, they could do wrong.Looked at today, one wonders a little what the fuss was about. An eccentric mix of no-doubt drug-induced buffoonery, saucy British sea-side humour and Goons-inspired craziness, it's no masterpiece and probably best viewed as a series of loosely connected sketches in the later style of say, Spike Milligan's Q series or of course Monty Python. Of course it would have helped if said sketches were funny or more tightly edited.The fantasy musical sequences are the best, especially the video clips for McCartney's underrated "The Fool On The Hill" and Lennon's blockbuster "I Am The Walrus", but the white-dress suit finale is terrible, Paul dragging the others into his love affair with vintage Hollywood musicals. The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, in fact, almost steal the show with their camp Elvis spoof "Death Cab For Cutie"There's not much acting on display and one would doubt there was ever a working script but the colour cinematography is very good, the music obviously is ace and as rock star indulgences go it's not the worst and makes a virtue of its brevity.

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.

MartinHafer When this DVD began, I was surprised how degraded and faded the film was. It just goes to show you that not everything about the Beatles was adored. In fact, when this made for TV film was shown on BBC, it bombed...badly. So badly that the film wasn't shown on American TV--which made me curious to watch it! I occasionally like to watch film failures--either to marvel at how bad they are or to re-assess and see that they weren't so bad after all.If I try to describe the film's plot, I really can't. It's all a rather incoherent stream of consciousness piece that looks like the four guys just chucked ANYTHING into the film--and in some cases, I am pretty sure this is what happened. In between some terribly unfunny comedy bits, there are a few music videos and in many ways it seems like a much, much lower budgeted version of Paul McCartney's later vanity film, "Give My Regards to Broad Street".As I sat watching this film, I looked through some of the IMDb reviews. Some hated the film or saw it as a disappointment. Others, however, were such die-hard fans of the group that I honestly think a sizable minority would have loved the film if it consisted of the Fab Four picking each others' noses for 60 minutes. The film is an artless mess and demonstrates that occasionally extremely talented people delude themselves into thinking this talent extends to many other aspects of their lives. In this case, Paul McCartney appeared to think he was creating something new and different....and in a good way. Well, it's not--at least not in a good way. Now it is NOT because of the surrealistic aspects of the film. Some folks can make this work (such as the folks who did "Monty Python" just a year later) but if NOT done right, it can come off as very amateurish and puerile---like this film. Any way you cut it, it's a terrible film despite some nice songs. But, when it comes to their songs, the ones used in this movie look like castoffs from their other movies--stuff that is far from their best work. The same can be said for the entire movie, actually. The film earns a 2, as the music, at times, is a nice break from the rest of this mess.

lepoisson-1 Even after all these years, Magical Mystery Tour still ranks as one of the worst I've ever sat through. OK, it had the Beatles in it (but you already knew that). OK, the soundtrack is fantastic (but you already knew that). And Magical Mystery Tour is 1967 wildly creative (but you probably already knew that). I won't gush on about how groundbreaking the Beatles were time after time (again, you already knew that). I love their music and other movies.Magical Mystery Tour is unfathomably awful. It has the look and feel of a home movie, and like most home movies, it's pointless, except perhaps as an example of pure self indulgence by a bunch of rich spoiled musicians. It's bad - really bad, but it isn't fun bad like Plan 9 from Outer Space. I saw Magical Mystery Tour in college at a bar, where they put a pitcher of cheap draft in front of you and then started the 16mm projector. I'm not sure during which part I downed the beer, but it didn't help.The full Beatles group never released a less than stellar LP (or if they did, I've never heard of it), although "Two Virgins" by John Lennon and Yoko Ono is arguably the vinyl equivalent to this drek.Update 12.14.2012At least 35 years have elapsed since I sat in that bar. I just watched the fascinating "Making of Magical Mystery Tour" documentary on PBS and then the lovingly restored version of the Magical Mystery Tour...and it still stinks, and the soundtrack is still fantastic.