LouHomey From my favorite movies..

SanEat A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

Jenna Walter The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Fleur Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

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.

justincward Look, I'll admit it. I hate Paul MaCartney, and even the Beatles stuff he did is now unlistenable to me because I hear his now florid narcissism in the whole of the Beatles catalogue in which he was involved. This is the man who wrote 'When I'm Sixty-Four' when he was fifteen. Rock'n'Roll! And Magical Mystery Tour is Paul's baby.While it's the nearest we'll get to seeing the late 60's Beatles performing live, and there are occasional glimpses of the sheer likability of John, George and Ringo which they all managed to share in 'Help' and 'Hard Day's Night', it's quite evident from MMT that Paul's self-regard was now becoming out of control.So if you're a MaCartney fan, you'll love MMT as much Paul loves himself: if you're a Beatles fan, it'll give you the frisson of seeing how the Fab Four fitted so well into the British media scene of the 60's, and how their money made possible a lot of artistic self-indulgence. If you've never really been that convinced that the Beatles were as good as EMI or MPL Communications' press offices might have you believe, you'll see MMT for what it was: a big budget being thrown at a few small ideas.

Desertman84 Magical Mystery Tour is an hour-long TV movie starring The Beatles - John Lennon,Paul McCartney,George Harrison and Ringo Starr.It was based on a loose unscripted narrative, this experimental film was directed by The Beatles themselves and it was the vehicle to present 6 new songs namely: Magical Mystery Tour, The Fool On The Hill, Flying, I Am The Walrus, Blue Jay Way and Your Mother Should Know. In the movie, the Beatles decided to hire a psychedelic bus, take a trip into the English countryside, and film the results, no matter how bizarre or boring. With a motley cast of characters, the group basically tramps about the landscape with occasional music cues to give the film a bit of flow.This is definitely a must-see for Beatles buffs and anyone interested in how the '60s looked as they were happening.But as a film itself,it was nearly impossible to watch as there is nothing that really happens except killer numbers from the Fab Four.It was mainly all about their music and nothing more.

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.