Rocketman

I can't tell you that this is like Moulin Rouge. Or Bohemian Rhapsody.  Both are their own animals.  But if you could somehow find a way to mash those feelings together.  Maybe throw in a little Across the Universe…?

You'd have Rocketman.

Rocketman is of course the story of Elton John's rise to stardom and struggle with addiction.

We first see Elton as young Reginald where he and his family discover that he is a musical savant.  He's able to hear  and play music in a way few can.  This isn't a straight musical where the entire movie is sung, but there's dancing in the streets and blasting off into space.  There's a small child pretending to be a conductor when he should be sleeping and he's (and you) can see the orchestra in front of him.  This is about where I started my low level tears.

We follow Elton through the beginning of his career and sexual awakening.  Meeting his writing partner Bernie.  Trying to find love and only finding the bottom of a bottle.

The film touches on everything.  It does what every good movie should do.  It's visually compelling, contains joy and sadness; and helps you connect to a man that you may only know as a performer.

I absolutely will be seeing this again.  Having the actors sing the music themselves instead of having the original tracks play made a big difference with this one.  The only thing that would have made it any better would be if they had gone Les Miz style and had the actors singing on set.  Taron Egerton does such a fantastic mimic of Elton John that you can almost forget what the original music sounded like.

If you don't like musicals or Elton John music, you're going to have a bad time.  Otherwise, enjoy the ride.

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