"Across the Universe" is a groundbreaking, rule-bending, expectation-smashing musical based on the Beatles repertoire.

There's a surprise around every corner. Some of them are visual, others musical, a few involve the plot. It's a breath of cinematic fresh air coming just in time to wash away the stale aroma of summer's formulaic string of explosions, car chases and superheroes.

Not everyone is going to agree with that. The movie is likely to garner a reaction similar to that of "Moulin Rouge." Some people are going to say that it's weirdly wonderful; others are likely to say that it's weird, period. Either way, everyone will agree that it's like nothing else we've seen recently.

Beatles fans probably will be just as split. On one hand, it's a delight to listen to the music. At the same time, many songs have been put into contexts never envisioned at the time they were hits, such as "I Want to Hold Your Hand" sung as a mournful anthem of unrequited love. Especially irksome to some devotees might be songs that have been twisted to include political connotations.

The film was directed by Julie Taymor, whose movie résumé includes "Frida" and "Titus." But the more influential background she brings to this project is her work onstage, where she's known as the creative force behind the blockbuster Broadway production of "The Lion King."

This is like a Broadway show on steroids, with big musical numbers performed in the type of fantasy settings that only movie FX artists can provide. The backgrounds range from sedate blue-sky-and-clouds sequences to contorted Monty Pythonesque animations.

Coming up with a succinct description of the film is impossible. It starts as if it's going to be a 1960s version of "Grease," with high school girls in cheerleader outfits and young starry-eyed lovers basking in their innocence. But before long, it's delving into the rage of race riots and the angst of the Vietnam War.

The ensemble cast is led by three characters. Jude (British actor Jim Sturgess) has come from England in search of his father, an American who had an affair with his mother during World War II.

He's befriended by Max (Joe Anderson, "Becoming Jane"), who has decided to drop out of college. They go to New York City together and sublet the corner of a communal apartment that is home to a singer, Sadie (Broadway actress Dana Fuchs), and, depending on who needs a place to crash, various members of her band.

Jude and Max eventually are joined in New York by Max's sister, Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood, "Thirteen"). Her boyfriend was killed in Vietnam, and she's ripe to get involved in the antiwar movement.

Jude and Lucy fall in love, but their priorities don't mesh. "She has a cause. I don't," Jude explains.

Taymor plays with viewers' expectations. As soon as we hear the protagonists' names, we start awaiting the songs. "Hey Jude" and "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" are both present, but we never get the anticipated "Maxwell's Silver Hammer." Some of the musical references are only a sentence or two lifted from the lyrics: When a woman scrambles into the apartment from the fire escape, Sadie asks where she came from. "She came in through the bathroom window," Max reports.

Inevitably, some Beatles fans will gripe that the actors sing the songs rather than having the Fab Four's versions piped in over the action. Enjoy the movie for what it is, not what you want it to be. Or, as the lads from Liverpool would say, let it be.

Jeff Strickler • 612-673-7392

Jeff Strickler • jstrickler@startribune.com