I was pretty enthusiastic about it in these phosphors a while ago too. And I only ever saw it on DVD, never in the theatre.
I think what works with this movie is not just the use of Beatles songs - high-quality raw material is always a good starting point, but only the starting point - but the way they use them. In two respects:
1) Thoughtful and imaginative musical arrangements and visual choreography. The sheer freshness and cleverness of both in "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" is what most clearly demonstrates that, but it's true of others as well. "I've Just Seen a Face" was never one of my favorite McCartney songs, but it is now.
2) The dynamic plot context into which they're put. You touch on this by mentioning "All My Loving" - not the most interesting musical number in the film, but one with strong impact for this reason. This became clear to me when I revisited the film by watching YouTube clips of some of the best numbers. Yeah, they make good music videos, but they were so much more than that coming up naturally in the course of the story.
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I think what works with this movie is not just the use of Beatles songs - high-quality raw material is always a good starting point, but only the starting point - but the way they use them. In two respects:
1) Thoughtful and imaginative musical arrangements and visual choreography. The sheer freshness and cleverness of both in "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" is what most clearly demonstrates that, but it's true of others as well. "I've Just Seen a Face" was never one of my favorite McCartney songs, but it is now.
2) The dynamic plot context into which they're put. You touch on this by mentioning "All My Loving" - not the most interesting musical number in the film, but one with strong impact for this reason. This became clear to me when I revisited the film by watching YouTube clips of some of the best numbers. Yeah, they make good music videos, but they were so much more than that coming up naturally in the course of the story.