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| DIRECTED BY |
| Alan Parker
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| STARRING |
| Bob Geldof |
| Christine Hargreaves |
| Bob Hoskins |
| Kevin McKeon |
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Perhaps taking some of Pink Floyd�s greatest songs and acting them out through both live action and animation sounds like a bright idea but it ultimately results in an unfocused mishmash of far-from-interesting ideas. It really doesn�t help that these stories sound a lot more interesting musically than they actually are. We see this kid develop plenty of regretful memories concerning his father at war, the injustice of the school system that he went through, and we get some rather irrelevant insight into his sexual development.
This is all told through flashbacks as the kid has grown up and become a depressed rock star. We also get some statements about propaganda but the filmmakers just can�t seem to make up their mind about what they want to concentrate on here � finally, we get a whole lot of melodrama involving bloodshed and overblown temper tantrums.
Of course many of the animated sequences are impressive but they�re mainly comprised of nothing more than incomprehensible symbolism � perhaps they could be justified as acid trips but (surprisingly enough) the film doesn�t really mention drug use. And then the film decides to swing into satire mode by depicting how hilariously na�ve many �fans� can be � but at this point, who honestly cares what the focus is anymore? This is perhaps the definitive definition of a �filmic mess.� For an infinitely more competent look at the �rock and roll lifestyle� check out Crowe�s �Almost Famous� or even Herek�s �Rock Star.�
