In 1996 Baz Luhrmann updated Shakespeare by tossing Romeo and Juliet into the hip-hop culture of L.A. and by parading a not-ready-to-interpret-the-Bard Leonardo DiCaprio across the screen to lure teens to the theaters. Romeo and Juliet worked commercially, and made far more money than the producers ever dreamed. Now Luhrmann is at it again.

Determined this time to revive the musical, and bring back audiences who have stayed away from the genre during the last generation, Luhrmann presents an audacious Moulin Rouge, patterned much like his outrageous setpiece from Romeo and Juliet.

Realizing that modern audiences are generally turned off by old-school musicals, the filmmakers cleverly parody songs like "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and "Roxanne" while disguising the film with enough Mardi Gras glitter, fast-cutting movement, and garish color to get anti-musical people to forget they are really watching a musical!

Luhrmann pulls out all the stops in a noble quest to create something for everyone, at first identifying Moulin Rouge as a period piece set in Paris in 1899, but immediately stretching those confines with Sound of Music references and MTV computerized wizardry.

Soon Luhrmann tries to convince us we are in store for a comedy, until Christian (Ewan McGregor) reveals that his true love is dead. So it appears we have a serious side brewing with a romance that will turn to tragedy. Then, we meet the stereotypical villain and realize that it is little more than melodrama. Will Christian get the girl before she dies, or will the villain kill the hero first?

How about something for pretentious movie snobs? Create a setting in the bohemian Montmarte section of Paris, complete with an assortment of lowlife characters and artists, and pretentious types can figure out the symbolism and declare Moulin Rouge an ingenious metaphor for Life Itself!

In essence, we have a revival of the gaudy musical, dressed up for modern tastes. And lest we forget that fact, Luhrmann hammers home his running theme, lifted from Nat King Cole's hit song "Nature Boy," again and again:

The greatest thing you'll ever learn
Is just to love
And be loved
In return

From the skeletal description, Moulin Rouge sounds like a real mess, and many critics have found it so; however, I find that it does work as entertainment.The romance is hardly gripping, unless you've grown up on raves and flitting MTV imagery, but the comedy had me chuckling in numerous places.

One fun activity to keep you occupied: Catch all the musical references that fly furiously by. Many of the musical numbers are shocking (just like some of the traditional musicals that may not always have the most gifted singers delivering the goods). Madonna certainly never performed "Like a Virgin" with more over-the-top humor and zestier dance moves than Zidler (Topsy-Turvy's Jim Broadbent)!

Suspension of disbelief is absolutely required for you to enjoy Moulin Rouge at all. Penniless writer Christian disobeys his authoritarian father and moves to the bohemian section of Paris during the "summer of love" of 1899 (not Berkeley in 1967). It is there he encounters artist Henri Toulouse-Lautrec (John Leguizamo), planning a spectacular set in Switzerland.

When the narcoleptic Argentinian crashes through his Montemarte hotel-room ceiling, Christian discovers he has a natural talent for creating songs by contributing Sound of Music lyrics. Christian finds himself at the infamous Moulin Rouge—the hedonistic dance hall, nightclub, burlesque show, and bordello where you can get anything you want.

We have a mesmerized Christian desperately seeking his first love, the precious "sparrow" of Moulin Rouge—Satine (Nicole Kidman). Toulouse-Lautrec helps Christian get to Satine's ornate boudoir, atop a jeweled elephant statue, where Christian and Satine begin singing a medley of disparate songs that would have truly been avant-garde in turn-of-the-century Paris. The medley includes "All You Need Is Love," "I Will Always Love You," "Silly Love Songs," and "Up Where We Belong."

Borrowing from Shakepearean comedies, Moulin Rouge toys with mistaken identities and a predictable love triangle revolving around Satine (whose call-girl career has never allowed her to fall in love), Christian (who has never previously been in love), and the evil Duke (Richard Roxburgh). This provides ample opportunity to work in setpieces with Kidman and McGregor warbling Elton John's "Your Song" to form Moulin Rouge's emotional core.

That Kidman, McGregor, and the other actors do their own singing surprisingly well is to their credit, and to Luhrmann's credit for remaining true to the tradition of the musical. Throughout the genre's history, musicals have often used actors who were barely serviceable singers to deliver songs—Zero Mostel in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Rex Harrison in My Fair Lady, and Rod Steiger in Oklahoma (to name a handful). Although a little thin in voice quality and occasionally drowned out by the orchestration, Kidman and McGregor are good enough with their vocals to create new, definitive covers of the songs they perform in Moulin Rouge.

The musical numbers are definitely a highlight of Moulin Rouge, as are the sets. Production designer Catherine Martin does an outstanding job re-creating a vibrant nighttime Montmarte setting, with the bejeweled elephant housing Satine's boudoir, Christian's rustic hotel berth, and the red neon of the Moulin Rouge. Though she is more likely to receive rave notices for the garish final show setpiece, the nighttime bohemian sets offer some breathing room (even within Satine's lavish room).

Like a gaudy Las Vegas show that is fun but highly forgettable, Moulin Rouge is paced too briskly to savor while watching it. So intent is Luhrmann on making sure his audience isn't bored, he frenetically pans his camera all over the place as if the cameraman is happily drunk at Mardi Gras.

This has merit occasionally, but sometimes the audience needs a break so it can linger over the imagery. Could it be that Luhrmann doesn't want the audience to realize it's essentially watching a simple, lightweight love story with a lot of silly love songs?

On the other hand, it could be a clever marketing plan to get in sync with the MTV generation (which has been weaned on fast-cutting images that substitute for substance), and requiring viewers who enjoy the show to come back for more viewings. That makes Moulin Rouge a sure-fire DVD success.