User Reviews

An excellent biography of a prolific artist. I know all the material about Elton, and this was innovative and beautiful. Elton himself guides you through his bio - and no it's not revelatory but it is surprising and lovely - very satisfying. It's a playful look at an artist who is famously...well...playful in his own presentation of himself. Perhaps there could have been more interviews with his family and friends, but I didn't miss it because that wasn't the creative thread. It makes me wonder if John produced the film; perhaps it was related to his "60th" birthday that the English probably celebrated. All of the production values are top notch, and the subject worthy of such. Recommended viewing for fans of his and 70s/80s pop music alike.

Elton John ceased being relevant to rock music fans right around the time he won an Oscar for 1994's "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" from Disney's "The Lion King". As wise--and as soberly raffish--as he seems to be, Elton doesn't appear to grasp this fact, nor does his comment about being unfulfilled playing the same hits night after night hold much water upon seeing the footage of him performing in Las Vegas. Vegas has become the proverbial graveyard for 1970s talents interested only in mining gold from past glories; no matter how spruced the stage, the concept is a creative dead-end. Elton wants us to believe he still has great music left in him, but this brief documentary gives us no evidence the performer will ever return to his early glory. Also, equating John and long-time lyricist Bernie Taupin with John Lennon and Paul McCartney seems almost ludicrous with what is sampled here. The (rather scant) footage assembled from Elton's past shows a reckless narcissist who was like a vacuum cleaner for fame, not an artist striving to give his audience the best of his abilities. An entire career is whittled down to a few fey remarks and smirks; the only telling moment in the hour is when John, viewing footage of himself performing at Princess Diana's funeral, asks that the film be turned off. I wouldn't be surprised in ten years to find him revisiting this precise footage and tossing off another one-liner.