Did it get a bit mawkish at times? Oh, yes, yes it did. Did I care? Not so much, no. Because this was, overall, amazing.

I love musicals maybe more than any other kind of film and I'm so hungry for them. Combine that with my love of Sir Elton, my soft spot for Dexter Fletcher (I think he, as Spike Thomson in Press Gang was my first crush—he looked like a young Mick Jagger) and 3 of my (other) crushes (past and present) onscreen together (Taron Egerton, Jamie Bell and to a lesser extent Richard Madden) then, yeah, this was set up to win for me.

But it's also a really good film, outside of those factors that make me biased. Egerton's performance is so so good and his singing is damn good, too! (The boys who played the younger Reggie were both great—the youngest was super cute which is saying a lot from someone who often finds children in movies irritating and the older looked freaking adorable in his little Teddy Boy outfit). The costumes, naturally, are gorgeous. And the fantasy sequences are glorious. They're where the film truly excels.

The other strongest point of the film is the relationship between John and Taupin. Egerton and Bell have great chemistry and some of my favourite scenes were when they were together. Like, the scene where they first meet and spend the entire day together was beautiful as was the "Your Song" scene. It did a lovely job of highlighting the depth of their love for each other—I love seeing beautiful scenes of deep, platonic and fraternal/familial love where the connection between the two people is palpable. I don't know what I'm saying but it was beautiful and very moving.

The "Honky Cat" scene was another favourite. That was really fun and one of the scenes (along with "The Bitch is Back" and "Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting)") that showed Fletcher's got a good grasp on what makes musical movies so magical. (There's some alliteration for you.) Oh and the "Crocodile Rock" scene! That's one of my all time favourite songs and I love the arrangement for the film and the way it was used.

I really hope Fletcher directs more musicals—between this and Sunshine on Leith (and the bits of BohRap he did, I guess) I think he's got a flair for them.

It still hits some of the usual biopic marks but I tend to like even really average biopics so I'm fine with that. I'm probably missing some of the things I wanted to say but this is long and messy enough already and it's also hard for me to write about a movie after just one watch sometimes.

Anyway, I've been waiting a while for this and it didn't disappoint me at all. I was filled with joy. And I cried a lot, too. But mostly I was just swept away into this beautiful fantasy world about an incredible artist.

Oh, also, the new song that Taron and Elton recorded together (played in the credits) is really fun and catchy!