Cirque du Soleil: Worlds Away is a 2012 American 3D family fantasy film directed by Andrew Adamson. The film premiered on October 20, 2012, at the Tokyo International Film Festival, and was released theatrically in the United States on December 21, 2012.
Distributed worldwide by Paramount Pictures on December 21, 2012, the film tells the story of a girl named Mia going to a traveling circus and falling in love with its main attraction, the Aerialist. After the Aerialist falls during his act, he and Mia are transported to another world where each encounter the different worlds of Cirque du Soleil. It stars Erica Linz and Igor Zaripov as the main characters and incorporates acts from O, Mystère, Kà, Love, Zumanity, Criss Angel Believe, and Viva Elvis, some of the Cirque du Soleil shows that were running in Las Vegas in 2011.
Eels performed a song titled "Calling for Your Love" for the movie.
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Plot
Mia, a young woman in a small American Midwestern town, goes to a traveling carnival one evening, where she is urged by a silent clown to visit the carnival's circus and see the Aerialist, the show's star attraction. She is entranced by the Aerialist, but during his act he misses a catch and falls to the ground. She rushes to help him, but then the ground beneath them gives way and they fall into the dreamlike world of Cirque du Soleil. Separated, they travel through the different tent worlds trying to find each other, interacting with the strange and wonderful performers and performances of Cirque du Soleil. Mia and the Aerialist perform an aerial courtship for the grand finale.
Reception
This film received mixed reviews from critics. It has a rating of 43% on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 46 reviews and an average score of 5.30/10. The site's critics consensus reads, "Cirque Du Soleil loses its sense of wonder when bottled for the screen, with Worlds Away's shapeless story and relentless spectacle feeling hollow when divorced from the theatrical experience." On Metacritic, it has a rating of 51 out of 100, indicating "mixed or average" reviews, based on 16 reviews.
A. O. Scott of The New York Times gave this film a score of 3/5, and said that "For me, Cirque du Soleil will always be associated with the movie Knocked Up, in which the characters played by Seth Rogen and Paul Rudd take in a performance of Mystère under the influence of hallucinogenic mushrooms. If such a trip is not to your taste, or if a trip to Las Vegas is not on your calendar, you might opt for the relatively inexpensive, mildly mind-blowing Cirque du Soleil: Worlds Away, a new 3-D movie directed by Andrew Adamson."
Home video
On March 12, 2013, Worlds Away was released on DVD and Blu-ray.