When they write the definitive history of eye candy, Baz Lurhmann's pinwheeling, voluptuous movie should get its own chapter. Art director Catherine Martin reimagined the famous Montmartre nightclub as something like Pee-wee's Playhouse in Gotham City, stuffed to bursting with bright ideas and dark corners. The inspirations came from everywhere fashion photography, the technicolor "Paris" of old Hollywood, the Bhagavad Gita. Plus there's a boudoir-in-an-elephant!
Animated actors dominated the box office, Barry Bonds hit 73 and 'It' turned out to be a scooter. TIME picks the bests and the worsts of this year...