POP MUSIC REVIEW - Such sweet sorrow - Celine Dion's Vegas adieu is big and loud, but there's warmth too.

LAS VEGAS — Celine Dion said it over and over as the moments unfurled onstage Saturday night at Caesars Palace: "Today is a beginning. It is not an end." But the singer grabbed hold of her final performance of "A New Day," the show that's made her a Vegas staple for the past half-decade, as if it were a last communique before her exile.

In reality, she's taking a couple of months off, then embarking on a world tour. Dion will likely return to Vegas too; she's keeping her home near the city.

But with her gale-force voice and unflagging faith in big emotions, Dion is the queen of going over whatever top presents itself. This finale was a Matterhorn.

Fans who can't stand having missed this milestone can see a film version in 200 theaters nationwide tonight. (For a local list, see www.fathomevents.com.)

Directed by Cirque du Soleil veteran Franco Dragone, "A New Day" melds hits from throughout Dion's career within a florid dreamscape of screen-projected heavy weather, high-energy dancers and ear-shattering melodic rock. Focused on massive power ballads with a few uptempo dance numbers to quicken the pulse (and one ill-advised tribute to Frank Sinatra), the show mixes feminine dreaminess and carnival-esque aggression. The deafeningly amplified pennywhistle that begins Dion's signature ballad, "My Heart Will Go On," pretty much defines the show's odd balance.

Saturday, though, the show itself wasn't news. Its finality was. To honor that -- and to give something extra to an audience clearly present to witness a historic event -- Dion and her team prepared exclusive extras that proved more affecting than most of the corporate pop songs she so energetically sang.

First was a lengthy behind-the-scenes video, featuring interviews with Dion, her husband-manager, Rene Angelil, and others involved in creating "A New Day." In several between-song speeches meant, she said, to "elongate the evening," Dion further reflected on an era she's wistfully ready to leave behind.

Whether retelling a famous anecdote about losing her shoes on opening night, remembering her tearful performance the evening after her father's death in 2003 or singing yet another chart topper, Dion was full of gauche sincerity.

Singing and dancing, Dion moved across the massive stage like an ice skater or a runway model, each step stylized to make her look huge. Even her tears were flowery, like a silent film star's. But her words were down to earth.